Nicky Cowley has insisted he and his brother Danny are completely focussed on their jobs at Lincoln rather than links with the Ipswich Town vacancy.
The Cowley brothers, who remain favourites with the bookmakers to replace outgoing Blues boss Mick McCarthy, added to their impressive CV this afternoon with victory in the Checkatrade Trophy final against Shrewsbury at Wembley. Ipswich loanee Danny Rowe played the first hour of the victory at Wembley.
Speaking on the talkSPORT breakfast show ahead of the game on Sunday, Nicky, assistant to Danny at Lincoln, was asked by presenter and Ipswich fan Georgie Bingham about their links with the Portman Road vacancy.
He replied: “We’re completely focussed on everything we’re doing at the moment at Lincoln and it’s been a pretty hectic period so we haven’t had any opportunity at all to think about anything else other than trying to be successful at the football club we are working at.”
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During the talkSPORT interview, Nicky discussed how crowds at Sincil Bank have increased rapidly during their two years at the club.
He said: “I think the beauty of the football club is that we are located in a place where there’s not a lot of other professional football clubs close by, so as a consequence of that if you can connect with the community then you can really try and attract them to support the players and support the team.
“We probably had gates when we first arrived of 2,500 to 3,000 but at home now we are getting up to 10,000 so it’s been a fantastic transformation for the club.
“It’s a club steeped in great history which has had some fantastic managers previously in Colin Murphy, who is walking the team out with us today, and we’ve had Graham Taylor and Keith Alexander as well.
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“All three of those managers were fantastic at connecting with supporters and that’s something Danny and myself have tried to learn from and emulate.”
After taking Concord Rangers from the Essex Senior League to National League South before leaving in 2015, the brothers guided Braintree to their highest-ever league finish before moving to Lincoln and taking the Imps back to the Football League last season.
During that campaign they also reached the last eight of the FA Cup, dumping Ipswich out along the way, and now have their side in the thick of the League Two promotion race heading into the final weeks of the season.
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