Leo Fortune-West (Rotherham loan & Brentford)
I’m sure someone will be able to put me right on this, but I could never understand why Leo Fortune-West was at the club for such a short period of time. We needed goals in the 1998/99 season, and with him and Battersby we had the classic ‘big man, little man’ combination. I felt it worked well in the first few games of his Imps’ career; he bagged as we lost 4-3 at home to Preston, but he didn’t impress massively, granted. Still, he only just broke into double figures for matches before he left.
He was loaned out to Rotherham, scoring four goals in five games. If that wasn’t enough, he returned to City only to be sold for £60,000 to Brentford in the division below. He had been with the Imps barely two months, and turned us a £60,000 profit. I know we needed money, but it wasn’t as if we reinvested it in a worthwhile player. To make matters worse, Brentford then sold him to Rotherham for £35,000, where he ended the season with 12 goals for them helping them to the play-offs. The following year, with us back in Rotherham’s division, he hit 17, before a £300,000 move to Cardiff City. I just never got why he wasn’t given more time at City. Maybe someone can help me out on this one.