Sutton faces hoops telly test

Chris Sutton faces the toughest test of his brief managerial reign when the ITV cameras take in tomorrow's Northwich Victoria-Lincoln City FA Cup tie.

Despite their league status it looks like a tough assignemt for Sutton against the green and white hoops of Northwich who knocked out Charlton Athletic in the last round.

Sutton's side have been devastated by injuries with ten players missing from his squad due to injuries and the unavailability of loan signings.

Former Rangers reserve Brian Gilmour has been signed after being released by FC Haka of Finland and is likely to make his debut at Northwich.

Sutton said: “It goes without saying that our preparation has been less than ideal but we have to deal with it.

“We've struggled in the last few games, especially in front of goals and everyone can see that. The final pass and decision making isn't quite there.

“We're trying our best to to try and help the players and hopefully in January we'll be able to do something to change that.

“Everyone is aware of how difficult a match it will be at Northwich, we know that they are a decent side and might look on themselves as favourites for the match.”

Despite winning his first two games in charge Lincoln are fourth from bottom of the basement division and just five points above relegation.

Pushing up the league is clearly the priority for Sutton but a place in the third round of the FA Cup and the chance to play against a Premiership side and generate some cash for the January transfer window.

Elsewhere in the FA Cup tomorrow Norwich travel to face Carlisle for a place in the third round while Simon Ferry will be in the Swindon team that travels to face non-league Wrexham.

Sutton's FA Cup challenge

Former Celt Chris Sutton dips his toes into the managerial graveyard of the FA Cup tomorrow when he takes Lincoln City to face Conference North side AFC Telford.

The New Bucks Head Stadium is a million miles removed from the stadiums that Sutton graced as a player but already in his management career the former England striker has shown his keenness to roll up his sleeves and get to work at the footballing coalface.

Lincoln haven't made the second round of the FA Cup since 2003/04 when their manager was dominating Scottish football in the final season of his partnership with Henrik Larsson.

Sitting in 19th place out of 24 in League Two, Lincoln won't be taking anything for granted at Telford although Sutton happily wasn't overdoing the cup cliches when he previewed the match.

The Lincoln boss said: "If you'd asked me would I rather draw Norwich, Leeds and Charlton or Telford I would pick Telford, and that's no disrespect to them because we are expecting a tough game.

UPSETS

"I think over the years they've caused a few upsets and last year they were unlucky to lose to Southend, so they will think they're in with a chance.

"It's a very special competition and I am aware that we haven't won through to the second round for the last six years.

"That's too long and it's about time we put that right by beating Telford tomorrow, although I realise it will be tough. Myself and Ian Pearce (Sutton's assistant manager) went to watch them the other night and they are decent.

"They will certainly fancy their chances, especially as they are at home but ultimately it's about what we do and we simply have to be at it from the first whistle."

ZAMERETO

Elsewhere in the FA Cup Paul Lambert takes Norwich to face Paulton Rovers who play five levels below the Canaries in the Zamereto League.

Paulton have won through five qualifying rounds to face Norwich with the game a 2,500 sell-out despite being shown live on ITV, kick off 12.45 Saturday.

Loan Celts Simon Ferry and Ben Hutchison will be expecting to progress with Swindon at home to Woking with Ferry on the scoresheet in last week's 4-1 win at Tranmere.

Evening Herald report from Hamburg

Sutton Impact: Look out League Two

Chris Sutton and management, what a combination.

Not many manager's would turn down a team of Sutton's, if Martin O'Neill had had his way he'd have had a Sutton at centre half, centre midfield and also centre forward.

It's hard to make predictions on Sutton's management potential because he was generally so damn good at concealing his feelings, with a few notable exceptions.

Sutton expects the best and has no time for slackers or anyone not prepared to give it 100%. Anyone taking liberties with him has an enemy for life.

Lincoln City certainly isn't amongst the most desirable of clubs but Sutton seems happy to get hands on in the management game at the club that sent Graham Taylor all the way to the top in management.

SOME CLASSIC SUTTON CELTIC ACTION

The new Lincoln boss said: "I'm really pleased to get the opportunity to come here and manage and I want to take the club forward as quickly as I can.

INFRASTRUCTURE
"The setup here is fantastic. There is a good infrastructure, it just needs the team to start winning games on the pitch.

"Over the last couple of years I've thought about going into management and got organised. I'm ready and prepared.

"Now we want to get the team organised, get the confidence up and start winning football matches.

"We need to pick up a couple of results, and if we do that we'll get some momentum and over the course of the next few months I'm convinced we'll improve."

Tonight against Notts County Sutton and assistant Iain Pearce will take a back seat before getting hands on with the team.

The former Celt's matter of fact approach is impressive, he's not one for dramatics or attention, getting the job done and getting results is all that matters. Some Lincoln players will probably be terrified of his reputation, others will thrive with him in charge, in any battle or scrap he's the type that you'd want on your side.

DETERMINATION
There are some similarities in character between Sutton and Roy Keane, both have great self belief and determination, neither suffers fools, but as Keane is learning at Ipswich Town management demands much more than that.

Moving down the ladder and working with lesser players isn't easy for someone who spent more than a decade at the very top of the game but coming through the ranks at Norwich City will stand Sutton in good stead for the job involved at Lincoln.

Strangely during his Celtic career he never received the outpouring of support that Henrik Larsson or John Hartson enjoyed however no one could be in any doubt about Sutton's desire to succeed and the key role he played in the success of Martin O'Neill.

ADVOCAAT
As soon as he arrived at Celtic he made an impact, after scoring the winner on his debut at Dundee United he casually told television viewers that he wasn't up here to finish second best to Rangers. Very undiplomatic to the mighty Advocaat bandwagon.

In his first game against Rangers he scored the first and last goals in a 6-2 win that changed the landscape of the domestic game, arguably Celtic are still feeling the benefits of that result and the successes of that season.

Most famously Sutton will be remembered for his comments as Celtic lost the title in 2002/03 when a 4-0 win at Kilmarnock wasn't enough for the Uefa Cup finalists to retain the title due to Rangers 6-1 win over Dunfermline.

In the heat of the moment, the pain of defeat, and hinting at what many suspected Sutton spilled the beans saying: "We all suspected they might lie down and it looks like that is exactly what's happened."

What a stooshy that kicked up.

It ran for weeks on ends with all sorts of action suggested of Sutton who got his retraction sent out, served his ban then came back to help Celtic to the following season's title thanks to a run of 25 wins out of the first 26 games with the championship clinched at Rugby Park.

WHITEWASH
Along the way was a memorable whitewash of Rangers with five wins in a season over the Ibrox side culminating in a last minute winner from Sutton at Celtic Park to create the picture shown above.

Sutton's single-mindedness suggests that he'll succeed in management, away from football he's happier playing cricket or dealing with a farmyard full of animals that joining the celebrity circuit.

Watching his impact at Lincoln should be fascinating, any signs of success and he'll quickly be on the radar of bigger clubs and without doubt join the growing list of potential Celtic managers of the future.

Former Celts in management. Tony Mowbray, Mark McGhee, John Hughes, Davie Moyes, Mick McCarthy, Malky Mackay, Roy Keane, Paul Lambert, Chris Sutton, Willie McStay.