John Nutter

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Nutter in action for Gillingham

 

John Nutter is a bit different to my usual A to Z choices. The feature is meant to highlight the nowhere men and the nearly men, but with John Nutter I wanted to highlight another type of player: the decent player who struggled with relocation.

Nutter had a good career before he came to City. After good performances in the non league with Aldershot and Stevenage he ended up at League One Gillingham where he made 135 league appearances in a three year spell.

He arrived at Lincoln as part of Steve Tilson’s attempt to get back into the football league at first attempt. He arrived with a reputation as an attacking full back who had dropped down a level too far. Even by his own admission he felt he’d dropped down further than e needed to.

He was ever present in our first appalling season scoring a couple of goals. He never had a chance to shine in such a poor City side but he also never let the team down. I liked John Nutter as a player but he really suffered from the inconsistency that came with Tilson being sacked and Holdsworth coming in. He scored in a crucial 2-0 home win against Newport after a fans demonstration that sparked a run of three wins to help us towards safety.

In his second season he was named as captain but began to struggle with travelling as he had a young family. His last goal for Lincoln was in a 3-3 draw with Stockport, and his final appearance was in the 3-2 AET win at Walsall in the FA Cup. Shortly afterwards due to family commitments he moved initially on a two month loan down to Woking.

In just his second game for Woking he was on the end of a 7-0 defeat at the hands of Hyde, but they still made his move permanent and he went on to make 70 appearances for the Cards spanning almost two seasons. His last professional game was as a last minute sub in a 1-0 over Forest Green.

After football John settled in the south and has recently been working as a PE Teacher at a prep school.