Where are they now... Ryan Amoo

Ryan Amoo joined Lincoln City in the summer of 2006 as one of the first signings under the new management regime of John Schofield and John Deehan. Deehan already knew about Amoo from when they were both at Northampton Town and had obviously seen enough potential in the player to make Lincoln give him a trial, even though he'd been ploughing up the non-league circuit for a year. The trial was a success for Amoo and he subsequently signed a one year contract.

The 2006/2007 season saw Amoo make 35 league starts. His moment in the spotlight undoubtably came in the clash with Peterborough United at London Road where two Amoo goals saw the Imps win by two goals to one and maintain their challenge at the top of League Two. Ex Imps Simon Yeo and Peter Gain combined to score the only goal for the Posh.

However, although Amoo was considered to be one of the best crossers of the ball at the club fans were constantly on his back claiming he was not good enough. At the start of the 2007/2008 season Schofield even started playing Amoo at right back and he really looked like a fish out of water. Come October 2007 when Schofield and Deehan were eventually relieved of their duties and were replaced by Peter Jackson as manager, Amoo never really had much of a look in anymore and was eventually released from his contract by mutual consent at the end of the 2007/2008 season. His last game for Lincoln City came against Bury in January of 2008.

Before joining Lincoln City, Amoo was involved in a six month relationship with Jade Goody.

In total, Ryan Amoo made 52 appearances for the Imps, 11 as substitute, scoring 3 goals.

So where is he now?

Ryan Amoo can now be found putting on the shirt for Midland Alliance league team Barwell in front of crowds of less than 100. It is a far cry from his glory days with Lincoln City...

5 of the best for Lincoln City

Friday night gave Lincoln City their first win since the end of October and since Peter Jackson won the Manager of the Month award for October.

The Imps ran out 5-1 victors having been trailing 1-0 at halftime. Jackson made all three of his substitutions at half time, taking off David Graham, Lennel John-Lewis and Stefan Oakes. Jackson also changed the formation from the ineffective 4-3-3 to a more conventional 4-4-2. The lads must've had one almighty kick up the backside at halftime as they tried to make amends for a truly shocking first half display. All the substitutes had a hand in the goals. Adrian Petulea scored two, Ben Wright scored one and the energetic Sam Mullarkey had a had in a couple of the goals. Aaron Brown and Lee Frecklington scored City's other goals.

The result was an amazing turnaround from a team that has struggled to find the back of the net just lately. Lincoln had scored just one in their previous five league games.

Chesterfield 1 Lincoln City 5, April 1992.

You need to go back 16 and a half years in order to find the last time when Lincoln City completed such a significant turnaround from losing at halftime. Trailing 1-0 at Saltergate, City hit back in the second half through Tony Lormor, Sean Dunphy, David Puttnam, Matt Carmichael and Jason Kabia. This result was in the middle of a run that saw City win their last 7 league games of the season and also finish the season with just one defeat in their last 17 league games. We still only managed to finish in 10th place that season.

The 7 game winning running consisted of the following results:
A Scunthorpe 2-0
H Carlisle Utd 1-0
H Maidstone Utd 1-0
A Chesterfield 5-1
H Hereford Utd 3-0
A Halifax Town 4-1
H Blackpool 2-0

Our twice former manager Keith Alexander scored in the 4-1 win at Halifax and we managed to stop Blackpool from gaining promotion by beating them on the last day of the season with two Matt Carmichael penalties.

The 1991-92 season was also of particular sad note for Aldershot FC fans as this was to prove their final season in the Football League as they folded due to serious financial problems. Aldershot Town have since been reborn and still play at the Recreation Ground where Aldershot used to play. Lincoln City were to play the last Football League game at Aldershot on 14th March, 1992 in which City won 3-0. All Aldershot's records for this season were expunged.

Lincoln City's next match is away to local rivals Notts County on the 20th December.

Will Jacko sign a new contract with The Imps?

At the end of September of this year Lincoln City manager Peter Jackson agreed to an extension of his current managerial contract. The Imps had had an indifferent start to the season and were languishing near the bottom of League Two at the time Jackson was offered the new contract by the Imps board.

What was bizarre about this situation was Jacko himself allegedly stated that he'd only sign the contract when Lincoln started picking up League Two points. On the 6th November it was announced that Jackson had been named League Two Manager of the Month for October for a fine run of results, so it was assumed that Jackson would sign his new contract. Well, it's now December 10th and Jackson still hasn't signed the contract. However, since winning the Manager of the Month award, Lincoln have gone on a terrible run of form, being knocked out of the FA Cup by non-league Kettering Town and also not winning a single league game. Apparently he was due to sign the contract the day after we got knocked out of the FA Cup but this was postponed because of the timing.

Will Jackson sign or won't he? There are rumours that he may go back to Huddersfield - this I don't believe, because at the moment he is struggling with a team in League Two. Jackson is out of contract with Lincoln City at the end of the season. He has publically stated he is very happy at Lincoln, but nothing lasts forever and the word loyalty does not seem to exist in the world of football anymore.

Some fans are starting to question Jackson's ability and his man-management skills but a manager is only as good as the set of players he has at his disposal. Lincoln City still have a very average League Two squad. In my opinion only a couple of players could make a name for themselves in a higher division at the moment. They are Danny Hone and Lee Frecklington. Jackson did bring in eight new players in the summer and of these, only Rob Burch appears to be earning his wages.

Whatever Jackson decides to do, it is going to be a long hard winter for Imps fans!

The Rollercoaster that is Lincoln City

It has been a good 6 months since I last posted on this blog. However, not wanting to make any excuses I have been extremely busy with work.

After a summer involving lots of hype from Lincoln City manager Peter Jackson, the expectations to say the least were quite high for most Lincoln City Fans. During the summer months Jacko had dipped into the transfer market and signed his 'fantastic seven' - these were seven players who he felt would most definitely strengthen the squad. They were also said to be his first choice transfer buys. In the past at Lincoln City we have been used to signing players who no-one else seemed to want!

The seven players in no particular order - all signed as free transfers were:
Aaron Brown, Rob Burch, Frank Sinclair, Kevin Gall, David Graham, Stefan Oakes and Janos Kovacs. He also signed Sam Mullarkey from non-league Lincolnshire team Grantham Town.

When these signings were made each player was hyped up by Jacko to make it sound like we had signed a team of world beaters! It made for an exciting summer as a Lincoln City fan, just for a change!

Rob Burch was brought in as a replacement for Alan Marriott who was controversially not given a new contract which would have seen him given a testimonial match as he would have passed the magic ten year barrier playing for the same club. Disgruntled fans Internet message boards wondering what their local hero had done to not deserve a new contract. The jury was definitely out on Rob Burch as he would be scrutinised by the 'Marriott mafia' for the first few months of his Lincoln City contract. I think he has done a good, consistent job from the start. He commands his area well by shouting at players constantly, collects the ball from crosses easily, is a good shot stopper and his distribution skills are also top notch.

Frank Sinclair was brought to Lincoln with hype surrounding him that he was the best signing Lincoln have ever made! That has since been proved to be a load of nonsense as 19 year old Danny Hone, son of former Imps player Mark Hone has kept Frank out of the team. Danny came through the Imps ranks as a Youth Team Player and has become a fixture as a centre back this season. He has a contract with Lincoln City until 2010 but i likely to be snapped up by another team by then as scouts from Championship clubs have been watching him this season.

Janos Kovacs has been paired with Danny Hone at centre back. He has made one or two errors of judgement but has performed reasonably well.

Stefan Oakes arrived at Lincoln with the reputation as having one of the best, if not the best left foot in the lower divisions. Jacko claimed that his left foot can peel carrots! We hoped for good things from this midfielder who on his day commands the midfield like a lower division Steven Gerrard, but who has mostly disappointed this season. He has regularly been out injured and when he has played he has with doubt played some wonderful left footed passes but has in my opinion appeared to look lazy and uninterested for the most part.

Aaron Brown was brought in to fill the left back slot. He started as left back at the Don Valley Stadium on the first day of the season but was soon found to be out of position quite regularly. Then he got injured and his slot was fill by the industrious Lee Beavers. Lee has taken his chance and claimed that position for now. Aaron has played fleetingly in the first eleven - up front and on the left wing. I think we can use the term utility player here!

That brings me onto the last three signings - all strikers! Kevin Gall joined on a loan spell until January but has recently been informed that he will no longer be needed at the end of the spell.
David Graham helped get Torquay United promoted to League 1 back in 2003/04, and scored over 20 league goals in the process. Since then his career seemed to have been hit by controversy. However, Jacko was willing to give him a chance to repeat his goalscoring skills of his first spell at Torquay United. So far he has only played a few times for Lincoln and like Kevin Gall has scored no goals yet which considering they were both brought in as strikers is pathetic to say the least.

Sam Mullarkey has just turned 20 and in the few appearances I have seen him wearing an Imps shirt he seems to have the potential to do well.

It would seem that the much hyped 'fantastic seven' haven't really turned out to be that fantastic at all. It all sums up to a poor season for the Imps so far. Some onlookers will say Jacko has won a Manager of the Month award - that may well be true but we haven't won since then!