Thanks – Josh Gowling

This is an article packed full of controversy, isn’t it? Josh Gowling is another player likely to start some debate. In fact, perhaps saying thanks for him is going to be as divisive as my tongue-in-cheek article on Ricky Miller.

Gowling took a risk dropping out of league football with Lincoln in 2011, a risk that I think many fans will have forgotten given what he has done since. A strong and commanding centre back, Gowling had plied his trade a league higher with Bournemouth and Gillingham before singing on loan for City in 2010/11. They didn’t have to loan us a player who had mostly featured in League One and when they did, he impressed. He had been  virtually ever present for them that season, then they lost 7-4 to Accrington and he was allowed to join us on loan.

He signed for Steve Tilson and began to calm a leaky defence. His quality was clear and despite being on the field the night we lost 5-0 at home to Bury it was widely believed that he was someone who could have helped keep us up. As fate would have it he helped send us down, scoring in Gillingham’s 4-0 win at Sincil Bank.

He opted to re-join Lincoln in the summer despite our relegation and was made club captain by Steve Tilson. Once again fate dealt a cruel blow as Tilson floundered and was eventually dismissed after a 4-0 defeat at Tamworth. He remained at Lincoln to help us avoid relegation, but left in August 2012 to sign for Kidderminster. He later turned up at Grimsby where aside from getting sent off against Lincoln he had a superb season, resulting in promotion via the play-offs and a spot in the Team of the Year.

He proved at Grimsby he had the ability to be a success at National League level, but the upheaval of a manager change really unsettled the team in our first season out of the football league. Had we had a more balanced side I firmly believe he could have had a much longer and relatively successful career at Lincoln, especially as he is now regularly playing League football again. Sadly, he had to move to our bitter rivals to achieve it.