2. Sean Dunphy
Sean Dunphy isn’t a name many will remember, but ever since I was young, I’ve had this thing about him. He was 19 when we signed him from Barnsley, 6ft 4in, and had made his debut for them in a Yorkshire derby against Sheffield United, where he dealt well with Tony Agana and Brian Deane. Barnsley offered him a deal, but Allan Clarke, his former Barnsley boss, had other ideas. In June 1990, he became an Imp. he seemed like a massive signing, not just literally, and from what I’ve been told, he looked top quality in friendlies.
Sadly, he never played a senior game for Allan Clarke. Just two months later, he was stretchered off with a damaged knee during a friendly against Leeds. As home fans watched Gary Speed, Gordon Strachan, Vinnie Jones and a host of other stars, Dunphy was carried up to Lincoln hospital. His return? April 11th, 1992, almost two years later.
He was never the player I thought we’d get after that. He was okay, a decent lower league defender, but I had images of this young Rolls-Royce when he signed. The spell on the sidelines may have affected him, I don’t know, as we never got to see him prior to the injury. Another serious injury in 1993 effectively ended his Imps career, and after a couple of loan spells, he left for Kettering Town.
1. Adam Watts
Warning – this entry has positive points about Chris Sutton.
I always thought Sutton was on the right track (I didn’t want him sacked), and history suggests he was even ahead of his time. He thought young players from top academies were the way forward, and he proved it by bringing some good ones to the club. Matty Saunders was one who stood out at the time, but I’m not sure any landed quite like Watts.
He was in place for Sutton’s first game, and we kept three clean sheets in four matches. What he lacked in senior experience, he made up for in everything else. He had a little pace, he was rugged, feared nothing, and fitted right into the Imps’ setup. He looked a lot like a Nathan Baker or Eric Lichaj, just passing through on the way to better things.
His season ended in February, a leg break against Grimsby seeing him return to Fulham. The Cottagers released him at the end of the season, and back he came. It felt like a huge coup, but it didn’t quite turn out that way. He was still decent, but the Adam Watts that started against Grimsby was, sadly, a better player than the one we signed permanently. Sure, he was still a decent enough central defender, but he was a shadow of his former self.
If he hadn’t been injured, and we’d had prime Adam Watts for the 2010/11 season, would we have been relegated? I’m not so sure we would.