“Rumour suggested that Spurs were not best pleased at losing the original vote to a rugby club from Yorkshire and had offered impecunious Stoke a financial inducement to resign from the League, thereby clearing the way for a second vote.”
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.12 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. Davide Somma made 14 appearances on loan from Leeds in 2009-10; what was particularly notable about that?
a) He was Chris Sutton’s first signing
b) He finished top scorer for the season
c) He won the Player of the Season award
d) His wage made him the highest-paid player in the club’s history
Somma finished top scorer with 9 goals, which incredibly was four more than the next highest scorer (Rene Howe with 5). Perhaps unsurprisingly, he also finished third in the Player of the Season vote.
2. What is 1,186?
a) Lincoln’s lowest recorded Football League attendance
b) The current capacity of the Selenity Stand
c) The number of players to have appeared for Lincoln in their history
d) The number of Football League matches City have won in their history
The 1,186 poor souls who turned up for the Fourth Division game against Torquay United on 17 March 1986 probably had no idea they were creating history. It was one of fourteen attendances that season that fell below the 2,000 mark.
There is a caveat: the attendance against Torquay is the lowest recorded. Prior to 1925, attendances were not confirmed by clubs and figures shown in newspapers were usually estimates. It is highly probable that City attracted a number of attendances lower than 1,186 before the First World War. For example, figures of under 1,000 were quoted on a number of occasions, with 500 for the Second Division game against Darwen on 5 January 1895 the apparent lowest.
3. Which player holds the club record for finishing top scorer (six times)?
a) Billy Dinsdale
b) Johnny Campbell
c) Andy Graver
d) Gordon Hobson
Gordon Hobson, who finished top scorer in 1978-79 (with Mick Harford, Glenn Cockerill and John Fleming), 1980-81, 1983-84, 1984-85, 1988-89 and 1989-90.
Lee Thorpe is in second place – he finished top scorer five times in a row from 1998 to 2002.
Dinsdale and Campbell finished top scorer on four occasions each, and Graver three.
4. In June 1908, the Football League Management Committee voted against re-admitting Lincoln City to the Second Division by 5 votes to 3. Amid rumours of financial impropriety, which club was elected instead?
a) West Ham United
b) Chelsea
c) Tottenham Hotspur
c) Queens Park Rangers
Are you sitting comfortably? This one is quite a tale.
At the end of 1907-08 season, Grimsby, Chesterfield and Lincoln finished in the bottom three of the Second Division and were required to apply for re-election. Applications to join the Football League were received from a number of clubs. The voting at the League AGM went as follows:
Grimsby Town: 32 – re-elected
Chesterfield Town: 23 – re-elected
Bradford Park Avenue: 20 – elected to the Second Division
Lincoln City: 18 – not re-elected
Tottenham Hotspur: 14
Burton United: 1
Rotherham County: withdrew application
Queens Park Rangers: withdrew application
So Lincoln were out, replaced by Bradford Park Avenue.
Three days after the AGM, Stoke City resigned from the League due to poor support. Their resignation was accepted. Rumour suggested that Spurs were not best pleased at losing the original vote to a rugby club from Yorkshire and had offered impecunious Stoke a financial inducement to resign from the League, thereby clearing the way for a second vote. Common sense would have led to Lincoln being automatically reinstated as the next highest candidate in the original vote, but the Football League decided to be perverse. A Special Meeting of member clubs was hurriedly convened to vote on a replacement for Stoke. As it happened, Stoke changed their minds before the meeting and decided to stand for re-election as well. This time, the voting went:
Lincoln City: 20
Tottenham Hotspur: 20
Stoke City: votes not recorded
Rotherham County: votes not recorded
Southport Central: votes not recorded
So, Lincoln and Spurs tied this time around. But instead of asking members to vote again between Lincoln and Spurs, the League Committee decided the matter should be settled by them in person. Would they support a founder member of their own Second Division from 1892, or would they prefer the rich new kid from the south? Of the forty current member clubs, only five were from the south, and the Football League was known to be keen to address that.
So, there was only ever going to be one result: bye-bye, Lincoln.
5. How many players made at least 100 league appearances for City during their six-year stay in the Conference/National League?
a) 3
b) 10
c) 14
d) 20
Incredibly, only three – Alan Power (222), Paul Farman (196) and Tom Miller (111). Furthermore, only 19 players managed 50 league appearances. A combination of David Holdsworth’s revolving door policy plus the short-term nature of non-league contracts meant that City used no fewer than 147 players during that six-year period.
6. What was the significance of City’s 7-1 win over Leicester on 3 September 1955?
a) It was their first ever win over Leicester
b) Leicester had not conceded a goal all season
c) It was a club record tenth successive home win
d) It took City to the top of the Second Division for the last time to date
The win took City to the top of the Second Division for the first time since November 1912, and for the last time to date. A 2-2 draw at home to Sheffield Wednesday on Wednesday 7 September in front of 21,025 kept the Imps at the top for one more game until a 2-1 defeat at Liverpool the following Saturday saw them slip to fourth, since when they have not been back.
7. Who was the other candidate for the manager’s job when City appointed Steve Tilson in October 2010?
a) Michael Appleton
b) Mark Cooper
c) Eddie Howe
d) Steve Evans
Believe it or not, Mark Cooper. I can’t think of anything else to say about that.
8. When former City defender Con Moulson succeeded Bill Anderson as manager in January 1965, what was particularly surprising about the appointment?
a) He was 74 years old
b) He had not worked in football for 22 years
c) He was living in Australia
d) He refused to accept a wage
Moulson was 58 and had not been involved in professional football since he retired from playing in 1943. He foolishly gave up his job at Rustons to manage the Imps, lost 8 successive matches, and was unemployed by March. It is one of the worst records by any permanently appointed manager in the history of the game, let alone Lincoln City. What did they really expect?
9. Who is the only player to have made at least 100 Football League appearances in each of two separate spells with the club?
a) Percy Freeman
b) Glenn Cockerill
c) Phil Hubbard
d) Roy Chapman
Local lad Phil Hubbard, who made 152 league appearances during his first spell with the club between 1966 and 1971, and a further 109 during his second spell from 1976 to 1979.
10. And a Jock Dodds question to finish with. In keeping with the manner of his career and life in general, why was Dodds forced to leave Lincoln City in 1950?
a) He bet on Lincoln to lose a match
b) He was arrested for smuggling cigarettes
c) He was having an affair with the chairman’s wife
d) He was banned from football for life
Always open to a fast buck, Dodds acted as a player recruitment agent for Columbian club Millonarios in the late 1940s. The Bogota side had become one of the best teams in the world just after the war through some outstanding imports: for instance, Argentinian great Alfredo di Stefano played for them before making his name with Real Madrid. Unfortunately, it was against FIFA regulations to employ foreign players without a pass, and Columbia was suspended from its membership until all irregular imports had been released from its clubs. A corollary of the investigation was the immediate suspension of any person involved in the recruitment of those players, and Dodds was banned from football for life in 1950. Although the ban was later lifted, Dodds had retired in the interim.
Writer: Scotimp
"Rumour suggested that #Spurs were not best pleased at losing the original vote."https://t.co/JVEdKIjM7T#ImpsAsOne #ProudToBeImps #THFC pic.twitter.com/xoMsraWyKy
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) June 3, 2020
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