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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.
International
career: 2 caps for England.
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.
After
a spell at as caretaker-manager of QPR in 2007,
he departed the London club following the
appointment of Luigi De Canio as manager. Harford
was not out of work for long as his former club
Luton Town appointed him as manager in January
2008. Unfortunately, events off the field at
Luton hindered the club and they were
successfully relegated from League One in 2008
and then out of the Football League in 2009.
However, Harford did enjoy some success on the
field as Luton won the Johnstone's Paint Trophy
in 2009.
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City Luton Town, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, QPR, Rotherham United, Sunderland or Wimbledon football club.
|
| 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.
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City, Grimsby
Town, Lincoln
City, Southampton or Walsall football club.
|
| 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.
Clubs: Northwich
Victoria, Hull City, Leyton Orient, Grays
Athletic, Dagenham & Redbridge, Lincoln City,
Huddersfield Town and Blackpool.
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. Five months
later, and Taylor-Fletcher performed another goal
scoring feat by netting against Chelsea in a FA
Cup tie.
His goal scoring
brought him to the attention of newly promoted
Blackpool in July 2007 and Taylor-Fletcher made a
switch for an undisclosed fee. The Blackpool fans
were a little sceptical as Taylor-Fletcher was
not a familiar name to them. However, after
several excellent performances, the Blackpool
fans were won over.
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links to view cheap merchandise for Blackpool, Chelsea, Huddersfield
Town, Hull
City, Leyton
Orient or Lincoln
City
football club.
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