From History

Harry Parkes (1927-1936)

History is an odd thing in football. Few like to look back, but those that do usually look back to their lifetime, perhaps a tiny bit before. That’s why you’ll see Bill Anderson mentioned in the list of great managers because some will remember him and his achievements. It is why we fondly recall Andy Graver, but also why recent managers and players appear more often in polls for the greatest ever. Remember when I did the Stacey West XI, Neal Eardley was almost universally accepted as the best right back, yet recent all-time XI’s have been a little more varied.

Harry Parkes is a manager who virtually nobody will remember at Lincoln, but he’s managed the second-highest amount of games for the club, only behind Bill Anderson. He was a player for West Brom and Coventry, but a modest career finished in 1920 and after spell in charge of Newport and Chesterfield, he rocked up at Sincil Bank. He had taken the Spireites to a top-seven finish every year in Division Three North and his arrival was something of a coup. We finished runners up in his first season in charge, and again in 1931 finishing one point behind the Chesterfield team he had helped to put together. In 1932, he took us to our first piece of Football league silverware, winning the division with 106 goals in 40 matches, 42 of which came from Tottenham-bound Alan Hall.

He also kept us in Division Two for a year before relegation and he left in 1936, having been in charge of 395 matches with a 47.34% win ratio, bettered only by Danny Cowley. If you hadn’t heard of Harry Parkes before today, you’re welcome.

David Herd (1971-1972)

Perhaps, had I more time and you had the inclination to read about pre-war managers, I could have covered Bill Anderson’s predecessor Joe McClelland, in charge during the war year and the man who helped put together the 1946/47 title-winning team. However, in the interests of keeping this a little more relevant, I’m going to leap forward to David Herd.

He took over from much-loved Imps’ figure Bert Loxley and endured a tough start which saw us apply for reelection. However, in the summer, Herd set about signing players and for the first time in many years, Lincoln mounted a serious promotion challenge. An opening day win against Colchester due to goals from Phil Hubbard and Dave Smith in front of 6,607 at Sincil Bank certainly got fans thinking, and by the time September 29th arrived, 15,015 were convinced enough to watch us despatch Grimsby Town by 3-0. The Imps were in business.

City were almost invincible at home, not losing until April against Darlington. The team was an embryonic form of the superstar side of the 1976 season, with Graham Taylor on the playing staff along with John Ward, Percy Freeman, Phil Hubbard and Dave Smith. John Ward played 11 games that season, three as substitute appearances and he netted five times.

In January David Herd became the first-ever Imps manager to win a manager of the month award after wins over Workington,(1-0), Brentford (4-1) and Doncaster (2-0) with a 2-2 draw in front of 15,856 at Grimsby as well. Form faltered towards the end of March but despite a late-season loss of form (just two wins in ten) City finished fifth, seven points behind eventual league winners Grimsby and just three points behind promoted Brentford in third. He signed Brendan Bradley and Jimmy McGeough, stars of the League of Ireland, in the summer and again looked to be mounting a promotion challenge. Bradley had scored nine goals by the beginning of October, but form tailed off and a 3-1 defeat at Bradford on December 2nd meant just one win in nine games. Amid rumours of a crisis Herd left to focus on his business interests and some bloke called Taylor took over.

Herd had a win ratio of 36.59%, better than Peter Jackson and slightly worse than Keith (second time), but he won 30 and drew 30, with 22 defeats, making his win to loss ratio fourth-best of all time at 136%. Damn those draws.