Lincoln City career: 145+(15) appearances and 7 goals between 1984 - April 1992.

Position: defender.

Clubs: Lincoln City, Derby, West Bromwich Albion, Chesterfield, Stockport, Tranmere and Boston United.

Shane Nicholson was one of only three players to remain at Lincoln City after The Imps' relegation from the Football League in 1986. His loyalty was rewarded with a regular place in Lincoln's Conference winning team.

He progressed to the first team after originally joining Lincoln City as a schoolboy in 1984. In doing so, he became Lincoln's youngest ever player when he made his debut against Burnley in November 1986 then aged 16½. He played regularly in the Conference and retained his place once Lincoln were promoted to the Football League.

The usual cashflow problems associated with Lincoln led to Nicholson being sold to Derby in April 1992 for £100,000, which was cheap for a player who had a promising future ahead of him. Several years later, Derby sold him to West Brom where he was to become a well known name but for the wrong reasons. In 1997, he tested positive for drugs and was immediately suspended from football. It was later successfully argued that a mistake had occurred and he was cleared. However, a couple of months later, he again tested positive which resulted in his suspension from football and his immediate dismissal from West Brom.

Rehabilitation courses and support from his friends including ex-Lincoln City apprentice Mark Cook helped Nicholson overcome his addiction. Chesterfield gave him the chance to rescue his career and he played the 1998/99 season at Saltergate before moving to Stockport.

In July 2001, he moved from Stockport to Sheffield United under the Bosman ruling. He later joined Tranmere Rovers before becoming a free agent in summer 2004. Lincoln City tried to re-sign Nicholson, but he opted for higher league football via a return to Chesterfield. However, during the 2006/07 season, Nicholson made a shock return to Lincoln City when he joined on loan. He would later join Boston United in a similar deal.

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Lincoln City career: 0 appearances during 1999.

Position: striker

Clubs: New England Revolution, Bury and Lincoln City.

Carlos Rocha appeared in Lincoln City's pre-season friendly against Grantham in July 1999 whilst attached to Bury. At the time, Bury were undecided whether to sign Rocha but his two goals against Grantham helped make their decision. Things failed to work out at Bury as he only made three substitute appearance for the club before being released for financial reasons.

Lincoln had asked to be kept in form of his progress and another trial was quickly set-up during which he scored. Injuries to strikers resulted in Rocha being registered as a Lincoln City player but due to The Imps' financial troubles, it was on a non-contract basis only.

Rocha was happy to join Lincoln and believed that if he scored and performed well then manager John Reames would have no option but to sign him permanently. However, despite scoring in consecutive reserve matches, it was not sufficient to persuade Reames to sign him.

He had previously played for New England Revolution in US Major League soccer before coming to England.

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Lincoln City career: 0 appearances between May 2003 to January 2004.

Dave Coulson was a central defender who signed a one-year contract with Lincoln City - his first professional contract - in June 2003. He had already been named as an unused substitute when Lincoln City visited Bristol Rovers in October 2002, but left the club in January 2004 without making a first team appearance.

He had joined Lincoln City's youth team scheme in summer 2002 from Barnsley. Having left Lincoln City, he continues to drift around the non-leagues, including spend time at Lincoln United.

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Lincoln City career: 0 appearances between May 2003 to January 2004.

Chris Davies' story is identical to Dave Coulson's, in that he signed his very first professional contract in May 2003 after completing his 3-year scholarship with Lincoln City. He also left in January 2004 in a cost cutting exercise to help finance the transfer of Marcus Richardson.

The Rotherham born full-back was also a part of the youth team set-ups at Barnsley, Leeds United and Rotherham United before joining Lincoln.

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