Lincoln City

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Former Republic of Ireland international Paul McShane has joined newly-promoted Championship side Lincoln City's backroom staff as first team coach.

McShane, who also coaches with the Republic of Ireland Under-21 squad, will work alongside head coaches Chris Cohen and Tom Shaw.

The 40-year-old has coached with the Manchester United academy and was Lee Grant's assistant at League One side Huddersfield last season.

"His skill set fits the role perfectly; he is an elite coach, and his standards, work ethic and mentality dovetail with our existing staff," sporting director Jez George told the club website., external

Goalkeeping and set play coach David Preece, head of medical Kieran Walker, head of performance Josh Snowden and head of recruitment Joe Hutchinson have also committed their futures to the newly-promoted Imps.

Image source, Chris Vaughan

Lincoln City's home ground will go by a new name after the club was promoted to the Championship after a 65-year absence from England's second tier.

The ground traditionally known as Sincil Bank has been rebranded as ProAmpac Stadium, as part of a 10-year naming rights sponsorship agreement struck with the United States-based packaging manufacturer.

In recent years the ground was known as the LNER Stadium, in a deal with the company that operates most trains on the East Coast Main Line.

Lincoln, who won the League One title with a total of 103 points last season, kick off their Championship campaign at Middlesbrough on 15 August, with the first visitors to their newly named home being Portsmouth a week later.

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Kilmarnock have signed Swedish winger Erik Ring from League One champions Lincoln City for an undisclosed fee.

The 24-year-old has signed a two-year contract with the Scottish Premiership club.

Ring had joined Lincoln from AIK in his homeland in 2024 but made only eight starts, and 11 appearances off the bench, last season, scoring twice.

Having come through AIK's youth ranks, he went on to make 66 first-team appearances and also had a loan spell at Helsingborgs.

Kilmarnock state on their website: "His development through one of Scandinavia's strongest footballing systems has established him as an exciting attacking player capable of making an immediate impact in the Scottish Premiership."

He becomes the sixth summer addition to Neil McCann's squad at Rugby Park.

Lincoln City are in negotiations with League Two club Grimsby Town to bring assistant manager Shaun Pearson, 37, to the LNER stadium. (Sky Sports), external

For more transfer news and rumours, read Tuesday's full gossip column here.

The EFL fixture list is out and we know you are bursting to know what you've got to look forward to - or dread - from your team this upcoming season.

Here are some key dates to put in your diary:

• 15 August 2026 - Middlesbrough (A)

• 22 August 2026 - Portsmouth (H)

• 8 September 2026 - Bristol City (A)

• 26 December 2026 - West Bromwich Albion (H)

• 1 January 2027 - Norwich City (A)

• 6 April 2027 - Bristol City (H)

• 1 May 2027 - Charlton Athletic (H)

See Lincoln City's full fixture list here.

The EFL will reveal its fixture list for the 2026-27 season on Thursday.

Want to know who your team will face on opening day? The fixtures will be announced at 12:00 BST - but that is not all.

The draws for the group stage of the Vertu Trophy and the first round of the Carabao Cup will also take place.

So check back on 25 June to see who your team faces first, last and everything in between.

As Lincoln City prepare for their first season in English football's second tier for 65 years, former Imps chairman and current co-vice chairman Clive Nates has reflected on their climb back from the National League.

It started with the appointment of Danny and Nicky Cowley as their management team in May 2016.

Nates told BBC Radio Lincolnshire's Red Imps Club: "You have to go back to before I was a director of the club. In December 2015 I was reading an article about how Southampton went about recruiting a manager.

"I read they started the process a long time before they needed a manager and that did make sense. At the time Chris Moyses was the manager, and we weren't necessarily looking to make a change, but I thought we should start having a look and if we needed a new manager, who would we look at bringing in.

"Danny and Nicky were the perfect management team for this club at that point, but also we were the right club for them as we didn't have direction and they took control of that and gave the club direction."

You can listen to all episodes of the Red Imps Club on BBC Sounds.

Image source, Getty Images

You may notice a different layout and feel to your Lincoln City club page.

It is one of the perks of promotion to the Championship and becoming a second-tier team for the first time in 65 years.

On this page, BBC Sport will serve up a bespoke club service, complete with the latest news and analysis on everything Imps.

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