On this day in 1993, Lincoln City completed a double swoop described as a coup, but that didn’t quite pan out that way.
The first of the two players through the door was 27-year-old David Hill from Scunthorpe United. Hill was a left-footed midfielder, and was seen as a successor to Graham Bressington, who was moving up the divisions with Southend United. Out of contract at Scunthorpe, he was eager to move to the Bank, but as this was pre-Bosman, a fee had to be negotiated. That fee was eventually £30,000, with us also sending Matt Carmichael as a sweetener.
Hill had been on Notts County’s books as a schoolboy, although after leaving school he spent time playing for Arnold Town and working as an apprentice motor mechanic. When he was 19, he had a six-week trial with Everton, but wasn’t picked up. He joined Scunthorpe United during the 1982/83 season and soon attracted attention from clubs higher up the league, including Ipswich Town, who paid £90,000 for him in 1988.
His three-year spell at Portman Road, then in the Second Division, was disrupted when he broke his right leg, and he later returned to Scunthorpe on loan in 1991 before the move became permanent the following season, with the Iron paying Ipswich £30,000 for his registration.
“I finally decided on Lincoln City because of both the offer the club made, and most importantly, they are ambitious for promotion,” said Hill. “It was time for a change and I am very happy to have joined Lincoln.”
The second signing was Steve Mardenborough, and his capture was a little less straightforward. The 29-year-old came to City from Darlington, but was eager to play regular football. A fee couldn’t be agreed, as managing director Geoff Davey explained.
“Darlington have priced the player at £135,000, and although we think quite highly of Steve Mardenborough, we have valued him at £5000.”
The two figures, with inflation, would be around £300,000 and £11,000 in today’s money. I’m not sure £5000 screamed ‘we value you highly’, but in the end the tribunal agreed, setting the fee at £10,000, plus 50% of any future fee.
“We would have been happy if it had been set at £25,000”, said Davey immediately afterwards.
Steve was first spotted playing for his school team and joined Dunlop Terriers, a Sunday League side with links to Aston Villa and a strong record of producing League players. It was Coventry City, rather than Villa, who signed him on schoolboy terms, and after a year as an apprentice he turned professional under Dave Sexton, spending two years in the reserves alongside Mark Hateley and Gary Bannister without making a first-team appearance.
Bobby Gould’s arrival led to a move to Wolves, where Steve spent a season and scored his first League goal at Anfield, a winner against the team who would later be European champions, before spells with Swansea, Newport County, Cardiff City and Hereford. Disillusioned with the English game, he spent four months playing in Sweden and was close to joining a Stockholm club when Brian Little called from Darlington, persuading him to return on a three-and-a-half-year deal as he rebuilt the club following relegation to the Conference.
“I was approached by three or four other clubs, but what attracted me to Lincoln was the set-up here, the facilities, the size of the squad, which is really healthy, and the belief that the club here can move upwards,” said Mardenborough.
“I really prefer to play down the middle, but Keith has asked me to play out wide for him. That’s fine by me because as long as I’m playing, I’m happy.”
Dave Hill
How did Dave Hill do with City? He played out his two seasons with the Imps, but was bogged down by injury, missing two little chunks of the first season. He was a decent enough player, starting 27 times and scoring three league goals, including the one his is pictures celebrating against Torquay United.
Keith Alexander left the club in the summer, but Hill stayed on as Sam Ellis came in. In the 1994/95 season, he didn’t appear until October 29th, having been out of favour under Ellis. He spent a short period on loan at Chesterfield before returning to the Imps during an injury crisis.
He came on as we beat Hereford United 3-0, and stayed in favour, missing just three more matches all season, and scoring three more goals. He got a winner at Wigan, as well as one in a 2-0 win against Fulham, but departed at the end of the campaign, having played 73 times, scoring six.
Probably wasn’t the value for money we’d hoped, given the fee and the calibre of player moving in the other direction, but he was certainly a better acquisition than Mardenborough.
Steve Mardenborough
Mardenborough did not get on as well as Hill. He started the first six matches, in which City scored just three times, and then drifted out of the side. He came in and out as a sub, but wasn’t getting regular football, and after being omitted from the squad for a 3-1 victory against Gillingham, he requested a transfer.
“At 29, Steve feels he should be playing regular first team football, and he obviously feels at the moment that is not going to happen here,” said Keith Alexander. “As we do with all players who want to be put on to the transfer list we will do just that, but that is not to say that I want to see him go or that he will not be part of my future plans”
Eight more starts followed, and two goals, but by the end of the season, he hadn’t impressed. 14 starts, seven appearances from the bench, and just two goals meant we were happy to let him go.
“Mardenborough has expressed a wish to leave, and I am not going to keep a player at the club who is unhappy,” said Alexander on May 14th. “I know that it is mainly due to limited first team appearances, but frankly, he has not performed as I hoped he would.”
Non-contract terms followed at Scarborough, and a short spell with Colchester, before he moved into Welsh football. On May 16th, just two days after granting the player his exit wish, Keith Alexander was sacked.
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