The long-lost ghosts of Lincoln's past

Macclesfield Town have a habit of signing players who have played for Lincoln. The Silkmen currently have four ex-Imps in their squad, as well as a player who City came close to signing earlier this year, but they are just under half of the nine players who have left Sincil Bank and ended up at Moss Rose.

Mark Bailey started a trend in 2004 when he joined Macclesfield Town from Lincoln City. The popular right back had enjoyed just over three years at Sincil Bank, two of those as the first choice start in that position and arguably the most inspirational player during the first two years of what is now defined as the current generation's "golden era".

Ever since, Macclesfield have signed at least one player who has played for Lincoln, more often than not signing them directly from City. Simon Weaver fell out of favour at Sincil Bank during the 2004/5 and joined the Silkmen on loan as Brian Horton's men surprised everyone as they made the Playoffs......facing, you've guessed it, Lincoln City. Gareth McAuley's goals saw the Imps progress, winning the first leg and drawing the second, winning 2-1 on aggregate.

That away draw at Macclesfield proved to be the penultimate match for many City players, most relevant to this article being Kevin Sandwith. The former Halifax man was described in the Playoff Final programme as being as a player who you'd be concerned about if he didn't turn up to training stinking of alcohol. I can personally testify that he was in a pub every day as I was working as a chef in Lloyds Bar in the Brayford at the time....and he wasn't the only player. He joined Macc in the summer of 2005.

One of the players to replace the exodus going on at Sincil Bank was Marvin Robinson. He ended the 2005/6 season as City's top scorer and then announced he had agreed to sign a new contract with the Imps, only to appear on Macclesfield's website the next morning stating that he had signed a deal with them. However, Marvin's time at Moss Rose didn't last two months, leaving for the recently relegated Oxford before the end of August 2006. Marcus Richardson had also represented Macclesfield during the 2005/6 season.

Twelve months later and Martin Gritton had been released by the Imps after a mis-firing Sincil Bank career. The Scot signed for Macclesfield around the same time at Francis Green. Both started their careers well but neither maintained their free-scoring exploits before being joined by the current contingents of former Imps, Simon Yeo and Paul Morgan. Macclesfield also have former Imps trialist, Neil Harvey, on their books, although the Barbadian has only played twice for the Silkmen.

Macclesfield couldn't quite make it five summers in a row that they have signed a player directly from the Imps, not that it stopped them trying. They offered a deal to Alan Marriott, good old Keith buying his old players.

On the other hand, the Imps have rarely had any former Macc players come to them after a spell at Moss Rose in recent years. Ben Sedgemore joined City from Macclesfield in 2000, but the next player was Martin Carruthers. The former Scunthorpe man had signed for Macc after being released by them in 2004, signing for Boston soon after before being involved in a swap deal for City's Dean West.

Spencer Weir-Daley also made his Lincoln City debut on a loan spell from Nottingham Forest against Macclesfield. He had spent a loan spell on loan at Macclesfield just a few weeks earlier. The closest the Imps have come in recent years to signing a player directly from Macclesfield was when we had a £100,000 bid rejected for Jon Parkin back in 2006.