Lincoln City have promoted Chris Cohen and Tom Shaw to joint head coaches, placing the two long-serving assistants in charge after a season that ended with the Sky Bet League One title and 103 points. The move gives the club a familiar leadership pair at the point where planning for next season begins to take shape.

Cohen and Shaw had already been at the centre of the work behind that title run. They led training every day throughout the campaign, worked closely with the players and helped guide one of the most successful stretches in the club’s recent history before stepping up from assistant head coach roles.

Chief executive Liam Scully said the pair had made an enormous contribution to Lincoln’s success and said the appointment offers continuity, stability and an opportunity to keep moving the club forward. He also pointed to the relationships they have built with players, staff and supporters as part of the reason the club moved to confirm them in the top job now.

The timing matters because Lincoln are entering the transfer window with a title-winning squad and a coaching structure that the club wants to keep intact. Scully said the club’s search for the next head coach had been thorough and open even while Michael was still in post, but the decision ultimately fell on the two coaches who had already helped shape the team’s standards and identity.

Sporting director Jez George went further, saying Cohen and Shaw were very close to these roles already and had been running much of the football operation with autonomy for two years. He said they led every training session, unit meeting and individual game plan, and that they designed and refined the club’s game model under Michael’s watch.

George also made clear that the new title is less a change in practice than a formal recognition of how the pair have worked. He said it goes against convention to call it a head coach and assistant arrangement when the relationship is genuinely 50/50, and said both men will now share ultimate responsibility for team selection. That leaves Lincoln with clarity on the structure, but also one practical question as the new season approaches: how the joint model will look when selections have to be made and pressure starts to build.