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Drums Please For The Fabulous David Felgtate

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A larger than life Imp legend who made No 4 in the legends


‘Meat pie, sausage roll, hefty Dave’s great in goal!

So went the chant of the Bolton Wanderers fans who hold our Dave in as high affection we Imps. At 6` 1″ and just a healthy full Lincolnshire breakfast over 13 stone in his prime he certainly took no prisoners in a career that spanned an incredible three decades. His professional career lasted 17 years from 1978 to 1995 where he made a total of 612 Football League appearances. Of those 198 came at the Imps and 238 came with the Bolton Wanderers, though he also played for Rochdale, Crewe Alexandra, Grimsby Town, Cardiff City, Chester City, and Wigan Athletic.


David was initially loaned to the Imps from the Trotters when Colin Boulton was dealt a hefty lay off with a broken leg with a permanent move soon forthcoming. Indeed Bolton would let him slip twice before finally seeing him make nearly 400 games for them when Phil Neal finally managed to make a loan deal permanent from Grimsby who we of all teams had sold him too. David would keep 24 clean sheets that season with 23 of them coming in a Division Four promotion winning campaign (second two points behind Southend) that saw vital shut outs at all our rivals, namely Southend, Doncaster and Wimbledon.


Fe -Fi- Fo Ffestiniog-born green giant Felgate was the immovable object and the irresistible force the following season as we narrowly missed a return to the Hallowed second Division not seen since the early sixties. A 1-1 draw at Fulham on the last day of the season saw nearly 6,000 Imps fill the away end in a twenty thousand crowd. In those three seasons David would miss just 3 matches and rack up clean sheets of 18, 14 and 16 respectively, becoming one of the bravest and best shot stoppers in the bottom two Divisions. On the 12th October he would become the first Imp to represent his Country as Wales beat Rumania 5-0. He would have got this a season earlier but for Neville Southall and the small matter of the Bobby Sands hunger strike causing the postponement of a home International with Wales

David`s season by season stats breakdown can be found below illustrating his fantastic contribution including a memorable performance against Spurs when we beat them 2-1 at home in front of a partisan 12,239 in the league Cup. Twice named in the PFA Division Three ‘Team of the Season’ and once as the Imps’ ‘Player of the Season’ – Felgate was sold to Grimsby Town in the summer of 1985 for £27,500. Some suggested we needed the money as crowds had dropped though the tragedy at Bradford, his final game for us, on the final day of the 1984/85 season also had a bearing.

Grimsby Town had him for one season, though he fell from favour and was initially loaned to Bolton Wanderers before returning permanently for seven seasons. After an initial relegation he got amongst the silverware as they again returned to better times. A free to Chester City for two seasons saw yet another promotion winner`s medal before a final move to Wigan Athletic. The competitive career was far from over despite a move to semi pro with Leigh RMI for several seasons. This included an FA Cup run and a goalless draw against Kevin Keegan’s Fulham in November 1998, with Kevin rating his performance as one of the best he had ever seen. He would win two promotions with Leigh then another at Radford Borough who went up as champions. Fabulous Felgate retired at 45 after two final seasons at Bacup Borough. having played nearly 1000 competitive games

These days he coaches for East Lancashires just for Keepers and is involved with Manchester City and the first team keepers at Stockport County

David Felgate
(1980/81-1984/85)

Full Name: Felgate, David Wynne
Date Of Birth : 04/03/1960
Birthplace : Blaenau Ffestiniog, Merioneth
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)


Full LCFC record :
Apps : 232 ; Clean Sheets 79

LCFC Football League record :
Apps : 198 ;
Goals conceded 197
Clean Sheets 72
Conceded one goal every 90.21 minutes.

Debut : 06/09/1980, Halifax Town (h) 3-0, FL Division 4
Last game : 11/05/1985, Bradford City (a) 0-0, Division 3

Season 1980/1981 : Promoted 2nd
Apps : 44 ; Subs : 0 ; Clean Sheets 24

Season 1981/1982 : 4th Div 3 Missed promotion by 1 point
Apps : 52 ; Subs : 0 ; Clean Sheets 18
Fulham 1 Lincoln City 1 18/05/1982 Division 3 Attendance: 20,461

Season 1982/1983 : Position 6th
Apps : 57 ; Subs : 0 ; Clean Sheets 14

Season 1983/1984 : Position 14th
Apps : 53 ; Subs : 0 ; Clean Sheets 16
26/10/1983 Tottenham h L Cup R2 leg 2 2-1 Att 12,239

Season 1984/1985 : Position 19th
Apps : 26 ; Subs : 0 ; Clean Sheets 7
Final game for Imps was on that fateful day on 11th May at Bradford

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