Number 16 on our list brings us back to one of the most electric half-seasons from a City player that have witnessed in the modern era.
This countdown continues to highlight the most prolific Imps strikers from 1945 onwards, measured by goals per game in EFL competition, with each player having made at least 25 appearances. It’s a celebration of those who not only scored freely but also shaped the club’s story across generations.
#16 Tyler Walker (0.40)
Tyler Walker arrived on loan from Nottingham Forest in August 2019, a signing Danny Cowley had chased patiently for several windows, and one that finally materialised during a period when we were adjusting to life in League One. What followed was a burst of goalscoring that lifted the club through one of its most turbulent spells of the past decade.
Walker slotted in immediately. He carried the sharpness and timing of a striker who trusted his instincts fully, and the early signs were clear. Close-range finishes, clever diagonal runs, and a calmness in front of goal turned him into a natural focal point for a side learning to test itself at a higher level. Supporters had seen exciting forwards in the preceding years, but Walker stood out because his movement created chances nobody else in the squad was capable of finding.
He scored his first goal from the spot as we dismantled Southend 4-0, and by the end of autumn, he had hit a stride that few Imps loanees have ever replicated. His finishes often came from tight angles or moments where the penalty area appeared too crowded to find a gap. There was always a sense he would ghost into the right position.
The 2019–20 campaign developed quickly, and Walker’s contribution grew with it. He struck against some of the division’s strongest sides, including Sunderland and Ipswich, and kept producing decisive goals when we needed them most. By the January recall, he had scored 14 league goals in 29 appearances, a record that placed him near the top scorers of the entire division at the time. Included in that was a run of six in five matches.
The recall itself has become part of the story. Forest needed attacking reinforcement, and Walker had reached a level where Championship clubs took notice. His departure felt abrupt and frustrating. For Lincoln supporters, it cut short what might have become one of the great individual seasons of the modern period, and he finished on an average of 0.40 goals per game, level with number 15, but having played fewer matches.
Walker’s time at Sincil Bank did not end with that first spell, but his second spell is best forgotten. He returned permanently in 2023, a move shaped by ambition and a desire to rediscover the spark that had once made him such a feared forward.
Injuries defined that second spell and prevented him from repeating the impact of 2019, yet the affection for his earlier brilliance never dimmed.
Supporters remembered the first version of Tyler Walker, the one who made scoring look simple and who played with a confidence that lifted the whole ground.