John Finnigan
John Finnigan
— Will (@TheSincilBanker) April 18, 2018
For a short while, Finns was the Lincoln City poster boy, the striking young player from Forest who had to thrive under extremely tough conditions.
He originally joined the Imps on loan from Nottingham Forest in April of 1998 and made six appearances, including the 2-1 victory at home to Brighton that sent us up into the old Division Two. Upon his release that summer by Forest, he was snapped up on a free transfer. It proved to be incredibly astute business
Over the course of the next four seasons Finns set about making himself a fans favourite. He was a tireless worker in the middle of the park, always scrapping for the cause. He was never one to be amongst the goals regularly, although he did score twice in our foray out of the basement division against Stevenage in the FA Cup and Burnley at Turf Moor in the league.
He was far more than a tackler though, far more than Scott Kerr, some might say. He had quality on the ball, he could retain possession well and had an eye for a pass. He wasn’t an extravagant player, but you noticed the work he did because he did it with a certain grace.
As we dropped back into the bottom league his class and work ethic was quite often evident over and above some of the other journeymen we had playing for us. He was always cultured and composed, and yet also always disciplined. He was never sent off for City and ended up captaining the side through some very tough times. As we knocked through managers and lurched towards administration he was the rock in the middle of the park, still fighting the cause as the ship appeared to be sinking around him.
He missed a chunk of his final season with a neck injury as we plummeted down the league and it became apparent that we weren’t going to be able to hold on to him as money became tighter and tighter. Just two months before the end of the 2002 season, despite being one of our key players, he joined Cheltenham on a free transfer as a budgeting measure than anything else.
He had seven years at Whaddon Road and helped fire them to promotion, eventually becoming club captain. The fact he had so few clubs in his career is a testament to both his value as a player and his dedication and application.
