We’re always quick to look at our transfer successes as Lincoln City fans.
Not the loan players like Morgan Rogers or Brennan Johnson, although we do applaud them, but the likes of Regan Poole and Harry Toffolo. Players who serve us well, step up and carry on to the next level, and in the case of Toffolo, the Premier League.
Very rarely, unless you’re that type of person on Twitter, do we acknowledge those who have not worked out. Either those who moved on to improve themselves and failed, or those who just never landed once they left the Imps.
I thought I’d pick some out for fun, across my time as a City fan, but with a caveat. I’m not going in two-footed on players who saw injury blight their success. I’m talking about the likes of Anthony Scully, moving on for a big fee, but suffering injury after injury that led him back to the lower reaches of the EFL.
Without further ado, here are six players who flopped hard after leaving Lincoln City.
Jamie Robson
Robson was such a big hope. I recall the first time we were linked with him, around the time he netted the winner for Dundee United in a 1-0 victory over Rangers, ending their 40-match unbeaten Premiership run and earning BBC Man of the Match. He was touted as a Tayo Edun replacement should he leave, and he did. At the end of August, Robson signed a long-term deal at Sincil Bank. He debuted away at Cambridge United and went on to feature primarily at left-back across league, cup and EFL Trophy fixtures during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, making 47 appearances in all competitions, 39 in League One and eight in cup competitions, without scoring.
Let’s be honest, he didn’t do well. He never truly settled, becoming a regular during Michael Appleton’s second spell in charge, a period that was often functional rather than fluent, before continuing under Mark Kennedy in another era that lacked spark, one he arguably came to symbolise.
In January 2023, he moved to Forest Green Rovers for an undisclosed fee, allowing Lincoln to recoup a small profit, and he remained there through the rest of their League One campaign and into the following League Two season. After their back-to-back relegations, he departed on in August 2025 to join newly promoted Oldham Athletic on a two-year deal, for whom he has appeared 45 times this season.
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