1997: Gareth Ainsworth, £500,000 (£1.01m)
Destination: Port Vale
Less than two years after Darren Huckerby’s departure, City had their first half-million-pound player. Gareth Ainsworth joined Port Vale for £500,000 in September 1997, adding another £100,000 to the record after a hugely productive spell at Sincil Bank. John Beck had signed him from Preston North End for just £25,000 in October 1995, and Ainsworth went on to score 37 league goals in 83 appearances for the Imps. He was City’s Player of the Year in each of his two full seasons, while his 22 goals in 1996/97 earned him a place in the PFA Third Division Team of the Year. The timing of the sale also provides an interesting comparison with City’s spending, as Dean Walling arrived from Carlisle United for a club-record £75,000 that same month. In simple terms, City were selling their most valuable asset for more than six times the highest fee they had ever paid.
Ainsworth’s value continued to rise after leaving Sincil Bank. He was Port Vale’s Player of the Year in his first season and, little more than a year after City had sold him for £500,000, Wimbledon paid £2 million to take him into the Premier League. Injuries restricted his impact there, but he subsequently became a long-serving player with Queens Park Rangers and Wycombe Wanderers, making more than 560 senior league appearances across his career. He then enjoyed an even longer association with Wycombe as manager, taking them from League Two to the Championship before later managing QPR, Shrewsbury Town and Gillingham.
For City, that £500,000 sale was another reminder of the economic reality at this level, where developing or improving a player and selling him on could transform the club’s finances.
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