Michael Appleton’s Last Lincoln City Squad: Where Are They Now?

We look back at the players who made up Michael Appleton’s final Lincoln City squad agains Crewe Alexandra on 30 April 2022, and find out where their careers have taken them since.

There was something rather fitting about Appleton’s final team selection being dominated by who wasn’t available. Adam Jackson and Ted Bishop were absent, Jovon Makama had reportedly failed a late fitness test after returning to the club, and TJ Eyoma was pressed into service despite looking nowhere near fully fit. We could name only four substitutes: Hayden Cann, Max Sanders, Hakeeb Adelakun and Tom Hopper, with no reserve goalkeeper among them. Even allowing for the injuries, there was frustration that Sanders and Adelakun were again watching from the bench when both might reasonably have expected more opportunities.

For much of the afternoon, the football did little to improve the mood. Already-relegated Crewe led through Chris Long’s 21st-minute finish, Anthony Scully went off injured before the break, and Jordan Wright helped prevent the visitors from putting the game beyond us. Eventually, Hopper glanced in Lewis Fiorini’s corner in the 79th minute, before Adelakun emerged from the bench to lash home a superb late winner and celebrate with a somersault. It was a moment of quality and defiance at the end of a performance that had otherwise offered little to get excited about.

The bigger news came after the final whistle, when Appleton’s departure was announced. Having replaced Danny Cowley in September 2019, he had taken us past Sunderland and into the League One play-off final in 2021, only for Blackpool to deny us promotion at Wembley. The following campaign had been much harder, with his own illness disrupting the summer and injuries repeatedly undermining the team, leaving us grateful for survival rather than dreaming of the Championship. A final-day win offered a brighter ending, but the squad that delivered it would soon begin to scatter.