A few months ago, we did a tongue-in-cheek Lincoln City Jailbirds XI.
As we approach the summer, where there will be a glut of transfers, it seems the Lights Out XI have a new recruit, as former Imps player Luke Foster has been jailed for three years for growing cannabis. He’s been sent to Nottingham Prison, and was sentenced alongside two other men.
As an ex of Jamie Vardy’s wife, Rebekah, Foster isn’t a stranger to the media spotlight. He did a newspaper story around the time of the Wagatha Christie furore and, at the time, labelled her ‘Britain’s pushiest WAG’. It seemed his move to Lincoln might have been the final straw, prompting the split and years of bitter words.
“When I moved from Preston to Lincoln my wages went down and Becky would say: ‘We can’t live on that.’ But it was still more than my mates earned as builders. I’d go ‘What planet are you on?’” The couple split in 2013, not long after he moved back to the Bank.
Luke Foster jailed for running a cannabis factory! 🚬 #OUFC pic.twitter.com/CQUHfIBbp0
— George Fryer (@georgesamfryer) April 23, 2024
2013 wasn’t his first stint with the Imps. Having been on the books of Sheffield Wednesday as a youth, he appeared 17 times for Keith Alexander’s side in 2005/06, scoring in the 5-0 win against Grimsby, before leaving for non-league football. That wasn’t the end for the versatile defender; he rebuilt his career with Oxford United and had stints with Stevenage, Mansfield and Matlock before a surprise move to then-League One side Preston North End.
He returned to Lincoln under Gary Simpson in 2013/14 and started 25 National League matches, scoring as we won away at Braintree. He then moved to Southport and appeared against the Imps twice in the following season before hooking up with Simon Weaver at Harrogate.
The 38-year-old’s arrival in the Lights Out XI now means we can even have two subs, with loan player Charlie Hartfield dropping to the bench to ensure that we can have a compelte XI of players we actually owned. I’m really not sure it’s a good thing!