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Marriott
Joins The Elite
17th April 2006
Lincoln City's goalkeeper Alan Marriott has joined an
elite club: the 300+ appearances for Lincoln City FC
club!
Marriott joined Lincoln City in August 1999 after being
released by Tottenham Hotspur. As a youth team player at
Spurs, he had been coached by former Lincoln City manager
Colin Murphy.
Upon his release by Tottenham in May 1999, Murphy
recommended Marriott to the then Lincoln City
chairman-manager John Reames, who initially offered him a
three month contract. By November 1999, Marriott had
sufficiently impressed to win a longer contract and three
months later, he made his Football League debut against
Torquay United on February 12th 2000. An extended run
followed, and his reward was being named as the 1999/2000
Lincoln City FC Young Player Of The Season.
Since then, he has more or less been first choice
goalkeeper although he lost his place in December 2000
when Lincoln signed Chris Day on loan from Watford. When
Day returned to Watford in March 2001, Marriott was
recalled to side but made several noticeable errors.
The 2001/02 season began in much the same way with his
mistakes costing City vital points and as a result, Paul
Pettinger was given the chance in goal. However a few
games later and Marriott was recalled to side and
produced several excellent displays to prevent Lincoln
from losing.
Marriott improved dramatically during the 2002/03 season
and is now one of the best goalkeepers in the lower
divisions. Lincoln City faced a battle to keep hold of
him when his contract expired in June 2003. Sheffield
Wednesday and Bradford City were interested, but an
internet campaign helped to persuade Marriott to stay at
Lincoln for another two seasons.
Lincoln faced the same problem in May 2005 when
Marriott's contract expired. However, he agreed a
three-year contract with The Imps and has been a vital
member of Lincoln City's play-off achieving teams of the
past three seasons.
Marriott is only the eighth Lincoln City FC post-World
War II player to have made 300 or more appearances for
The Imps. The other seven are: Grant Brown, Tony Emery,
Dave Smith, Phil Neale, Gordon Hobson, Jeff Smith and
Fred Middleton.
Marriott's season by season totals:
| Season |
No. Of Appearances |
| 2005/06 |
44 (up to April 15th 2006) |
| 2004/05 |
51 |
| 2003/04 |
54 |
| 2002/03 |
51 |
| 2001/02 |
48 |
| 2000/01 |
44 |
| 1999/2000 |
18 |
| |
|
| Totals |
301 |
Please click the links for Bradford
City, Lincoln
City, Sheffield
Wednesday, Tottenham or Watford football club.
Click here for more Lincoln City news
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