Dean Walling
It was another fifteen years before we had someone else represent their country, but in 1998 Dean Walling became the first full international of my Imps’ experience when he played for St Kitts and Nevis.
They’re currently ranked 150th in the world, but that won’t have fazed Walling who played twice for them in the 1998 Caribbean Cup. Around the same time, Terry Fleming was called up by St Lucia but reportedly turned the offer down.
Walling is well-known now as a pundit working with the Echo, but back then he was our record signing. he joined from Carlisle for a club-record fee of £75,000 in 1997 and formed part of a formidable defence along with Steve Holmes, Jason Barnett and Kevin Austin as the Imps steamed to automatic promotion.
He bagged eight times in that season, including winners against Leyton Orient (1-0), Scunthorpe (1-0) and Hull City (1-0). He even grabbed the equalising goal in the FA Cup 1st round against Gainsborough, then scored a brace in the replay to give us a 3-2 win.
Not a full international but certainly worth a mention, Dick Neal won three England under-23s caps during our spell in the old Second Division. Interestingly Alick Jefferies broke his leg in one of those games and was never the same again. He later had a brief spell at Lincoln