With Swansea City next up for Lincoln City, it’s time to revisit three players who have represented both clubs in our latest Good, Bad and Ugly.
These are judgements made through red and white eyes, looking at what they gave us, how we remember them and, in some cases, what might have been.
This time we’ve got a promotion-winning defender, a striker who arrived rather too late in his career, and a talented loanee whose spell still leaves me feeling a little bit angry, and not at the player.
The Good: Kevin Austin
Kevin Austin was arguably one of the best full-backs to play at Sincil Bank in a generation. Signed by John Beck from Leyton Orient for £30,000 through the ‘buy me a player’ campaign, he combined pace and power with a fearsome tackle, looking capable of playing higher almost from the moment he arrived. He featured in our League Cup victories over Manchester City, helped us take Southampton to a replay and became a key figure in the side that won automatic promotion in 1998.
That team was built to compete, to stand firm and to defend as though everything depended on it, and Austin fitted perfectly. Even as we struggled in the third tier, he provided one of the season’s enduring memories by scoring what proved to be the winner against Manchester City at Sincil Bank. His departure for Barnsley in 1999 felt like a natural progression, although the serious Achilles injury he suffered on his return to Lincoln cruelly interrupted that next chapter.
Had he not picked up that injury, I think he’d have gone on to play top flight, ironically for a team such as Southampton. He’s one of the few players from our long history I think could have played in this Lincoln City side, on the left of defence, striding out with poise and purpose.
Swansea later benefited from his experience, signing him in 2004 and keeping him for four seasons, during which he made 117 league appearances and helped win the Football League Trophy. That was a substantial contribution to another club, but for us he will always be the powerful defender who helped drive a promotion-winning side.
Sadly, Austin died in November 2018, aged just 45, leaving those of us who watched him with memories of a player who gave us an awful lot.
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