My next game was the Boxing Day clash with Notts County, the only goal coming from what I consider to be the first I ever saw direct from a corner – but as John Hawksby’s in-swinger was helped into the net by keeper George Smith it was credited as an own goal. There was no New Years’ Day game as this was long before it became a Bank Holiday, so it was 2nd January when City started 1965 with a 2-1 defeat at Millwall. 17-year-old winger Roger Barton made his debut in the absence of Fencott who had refused to play for the club after being dropped despite being leading scorer with 7 goals.
FA Cup interest ended in the Third Round with a 5-1 defeat by a Second Division Rotherham side in no mood to take things easy against lower ranked opposition.
City now embarked upon one of the lowest points in their history. The Directors, with their team selecting having put City into a worse position than when they began decided now to turn to a professional. Con Moulson had been amongst City’s greatest-ever players, winning 3 international caps for Eire in the 1930s but now aged 58 he had been out of the game for over 20 years and was working as a machinist at Ruston & Hornsby.
Moulson’s first game in charge failed to stop the rot, with a 2-0 home defeat to next-to-bottom Bradford City. Maurice Burton was particularly scathing as Moulson had declared the team would adopt a 3-3-4 formation but according to MB, this “…rapidly became something of the order of 7-3-0 as Bradford City took command”, describing it as “one of the poorest exhibitions put on by a Lincoln side for many years”. Moulson declared: “some players did not do as I told them. I have a lethargically-minded team, and this is my urgent problem”, going on to say he would be a hard taskmaster in training.
Something of a transfer coup then followed, with the return of Roy Chapman, one of the regulars from City’s Second Division days, from Third Division Mansfield for whom he had scored 20 goals the season before. Brian Halford in his book ‘Past Imperfect’ suggests Chapman’s return was perhaps due to sensing an imminent coaching vacancy.
‘Chappie’s’ debut saw a 5-1 defeat at Chester (Moulson: ”A travesty of justice…we played really well”) which saw City finally sink into the relegation zone. Having settled his differences with the club Ken Fencott then returned on the wing and was on the mark at Wrexham along with Chapman and Hawksby. However, five goals were conceded again with the recalled Bryan Stainton making his last appearance for the club.
Further defeats followed and only two goals were scored in six matches which included losing 3-1 at bottom of the league Stockport. Alan Morton made a brief reappearance and Grummett was tried again at centre forward in the absence of the injured Chapman. A change finally came after City’s eleventh successive defeat, the eighth under Moulson when prior to the home game with Bradford (Park Avenue) on 12th March Roy Chapman was appointed player-coach at the age of 30, Moulson staying on as trainer only.
There was an immediate improvement, albeit only with a draw as the new coach scored along with the recalled Bud Houghton against a promotion chasing Bradford side, then placed third and boasting a strike force of Kevin Hector, Bobby Ham and Jim Fryatt – all names that will be recalled by older supporters. Houghton then scored twice more in a 4-4 draw at Southport before defeats set in again with nine goals conceded in three games including a 3-2 loss to an Aldershot side which played for two-thirds of the game with 10 men (“Lincoln looked a ragged outfit”: Echo report).
Relief came at home to Darlington with a first win in 17 games although in MB’s opinion: “…the pathetically small crowd (2,569) had little to enthuse over in the way of classy football”. Hero was Bob Graves who preserved City’s 2-0 lead, saving a penalty given away by 18-year-old Tom Brooks making his debut at centre half.
Meanwhile, my father and I had missed all these goings-on, due to my not being with him on weekends when City were at home. Instead, we would go and watch the reserves play on Saturdays when the first team were away. At least we saw one or two wins!
I got to see the first team again on Good Friday when promotion-chasing York City were the visitors for a game which had MB anxiously calculating goal averages for City’s chances of avoiding a re-election plea. Concluding that at least five points from four games (two for a win) were needed, it didn’t help that the Minstermen went away with a 1-0 win. Matters worsened as no goals scored and eight conceded over the next two games saw City finish the season at home to Newport County already doomed. At least an entertaining 4-3 win against a side down to 10 men before half time lifted City off the bottom to finish in 22nd place – in three different divisions – for the fourth time in five seasons.
Winger Jimmy Fell’s brace in the Newport game left him as highest league scorer for the season with 9, although Houghton had 11 overall, and made his last appearance for the club along with Alan Morton. The writer of the Supporters Club Notes summed things up: “…the most disappointing season ever experienced by Lincoln City. After a reasonably good start the Imps fell away to a most inglorious finish”.
Fourth Division champions were Brighton with Millwall second. Bradford, despite their firepower fell away to finish 7th. Doncaster Rovers supplied the Football League’s top scorer in the bulky shape of later Imps player Alick Jeffrey with 36 goals. League champions were Manchester United, helped by 20 goals from later City boss David Herd. Promotion to the top flight was gained by Northampton Town, runners-up to Newcastle in the Second, and Liverpool beat Leeds United to win the FA Cup for the first time. And Stanley Matthews had finally retired after playing his final game at the age of 50.
A great article… thanks for sharing