Lincoln City Career: 263 appearances and 99 goals, between 1969-1979 and 1982.

Position: Centre-forward.

Clubs: Lincoln City, Workington, Watford and Grimsby.

John Ward is one of the all time great Lincoln City players. However his Lincoln City career was nearly over before it had hardly begun, as he was loaned to Workington between September to November 1973.

Fortunately, before any deal was struck with Workington, the then manager David Herd departed and Graham Taylor took over. Taylor recognised Ward's talent and kept him at Sincil Bank, where Ward was to play a vital role in the success that Lincoln City enjoyed under Taylor. This included the 1975/76 season when Lincoln were crowned Division 4 Champions with a record points tally; Ward contributed 29 league and cup goals that season.

He remained at Lincoln after Taylor departed to join Watford but suffered an injury very early into the 1977/78 season, which kept him out of action for the rest of that season.

Most of the Championship team had left upon his return to fitness and personnel had changed rapidly first, under manager George Kerr and then under new manager Willie Bell. Ward now found himself playing with a team widely described as the "worst team Lincoln City has ever had", so he decided to move on. He was quickly reunited with Taylor plus several other ex-Imps including Sam Ellis at Watford. The move earnt Lincoln £15,000 but it was the end of an era, although he did return briefly during the final part of the 1981/82 season. Then manager Colin Murphy signed him as cover from Grimsby Town but he made only one further appearance, which was against Swindon.

In May 1982, Ward retired from playing and was appointed Watford's coach under Taylor. Both men are great friends and Ward later followed Taylor to Aston Villa as coach and even become a part-time England coach when Taylor was the England manager.

The partnership broke up in November 1991 when Ward was appointed York City's manager in his first sole managerial position. It was not long before York gained promotion from Division Four. Further management roles at Bristol Rovers and Bristol City saw him achieve promotion at both.

Ward's departure from Bristol City coincided with the November 1998 sacking of Imps' boss Shane Westley and many Imps' fans felt that he should have been offered the Lincoln City manager's job. A Lincoln born player, popular with supporters and a highly successfully manager, Ward was and still is ideal for the position should it ever become available in the future.

The future occurred in May 2006 when Keith Alexander quit as Lincoln City's manager. Despite intense pressure from Lincoln City's supporters for the club to appoint Ward as Alexander's replacement, it did not happen. One reason was that Ward's current club Cheltenham Town had just won promotion to League One - a division higher than Lincoln City's status.

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Lincoln City career 35 appearances, between 1926-27.

Position: goalkeeper.

Clubs: Notts County and Lincoln City.

Albert Iremonger was one of the oldest ever players to appear for Lincoln City when he was signed at the age of 42 years. The Bruce Grobbelaar of his day except that his distribution was still good and he proved a good short-term signing for Lincoln.

Notts. County was Iremonger's only other Football League team, where he spent 22 seasons and made a club record 564 appearances. His performances for County earnt him the chance to represent the Football League in 1912. His exceptional height of 6 ft 5 inches meant he had a tremendous reach and thwarted many opposing strikers. He was so well respected in Nottingham that they named a road behind County's Meadow Lane ground after him.

As well as being a good goalkeeper, he also represented Nottinghamshire at County Cricket for 5 years. Like most footballers after retirement, he became a publican - in Wilford - where he remained until his death in 1958.

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Position: striker

Lincoln City career: 0 appearances between July 2005 - January 2006.

Previous clubs: Dulwich Hamlet, Watford, Lincoln City, Aldershot, Gravesend & Northfleet and Crawley Town

Omari Coleman is a striker who came to prominence while playing for non-league Dulwich Hamlet. Watford offered him a trial before opting to sign him on a permanent transfer in summer 2004. Unfortunately for Coleman, bad luck struck and he was sidelined for five months with a ligament injury.

At the end of the 2004/05 season, Watford chose to release him without him making a first team appearance. He signed a one-year contract at Lincoln in July 2005 with the intention of reviving his career.

Alas, further bad luck struck, as his wife was involved in a serious car accident, and he was forced to seek a club nearer his London home. In October 2005 he joined Aldershot on loan and later joined Gravesend & Northfleet on loan for two months.

Once his loan at Gravesend expired in late January 2006, he agreed a severance deal with Lincoln City and left the club without making a first team appearance.

Coleman, a few days after leaving Lincoln City, signed for Crawley Town, where he partnered former Imps' striker Gavin Gordon in Crawley's attack. After leaving Crawley Town, Coleman drifted around the non-league scene.

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