Earlier in the week, I challenged you to pick your Lincoln City Most Disappointing XI.
There were just three rules.
- The player must have been owned by Lincoln City, not a loan player.
- The player must have played at least 25 matches for the club.
- The player must not be a current squad member.
I vowed to do mine, and given I found a free moment to well and truly depress myself, here it is. Remember, I’m not saying these were bad players, but it’s an XI of players who would never get near a Best XI – not even for the one season or so that they played for the club!
Also, I haven’t dipped into the non-league scene – it;s not fair to hold players from that pool in the same regard as Football League players, in my opinion.
Also, appearances shown are Football League, but all players made more than 25 senior appearances across all competitions.
Enjoy, if that’s the right word.
GK – Matt Dickens (27 appearances)
This could be a controversial shout. Dickens showed a huge amount of promise in the 1991/92 season, appearing 27 times and catching the eye of then-Blackburn Rovers manager Kenny Dalglish. He swapped Sincil Bank for Ewood Park for a £250,000 fee, and looked set for big things.
Four years later, he was turning out for Altrincham in non-league. This pick is more about a career not panning out how he imagined than it is anything, and because we’ve actually been blessed with good keepers over the years, it seemed a decent place to start.
RB: Cian Hughton (63 appearances)
I found it hard to select a right back that played enough games and was disappointing, but I always thought Hughton was a bit overrated, to say the least. He typifies the type of player we had at the time – one fans didn’t really relate to, who played a lot but didn’t ever do anything outstanding.
LB: Jamie Robson (39 appearances)
I still get quite angry when I think about Jamie Robson, because he should have been good. He had good pedigree, he was sought-after when we signed him and yet when he finally played, he was just a bit, ‘meh’. I championed him, saying how I’m sure he’d settle and I’m sure we’d recoup our money, and instead, he’s now playing against the likes of Boston and Wealdstone every week.
CB: Dave Barnett (22 appearances)
Barnett made 22 league appearances, but 25 starts overall, so he’s in. I felt he had some pedigree when he signed, having played more than 30 times for Birmingham in their last third-tier stay, as 36 times for Barnet in our division. However, he rarely made more than 30 appearances, and despite his quality, he played in a poor Lincoln team and didn’t stand out.
CB: Colin Cryan (41 appearances)
I feel a bit harsh putting Cryan in here, but many of our awful central defenders have been loans or short-term players. Cryan was someone I had high hopes for – he impressed at Scarborough along with Scott Kerr and I felt they would both be huge for us. Kerr was, but Cryan looked out of his depth at City. The fact he left us for Boston after 40-odd games says it all.
CM: Jamie Hand (25 appearances)
For us, Hand was really poor. He went on to have a decent non-league career, but we were hoping for promotion from League Two. Hand was never going to help facilitate that, and I can’t remember anything remarkable he did during his stay. He’s described as a ‘tough tackling midfielder’ which also describes Gary Mills, Kevin Hulme and Clark Keltie, all pony.
CM: Ian Hamilton (26 appearances)
I think my issue with Hamilton is all about the team he played in. He’d been a top player for West Brom and Scunthorpe, but by the time he arrived at City, he was a long way past his best. He struggled in a team that lacked quality, and in the end, he had to be paid off in the summer of 2002. Didn’t play Football League again.
LM: Adam Buckley (34 appearances)
Another from the Hamilton era, there’s lots of great stories about Buckley’s time at City. Given a contract by his Dad, he was often preferred to Peter Gain, which is the main reason I have him in here. There was obviously the other stuff that occurred, but it’s not fair to rake that back up after 20 years. He just wasn’t a good player.
RM: Albert Jarrett (22 appearances)
Having made 26 appearances in total, I’m definitely having Jarrett in here. Chris Sutton signed him and Carayol to add some flair to the team that ultimately, went down like a fizzled our firework. Carayol didn’t do badly, he was just injured a lot, but Jarrett was poor. Like many on this list, he came from another Football League club, but after he left, it was non-league all the way.
CF: Chris Maguire (34 appearances)
Controversial? Maybe, but Chris Maguire is a player I thought would be a game-changer for us; I just never realised he was awkward to deal with. I met him at a sponsor’s event before he kicked a ball, and he basically said Lincoln was too quiet and if he wanted anything, he just drove to Sheffield. I wish I’d offered him a lift there and then, instead of watching 33 appearances full of sulking, moaning and ridiculous antics.
Of course, we’ll always have Sunderland away.
S: Drewe Broughton (30 appearances)
Presented without comment.
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