Lincoln's innovators plot ways to 'disrupt' Chelsea

The ambitious League One club are focused on growth but old-fashioned tactics may aid their pursuit of an upset

- Ben Fisher

It is the makings of a pub-quiz question: what do third-tier Lincoln City have in common with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt? The answer is in their forward-thinking approach, with the League One side one of a few clubs in the world to have a dedicated innovation arm.

There are always ideas bubbling away, one centring on using plant-based energy gels, another on adjusting dressing-room lighting to heighten performance.

Lincoln are flying high in League One despite a bottom-half budget and host Chelsea in the Carabao Cup third round tonight on the back of one defeat in 12 matches. Reaching the second tier is the next milestone in sight, a level they have not played at since 1961. Jason Futers, the club's chief growth and innovation officer, joined last year after a career in risk and technology across a number of startups.

"It isn't about trying to find the next Facebook or Meta to invest in," Futers says. "This is looking across the board: what as a club can we do to grow and how can we innovate in that growth? We want to be a sustainable Championship club.

And, like all clubs, we lose a lot of money, so we're exploring how we can do things a bit differently."