Michael Skubala is the new Lincoln City head coach, the club announced today on their official website.
The former Leeds United U21 manager joins the Imps on a long term deal, following the dismissal of Mark Kennedy in October. Nottingham born, Skubala, has previously held positions within the FA, and has also had a spell as an interim manager at Leeds following the sacking of Jesse Marsch. He managed three Premier League games at the Yorkshire club, including an exciting 2-2 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford. Leeds striker, Patrick Bamford described Skubala as an excellent man manager stated he was impressed by the coach during his interim spell in charge of the Premier League club.
Tom Shaw has been in charge of the Imps first team on an interim basis while the search for a new head coach was ongoing. Shaw led the Imps to two league wins in four games, and secured a place in the knockout stages of the BSM Trophy.
He said: “It feels great to be here, it has been a really warm welcome and I’m looking forward to getting going.
“I’ve been here for a couple of games in the past few weeks and I’ve seen how important the fans are for the young players and how they can push the team.
“I’m really excited to work hard with the players every day, to meet the fans and be part of Lincoln City. I feel something here that I felt when I moved to Leeds, which is how important the supporters can be to the club.”
City chairman Clive Nates said: “We have been tracking Michael for some time as he is one of the most exciting young coaches in the game right now, and had a robust recruitment process to ensure he was the right person for us at this time. We had a list of 15 coaches we thought would be a good fit, and Michael impressed as we went through the interviews. The warm wishes from Leeds United show how respected and popular he was there.
“We see this as a progressive appointment – Michael shares our ethos on player development, style of play and ambition. He has a clear vision for how he implements this and a track record of developing talented young technically-talented players such as Levi Colwell of Chelsea and Rico Lewis of Manchester City while he was in the England structure, as well as Archie Gray and Crysensio Summerville at Leeds United U21s.
“We’re also really pleased that Tom Shaw will stay as a key part of the coaching structure as assistant head coach. He is a highly capable coach, and both we and Michael believe he will bring strong continuity and support to the new head coach.”