As the days of August trickle away, every Imps fan has one eye on the closing of the transfer window. Every Imps fan is hoping, praying and begging for that window to close, and for Sean Raggett to remain a Lincoln City player.
It could be said as the days pass it looks less likely, after all Championship side Sunderland are the latest to be linked with him, and if anyone needs a towering centre half to make an immediate impression it is them. They’ve only joined the back of a queue rumoured to contain Norwich, both West Ham and West Brom as well as Premiership Stoke City. They’re the ones we know about, but any mid-sized Premier League team or any Championship side with a half decent scouting network will surely have him on their radar.
It’s easy to see why he is in such demand too, his performances since Wycombe have been perfect examples of what a centre half should do. Every game he looks more assured, calm in possession and rock solid in the tackle. I haven’t seen a centre half this good in all my time as an Imps fan, not even Gareth McAuley stood out quite as much as Sean Raggett.
A week or so ago it seemed as though he was on his way. An impromptu fans forum put Bob Dorrian in front of a selection of enquiring fans, and he suggested Sean wouldn’t remain a Lincoln City player for any more than a fortnight. That was two weeks ago and as yet there is no indication Sean is on his way. In truth I think the situation had been misread by Bob.
An hour or two after that forum I witnessed Sean sat at the back of the Imps press conference as Jordan Maguire-Drew spoke to the assembled crowds, and it seemed as though Bob’s comments were news to the big defender. He seemed upset at the thought of his future being discussed in that way, and I imagine after acknowledging the crowd at Wycombe he felt the same way when that was misinterpreted as goodbye.
There has been rumour that his advisors told him not to play in the Wycombe match, but Sean wasn’t having any of that. During some of the most intense speculation over an Imps player future I’ve ever know, the player himself has remain stoic and focused on nothing more than the job in hand. His displays in the 270 minutes of football he’s had this season look to have been fuelled by a passion for Lincoln City, and a desire to show that no matter what happens in the future, for now he is an Imp.
His attitude has to be commended, after all we’re talking about a human being here and his personal future. He isn’t just a commodity we can buy and sell, he isn’t just a hard centre half dominating our defensive area. He’s also a young lad that just over a year ago was playing part time football in front of a handful of fans. It’s been a crazy fourteen months for him, he’s been catapulted to international stardom after his Burnley goal, and has become the name on many scouts scribble pads. All the while he has strode out onto the Sincil Bank pitch and turned in solid performances. There’s been no strops, no strikes, no moans and no courting other clubs. If anything, I think Sean Raggett wants to stay at Lincoln City this season.
I did wonder if Bob’s comments came from a financial point of view. Sean Raggett is a saleable asset, although despite what some say we wouldn’t be getting anymore than £350k even if several clubs came in for him. Once upon a time £350k was a lot of money for this club, and even by the time the Crabble lot have had their slice, it would still be a good sum of money. Since the FA Cup run though it isn’t quite as important, and in football terms would that money really compensate for not having Sean Raggett in the team? I think not.
I know there will be fans who believe we should cash in on him, but I’m not in that group. I believe firmly that if he stays here and leaves on a free transfer at the end of the season we would have actually got the best deal we could. Having Sean Raggett in our team for the season could push up into the play-off frame. It could help us go on another money-spinning FA Cup run, or even see us to Wembley in the Checkatrade Trophy. I think he is an asset we can ill-afford to lose at this stage, and unless the buy-out clause was into seven figures it is barely worth us agonising over it.
I’m also wondering if his advisors are doing a U-turn as well. Perhaps their boy was worth a few bob in July, but are they now greedily looking forward to May with pound signs flashing in front of their eyes? If he were to leave at the end of his contract we would get nothing, and they could demand a nice chunky signing on fee. It might sound mercenary, but I wouldn’t begrudge Sean his payday either. He’s a nice lad, unassuming and committed and I doubt very much his main focus is money. I suspect he just wants to play football to the highest standard he possibly can. Alex Woodyard wants to as well, but he’s been with Danny and Nicky for years whereas Sean has had one season under their wing. He’s ambitious, hungry and those are attributes we may well need over the next nine months or so.
Also, as I saw Jack Mulhall comment on Twitter earlier, I would happily drive down to Dover with that cheque for nothing, their share of his sell-on fee should he walk away a free agent. That in itself would be reward for not selling him now, the looks on that odious chairman’s face when he realised the tribunal stitch up concocted by him and his cronies had amounted to nothing at all. For those who don’t know, didn’t you think it was odd we were asked to pay something like £50,000 for a player that had never been in the Football League? I’m sure rumours of Parmenter and the tribunal guys all arriving in one car are unfounded, but not unlikely.
Whatever the outcome at the centre of this furore is a very good footballer, perhaps the best central defender we’ve had pass through since Trevor Peake. Whilst all the world around him have lost their heads, agents advising strikes, chairman pushing for sales and social media constantly bubbling with rumour, he’s just got on with training hard, tackling hard and developing as a player. There hasn’t been a hint of him being all ‘billy big bollocks’ about the interest in him, no a sniff of him engineering anything behind the scenes. Sean Raggett isn’t just a good player, he’s a model professional and a credit to our club and whatever the ultimate outcome is, that shouldn’t be forgotten.
Love him to stay the season then Dover get nothing.We get nothing also but we did earn about £1million for the Burnley win!
I will totally miss the guy but want the best for him. He has made Lincoln city folk law and will always be an imp.so when we see him in another shirt it will be with a heavy heart but with good memories, fly high raggs.
What a class act Raggett is. I loved his performance on Saturday….an intelligent footballer who reads the game so well. Solid and no nonsense at the back; also confident striding forward with excellent distribution. Let’s hope he stays.
Raggs is a class act and a top, top professional and a superb defender to boot. We have had some good centre-backs in my time of supporting the Imps – Trevor Peake, Gary Strodder, Tony James and Gareth McAuley to name the best of the bunch – and he is definitely up there with all of them. Hopefully he will be here until the end of the season, whether that’s as a bona fide City player or on loan from a higher league club (no lower than Championship) if he does indeed move before the window slams shut.
His attitude is top notch and some of the big-time charlies in the Premier League and beyond, who demand moves like spoilt brats and refuse to play because ‘their heads are all over the place’, should just take a look at Raggett and realise just how professional footballers should behave.
with raggs on sunderland radar the one thing in my mind. would he want to go another 100 odd mile further north away from his family wich i presume is in the south of the country
Got to the final paragraph before getting to the ‘best since’ name in my mind. He’s more of a Thommo than Peake player tbh, not (yet) got Peake’s reading of the game and sublime timing of tackles, but his Piquesque moves out of defence this season is more in the Peake mould, shows how his all round game is continuing to develop under the Cowleys.
He’s a class player who will only get better, his conduct the last few weeks shows he’s also a class person. Whatever he decides, whenever he leaves us to jump a division or three, even if it’s for no fee, his achievements on the pitch for the Imps have been a huge gain. Not least, as someone on Vitals has described it, his ‘million pound’ goal at Burnley. I’d raise that further with his equally important goals at FGR and Eastleigh, as well as being the foundation with Waterfall on which much of last season was built.
I hope he stays as he will continue to develop, to our benefit and hopefully be part of a push for a second successive promotion, by so doing he’ll be a more attractive proposition for the Premiership clubs which should be his objective. He has after all played just 2 EFL games. If he does decide to move on up, it should be with all our best wishes and biggest thanks, just hope if that happens Danny’s plan B has time to be executed, if that’s a season loan back to us, epic.
Much as I have read and appreciated your previous ramblings Hutch, THIS is by far the best written !
Having been privileged to have seen Trevor Peake at his peak (and become a jonnycomelatelyplasticreturninggloryhunter only after attending Tranmere at home last season by chance) the comparisons with Sean Raggett are obvious. His classy behaviour endears him even more than his towering performances as he is clearly flourishing under the tutelage of the Cowleys. With a fair wind we may be able to keep him on loan-back to further his learning here before stepping up next season as he is not destined for a place on the bench somewhere getting splinters – I hope the loan release of Howe is a sign that Danny and Nicky are more confident of this as an option (or playing out his contract as second choice)..IF the worst happens then I just hope we get to say a proper farewell and good luck to a fine player and great example to the many kids following City nowadays.