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Retro
Lincoln City FC
| MICK HARFORD |
| Born: 12th February 1959 in
Sunderland. Position: striker.
Lincoln City career: 109+(6)
appearances and 40 goals between July 1977 -
December 1980.
Clubs: Lincoln City, Newcastle,
Bristol City, Birmingham City, Luton, Derby,
Chelsea, Sunderland, Coventry and Wimbledon.
Arguably, Mick Harford is
probably the most famous find of Lincoln City's
successful scouting network that operated in the
1970's and early 1980's. Harford was spotted in
1977 whilst playing for Lambton Boys Club; the
setting-up of the deal was to be one of the final
acts of then Lincoln manager Graham Taylor's
reign. George Kerr had taken charge of Lincoln by
the time that Harford officially turned
professional, and it was Kerr who helped retrain
Harford from a midfield player to a striker.
Harford made his debut five
months later and quickly established himself as a
first team player in a side, which over the next
eighteen months would often be described as one
of the worst sides ever to play for Lincoln City.
Harford was one of the few exceptions, and when
Colin Murphy arrived as manager in 1978,
Harford's career and potential would be
highlighted.
Murphy rebuilt Lincoln's side
with Harford as a vital striker in Murphy's
free-scoring City side. Three hat-tricks during
the first half of the 1980/81 season brought Mick
to the attention of the talent scouts but it was
Newcastle United who signed him for £180,000 in
December 1980. The fee was a record for Lincoln
City and would remain so for almost fifteen
years.
Harford found life hard to
adjust to after leaving Lincoln, and he played
for Newcastle, Bristol City and Birmingham, all
within the next fifteen months. It was only in
December 1984, when he signed for Luton Town that
his career took off, as Luton were a similar
sized club to Lincoln except that they were in
Division One. Harford, in his six years at Luton,
represented England twice and played in two major
cup finals; he, eventually moved to Derby but
would later return to Luton for a brief spell.
He ended his playing career at
Wimbledon after signing for four teams in less
than two years and once retired, he joined the
coaching staff at Wimbledon. Since leaving
Wimbledon, he has managed both Nottingham Forest
and Rotherham United.
Harford was linked to the vacant
Lincoln City managerial post in June 2006 but
declared that he had not applied for the job.
Instead, he was appointed as the Colchester
United assistant-manager in August 2006. He
stayed at Colchester for just one season before
quitting to join QPR as their assistant-manager.
|
| GORDON HOBSON |
| Born: 27th
November 1957 in Sheffield. Position: winger or
striker.
Lincoln City
Career: 321+(12) appearances and 96 goals between
December 1997 - June 1985 & September 1988 -
July 1990.
Clubs: Lincoln
City, Grimsby Town, Southampton, Exeter, Walsall,
Farnborough and Salisbury.
Gordon Hobson
was another successful find of Lincoln City's
scouting system, as he was spotted while playing
local league football in Sheffield.
He was signed
in December 1977 by George Kerr, and made a goal
scoring debut in April 1977 against Cambridge
United. That was sign of things to come as Hobson
would end five of his ten seasons at Sincil Bank
as the club's top scorer. This was a tremendous
achievement because Hobson played as a winger
although as his career progressed, he became more
of a striker.
Hobson left
Lincoln in June 1985 for Grimsby Town in a
£35,000 deal; the following season, Lincoln were
relegated to Division Four. As Lincoln City began
falling through the divisions, Hobson was
climbing and joined Division One club Southampton
in 1986.
Lincoln,
having recaptured their Football League status
for the 1988/89 season, were paired with
Southampton in the League Cup. Many people
anticipated Hobson's return to Sincil Bank in a
Southampton shirt but they received a pleasant
surprise when his former mentor Colin Murphy, now
in his second spell at Lincoln, resigned Hobson
before the tie took place. Lincoln paid £60,000
to Southampton for Hobson, which was a record
transfer fee paid by City and he lined-up against
his former team-mates and made a goal scoring
return to Lincoln.
Hobson's
second spell at Lincoln lasted two years before
he was released by new manager Allan Clarke. He
finished his career at Salisbury after short
spells at Exeter City, Walsall and Farnborough
Town.
He is now
settled in the Southampton area, where he owns
and runs a successful yachting business.
|
| GARY TAYLOR-FLETCHER |
| Born: 4th
June 1981 in Liverpool. Position: striker.
Lincoln City
career: 89+(4) appearances and 30 goals between
August 2003 - June 2005.
Previous
clubs: Northwich Victoria, Hull City, Leyton
Orient, Grays Athletic, Dagenham & Redbridge
and Lincoln City.
Present club:
Huddersfield Town.
Gary Fletcher
joined Lincoln City in August 2003 but changed
his name to Gary Taylor-Fletcher in June 2004
following his marriage to a Miss Taylor.
Taylor-Fletcher
was a former player of then Lincoln City manager
Keith Alexander at their former club Northwich
Victoria. During his time at Northwich,
Taylor-Fletcher also played alongside former Imps
Mark Bailey, Lance Key, John Robertson and Adie
Mike.
Taylor-Fletcher
became one of highly rated non-league strikers
around; a reputation enhanced when he scored two
goals against Leyton Orient in the 2000/01 FA Cup
second round tie that ended 3-3. Those goals
earnt him a £150,000 move to Leyton Orient in
the following July, having ended the 2000/01
season on loan to Hull City where he made five
appearances.
Unfortunately,
his two-years at Leyton Orient were blighted by
injury, meaning that he only made 13 starts for
the club plus another 11 substitute appearances,
scoring 2 goals. As a result, he was languishing
in the Leyton Orient reserve team in August 2004,
when he was rescued by Alexander.
A skilful and
strong striker, Fletcher also spent four months
on loan at Conference club Dagenham and Redbridge
in 2002/03, scoring one goal in nine appearances.
He later joined Grays Athletic where he scored
three times in four games.
As well as
being an out and out striker, Taylor-Fletcher can
also play on the right side of midfield if
requested. He spent two years at Lincoln City,
but with differing results. During his first
season, he was an exceptional player and he had
stayed longer at the club and recreated this
form, then he would have become a Lincoln City
legend.
His second
season saw him endure several injury problems but
he still remained a prolific goal scorer. It was
somewhat surprising when Alexander decided to
release him at the end of the 2004/05 season. A
few weeks later, he joined Huddersfield Town of
League One, where he remains.
In August
2006, he became a history-maker by scoring the
500,000th goal scored in the Football League.
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