We told you so.
Okay, I resist being too smug, but it is a lot less than a year ago that I was forced to defend Jovon online. It is mere months since me, my Dad and Chris (of all people), almost got into a fight in a pub because we said he could be worth a million pounds one day. I’d say it’s eight months, at best, since that happened, and now here we are, not with him on loan at Boston (as suggested by said man in pub) but on the cusp of a reported £1.5m move to Championship side Norwich City.
Sean Roughan, Lewis Montsma and Ethan Erhahon were all touted as out first £1m player, and while we netted a collective million (and will likely net much more) for two of those in fees and add-ons, it is Jovon Makama who strides into the Championship wearing the historic title of Lincoln City’s First £1m Player.
I write this article with a caveat of everything going through according to plan, of course, as yet, no deal has been 100% finalised, but it does seem as though we’re going to lose four of my four favourite players from last season.
I’m so happy, and so, so sad at the same time.
There is a bit to unpack from this possible deal, but firstly, it is a good day for the club. It’s not purely about getting seven figures, it’s not even about bringing a player through the academy. It is about business and the current squad. Whatever we do, the emphasis must always be on making the squad better as a whole. We’re going to bring in money, and the promise seems to be that we will now seek to reinvest that into a squad that is undoubtedly weaker than the one that finished last season. That makes this a good thing – one out and (hopefully) three in.
Jovon Makama was going to be a key player this season, and the timing was hard to take yesterday. It made winning against Reading hugely important, to stop the flow of criticism about the crown jewels being sold off and the club losing direction. Beating Reading keeps those wolves at bay, but the hard fact from the position of criticism is that the squad does feel depleted. Anyone who thinks we won’t reinvest that money is, of course, wrong, but a win does bridge the river of criticism, for now.
Fact: a club like Lincoln will always be a selling club. We will always have teams interested in our players. This move is the transfer that hopefully starts the ball rolling on more of the same. Not necessarily academy products, but turning over profits for key players. In truth, every club is a selling club. The food chain is a chain with someone below you and someone above. We may now look down (or across to Europe) and pick talent from a club smaller than us, and they’ll face the reality that they’re a selling club. I made my peace with that when we sold Gareth Ainsworth, and I’ve never got angry at the club selling a talent. When they swap homegrown, Championship-level talent for Kevin Hulme, that is when you get upset.
I’m delighted for Jovon. I’m not sure a player has ever divided opinion as much as him, not even Sean Roughan, who attracted stick as well. I’m not sure why two players coming out of the academy and sharing almost 250 appearances is so divisive. I’m not sure why calling them ‘two of our own’ after they’ve grafted as teenagers through the first team to big money moves is so offensive. Anyhow, Jovon, in particular, has taken an awful lot of abuse over the last couple of years from sections of our support, sections you’d hope would back young players more. For him to come through that, to develop in front of our eyes from slightly awkward centre forward to quick, powerful goalscoring winger, has been a delight.
I always remember this stat – in 2020/21, Brennan Johnson played 40 League One matches, started 38, scored 10 goals and created five assists, giving him 15 goal involvements. He was lauded as a huge presence and has gone on to win European honours. Last season, Jovon Makama played just 38 matches, started 29, nine fewer than Johnson, and still recorded seven goals and six assists, so 13 goal involvements. I no longer have Wyscout access, but I’m sure across all competitions, their goals and assists number was exactly the same. Funny, I say I never forget, and then immeidately doubt my memory.
I suppose we have to mention the much-maligned ‘model’, which is used as a stick to beat the club at times. I’m not a fan of the term personally, because I think every club seeking longevity at this level has to adopt a similar approach. You invest, grow a player and sell. It’s how the likes of Peterborough, a club no bigger than us, are considered top-end League One, lower-end Championship. You sign players, some work out, and some do not. However when you consider the likes of Tayo Edun, Anthony Scully, Cohen Bramall, Lukas Jensen, Lasse Sorensen, Sean Roughan, Ethan Erhahon and now Jovon have all left for good six-figure fees, a combined total you’d imagine had a base value of maybe £4.5 million or more, even the most critical fan has to say something is working, however you label it. With three top-half third-tier finishes in a row, it’s not to the detriment of action on the field, either.
The most damaging element of this is team identity. I said my four favourite players from recent seasons are probably Roughan, O’Connor, Erhahon and Makama, and they’ve all left in a pretty brutal summer. Yesterday we turned in a decent performance against a side expected to be challenging top ten, and yet it was with a squad that felt transitional. Conor McGrandles was arguably Man of the Match, an old hand now, alongside the likes of Adam Jackson (who, to be fair, is probably one of five I’d have termed as my favourite). Darikwa, Collins and Bradley are all functional players, not ones we’re expecting to move on for a fee, and so there is a good spine, but one that perhaps supporters need to reidentify with.
The job here isn’t just to bring in players to sell, but to bring in new crowd favourites, or find them lurking within our squad. Reeco is one I know many fans like, and I still feel Erik Ring can step up as well. Some younger players, like Towler, have big futures, but the squad needs to reforge an identity, as well as bring in the next batch of impactful players who could move on for big bucks.
It’s a challenge, but honestly, when you look at who we have moved on, it is one I think the recruitment team are capable of rising to. There will always be misses, such as Jamie Robson, and there will be marginal hits, such as Ben House, who become functional and maybe not lucrative. What the next batch of players achieves remains to be seen.
All I will say is I will miss Jovon. Praise to everyone involved in his development (especially Tendayi Darikwa, who I understand was a mentor to him in his breakout season), and I’d love to see him go smash it in the Championship.