Trevor Cherry

Still in 1987, we were also heavily linked with Trevor Cherry. Cherry was a manager with a big future ahead of him, seemingly, but he was out of work as we dropped out of the Football League. He was a former England international, appearing for his country in the wilderness years of the late seventies after winning the Football League with Leeds United. He finished his career as a player-manager with Bradford City, clinching the Third Division title with them in 1985, with his final appearance just days before the Bradford Fire Tragedy. He won Manager of the Year after earning them promotion but was surprisingly sacked in early 1987.

He was thought to be interested in the Imps’ post, but we only had eyes for one man, his opposite number in the dugout on that fateful May afternoon in 1985, Colin Murphy. He never returned to football, running a promotions company among other things, and he passed away in 2020 after contracting Covid.