Ben Futcher
Futcher became one of Keith Alexander’s first signings in May 2002 and became an integral part of the 2002/03 play-off final squad. Futcher was a giant of a defender and a good, honest footballer who battled for 90 minutes. Despite Keith’s ongoing search for a goal scorer, Futcher did better than most. He scored more goals than both Simon Yeo and Dene Cropper in the season itself, his goals giving us 1-0 wins over York, Scunthorpe, Southend, and Rochdale. He even scored in the play-off final in Cardiff. He may not have been the best footballer, but his aerial threat was plain for all to see. Futcher won “Young Player of the Season” for his efforts and finished as the leading scorer
Futcher was at the heart of the Lincoln defence as we, unfortunately, faced two more Play-off defeats: losing out in the semi-finals to Huddersfield Town in 2003/2004. After this game, Futcher decided to capitalise on his rising star, and asked for a transfer to a bigger club. No bigger clubs came forward. We went down again at the final hurdle the following season and once again Futcher played his part. By then we had signed Jamie McCombe and Gareth McAuley, both a threat in the air but crucially both good footballers as well. It didn’t seem like it would be long before the big man moved on.
When he did move on it was something of a shock. Futcher announced he would be leaving Lincoln, to sign for county rivals Boston United! He even cited footballing reasons as the motivational factor behind his move. One year after asking for a transfer to a bigger club, he moved to a side that have never finished above Lincoln, in any league. Ever. Boston had strengthened though, now boasting such ex-Premiership stars as Julian Joachim and Noel Whelan. They struggled so on January 12th, just six months later he was on the move again, this time sullying any positive memories Imps fans had by signing for Grimsby Town. He played the day we beat them 5-0 and got a suitably warm reception (as you’d imagine) from the partisan home fans. He got his revenge a few weeks later. We were leading the play-off semi-final second leg against Grimsby 1-0, meaning it was 1-1 on aggregate.
After that, he signed for Peterborough, appearing as we beat them 1-0, then also played against us for Bury.