On This Day In Lincoln City History

For fun, I sometimes just go through the old newspaper archive and look at what happened on any given day in history.

Today, July 9th, I have found a few interesting newsworthy bits for you to read.

1971

It seemed as though we’d pulled off a coup in 1971 when we signed David Kennedy from Leeds United.

He scored on his Imps debut, on 1 September in their 3-1 defeat at Crewe. He then made six league appearances for City, plus a couple more from the bench that season, but struggled to make any sort of impact. His final appearance came in a Watney Cup tie at the end of July 1972 against Burnley. Kennedy quit football and left Sincil Bank in September 1972 to take up a full-time job, although we did retain his rights. Just in case.

1976

Ah, 1976, the summer that a young Miss Shirley Muxlow married the dapper, rogue-like Peter Hutchinson in Wragby. Of course, City were Division Four champions, and with the third tier looming large, Graham Taylor took his charges off to a warmer climate.

It was quite the summer for the Imps – they’d been over to Gibraltar in May for a tournament, and Taylor decided a summer training camp was just what they needed. Perhaps Oakham wasn’t the most exotic of places, but still, off they went.

1979

Kent-born Carr is something of an unsung hero of Colin Murphy’s Imps tenure. While the obvious names, such as Thompson, Peake, Cockerill, Harford and Hobson jump out, Carr was a steady presence and a solid capture in 1979.

He joined Luton Town as an apprentice in January 1973 (Luton paying Margate £2000 as a transfer fee) and turned professional in January 1975. After 43 games for the Hatters, all in Division Two, he joined Murphy’s Imps for £20,500 on this day, July 1979.

Over the next three seasons, he missed only one game and helped Lincoln to promotion from Division Four. He almost helped us to Division Two, scoring the goal at Fulham which gave us hope on the final day of the 1981/82 season.

1981

David Mitchell is perhaps the most famous commercial manager in Imps’ history. Why? The country music shambles. He joined on this day in 1981, and a year later, was fired after a disastrous country and western event at the ground.

1985

City were collapsing in 1985. The summer had been overshadowed by the Bradford tragedy, but on the field, a dynasty had ended. Colin Murphy left, players left, and with just nine players signed on, John Pickering was looking towards his first friendly.

We did sign players, but a year later, we’d be in Division Four. Two years later? You’ll see.

1987

Rebuilding. That was the summer of 1987. We were rebuilding a legacy, Murphy back in situ and looking at taking us back to Division Four at the first time of asking.

A big part of that was Trevor Matthewson, the captain signed from Stockport County. There was a delicious irony here – Murphy rated the defender at £50,000 when manager of the Hatters, but after swapping Cheshire for Lincolnshire, he took the deal to the tribunal, and paid just £13,000.

1992

City were among the favourites with the bookies in 1992/93 – quoted at 10/1 behind Bury and Scunthorpe (9/1) to be champions. Cardiff were 10/1 as well, and they ultimately won the league.

That wasn’t grabbing the headlines, though. Our awful discipline was. We joined Exeter, Darlington and Southampton in front of the FA panel. Geoff Davey explained that we’d been warned at Christmas, and we’d improved our discipline since then.

Curiously, the outcome seemingly wasn’t newsworthy, as there is no further mention of it!