2. Elliot Parish – 9 apps, 0 goals
I know this was obvious, and there are so many mitigating circumstances behind this particular failed loan, but borrowing Parish from Aston Villa will always haunt me. Always.
Goalkeepers often get the benefit of the doubt, but Parish was error-prone and lacking confidence. Brought in from Aston Villa after Trevor Carson got recalled, he was too young to deal with the toxicity around the club. He struggled under pressure and made mistakes that cost City vital points in a relegation scrap. With him in goal, we got one point from 27, and conceded 23 goals, including six on his debut against Rotherham United.
He was a truly awful loan signing.
1. Tom Kilbey – 7 apps, 0 goals
Isn’t it a surprise that instead of going with Parish, the obvious scapegoat, I’ve picked Kilbey as my worst Imps loan signing between 2000-2011? In fact, he was here for the same length of time, debuting during the same humiliating defeat against Rotherham, but graciously missing the final day debacle against Aldershot.
Kilbey joined from Portsmouth, having made a Championship debut months earlier. Sadly, he never looked the part in a team that was as bad as the sum of its parts. He drifted through seven matches with minimal impact and was quickly deemed surplus to requirements by us, and by Portsmouth.
Of all the loans Lincoln tried in that era, Kilbey’s was perhaps the most forgettable, but also the most reflective of the time.