The last time City played Blackpool at Sincil Bank, it was a promotion battle with City sitting in the play-offs while Blackpool were just a point above Michael Appleton’s side.
Promotion was on the cards for City at the start of 2021, but injuries hit the Imps and in April we found ourselves battling to hold on to a play-off place, which was later secured with a few games to go. Appleton’s side were two goals down after 50 minutes but an incredible comeback followed with goals from Anthony Scully and Brennan Johnson. The result lifted spirits around Sincil Bank and was a turning point as City turned around some poor form to secure a playoff place.
City reached the League One play-off final that year, falling at the final hurdle to Blackpool. However, it was an incredible season and the majority of the squad have gone on to achieve great things. Where are they now though?
Alex Palmer
Alex Palmer started in goal for City. He signed for the Imps on loan from West Brom at the start of the season and only missed three competitive games as the team reached Wembley. Palmer ended up being the first of three consecutive loan keepers to sign for the club, and although many will argue Carl Rushworth will go higher than him, Palmer achieved the most of any of the loan trio.
Palmer is now first choice at West Brom after taking advantage of David Button’s bad form last season. It took longer than many expected for Palmer to make a name for himself at West Brom, with, now Crystal Palace regular, Sam Johnstone staying at the Baggies for another year in the Championship. Palmer made his debut for West Brom against Arsenal, it was a tough evening for the stopper conceding five goals, including a hatrick from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Palmer was subject of interest from Luton Town this summer following their promotion to the Premier League. Things have gone quiet on that front, but he has made headlines for West Brom so far this season, securing the Sky Sports Player of the Match award live on TV for an incredible performance against Leeds United.
Regan Poole
Regan Poole was quite the acquisition in January when we paid a fee for the defender from MK Dons. Poole hadn’t quite lived up to the hype of his Manchester United youth career but the full-back was very highly rated across the football league. The Welshman was quite underrated for City in his first few months at the club, but a lack of attacking threat compared to the other full-backs in the squad left many fans wondering where his future lies in the side. Once he was moved into the centre of defence by Michael Appleton the following season, he soon became a fan favourite. He won the club official player of the season in the 21/22 season, as well as winning the AllLincoln Player of the Season back-to-back in both 21/22 and 22/23
Poole left at the end of his contract following the end of last season, having captained the club for six months, for a new challenge as he attempts to climb up the football pyramid. Many expected the defender to move to the Championship, with plenty of rumours circling, but he ended up in the same division as City, playing for Portsmouth. So far this season, Poole has started every league game for Pompey as they look to gain promotion out of League One.
Lewis Montsma
Lewis Montsma was a one of a kind signing for City in 2020. The ball playing defender arrived from the second division of Dutch football and it was quite a coup. In his first 6 games for the club, he had scored four goals. It wasn’t just the goalscoring that caught everyone’s eye though, the Dutch defender was an exquisite passer of the ball, having the range to find teammates on the other side of the field consistency. He was a calm head at the back for Appleton’s side, and he was a key part in City reaching the playoff final.
The next two seasons that followed for Montsma would not be the same. He started the 21/22 season doing fairly well, featuring regularly despite the team struggling. Montsma was not one of them players struggling though, and he played a key part in helping City see through hard earned results in the first half of that season. A game against Oxford United in January was the start of a bad period for the Dutchman though.
The defender was stretchered off injured, and it was revealed he had damaged his ACL and it required surgery. Montsma spent over a year out before returning to action against Accrington Stanley under the management of Mark Kennedy. His time back in the team was short lived though, after just 8 starts, the club confirmed that he had once again damaged his ACL and that he would once be forced to sit out on the sideline for some time. As of today, not much is known about Montsma’s current injury state, but he has been around the club in the opening few weeks of the season, having been present for the open training session (not training, but was around to give autographs to fans) and the opening home league fixture against Wycombe.
Adam Jackson
Adam Jackson signed in the summer of 2020 as part of a massive rebuild under Appleton. The central defender was considered a massive coup at the time and he was part of an extremely successful City team that season. Jackson has struggled with injuries during his time at City to date, but he is still with the club and recently signed a new contract with the club until 2025. Kennedy sees the defender as a key part of his team, adding experience in an extremely young City squad.
Jackson has started the season well for City. He most recently featured in a 1-0 win against Shrewsbury Town on Saturday, and will be in line to start once again against Blackpool this Saturday as we look to extend our unbeaten run to 5 games.
Cohen Bramall
Cohen Bramall put an end to Max Melbourne’s time at City when he arrived in January 2021 and almost Sean Roughan’s too. The lightning quick full-back joined from Colchester United and came in as competition for Tayo Edun on the left side of the City back-four. He found it hard to get into the team initially and his debut for the club wasn’t one to remember, with the full-back struggling to deal with Jordon Garrick and later being substituted.
Bramall improved as time went on at City and once Edun departed in the summer of 2021, he made the left-back spot his own, keeping out big money signing Jamie Robson. Bramall made 36 appearances in the 21/22 season under Appleton, having a really good spell between the months of December and April, before picking up an injury that ended his season early.
Bramall departed before the start of the 22/23 season, with Championship side Rotherham United activating his release clause, which was a reported figure of around £200,000. Many were surprised with the deal, but he has proved to be a solid acquisition for the Millers as they stayed up last season. So far this season the full-back has played every single minute of Rotherham’s Championship campaign, as they still search for their first win of the season.
Conor McGrandles
Conor McGrandles remains one of the most underrated players in the modern day for City. A tidy and composed midfielder that went about his business and made others around him better. McGrandles was a half-time substitute in our 2-1(2-3) playoff win against Sunderland, helping turn the game around after a poor first-half. He has captained the club on multiple occasions and played at Wembley. Although he wasn’t the sort of player that had people on the edge of their seats, he never let the football club down and he always conducted himself in a respectable way both on and off the pitch.
McGrandles left the club upon the expiry of his contract leading many to think he was heading back to his homeland. He instead moved to Charlton, and it’s worth noting that although it caused some controversy amongst our fanbase, he never claimed that he was heading back to Scotland, it just ended up being rumours.
He struggled with Charlton, making just 1 league start before heading out on loan to Cambridge. He did well at the Abbey Stadium helping Mark Bonner’s side secure League One status. He returned to Charlton this season although he’s been an unused substitute in all four league games this season.
Max Sanders
Max Sanders signed for City in January 2021, he went on to feature 63 times for City. Sanders time at City could be considered the epitome of unlucky, Appleton didn’t favour the former Brighton man at all, and once he got his time to shine under the new management of Kennedy, he failed to nail down a starting spot and once the signing of Ethan Erhahon came in, Sanders’ time at City was in real doubt.
He was released at the end of Kennedy’s first season in charge, despite having an incredible game against Shrewsbury Town on the final game of the season. He signed for newly promoted Leyton Orient at the start of the season and so far this season he has featured just once as a substitute in the league as he’s been struggling with injury.
Tayo Edun
Tayo Edun joined City in January of 2020, but he really made a name for himself in the 20/21 season, nailing down the left-back spot as his own. Tayo started the 21/22 season with the Imps before securing a move to the Championship with Blackburn Rovers. Despite having a place in the side at Blackburn when he first arrived, he has slowly lost his first team spot under the new management of Jon Dahl Tomasson.
He struggled to get in the team at Blackburn in the last two years and was linked with a move back to City in January. Although it was never known if City were truly interested, he opted for a loan move to Charlton in January instead. His move was called off by Blackburn due to injuries in their own squad, but he did end up joining the London club on a permanent deal in the summer.
He has featured in all four games for Charlton so far this season, starting the last two.
Brennan Johnson
Brennan Johnson was one of the biggest stars in the City team that reached Wembley. His first Lincoln City goal came against Plymouth at home at an eerie Sincil Bank, which was a big moment as he marked his first professional goal.
The Christmas period saw Johnson come into his real goalscoring form, in two games he scored four goals, also picking up two assists in two big wins for City, which made sure Appleton’s side staying top of the division going into the new year. He netted two in our impressive win against Northampton on the 19th December 2020, pushing his tally up to three for the season. Just seven days later, City took on Burton Albion on boxing day, Johnson came into the game full of confidence and that showed with the Welshman picking up two goals and another assist.
He scored his first hattrick against MK Dons with an incredible performance. Since leaving City and returning to his parent club, Johnson earned promotion to the top tier of English football after an impressive year in the Championship with Nottingham Forest. After an impressive play-off semi-final campaign, Johnson had unfinished business at Wembley after losing there with Lincoln the year before and this time he wasn’t on the losing side with his Forest side beating Huddersfield by one goal to earn promotion to the Premier League. Johnson also broke into the Wales side during his breakout two seasons at Lincoln and Forest and he has already reached a number of milestones with his country. The highlight of that will be featuring in the World Cup in Qatar.
Johnson did well in the Premier League last season and has been linked with multiple moves this summer, including Chelsea and Tottenham.
Morgan Rogers
Morgan Rogers joined City to gain his first experience of professional football. The winger impressed during his time at Sincil Bank, although he looked inexperienced on occasion, he scored some incredible solo efforts and helped City secure a play-off place at the end of the 20/21 season. His loan spell was a result of a good relationship with Premier League side Manchester City, which later saw us sign Lewis Fiorini on a loan deal too.
His next loan spell came with Bournemouth in the Championship. He struggled for game time with The Cherries during their promotion season, before returning to Man City. His next spell came with Blackpool, which saw him reunite with Appleton. The former City boss wasn’t at Blackpool for long, getting sacked a few weeks after Rogers arrived. This summer he earned a permanent move to Middlesborough, where he has so far made 3 appearances.
Callum Morton
Callum Morton was unlucky during his time at City. He spent the first half of the season injured, and only returned to the matchday squad in March, but when he did return, he failed to make much of an impact. He wasn’t able to match the impact that Tom Hopper had and he was unable to fill the void Hopper left when he was injured.
Following his spell at City, he joined Fleetwood Town on another loan from West Brom. Remarkably, after only 4 goals in 18 league games, he earned a loan move to the league above with Peterborough, where he failed to score in 7 appearances. He returned to Fleetwood on a permanent deal for just six months before leaving to League Two side Salford. Morton featured in both playoff semi final games for Salford last season, but is yet to feature this season.
Substitutes
City made 5 substitutions on the day, but where are they now?
Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh left the club at the end of last season, ending his three year affiliation with the Imps. Injury problems disrupted his time with the club and he failed to regularly make himself available for selection. He hasn’t been able to find himself a club so far this season, and is now training with the club as he looks to keep himself fit.
James Jones
James Jones became a forgotten man at Sincil Bank towards the end of his spell at the club but the midfielder was one of the club’s best players in the first half of the 20/21 season. He came down with COVID around Christmas time and once he recovered, he failed to really get back in the side and reach the performance levels he had previously.
We sold Jones to Wrexham following the playoff final defeat. He featured in all but 3 games following in their National League winning season and played a key part in their FA Cup run, which saw them force Sheffield United to a replay. This season he has featured in three games in League Two, scoring two goals in a 5-5 draw last weekend against Swindon Town.
TJ Eyoma
TJ Eyoma is one of few players on this list to still be with the club. He was on loan when we got to the playoff final but he returned to the club on a permanent deal, and it was regarded as a massive statement of intent when he was announced on the pitch in front of the fans at Sincil Bank.
Eyoma hasn’t reached the heights he did in the 20/21 season but he has proved a solid acquisition since returning. This season, he started our first three league games but he was left out of the matchday squad last time out against Shrewsbury with stiff competition in the central defence positions especially after the signing of Alex Mitchell.
Anthony Scully
Anthony Scully played a super-sub role in the 20/21 season and that was proved in our 2-2 draw with Blackpool, when he came on and scored as well as assisted Johnson’s late equaliser. Once Rogers and Johnson left, Scully took up the role of becoming the teams talisman. He finished the following season as City’s top goalscorer with 11 goals. His impressive League One form earned him a move to Championship side Wigan.
His time at Wigan didn’t go to plan, as he only made 5 appearances over the course of the whole season. Scully left Wigan after less than a year to join fellow League One side Portsmouth, who has so far made four appearances for.
Harry Anderson
Harry Anderson came off the bench that day. Anderson left City at the end of the 20/21 campaign, as a club legend making over 200 appearances. He moved to then League Two side, Bristol Rovers and impressed during his time with Joey Barton’s side featuring heavily as they returned to League One. Anderson is now playing for Stevenage, after signing for them this summer.
