Over the last three years at the club, Michael Appleton achieved one of the best seasons of recent times even if it was with no fans in the stadium. The football was getting fans off their seats (and sofas) and for that we can always thank him. However during his tenure, many players were shown the door and appeared to be frozen out of the first team picture. Also, I’m removing the potential of players being distracting etc in the dressing room as usually it’s just speculation. I’m going to go off performances on the pitch solely.
So I thought in this article, I’d take a look at four players that never got a fair crack under his management.
Tom Pett
I could select a number of players that were in the League Two title winning squad that MA disregarded but I’ve gone for Tom Pett. Pett was one of our best midfielders, if not the best during our run to the League Two title under the management of Danny Cowley. Pett was unlucky under MA, being injured when he was appointed and his only start came in one of the worst performances in the last five years away at Gillingham, so that gave Appleton even less of a reason to keep him around.
The quick judgment of Pett by MA was extremely unfair in my opinion, having been one of the best midfielders around in League Two. However, Pett still represented the club in a great light being top with the fans and around the community. Maybe it was just bad timing for him, considering his injury but we will meet him again next season as he showed his quality again this year, winning another League Two promotion, this time through the play-offs with Port Vale.
Jack Payne
Jack Payne came to Lincoln City in the summer of 2019, fresh off the back of the title winning season. His debut against Accrington Stanley was impressive and he was named Man of the Match that day but despite all the promise, we never got to see his full potential at Lincoln City. In my opinion Payne looked like everything we lacked during the 19/20 season when he was dropped by MA with Jake Hesketh being preferred. No one ever really knew why Payne was dropped so suddenly, he disappeared off the first team picture. I personally believe the change we saw in Jorge Grant meant Jack Payne was never going to work his way back in but he could have done a good job for us at this level.
Zack Elbouzedi
I have always found this one somewhat strange, Zack Elbouzedi was MA’s first signing at the club and all the signs looked promising. He came from Waterford and he was described as quick and direct as well as looking to get on the front foot. Elbouzedi failed to impress during the first season and the lockdown due to Covid didn’t help him either.
Elbouzedi struggled for game during his second season at the club, being behind the likes of Anthony Scully, Brennan Johnson and Harry Anderson in the pecking order. However, he really impressed during the EFL trophy games and despite many goal contributions and two player of the rounds in that trophy he never got the chance in the League and he later moved to Bolton Wanderers on loan, where he struggled to impress despite their promotion. He is doing well now in Sweden and it wouldn’t surprise me if he moved back to England at some point in the future at a higher level to us if he continues his impressive form.
Max Melbourne
Max Melbourne was the last Cowley player at the club but it seemed luck if anything kept him at the club for so long. MA made his loan a permanent deal to replace the outgoing Harry Toffolo but he struggled for momentum. Melbourne had a stop start end to the 19/20 season, last featuring in the 3-2 win against Burton Albion in place of the suspended Tayo Edun.
Melbourne had a poor start to the 20/21 season, but it wasn’t on the pitch. He fell behind Sean Roughan and later Tayo Edun due to injury. He left on loan in January and was told he wasn’t needed in the summer and he was free to find a new club. However, due to defensive injuries Melbourne played the first few games of our league season at centre-half before being sent out on loan again. He was recalled in January because of the injury to Lewis Montsma and he started against Plymouth scoring an added time winner. After that goal he never kicked a ball for us again and he recently secured a move to fellow League One side Morecambe. Despite having a top attitude, being a very good professional and showing up when he needed to, it wasn’t enough for MA to include him in the regular Lincoln City squad.
I could include many more players in the article, such as Aaron Lewis and Lee Frecklington for example, but to stop it being too long, I’ll keep it at four. I was a big fan of Appleton but one of his worst characteristics was once the door was shut, it rarely re-opened for players, which is something I hope Mark Kennedy can change.