It was supposed to be the dawn of a new era down at Sincil Bank, with John Schofield`s men poised to burst asunder the new campaign with a victory over a depleted Shrewsbury Town side as they created early shockwaves in League Two.
That was not the script expected by a sizeable chunk of Imps followers, who predicted a long and bleak season ahead following a summer of virtual transfer inactivity, the highlight of which was signing an unknown striker from an unknown Norwegian side, who had spent the past two season consigned to the sidelines.
“This is a great coup for the club,” admitted John Deehan as City announced the arrival of former Kettering hitman Ben Wright. It was rumoured Deehan had his tongue firmly planted in his cheek as he extolled the virtues of the new frontman, delighted at how the Imps had beaten the mighty Barnet to his signature.
At least Wright`s unveiling wasn`t met by the blanket of disapproval that heralded the Imps` first signing of the close season – a certain Mr Stephen Torpey.
A county (well, the middle to northern bit) rose in unison to pour scorn on LCFC as the 36-year-old, over-the-hill, former Iron enemy rode into town, grinning from ear to ear after persuading United`s naïve A15 rivals to extend his contract by 12 months. An inside source claims the clinching factor in the deal was the couple barrels of hay a week, along with the free reign of the beach at Theddlethorpe.
Somehow Deehan and Schofield managed to defend their first free transfer of the summer without cracking up, explaining how the big man`s experience would be of massive benefit to the club`s youngsters. His debut against the Shrews told us all we needed to know about Torpey and even Schofield must be having second doubts. But maybe not.
Pursuits of Danny Crow and Julian Joachim – which had actually got the faithful excited – rapidly faded after it emerged the club took exception to Peterborough and Darlington holding out for transfer fees for their £100,000-rated frontmen.
Only Lincoln would have the nonsensical notion they could bring two highly-rated players to the Bank, from rival League Two clubs, on free transfers. Yes, it truly was the silly season by the banks of the Drain. And just for good measure, both Crow and Joachim scored for their respective clubs at the weekend. A narrow escape averted there then?
And there were even more barnpot ideas cultivated by the two Johns, including:
Handing Ollie Ryan a new contract after failing to perform for the club since turning pro
Giving run-outs to Irish trialists Steve McCarthy and Kevin Smith before sending them on their way (despite impressing those who saw them), with the added comments of: “We already have players of their ilk at the club.”
Signing Grimsby reject Gary Croft, released by Alan Buckley. If he ain`t good enough for them, then he certainly isn`t good enough for us
Refusing to acknowledge we needed two new centre-backs, at least
Admitting they were struggling to find new players who were any better than what were already at the club – either they think too highly of their own players or they do not look hard enough
With the consensus of fans` opinions firmly entrenched in negativity, chairman Steff Wright then decided it was time to defend the ambitions of the club – but hang on, they don`t have any ambition, so how could he defend something which doesn`t exist?
“The two Johns have the biggest budget ever to work with and it is up to them how they choose to spend it,” claimed Wright. Maybe they need a nudge in the right direction then. Either that or Wright`s being economical with the truth. Surely not? Not City`s committed chairman – next they`ll be saying he flogged off the majority of his shares shortly after taking the reins to make a bit of cash on the side?
But did Wright have a point? Jeff Hughes was sold to Crystal Palace from anything between £150,000 and £300,000, and although former club Larne profited from a sell-on clause, surely that left plenty in the coffers to go out spending? And what with all the money saved on wages after the departures of Paul Morgan, Paul Mayo and Martin Gritton, then it`s a pretty safe bet to assume that City had the capacity to be one of the bigger spenders in League Two in the close season.
But no, City refused to indulge themselves, content to pick up the scraps left over after every club had had their fill, leaving us with Torpey, Croft and Wright, along with Bolton youngster Michael Roddy and season-long loan signing Louis Dodds, who again was hailed as a future star for the club, despite failing to impress while on loan at Rochdale last year.
Of course, those pro-Wrighters, the ones with rose-tinted spectacles, came out fighting, pouring scorn on those supporters who dared to criticise the club over it`s lack of transfer activity, but ultimately failing to acknowledge there would be a problem for the Imps if they failed to address their shortcomings.
The predictions of the supporters living in the real world bore fruit on August 11 after one of the most pitiful 90 minutes in living memory down at the Bank. A 4-0 hammering by a Shrewsbury side missing half their first-team regulars brought it all home for us.
“It was never a 4-0 game,” claimed half the City players afterwards. No, it was much worse than that and we have Alan Marriott to thank for keeping the score down to just four. As well as Marriott, sub Dany N`Guessan gave us hope, while at least Lee Frecklington tried his hardest in midfield, but what hope did he have playing alongside skipper Scott Kerr, Ryan Amoo and Dodds? Along with having the worst defence in the division, we`ll end up with the worst midfield at this rate. And don`t even mention Torpey? please.
Dreadful, just dreadful? It wasn`t this bad when City lost their place in the Football League, was it? We can only hope it was just a one-off, an early season blues-type scenario, and that they`ll show us what they are really made of starting with Doncaster tonight. Either that or it will be a tortuous fight against relegation unless the club start spending some money in the transfer market – but who will want to join a side who are bottom of the Football League?
Now it seems Schofield has targeted just the player needed to turn us into promotion material, Boston`s finest David Galbraith. You just couldn`t make it up, could you? Oh yes, and Schofield has just been rewarded with a new three-year contract. At least wait until the end of the season before making such a big decision. At this rate, we could be relegated by Christmas?
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