“City lost 7-0 at Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day 1958, and that proved to be Emery’s final game.”

If you haven’t already had a go at the quizzes, they can be found here: Quiz No.1, Quiz No.2, Quiz No.3, Quiz No.4, Quiz No.5, Quiz No.6, Quiz No.7, Quiz No.8, Quiz No.9, Quiz No.10, Quiz No.11, Quiz No.12, Quiz No.13, Quiz No.14, Quiz No.15, Quiz No.16, Quiz No.17, Quiz No.18, Quiz No.19 and Quiz No.20.

I know the answers for Quiz No.13 are available below, but if you haven’t had a go, don’t read the answers and give it a go along with the other quizzes!

1. In what way did Tony Emery’s record-breaking Imps career come to an ignominious end?

a) He was sent off in his final game
b) His was sold to Grimsby
c) City lost 7-0 in his final game
d) He was substituted during the first half of his final game

City lost 7-0 at Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day 1958, and that proved to be Emery’s final game. He had appeared in the first Lincoln City fixture after the war, a 1-0 defeat to Yorkshire Amateurs in the FA Cup in November 1945, and had broken George Fraser’s long-standing appearance record at Barnsley in September 1956. However, the 1958-59 season got off to a poor start: Lincoln conceded 24 goals in their opening 8 games to prop up the Second Division with only 3 points. After a 4-2 defeat at Fulham, Emery lost his place and was destined to play only three more games for the club, culminating in that heavy defeat at Hillsborough in front of 34,486. If there is any consolation to be had, Wednesday went on to win the Second Division title with Fulham in second place.

2. Which ex-England international scored two goals on Christmas Eve, broke his leg scoring the second, and never played again?

a) Jackie Robinson
b) Doug Wright
c) Henry Roberts
d) Bob Latchford

City player-coach Jackie Robinson, who broke his left leg scoring his and City’s second goal against Wrexham at Sincil Bank on Christmas Eve 1949. At the age of 33, he decided to call it a day during the summer of 1950, having scored 5 goals in 9 appearances for the Imps.

Robinson’s promising career was ruined by the war, but not before he had played in the infamous match against Germany in Berlin in 1938 at which the England team was forced by the British Ambassador Sir Neville Henderson to give the Nazi salute to Hitler. As it happened, Hitler deliberately failed to turn up, although Göring, Hess, von Ribbentrop and Goebbels were there. The propaganda exercise backfired spectacularly: Robinson scored twice as England won 6-3 in front of 105,000. The match is also remembered for a brilliant individual goal from Stanley Matthews, who dribbled from inside his own half to score.

After retiring from the game, Robinson went on to manage The Ship Inn in Gateshead before his premature death from cancer on 30 July 1972, aged just 54.

Interestingly, Robinson was believed to have been the youngest player ever capped by England when he made a goalscoring debut in an 8-0 win over Finland in Helsinki on 20 May 1937. However, it later transpired that he had cut two years off his age and was actually 19 years and 283 days old, rather than 17 years and 283 days as originally thought.

3. Who was the last City player to score 20 goals before Christmas?

a) Dixie McNeil
b) Derek Bell
c) Matt Rhead
d) Gary Lund

Derek Bell, in 1982-83. Bell scored exactly 20 including three hat-tricks (v Exeter, Norwich and Bournemouth). He is one of only 4 City players to have done it, the others being Billy Langham (21 in 1908-09), Allan Hall (20 in 1931-32), and Andy Graver (25 in the 1951-52 championship season).

If we count goals scored in the United League, Billy Langham’s total rises to 29 in just 24 games.

McNeil’s best haul prior to Christmas was 13 in 1972-73; Lund scored 13 in 1986-87; and Rhead 18 in 2015-16.

4. On which ground were Lincoln officially relegated from the Second Division in April 1961?

a) Anfield
b) Bramall Lane
c) Elland Road
d) The Goldstone Ground

The Goldstone Ground, then home of Brighton & Hove Albion, where Lincoln lost 1-0 on 8 April. Lincoln also lost at the other three grounds that season, culminating in a 7-0 thumping by Leeds on 22 April, which proved to be City’s last away game in the second tier to date.

5. Who succeeded Graham Taylor as Lincoln City manager in July 1977?

a) Willie Bell
b) Colin Murphy
c) George Kerr
d) John Pickering

Taylor’s assistant manager George Kerr, who many feel had an impossible act to follow. Percy Freeman had effectively retired from professional football during the close season of 1977, captain Sam Ellis had followed Taylor to Watford, and Dennis Booth was set to follow in October. To compound matters, City had an ageing team by that stage. It was a period of transition on the field, and Kerr’s policy of playing youngsters backfired badly. Gates slipped to little more than 4,000, and Kerr was sacked after a 2-0 home defeat by promotion-chasing Gillingham on 10 December 1977, a game also notable for the debut of a certain Mick Harford. Kerr’s 20 league matches in charge left City just two points off the bottom of the Third Division. Willie Bell’s arrival sparked a revival, and City finished the season comfortably in lower mid-table.

6. Which significant club record did Lincoln break in 2018-19?

a) Football League games without defeat
b) Most wins in a season
c) Longest scoring run
d) Most points in a season

The 1-1 draw at home to Cheltenham Town on 13 April 2019 was City’s 19th successive Football League game without defeat, breaking the record of 18 set in 1980. Their previous defeat had come at Crewe on Boxing Day.

7. Which club record is held by Alan Marriott?

a) Most successive Football League appearances
b) Most appearances by a goalkeeper
c) Most clean sheets in a Football League season
d) Most appearances in the FA Cup

Most appearances made by a goalkeeper. Marriott made a total of 395 appearances for the club, breaking the record held by Dan McPhail since 1939. Only three players – Grant Brown, Tony Emery and Dave Smith – have made more appearances for the Imps.

Marriott also holds the club record for appearances in play-off matches (12), the only player to have appeared in every play-off game during the 2003-2007 period.

The record for successive Football League appearances is held by George Whyte, with 183. The record for clean sheets is held by David Felgate, with 23 from his 42 Football League games in 1980-81. George Fraser has held the club record for appearances in the FA Cup for more than a century (27), although Alan Power fell just one short of equalling that record with 26.

8. Which City legend holds two degrees?

a) John Ward
b) Trevor Peake
c) Grant Brown
d) Tony Cunningham

Tony Cunningham – one in business studies, the other in law.

9. What was Percy Freeman’s first name?

a) Percival
b) Ronald
c) Richard
d) Robert

Ronald Peter Freeman.

10. And a quirky one to finish with. Who is the only Lincoln player to have achieved the ‘full house’ of suspensions during one season: one match for 5 yellows, two matches for 10, 3 matches for 15, and a further suspension for a straight red?

a) Ben Tomlinson
b) Alan Power
c) Bradley Wood
d) Jason Shackell

Ben Tomlinson, in 2013-14. His first suspension came in October following yellow card number 5 in a match at Tamworth; the second for the red card against Hereford in November; the third for his tenth yellow against Grimsby on New Year’s Day; and the final suspension for 15 yellows came following the game at Gateshead in March. In total he collected 16 yellows and 1 red in 44 matches, resulting in 7 matches suspended. Gary Simpson called him ‘fully-committed’ – with that crazy record, he probably should have been.

Writer: Scotimp

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Why was a special souvenir programme produced for the Fourth Division match at home to Darlington on 24 November 1990?

"City lost 7-0 at Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day 1958, and that proved to be Emery’s final game."https://t.co/pfWABo4g3B #ImpsAsOne #ProudToBeImps #SWFC pic.twitter.com/JlpHs7mCKZ

— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) June 6, 2020