A Recent Pair
Gary Simpson (2013-2014)
The National League hell isn’t something that really inspires supporters, but I think the gentle rebuild of the squad is worth talking about. I think I might have pushed people a little too far had I included David Holdsworth on this list, but I could well have done. It is my belief the board went over and above for Tilson in order to get back at the first attempt. when that failed, Holdsworth had to create a squad from nothing. Okay, he wasn’t a huge success on the pitch, not at all, but he did play a role in helping his successor. I confess it was a toss-up between which of the two I credited here. I suppose, as Gary gave us the best finish we had in the National League up to Chris arriving, it had to be him.
I have been critical of Simmo in the past and it has taken me some time to come around to the fact he started a renaissance of sorts. It was Gary Simpson who first had us looking like a proper squad again, not just a collection of chancers and loanees. He assembled a very good squad, Nolan, Newton, Tomlinson and Burrow stand out for me. Maybe, as a criticism, he didn’t always get the best out of them, but if he had we’d have challenged at the top of the table.
At the time, I felt his sacking was harsh but again, I wonder if we backed him for success and when it didn’t come, we had to turn to a cost-cutting measure to survive once more. I might have that all wrong, but I recall we paid a cash fee for Tomlinson, which was huge given the state we were in when Holdsworth was in charge. Gary Simpson paid the price for not getting the best out of a decent squad (playing Todd Jordan, leaving Jon Nolan on the bench….) but he did give us a team to believe in once again, even if the belief wasn’t delivered upon.
Chris Moyses (2014-2016)
We then move on to Chris, a man whom I recall divided a few opinions when he first came to the club. I remember hearing things like ‘cheap option’ and ‘part-time choice’, I may even have said the same things on the day he arrived. I recall, Dave Parman messaging me almost immediately and explaining the situation and why Chris was the right man for the job.
Just as David Herd laid the foundations for Graham Taylor, Chris did the same for Danny Cowley. Danny spoke about the characters we had at the club in 2016/17, Rheady as a pivotal part of the setup, Luke as captain, Muldoon and Hawkridge as great characters and unsung heroes. Who brought those players to Sincil Bank? Chris Moyses. Bradley Wood might not get spoken about much these days, but there was another incredible player on his day, brought to the club by Chris. He worked for free too, let us not forget that and had Liam Hearn not had his little meltdown, we might have been in line for a top-five finish.
Agree with these. Schoey has us playing the best football I have ever seen. It was a friendly against Leicester where I think my jaw hit the floor with the game I saw.
Simpson is a definite one for me. Whenever the talk moves to Cowley’s achievements the thinking man will always say “of course it was Moyses who set us on the road to recovery”. But this misses the man who saves us from going down when he came in around March time. Got us mid table the next year and then was sacked for drawing 3-3 away at FGR. Moyses got in some great players and sorted out the training ground, but it was him and Simpson who laid the foundations. It won’t argue it fully, but could it be said without Simpson there would be no Lincoln as we know it? We were going down out the conference until he came in along with Lee Beevers and Nat Brown.
I wouldn’t include David Herd on that list.
1. After becoming manager he was unable to prevent a finish in the re-election zone in 1970/71 – admittedly there was a horrendous list of injury problems that season.
2. In 1971/72 after looking well set for promotion things just fell apart in the last month of the season.
3. After Graham Taylor’s side finished fifth in 1975 we know what happened afterwards, but after Herd’s fifth place in 1972 we were going nowhere the following season.
4. Of the players he brought to the club – rather than inherited such as Ward, Freeman and Smith – only Terry Cooper formed part of Taylor’s side with the latter fairly quickly shipping out Herd signings such as Bradley, McMahon, Bloor, and later on Worsdale, McGeough and Symm.
Mind you, all I’ve written above is probably down to the disappointment of missing promotion in 1971/72!
Maybe David Calderhead (senior) deserves a mention? He did take take City to their highest ever league placing of fifth in Division Two in the middle of several other respectable placings in the same division, plus an appearance in the last 16 of the FA Cup.
I initially thought David Herd for my No 5, but chose Ron Gray instead. We went on the great League Cup run with Ron in charge, beating Newcastle Utd and their stars. We lost to Derby County in a replay. Should have won at the Baseball Ground, but a shot on goal got stuck in the mud on the goal line and was cleared away.
The replay is still the record attendance at Sincil Bank.
Wouldn’t argue against Ron Gray who also revitalised the club and put an end to the series of re-election applications in the mid-1960s.
I would include David Holdsworth . If it wasn’t for him cutting the squad and budget then we would probably have been back in administration. His job was too put 11 players on the pitch as cheaply as possible . Didn’t get the credit he deserved I’m my opinion.
Simmo is a great shout. His team put a smile on my face for the first time in five years at Sincil Bank. And he was a link with the Keith years.
Agree re Holdsworth – he got a bad press for his ‘big black book’ and revolving door for players and God knows he could turn them over.
However, he had a job to do following Tilson and did it reasonably well. He was unlucky – a minute or so from winning the FA Cup 2nd round match v Mansfield (thanks, Rheady) which would have landed the home tie v Liverpool and things could have been very, very different. That following the Imps’ first ever FA Cup win over a side 2 divisions higher, at Walsall.
The loss of the replay at the end of a good run seemed to kill all confidence in the squad and it all fizzled out from there before his replacement by Simmo and that desperate, relegation threatened end to that season.