Lincoln City cleaned up the away dressing room at the Emirates before they left, with manager Danny Crowley saying, “If it’s good enough for the All Blacks, it’s good enough for us.”
After Arsenal’s game at Sutton, the S*n made a massive deal of Arsenal players leaving the away dressing room in a mess. It’s not an uncommon thing for a visiting team (or even a home team) to leave their changing room in a state and it seemed that the S*n were just looking for yet another excuse to twist the knife in Arsenal.
But Lincoln City have put everybody to shame by cleaning up after themselves – they even asked for a hoover and tidied all their empties into a corner.
“We always clean the dressing room wherever we go,” manager Danny Cowley said. “We all do it. We make sure we clean up and leave it as we found it.
“The All Blacks call it “Sweep the decks”, don’t they. If it is good enough for the All Blacks, it’s good enough for us.”
Cowley also revealed a few more details about the meeting he had with Arsene Wenger after the match. “The fact he gave us an hour-and-a-half of his time after the week he’s had says everything about the man.
“He loves the game and he talks with such enthusiasm. We understand as a non-league team the FA Cup journey has to come to an end and then it’s about what you can learn.”
Meanwhile, the Arsenal players invited their Lincoln counterparts into the home dressing room after the match. “I got Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s shirt,” said forward Matt Rhead. “It was a nice touch from them.”