The Bad: Tony Battersby
Tony Battersby started his career at Sheffield United, making ten league appearances and scoring once before his career took him through Notts County and Bury. His time with the Blades also included loans at Southend United and Finnish club BK-IFK, where he enjoyed a remarkable scoring spell. There was clearly talent there, and I was excited when he arrived at Lincoln in 1998.
On Championship Manager, he had been valued at £2.2 million while at Notts County, which probably helped fuel my expectations. In real life, we paid Bury £75,000, equalling our club-record fee as we prepared for life in the third tier. Battersby was capable of the occasional moment of absolute genius, but those moments became increasingly scarce, and his goals neither kept us up nor helped deliver the promotion back that I had hoped he might inspire.
He finished with 21 goals in 130 league appearances, roughly one every six games. That is the basis for his place here: a record-equalling signing whose contribution never matched the investment or expectation. His contract was terminated in October 2002, and he promptly joined neighbours Boston United without a transfer fee, before embarking on a lengthy tour of the non-league circuit. There was once an award in Deranged Ferret, the ‘Free Transfer to Boston’ Award for the season’s worst player. When a player actually got that move, it tells its own story.
There were good moments along the way, but the overall story of his Lincoln career remains one of disappointment.
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