Pardington Lands: Imps Add Goalkeeper

The Imps have signed promising young goalkeeper Jamie Pardington on a two-year deal.

The 23-year-old becomes City’s second signing of the summer, following Conor McGrandles’ permanent switch to Sincil Bank as the building of the 2024/25 squad continues.

Pardington started his career at Rushall Athletic before joining Wolverhampton Wonderers in 2018. During his time at the Premier League side, he failed to make a professional appearance but did enjoy loan spells with Bath City, Stratford Town, Dulwich Hamlet and Mansfield Town. During his short stint at Mansfield in 2021, he made his EFL debut coming off the bench before starting the last game of the season against Port Vale, keeping a cleansheet at just 20 years of age.

During the 2022/23 season, Pardington spent six months at fellow Lincolnshire side, Grimsby Town, before moving across to Northern Ireland to join NIFL Premiership side, Larne. His time at Inver Park didn’t last long – he was released at the end of the season after just one appearance.

Pardington’s return to England came with Cheltenham Town, who suffered relegation from League One last season. The first half of the season for Pardington was spent at Truro City in the National League South, where he made 10 appearances. His loan spell ended in December, and he served as backup keeper to Luke Southwood for the rest of the campaign. He was forced into action on the final day of the season after an injury to Southwood and despite losing the game, he had a promising game, judging by comments from Cheltenham fans.

Director of football, Jez George said: “Jamie fits the profile that we wanted to add to our goalkeeping department and comes highly recommended by Scott. We want someone to relish the role of being our No.2 goalkeeper, to push Lukas and strive to challenge for the No.1 spot in the future.

“We feel that Jamie ticks those boxes. The quality of goalkeepers that we have helped to develop over the past four seasons – Alex Palmer, Josh Griffiths, Carl Rushworth plus Sam Long, Jordan and Lukas – is one of the reasons why we are an attractive option for young goalkeepers. We are really pleased to add Jamie to this impressive list and we welcome him to the club.”

George has seemingly confirmed that Pardington will be our number two goalkeeper going into the 2024/25 season behind Lukas Jensen. This also confirms that Sam Long won’t be around the squad next season, unless he stays as a number three goalkeeper, which wouldn’t make sense for Long or the club with his progression last season.

If Jensen leaves at the end of his contract in 2025, we’ll be in a good spot with Pardington developing with cup games over the course of the season and Long hopefully having another successful loan spell at a slightly better level than Scottish League One, maybe even with Falkirk again in the division above.

What this does feel like though, is a very similar signing to Jordan Wright when he came in. A young lad with limited experience that is happy to be that number two goalkeeper behind someone of Jensen’s quality. While it might not be the signing that gets everyone talking, it’s one that’s vital for us building the squad, not just for next season but for the future too.

Pardington said: “I’ve worked with Scott [Fry] in the past, we get on really well and I like his style of coaching. It will definitely benefit me to work with him again. The facilities are really impressive and I can see it’s a really good club, with lots of good people. I buy into that and feel this is the right place to be at in order to develop.

“I had a taste of League One football last season at Cheltenham. I have still got a long way to go; I’m young but in order to progress, try to be selected for some cup games and whatever playing time I can get, I’m chomping at the bit for it.”