Wasn't that the accusation chucked at the Malkinson back in the 90s, that he was perfectly content with the club being a solid Unibond side but didn't want promotion? Leading into that grand conspiracy theory that did the rounds when John Blackwell "forgot" to send the form off applying for promotion that season (1995?).
I seem to recall Boston Town were considered similarly reluctant to win their league in the mid-90s! Andy Sandall might have been able to tell us if there was any truth in that if he were still around these forums.