Part 1 of the 93

93 players have represented the Imps during the past 5 years. In part 1 of our summary of each of them, we take a look at strikers who couldn't score if their lives depended on it, sicknote, some loanees who might as well not have been here and the current longest serving player at Sincil Bank.

Ryan Amoo played 63 games for the Imps but he will only be remember for one. December 23rd 2006 will be Ryan's days as he scored the two goals that saw City beat Ex-Imp United, otherwise known as Peterborough.

Those two goals made up 2/3 of the goals he scored for the Imps. He did have a decent cross on him and he was one of the unsung heroes at the beginning of the 2006/7 season. He spent 2 years at Sincil Bank and was released in May 2008 by Peter Jackson.

If there was ever a frustrating player at Sincil Bank then it was Derek Asamoah. The young man from Ghana joined the Imps in the 2004/5 season from Mansfield Town. 43 appearances and 2 goals was an appaling record for a striker and the only surprise was the it took Keith Alexander giving him so many chances to realise he wasn't any good.

Whereas Asamoah was given far too many opportunities, one player who rarely got any was Danny Bacon. The former Mansfield and Hucknall striker was the first signing after the 2005 Playoff defeat to Southend. He was near enough always injured and gained the nickname of "sicknote" amongst City fans. He made just 3 appearances for the Imps and two of those came against Notts County.

Mark Bailey has never been properly replaced at Sincil Bank. Probably the most influencial player in recent times never to have been captain. The defender was one of the few decent signings that Buckley made and he really came into his own under Keith Alexander.

Bailey played just one season for City since this website started and he made 40 appearances in that time. His 3 goals were all of varying quality to say the least. One shot from 25 yards against Telford, a thunderbolt against Huddersfield that put us ahead in the Playoffs and a 72 yard hit-and-hoper against Carlisle.

Mark's career afterwards has seriously gone downhill, not helped by long absenses through injury. It's a shame really because he could easily still be playing at this level.

One of the players who tried to replace him in the right back position was Lee Beevers. The defender is now the longest serving player at Sincil Bank, a surprising stat considering he only joined in February 2005. Lee has scored 9 goals in his 137 appearances for the Imps. His only decent season came in 2006/7 when he was awarded Player of the Season, other than that he's been a bit of a liability.

Hamza Bencharif joined the Imps on loan last season and he was a fairly competent young defender. He has the potential to play at a higher level than League 2. I would love to sign him on a permanent basis as I thought he played exceedingly well in his 13 appearances.

Keith Alexander had a habit of bringing in loan players, raving about them and virtually never playing them. One such player was Karl Bermingham. The young striker from Man City played just 2 games on loan from Eastlands and showed in those brief cameo appearances that he did have talent...but Keith prefered Guy Ipoua for some strange reason.

I always thought that Gary Birch was used as a scapegoat unfairly. He was top of the goalscoring charts during the entire 2005/6 season, only to be replaced in the final game and yet he received an unbelieveable about of criticism from City fans. Despite being the leading goalscorer, Birch found himself falling further and further down the pecking order. Even scoring when coming off of the bench didn't seem good enough for Keith and Birch was released by John Schofield in 2006/7. A record of 10 goals in 42 appearances was certainly respectable.

The first hint that John Schofield didn't really know what he was doing was when Mat Birley came on loan. Birley showed in his 4 cameo appearances that he was highly capable at this level and yet Schofield seemingly had no interest in giving him a longer run in the side.

Michael Blackwood's career at Sincil Bank started well. He linked up well with Peter Gain down the left wing during the 2004/5 season and it appeared we'd found a gem. An injury early on in the season saw him replaced and Blackwood would only make a handful of appearances after that, ending his City career on 10 appearances.

Probably the most consistant performer that City have had during the last 5 years, other than a certain game against Wycombe, was Matthew Bloomer. I was always a fan of Bloomer and thought he was probably the most under-rated player we've had for some time. You could count Bloomer's bad games for City on one hand and still have fingers to spare. 3 goals in 91 appearances showed he wasn't exactly brilliant in front of goal, but he did score the winning goal at Bury in 2004/5 and ended City's losing run.

Nat Brown will never go down in the history books as a fantastic player. I find very few words of praise when describing Nat, the only compliment I can think of is that he scores some vital and quite frankly brilliant goals. He scored some absolute stunners, 3 of which will appear in the Top 20 goals to be announced in the near future. 9 goals in 107 appearances isn't bad for a defender, but unfortunately it takes more than a goal ever 12 games on average to impress me.

Richard Butcher wasn't a great scorer of goals but he was a scorer of great goals. Butcher didn't just score goals, he scored absolute stunners and much like Nat Brown, he has several goals in the Top 20. He scored 11 goals in the 97 appearances he made since 2003/4 began and virtually every one was a brilliant finish.

Butcher is another player who has never been properly replaced but has always been rumoured to come back on a permanent basis. I would love to see a midfield with both him and Lee Frecklington in the centre.

Matt Carbon rejoined the Imps on loan during the 2003/4 and lasted all of 45 minutes at Hull before getting injured.

During the last 5 seasons, the Imps have brought in several ex-Scunthorpe players to aid them in their quest for promotion. One of whom had a habit of scoring goals against the Imps, unfortunately scoring for the Imps proved a bit of a problem for Martin Carruthers. Martin played well in each of the 12 games that he played for City but just couldn't score. I will always remember him missing at Wycombe from 2 yards out.

Shane Clarke has played 16 games for City so far and you'd be hard pushed to find one in which he's played well. He recently signed a new contract which many feel he was fortunate to get.

One player who didn't get a new contract recently was Gary Croft. The former Grimsby player was one of the numerous scapegoats used during last season and he made just 23 appearances for the Imps.

Dene Cropper rejected the chance to rejoin the Imps in 2005 from Worksop Town. He had played 22 games in 2003/4 before leaving for Boston United, scoring in his first game for the Pilgrims more than 18 months after his last goal for the Imps.

The final player of the first part of this round up is Colin Cryan. You could often be forgiven for not realising that Cryan was there. In 48 games for the Imps he didn't really do a lot and the opposition seemed to get past him quite easily. He also went to Boston United after falling out of John Schofield's plans and has now returned to the non-league.