Joe Anyon
Anyon is better known as the keeper who couldn’t get Elliot Parish out of the side as we went down, but in the National League he got himself back in Tilson’s good books and wasn’t that bad. He was guilty of several errors in his first Imps season which cost him dearly in terms of starts later in the season. Still, he dropped in for the first season out of the league, but was replaced for a short while by Paul Farman, in on loan from Gateshead.
I was hopeful he’d be a cut above in the National League, but he just wasn’t fancied by Holdsworth and eventually, Farms came in permanently. Anyon did finish the season as our Player of the Year, and he went off to the Football League without us, having spells with Scunthorpe, Macclesfield, Morecambe, Shrewsbury, and Chesterfield. He played 45 league games in eight years, ending up with Chorley.
John Nutter
My first thought writing this is that kit – it’s awful. Anyway…
Nutter was a three-time FA Trophy winner, and he’d played regular first-team football for Gillingham in League Two and League One in the years before he signed for us. he looked like a massive coup when he signed, and he proved to be a decent player despite the troubles we went through. In his second season, he was named captain but began to struggle with travelling as he had a young family.
His last goal for Lincoln was in another draw with Stockport, 3-3, and his final appearance was in the 3-2 AET win at Walsall in the FA Cup. Shortly afterwards due to family commitments he moved initially on a two-month loan down to Woking. After a couple of seasons with the Cards, he retired to focus on his teaching career.
Adam Watts
I thought doing this piece would fill me with horror, but here is a third player who had spent the previous season in League Two. Adam Watts joind us on loan from Fulham, the first signing of Chris Sutton’s rein. He was incredible in those first few matches, which led to us making the move permanent in December 2009. It was a great capture, but just two months later he suffered a broken leg in our 2-2 draw with Grimsby, and when he came back he just wasn’t the same player. He lasted 11 matches in 2011/12, leaving by mutual consent in December, two years after joining the club. He later played for Gainsborough and Eastbourne, but was forced to take a break from the game in 2015. He’s still only 33.