I think for some, it’s been one of the hardest parts of the summer; keeping the arrival of Ben Coker under tabs.
It was seemingly really hard for our good friend Harry Anderson, who revealed his presence in Lincoln with a series of Instagram posts last night. To be fair to Harry, from what I’ve heard, Ben has been around the lads for a while now and is already accepted as part of the squad.
There were reports of a player pulling into the car park during the pre-season friendlies, being asked his name. One of our eagle-eared fans heard him say what it was, then say ‘I’m signing but it’s not being announced yet’. In fairness, that stayed off social media.
I was made aware of our interest a long while ago now, but didn’t ever really know what the situation was. I know I was keen to see Coker join the squad, he’ll certainly offer depth to the existing set of players but, if he’s going to dislodge Harry Toffolo, he’s got a huge job on his hands. Toff has had a great start to the season and I firmly believe we’re in a better position than Sunderland right now, albeit only in terms of contracted left backs.
We’ve got two, both first team quality, they’ve got one out of their youth team.
I’ve said plenty about Ben already and don’t want to repeat myself. You can find the article where I talk about what he’ll add to the squad here, but below is a look at his stats from the 2016/17 season.
Obviously, we welcome Ben to the club. It’s clear he’s a top player who has the potential to impact our squad positively. It gives us a little more competition for places which is good; it’s been a long while since we’ve had four full backs at the club, all capable of regular first team action.
He’s clearly delighted to be here and anyone who has seen his recovery videos on the BBC will already know he’s the right sort of personality to have around the club. Thanks to Harry, we know he can do yo-yo tricks as well. Speaking to the club’s official website he showed a good sense of humour about the number of Essex boys currently with the Imps.
“I’m buzzing to be here, I’ve never been up North,” he said. “I’m really excited to get going, I can’t wait. Once the opportunity came up, I jumped at the chance to come here.
“I knew a few of the lads and there are a few accents similar to mine so it’ll be easy to settle in I can’t wait to get back out on the grass and show the fans what I’m capable of.”
I guess Danny is now going to be looking for a striker, maybe a winger and a centre half. I do wonder if the winger position might be something either Coker or Toff could get stuck into, if needed?
Better late than never Mr Coker !
Lets hope he is fully fit and remains so and he will be a great addition to the squad.?
Sometimes we need a strong defensive left back at this level… Toff is great breaking from the back and the left side attacking wise is always a threat… worryingly defensively at this level I think he may be vulnerable… it would be hard to drop toff but there may be times when Cokers defensive qualities are necessary!