The Bad: Tom Kilbey
Tom Kilbey’s Portsmouth career never really got going, although there was enough promise for him to remain at Fratton Park for several years after arriving from Millwall in 2007. He featured regularly for the academy and reserves, signed a contract extension in 2010 and eventually made his league debut as a substitute at Watford on New Year’s Day 2011. He also scored for Pompey against Brighton in the FA Cup, but first-team opportunities remained limited and in March he was sent to Lincoln on loan until the end of the season. Hardly a prestigious time to become a Lincoln City player.
Kilbey made his debut the following day against Rotherham United at Sincil Bank, in a game I mention far too much on this blog as we went down 6-0. Perhaps that should have been an omen. He played seven times during his spell, and we conceded 18 goals in those matches, collecting just a single point. He was involved in defeats against Rotherham, Torquay, Gillingham, Crewe, Bury and Aldershot, with the only respite coming in a 2-2 draw against Cheltenham. I don’t need to tell you how the season ended.
It would clearly be unfair to pin the collapse of 2010/11 on a young midfielder borrowed from Portsmouth for seven games, but Kilbey’s Lincoln career is impossible to separate from those dreadful final weeks. Pompey released him that summer and he never played another league game, finishing with just nine senior league appearances across Millwall, Portsmouth and Lincoln. He later became better known for appearing in three series of the crass, scripted ‘reality’ show The Only Way Is Essex.
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