Aaron Brown

Brown signed for the Imps on June 30th. His previous club was Gillingham, where he played under Mark Stimson. At Gillingham, he played 15 times, scoring 2 goals, one in the League against Bristol Rovers, and another in the Football League Trophy against Dagenham and Redbridge. He did not enjoy his time at the Gills, claiming in an interview with the Lincolnshire Echo that he was singled out by Stimson, and told to train with the youth team because he had no future at the club. He had better times at Bristol City, appearing 160 times as a midfielder, and still earning praise from their fans.

Robert Burch

Robert Burch was hailed as a “major signing” by Peter Jackson. Although his experience in senior football are limited to just 17 appearances, he comes extremely highly rated among fans of his former club, and seemingly teams with much larger resources than Lincoln, one team that is alleged to have been interested are said to be in the Premiership. His previous club was Sheffield Wednesday, who had no need for him and released him at the end of last season. 6 appearances in 2007 at Barnet made an impression, with comments from fans across The Football Forum reading like this: “You've done bloody well there. Class keeper.” “Looked a class above anyone I have seen. Surprised he has found his way back into Div 2, should be playing higher.” Outside of football, he is perhaps known best for proposing to his girlfriend live on ITV’s This Morning, who worked on the show.

David Graham

David Graham signed for the Imps on 27th June after being released by Gillingham. His six month contract was a sign from Peter Jackson, that he knew that he had not lived up to the expectations after his prolific Torquay season of 2003/2004, when he scored 23 goals. Showing great character, Graham admitted that he has to improve to earn another six months. He started off at Rangers, with three first team appearances including in the UEFA Cup against Shelbourne. Before making the long journey south of the border to Torquay he played for Dunfermline Athletic and Inverness Caledonian Thistle on loan. In 2001 he moved to Plainmoor and is best remembered for their promotion season of 2003/2004 in which he was a vital key (along with ex Imp Martin Gritton) contributing 23 goals. This yielded a big money move to Wigan Athletic in 2004, but the Latics’ £215,000 only produced 30 appearances and a solitary goal against Coventry. Despite this, Sheffield Wednesday paid £250,000 for his services. Again, he was a disappointment, scoring 2 goals in 24 appearances. However a loan spell of note to Peter Jackson’s Huddersfield team will be encouraging to Imps fans. He scored 9 goals in 17 appearances in 2006, showing us that Jacko can get the best out of players like Graham. 3 goals in 16 appearances was not enough to earn another contract at Gillingham, and was released on January 31st. The fact that he hasn’t played any competitive football since January could be a cause for concern, but we already know that Jackson can get the best out of him as evidenced by the 2006 loan spell at the Terriers.

János Kovács

Stefan Oakes

Our first signing of the summer came on June 9th. The midfielder was a stalwart of the Wycombe Wanderers nearly-men of 2005-2008, Oakes has always been highly rated at fourth tier level. He was part of the Leicester City side that won the League Cup in 2000, but unfortunately his career at the top level lasted only 61 appearances, with two goals to his name. After short loan spells at Walsall and Crewe he dropped down the leagues to Notts County, where he stayed for 2 years, racking up 45 appearances and 5 goals. John Gorman brought him to Wycombe in 2005 on a free transfer. He was a regular in their team for the 3 years he was there, with 95 appearances and 3 goals. He garnered a reputation for being able to unleash a wonder goal from nowhere, possibly the reasoning behind Peter Jackson’s musing that he could “peel a carrot with his left foot” on signing in June. A random and utterly useless fact about Stefan is that his dad, is the guitarist in the 70s band Showaddywaddy.

Frank Sinclair

The former Chelsea player signed for the Imps on July 1st. Another one of Jackson’s old boys, Sinclair spent last season with Huddersfield Town, having been taken there on loan by Jacko before he was sacked in 2007. Sinclair adds some fantastic experience to the dressing room, having played every game for Jamaica at the 1998 FIFA World Cup against Argentina, Croatia and Japan. As well as three World Cup appearances he has a wealth of top flight experience with Chelsea, winning an FA Cup and a League Cup with them, along with a League Cup medal for Leicester. When he signed, Jackson hailed Sinclair’s “determination, personality and his will to win”.

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