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Keeper: Rob Burch

I have a fundamental issue with Rob Burch that I can’t get over, and it is nothing about him at all. The best way I can describe it is with an analogy. Imagine your dad leaves your mum and gets a new girlfriend – you hate the new girlfriend, but it’s nothing she has done at all. That is Rob Burch. My problem with Burch is that he wasn’t Alan Marriott, one season away from a testimonial when Burch replaced him.

However, Burch was a good keeper, without a doubt. He was ever-present through two tough seasons, and could have played higher, in my opinion. He’s a keeper coach at Spurs now.

Left Centre Back: Nathan Baker

I’m playing 3-5-2, because I think Sutton’s players lend themselves to that formation perfectly. The left centre back would be Nathan Baker, a youngster when he joined us, but still good enough to play 18 matches.

I am picking this team on how good they were at the time, not what they went on to (hence no Sam Clucas), and Baker was raw, but in a three, he’d have more protection. The fact he went on to play regularly for Villa and Bristol City underlines how good he was, even as a youngster.

Right Centre Back: Eric Lichaj

Lichaj didn’t get off to a great start in an Imps shirt – he was sent off on only his second outing, and left after just six starts. This was a big blow for Sutton, especially given that Lichaj finished the season in League One with Orient, proving he was good enough.

The big question is could he have played right centre back? I don’t see why not. Today’s modern right back is often at ease a little more central, as we saw with Eyoma, so I think Lichaj would have been perfect with Janos doing the heavy aerial work.

Centre Back: Janos Kovacs

The middle centre back doesn’t have to be a ball player as such, and while Janos wasn’t terrible on the ball, he wasn’t up there with the best. What he was good at was heading and tackling, a staple of the middle defender’s key attributes.

Could he have done it in League One? Why not? The likes of Carl Piergianni have made a living out of aerial ability only, and there was more to Kovacs than just that. With two slick ball players either side, I think they’d have made a good trio.

Right Wing Back: Chris Herd

Given how bad we were under Sutton, it’s almost criminal the players he borrowed. Herd played three times for Australia, and were it not for a medial ligament injury, I suspect he’d have played much more. He played in midfield during his Imps spell, but he could have played the right wing-back role, which is where I’m putting him right now.

I think he’d have been perfect, given how he also played right back later in his career. He was quick and could carry the ball with comfort. There’s no doubt he was League One quality, and better.

Left Wing-Back: Mustapha Carayol

Carayol was a winger, and he was a season after the others on this list, making this an ‘in theory’ squad, but there’s no doubting his quality. He was better than League Two, and he’s played left wing-back in his career.

Can you imagine him in that role? He played it last season for Burton, but I mean as a young man, with the power and pace he had, covered behind but running from deep? With the right centre forwards, it would have been a license to print goals (okay, you don’t print goals, but you get my drift).

Holding Midfielder: Scott Kerr

I just keep coming back to Scott Kerr. I think he would have been more appreciated in the modern game than any of the players on this list, because of Claude Makelele. The Chelsea man made the defensive midfield role what it is today – before him, nobody just had a midfielder sitting and protecting the back four (or three).

I firmly believe a man of Kerr’s industry could have played in League One. Without the shackles of other duties, he could have prowled and tackled and shouted as much as he wanted, and with the right players around him, he would have made things tick as Erhahon does. Maybe not quite as well as Erhahon, but in the same manner.

Central Midfield: Richard Butcher

Here’s another player treated badly by Sutton – a midfielder worthy of League One, but who only played 36 times outside the bottom divisions. Butch would have thrived in a 3-5-2, playing the box-to-box role, getting on the ball with options left and right.

I could see him being a key part of Sutton’s side, but Sutton couldn’t. Scored 20 goals in 89 outings for Notts County before his third spell with us, and three in 17 after with Macclesfield. He’d have been an asset in this team.

Attacking Midfielder: Sergio Torres

Torres’ spell with the Imps was brief, but memorable. He played League One and Championship with Posh, and was part of the Crawley team that went through the National League and League Two. I’d have loved to see him at the head of the midfield in a 3-5-2, freed of the duties a two-man midfield demands.

As long as our wing-backs provide the right width here, Torres could have been threading balls through for the one man I have zero doubt would have been outstanding in League One today.

Centre Forward: Davide Somma

He was quick. He could finish. He was the Joe Taylor of his day, a man who only needed a single chance to score. His arrival saved Sutton’s skin in that first season, and had he not got injured, I suspect he would have gone on t0 play regularly in the Championship for Leeds United.

He was a shoo-in, but who did I pick as his starting partner?

Centre Forward: Chris Fagan

This will surprise plenty, but in today’s game, I think Chris Fagan thrives. He scored four times in 17 matches for us, and it would have been five had Rene Howe not wrestled a penalty from him against Bradford. Five in 17 would have been around 14 for a 46-game season, which is a decent return.

Fagan was quick, he had a decent finish and I believe had he been given time to adjust, he could have been a decent League One striker, especially giving defenders something to think about alongside Somma. Bear in mind he scored 93 goals in 229 outings for St Pats in Ireland after leaving the Imps; he had the ability and I believe in 2024, he’d get more chance to show what he could do.

What do you think? Could this side hold it’s own in League One right now? Were they ahead of their time? Let me know in the usual polite manner on social media!