Former Imps midfielder Darren Davis has admitted in the latest edition of A City United that he didn’t get on with our current radio star, Steve Thompson.
“I played alongside him as a player and we never saw eye to eye then. You’ve got to get on with it though, There was no big-time charlies there at the time and we stuck our heads down and got on with it.”
Davis was a tall and versatile defender who made over 100 appearances for City in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. His experiences with Steve Thompson came to a head shortly after Thommo took over from Allan Clarke.
“He was different, a complete opposite,” said Davis. “He was more of a shouter and bawler, more than Colin (Murphy) and definitely more than Allan. He knew what he wanted, but it was slightly tough for him as he was a player, one of us. Then all of a sudden he’s the boss and it was difficult for him to transfer from being a player to a manager. He had to keep himself away from everybody.”
Thommo had to pick a Lincoln City side up off the floor and repackage them as tough, direct and hard to beat. In doing so, he was bound to break a few eggs.
“Thommo and I didn’t see eye to eye a lot of the time. He did well, he got some good results and got the team playing in a different way, more to our strengths.
Davis did not see the season out with City, with Thompson accepting a bid from Maidstone just hours following a 2-1 home defeat by the Kent club in March 1990 on a rare Sunday match for the Imps.
“I didn’t know anything about it at the time,” he admits now. “We had played Maidstone the night before – it was deadline day and I got called into his office. He said to me ‘have you been tapped up?’ I asked why and he replied ‘well, Maidstone have come in for you’.
“I did well the night before and he said ‘I’m letting you go, so if you want to speak to them it is up to you’. So I went to speak to them and we agreed on a move. The good thing for me is that my parents had recently moved down to Maidstone, very ironically, so it made things quite easy for me. They wanted me, they were going to play me, while I was in and out of the team at Lincoln under Thommo.”
If you want to read the full interview with Davis where he discusses his early years at the Bank, his return with Steve Wicks and departure under John Beck and life after the Imps please make sure you grab the latest copy of A City United. Our regular ‘Blast from the past’ interviewer Dominic Picksley really gets to the bottom of Darren Davis!
Stockists can be found by visiting www.acityunited.net
Featured picture courtesy of Lincoln City Football Club.
He also played for Dean Wheately in Singapore 1n about 92/3