It’s time for another rundown of some of my favourite Lincoln players of all time.
I’m going for someone who featured in our recent past, but my love for him goes back to his first spell at the club. Michael O’Connor came in on loan at a time when I lost a bit of connection with my club, the Peter Jackson era. I’ve been vocal in my dislike for this era and, at times, my dislike of Jackson himself. I know he’s a good man, and I know many loved him, but I always felt the myth was more than the man, certainly in footballing terms. Under him, we spent relatively big on players like Stefan Oakes and underachieved. He lauded the Magnificent Seven and I firmly believe that season we should have done better.
Think about it: Lee Beevers, Lee Frecklington, Stefan Oakes, Aaron Brown, Adrian Patulea, Janos Kovacs, Rob Burch, Paul Green, Dany N’Guessan, Scott Kerr, Ben Wright, and Frank Sinclair. That team had the makings of one that should have been in the top seven. It wasn’t, and there was an issue by the time the January transfer window shut. Days after it closed, Lee Frecklington was allowed to join Peterborough, leaving us short in midfield.
I fumed, and I was still fuming when it was announced we’d signed a young Irish midfielder from Crewe a month later, reportedly a player who’d fallen out with their manager. In my eyes, he wasn’t Lee Frecklington, so I didn’t care. When said player made his debut as Grimsby thrashed us 5-1, it hardly screamed Lincoln legend.
The next game was against promotion-chasing Wycombe (who now had Frank Sinclair on loan, helping them go up), and we were excellent at the Bank. It was our first home win since December, in mid-March, and O’Connor ran the show. He ran every show even as we stumbled over the line in midtable. I can’t describe how much I loved his energy and direction. Crewe had a top player on their hands, but as the season wore on, it became clear he was leaving Gresty Road.
Could we?
No, was the answer. It was rumoured his price tag might be a million, but it ended up at £250,000. Such was O’Connor’s impact that he was called up for Northern Ireland at the end of the season, purely on his performances for us. He was outstanding, and there was no surprise when he joined Scunthorpe, then a Championship club, in the summer.
I watched enviously over the next seven seasons as he flourished, not only with the Iron but also with Rotherham (back-to-back promotions alongside Freck in midfield) and at Port Vale in League One (76 outings, 12 goals). Injury-hit his time at Notts County, and in our first season back in the league, he appeared just six times.
Then, out of the blue, we were linked with him again. Under normal circumstances, there would have been outrage at us signing ‘a crock’, but it was Michael O’Connor, a man who had stayed local and wanted to be close to home. At the time, I wrote: “Michael O’Connor is a good, solid signing. Unlike our other two summer recruits, he is a proven article, steady and perhaps with some of his best football behind him. He’s part of a balanced and measured transfer policy, blending exciting youth (Toffolo) with exciting non-league prospect (Andrade) and now vastly experience.”
I felt it was a coup in League Two, and so it proved to be. He regained fitness and appeared in a 4-1 victory over Swindon in the league before bagging a big cup win at Port Vale. O’Connor was back.
I have a lot of favourites from that season, but as regular readers know, I really like two types of players – a combative ‘does the unseen work’ midfielder like O’Connor and a flying winger. Over the years, I’ve loved Liam Bridcutt, Scott Kerr, Alex Woodyard, John Finnigan, Alan Power and (of course) Ethan Erhahon, and O’Connor fell into that type of player. He was combative and picked up yellows (and a red, justified if I recall). However, what he did was become a vital cog in a team that won the League Two title. In my lifetime experience, City didn’t win trophies, and here we were, winning a Football League title for the first time since 1976.
Now, another reason I love O’Connor is slightly personal. I wrote something around the end of the season where I suggested if we were promoted, we’d buy a new midfielder, as he was perhaps suited to League Two. I felt if we stepped up, we’d be clearing out, and my comment was meant to suggest that he could help a League Two club to honours, whereas in League One, he might not get as much game time. He saw it on social media and replied late at night with a few tweets that others got on as well. I woke up to what seemed like me criticising a title-winning player, and I felt awful. Awkwardly, I was at the training ground the next day as well!
I was utterly terrified of seeing him, but when I did, he was great. he put an arm around me and laughed about it, and then he proved me wrong by scoring in our first League One game in more than 20 years. Sadly, when Danny left, the Michael Appleton-era cleared out much of the old guard and brought in changes. Those changes did work for us in the long term, but they saw O’Connor move to Salford. What I really liked was his attendance at our 3-2 win against Burton at the end of that season. He came and watched us, standing with me for a while and chatting about Salford, his move, and future plans.
He moved back to Ireland after COVID, and that was that, but he’s always been a player I’ve loved. I think it might be that we saw two sides of him; the fiery young upstart at the beginning of his career, all anger and point proving, whereas when he came back, he was much more grounded, a better all-round player, still with a bit of anger, but also a senior figure in a dressing room packed with leaders. I love that throughout his time in England, which was a success, the one club he has a title-winner medal from is Lincoln City.
Michael O’Connor. Doubtless an Imp worth remembering.
You must be logged in to post a comment.