Finalist 2 – John Ward
Ward came through in his group in second place, losing out to Graver but fending off Woodcock and Jamie Taylor. In the last 16 he beat Davide Somma, before his match up with Tony Cunningham.
Both him and TC were great strikers for the club and the vote was tight on Twitter, 60/40. on the site, John Ward took more votes though, in total TC polled 112 votes, but John Ward took the final place with 230.
Ward was spotted playing local football for Adelaide Park and signed professional terms in March 1971. He took a couple of seasons to nail down a first team place, but as Graham Taylor’s side began to evolve, John Ward became an integral part of it.
From 1973 to 1977 he missed just a handful of matches, scoring 70 times in four seasons. It was his exploits in 1975/76 that truly endeared him to Imps fans, as if being a local boy done good wasn’t enough. He smashed 29 in league and cup as City romped to the Fourth Division title.
Ward suffered an injury at the start of the 1977/78 season and by the time he came back, he’d ben earmarked by Graham Taylor for greater things. He followed his mentor to Watford, along with Sam Ellis and Dennis Booth for a fee of £15,000 in 1979.
In total he scored 99 goals for City in over 270 outings. Later in his career he joined Taylor as assistant manager of the England team and has managed extensively throughout the Football League. He’s never come home though, preferring not to tarnish his record with City fans, making him the greatest manager we never had.
I voted for John Ward for 2 reasons. #1 The record breaking 1075/76 season, and also we both went to Monks Road Junior school. I was a year ahead of him.
Hobbo for me for what he did when we went down to the GMVC, until the 2016/17 season, the best season for me following the Imps home and away. Will never forget Kettering away with all the police road-blocks on all roads entering the town, checking tickets, massive away following.