Max Melbourne – 1304 minutes
There is definitely an argument for Max not being given a chance – signed by Danny Cowley on loan, he didn’t appear until Michael Appleton took over. Michael gave him the security of a deal, then didn’t play him and sent him out on loan to Walsall. He came back, went to Stevenage and returned, scored a winner against Plymouth with the final kick of his Imps career and was gone.
Could he have cut it in League One? He later did, with Morecambe, starting 13 matches across a two-season stay. However, I’m not sure ‘bottom four fringe player’ was what we were looking for, and he’s since left the struggling Shrimps.
Aaron Lewis – 56 minutes
Here’s an odd one for you. In his 56 league minutes for the Imps, Lewis set up one goal and scored another. He provided his assist in a five-minute cameo as we beat Bolton 5-1, and netted in the topsy-turvy game at Accrington which we lost 4-3 and signalled the end of Jason Shackell’s Imps career.
Should he have been given more time? A club figure, since left, told me Aaron’s issue wasn’t on the field, and that they even moved a player out of his house to avoid bad habits spreading. That said, Lewis has gone on to become a stalwart of the lower divisions with Newport County, and later Mansfield, for whom he now appears in League One.