I sat down with Max Melbourne a few days ago to discuss his time at Lincoln City, and along the way, we spoke about the squad that reached the play-off final in the 20/21 season.
During our conversation, Max and I talked about the talent in that squad, that looked destined for promotion for the majority of the season. Max played limited minutes in that season with Tayo Edun making the left-back position his own, especially during the middle of the season. Despite not featuring as much as he would’ve liked, Max got to see all of the players behind the scenes every day in training and gave me an honest assessment of just how good that team was.
“It was really talented, you only have to look at some of the loan boys we brought in with Morgan Rogers and Brennan Johnson. Jorge Grant was also playing really well at the time, and we also had players like Tayo [Edun] and Cohen [Bramall] in the squad. The team that ended up getting to the playoff final deserved to be there and it was a pleasure to be in and around that team. They were good lads, not just good players, it was a good team to be part of”
One of the stars that season was Brennan Johnson, who we now know is a Premier League footballer and was most recently linked with Aston Villa, with Nottingham Forest setting an asking price of £60 Million Pound. Max said he knew Brennan was destined for the top and spoke very highly of the young Welsh star.
“I think when you get players like Brennan and you can see what they can do day in, day out and the abilities he’d shown in training, you start to feel like he could’ve gone back to Forest and do the same around players who’d played at a higher level. I definitely knew with the confidence shown in him by the manager, he was always going to kick on and do well.”
I also spoke with Max and asked him on the spot to pick the most talented player he’d played with during his three years at City, a time that saw the likes of Morgan Rogers, Anthony Scully and others play for the club.
“All round, it has to be Tayo [Edun]. He’s a talented player and he got that Championship move he deserved but there are a number of names I could’ve picked. As an all-round person and a player to play alongside it would have to be Tayo.”
You can read more from my exclusive interview with Max over the next few days, as we also spoke about Michael Appleton, loan spells and his late goal at Plymouth.