Former Lincoln City loanee Robbie Gotts has described joining the Imps as ‘pure excitement’ but revealed he had no qualms about stepping down the play for Salford City in the winter window.
Gotts joined the Imps on loan at the beginning of the season, making his debut as we were beaten 3-1 by Portsmouth at Sincil Bank. He went on to start nine matches, four in League One, but struggled to force his way into Michael’s first-team plans. He joined the club just as Liam Bridcutt returned to fitness, ironically leaving just before he suffered his recent injury setback. Three weeks either side of that and Gotts would likely have played more.
Whilst it was Bridcutt who potentially kept him out of the team, it was the former Leeds man Gotts also looked up to when he arrived, with our captain even staying the night at Gotts’ temporary home to help him avoid being lonely. That, and the high standards set by the team and coaching staff no doubt, means Gotts won’t hear a bad word said about the club, despite the lack of game time.
“I don’t have a bad word to say about Lincoln,” he told The Athletic. “It was pure excitement when I joined them, a chance to play and to get my name out there.”
Sadly, it didn’t turn out that way, with Gotts only getting a handful of matches. Ironically, he would likely have played the last couple of months, certainly since Liam Bridcutt‘s injury, but he didn’t get the chance. Instead, he opted to move to Salford, where he has since scored twice, helping them towards what looks like a serious promotion push.
“They were really good with me but it’s much better to be playing and at Lincoln, I wasn’t really,” he continued. “It was my decision to go down a division. I know everyone wants to be at the highest level possible but everything at Salford was positivity. I went there on the Friday and I played on the Saturday. It was nice to be straight into it.”
Gotts missed their recent EFL Trophy win as he had represented the Imps in the competition already, scoring on his last performance as we beat Accrington 4-0.
There’s little doubt losing Gotts when we did was a blow to the squad, and he could have settled nicely in the holding role when we needed him, but sadly we couldn’t offer him regular football until injury struck. That’s the dice you roll whenever you bring a player in or let one go. Danny Cowley fell foul of bringing them in (Angol and Brown) back in 2018/19, drawing criticism, whilst possibly Michael has suffered for seeing one leave (Gotts).
You must be logged in to post a comment.