Sunday 9 August 2009

Lincoln City enjoy winning start, 2009/10

Lincoln City enjoyed a great start to the 2009/10 campaign by picking up 3 points and a clean sheet against a battling Barnet team at Sincil Bank yesterday.

The first half was won by Barnet in terms of chances and some fine saves from Lincoln City's goalkeeper Rob Burch kept the scores goalless at halftime.

Peter Jackson's team talk helped inspire the Imps to a one nil victory with the only goal of the game being scored by Hungarian centre back Janos Kovacs in the 59th minute after a freekick from Stefan Oakes found Kovacs whose initial effort hit the post but was then swept in from an acute angle.

The crowd for the Imps first league game of the season was 3,753 with 233 Barnet fans.

Friday 7 August 2009

Where will Lincoln City finish 2009/10?

Just where will Lincoln Ciy finish for the 2009/10 season? Here is a small list of some predictions:

The Guardian: Mid table

The BBC: Maybe could reach the play-offs

Team Talk: Won't feature in the movers or shakers

Soccer Lens: Not even a mention

Teletext: 13th place

Notts County Mad: 15th position

So, pretty much written off before the season begins but it's better being the underdog as less is expected off us.

Thursday 6 August 2009

10 ex Lincoln City players in the Championship

Lincoln City has recently become a breeding ground for young talent. A whole crop of talented youngsters are becoming members of the current first team squad. First teamers such as Danny Hone, Nathan Adams, Andrew Hutchinson, Kern Miller, Lenell John-Lewis, Shane Clarke are all products of the Lincoln City Centre of Excellence. Others coming through include Luca Colman-Carr and Graham Hutchinson.

In recent years a number of Lincoln City players have made the step up a division, but at the moment there are 10 ex Lincoln City players currently playing in the Championship. In no particular order, they are:

1. Gary Taylor-Fletcher (Blackpool)

Taylor-Fletcher has been playing in the right midfield position for Blackpool having worked his way up the divisions the hard way. When Leyton Orient brought him into League Football from Northwich Victoria he had a very torrid time, until Keith Alexander brought him to play for Lincoln City.

He scored some very memorable goals for the Imps, including a stunning strike at Leyton Orient in terrible weather conditions and also in the televised 2-0 win over Scunthorpe in the year we lost 2-0 to Southend United in the League 2 Play-Offs Final. He is currently gaining fitness after missing the end of last season through a nasty knee injury.

2. Jamie McCombe (Bristol City)

Jamie was another of Keith Alexander's signings to leave Lincoln City and move up a division. He left Lincoln for an undisclosed sum of money that was rumoured to be a very small sum. He signed for Bristol City in 2006 and in his first full season at Bristol City, the team won promotion to the Championship and he won player of the season. McCombe suffered 4 successive play-off failures whilst with the Imps.

3. Gareth McAuley (Ipswich Town)

Yet another of Keith Alexander's very shrewd signings, 'Big G' as he was known to the Imps faithful played alongside McCombe in defence for Lincoln before leaving to join Leicester City in the summer of 2006. He was named in the PFA League 2 Team of the Year just before his Lincoln City departure.

Leicester named McAuley as club captain for the 2007-08 season in which Leicester got relegated. McAuley managed to stay in the Championship by signing for Ipswich Town for a fee reported to be in excess of £1million. Gareth is Lincoln City's most capped player of all time and currently has 11 caps to date for Northern Ireland.

4. Jack Hobbs (Leicester City)

Jack Hobbs signed for Liverpool in the summer of 2005 after playing just 3 minutes for Lincoln City - a 1-1 draw with Bristol Rovers in January, 2005. He started his Liverpool career in the youth team but quickly moved into the reserves where he became very highly rated. He landed a loan spell at Scunthorpe in the Championship in 2008 before joining up for a season on loan with Leicester City in League 1.

Leicester won the League 1 championship and Hobbs was named young player of the year by the Leicester fans and he was also named in the PFA League One Team Of The Year. In the summer of 2009 Hobbs signed a permanent deal with Leicester on a 4 year contract.

5. Dany N'Guessan (Leicester City)

N'Guessan signed for Leicester in the summer of 2009 after quite a scramble for his signature. Many clubs were queueing up to sign him after he put in some great performances and scored some stunning goals for Lincoln in the 2008/09 season.

MK Dons tried with two failed bids to sign Dany in January and after he rejected a further improved contract at Lincoln City it was just a case of decision making by Dany as to where he was going to play his football next season. As Dany was only 22 when he left Lincoln, the Imps were entitled to a fee for him which was finally negotiated between Lincoln and Leicester meaning no transfer tribunal.

6. Lee Frecklington (Peterborough United)

Lincoln born Frecklington was a product of Lincoln City's Centre of Excellence and also had school boy trials with Norwich City and Leeds United. He made his debut under Keith Alexander and was only used sparingly. It wasn't until John Schofield and John Deehan took charge of the Imps in the summer of 2006 that he really began to shine. He scored some very memorable goals that season including a bullet header against Walsall at home. His superb form led to him being the Steven Gerrard of League 2 and also a place in the PFA League Two Team of the Season.

Frecklington couldn't seem to reproduce his stunning form of 2006/07 on a regular basis and joined Peterborough in January 2009 on loan before signing for an undisclosed sum in the summer of the same year.

7. Dean Keates (Peterborough United)

Dean joined Lincoln City in the summer of 2005 along with Gary Birch from relegated Kidderminster Harriers. Although measuring up at only 5 foot 6 inches, Keates was a very fiery and tenacious midfielder who scored some great free kicks while playing for Lincoln. Two that spring to mind was the one he scored at Rushden and also one at Bury. After only 21 games, personal problems led to Lincoln allowing Keates to move back to the midlands were he signed for Walsall who got promoted the following season. Keates though decided to stay in League 2 by signing for Peterborough which now seems a good choice after enjoying two promotion seasons with The Posh.

8. Gareth Ainsworth (QPR)

Fourth place in the all time Lincoln City Legends list went to Gareth Ainsworth. He was simply adored by the Imps fans during his time with the club. John Beck bought him from Preston North End for £15,000 in 1995 and left for Port Vale in 1997 for a club record sum of £500,000. He became a huge favourite during his time with Lincoln and scored 37 goals in 83 games. While at QPR he has been caretaker manager twice and the chances of him ever returning to Lincoln are very slim as he is seen more in a coaching role rather than a player now at QPR. He is not surprisingly also considered to be a huge fans favourite there too.

9. Michael O'Connor (Scunthorpe United)

O'Connor joined Lincoln in the latter stages of the 2008/09 season on loan from Crewe Alexander. He always looked very accomplished on the ball and was certainly a better player than League 2 standard. Although Lincoln City were rumoured to be trying to buy him or get him on loan this summer, Scunthorpe came in with a deal that could net Crewe up to £225,000.

10. Scott Loach (Watford)

Loach is another product of Lincoln City's Centre of Excellence joining Watford in the summer of 2006 after an impressive loan spell in April of that year. He nearly joined Leeds United the following summer but Leeds were under a league imposed transfer embargo so Loach stayed put. He had loan spells at Stafford Rangers, Morecambe and Bradford before eventually become first choice keeper ahead of Richard Lee. He has also gone on to play for the England u21 team and has been rumoured to be joining a Premiership team this summer.

Spurs and Man United had been rumoured to be willing to offer multi million pound deals (The Sun reckoned £6million) and as Lincoln have a sell on clause agreement with Watford, when and if he does move on the Imps will be in line for a substantial windfall.

Rene Howe (Peterborugh United) and Joe Heath (Nottingham Forest) are currently on loan to Lincoln City from Championship clubs.