By Nathan Jackson
May 30 2005

Now that the season's over, we looked back and review how each of the players have performed. Players fall into one of 4 categories, excellently, above average, average, poor and unrateable so how will your favourite player be rated by the members of this site.

Gareth McAuley - Can anyone remember a player who has impressed more in his opening season that Gareth McAuley. I am lost for superbatives of how well I believe Gareth has played this season. There has been very few occasions this season where he has made a mistake and his presence was well and truly missed due to injury earlier in the season. His season was a very steady one putting in a good performance consistently and occasionally got in with the odd goal.

Paul Morgan - Captain fantastic proved so again. Morgan's take no chances attitude has won him many a fan at Sincil Bank and there are no Lincoln fans who wouldn't pick Morgan in the starting 11. You never ever see Paul Morgan panicing and occasionally has enough time to stop, fix his hair and still make the clearance from an almost guaranteed goal. I for one would be very disappointed if he left during the summer, a truly great player who is one of the few who causes worry when he is injured.

Richard Butcher - I know a few people will be questioning my choice to include Richard in this section of the ratings but considering how tired he must have been in the latter part of the season, he deserves a break. Butcher was the only player to play EVERY SINGLE MINUTE this season in all competions. Butcher has again played quite well this season although hasn't scored as many goals as recent seasons and memories of his goal away at Mansfield in 2003/4 come flooding back whenever he's round the area.

Simon Yeo - Now I know a lot of people will be surprised to see Yeo in this section and not the excellent section but my reason for this is the first half of the season. Although the second half of the season was truly great for Yeo, the first half was extremely quiet and he often like he wasn't up to this level of football. However, as I said, Yeo's form in the second half of the season, his last goal at home to Scunny saw an end to a run where he had only failed to score in 5 matches out of the 17 matches up until that point in 2005. Having confirmed his departure, Yeo's goals will be missed as he is the only member of the Lincoln squad that you can see changing a game.

Jamie McCombe - I, unlike a few people, am pleased with Jamie McCombe. Everyone calls him a donkey when he goes up front, well newsflash, he's a defender, not a striker, his speciality isn't changing a game by scoring shit loads of goals. He's there to stop the other team scoring and that's a job he's done really well this season. Another calm assured defender has certainly impressed many in recent weeks but this is only what I've been seeing all season long. He has signed a new deal to stay with City and I for one am delighted at this.

Kevin Sandwith - I'll admit that I've critised Kev a lot this season but thinking about it, he has had a really good first full season with the Imps. A very good defender who is only let down by his distrubtion. Sandwith is with us for another season and it could be a good year for Kevin if he practices set piece taking.

Alan Marriott - Now, the only reason I'm saying Marriott has been average is because he has been typical Marriott all season long. In the vast majority of games, he's had very little to do but when he's been called, on the vast majority, he has been excellent. Unfortunatly, Marriott's contract expires during the summer and I think the vast majority are resigned to losing arguably, the best 'keeper that has ever stepped between the sticks for the Imps.

Matthew Bloomer - What can you say? He's just Bloomer

Ben Futcher - Futcher has had a very quiet season by his standards but considering the jibes he was getting from Lincoln fans for asking for a transfer, he's done more than most would. Those jibes were very undeserved as he's a very good defender. The only reason he's in average is because of the amount of free kicks away. Granted, on a lot of free kicks and corners, he is being held down by virtually every member of the opposition, but on the flip side, he is also trying to hold them down to gain advantage. His contract is also expiring but I get a sneaky feeling he'll sign a new one based on what he said during an interview with Radio Lincolnshire.

Peter Gain - Peter is such a frustrating player, if he wanted, he could just waltz through the opposition like we've seen so many times in the past but he doesn't. There have been so many occasions this season where he's just passed the ball along without even looking where's he passing it and often looks unsure what to do when he's on the ball. Workrate is unquestionable but there's no point having work rate if you don't do anything with it. Contract is expiring in the summer and I am undecided as whether we need him or not.

Gary Taylor-Fletcher - GTF was a victim of his own success. Last season he was a great breath of fresh air and scored goals for fun. Then during the summer, he married his girlfriend and became GTF rather than just GF and to be honest, his effort went with him. At the start of the season, no player was more on fire than GTF and he scored in 6 games in a row and then, it just stopped. His performances dropped and other than a few flashes of brilliance, he just didn't seem there and often seemed unbothered. I like GTF but the amount of times he lost the ball and didn't even look slightly interested in chasing the ball back from the person he'd gave it to.

Francis Green - Green is like Jekyll and Hyde, either you see a player with complete brilliance or you just see a player and the majority of times, the latter turned up. Green has bags of pace but often looked like he didn't know what to do with it once he got the ball. I like Francis as a person, one of the funniest people I've ever spoke to and I just wish he could fulfil his potential. Francis is committed but sometimes that commitment comes off in the wrong way, such as the home game against Wycombe where he was subbed and went storming off.

The following players were unrateable because they simply didn't play enough games or only made extremely brief appearances.

Ciaran Toner - Ciaran, Ciaran, Ciaran. After waiting for his oppurtunity, he finally got his chance and was highly impressive for a 10 game period but off the field problems ended his relationship with the Imps. Shame really as he showed excellent promise.

Marcus Richardson - Marcus was unforunate this season, he got injured in the pre-season game with Watford before getting a chance, taking it but then turned into the Marcus of old and then well documented issues saw him leave the club and win the league with Yeovil Town.

Martin Carruthers - I can't remember being so excited about the signing of a player. He had excelled for Scunny but failed to reproduce that form for Lincoln. He was an excellent member of the squad and was the target man we'd been looking for but his failure to score combined with being injury prone look certain to end his time with the Imps.

Lee Beevers - If I was asked to pick a single player in the Lincoln squad with potential, I would pick Lee. A signing from Boston United just days after we beat them, was so unlucky. He went virtually straight into the squad, only to be called up by the Welsh Under 21's and hardly played for the rest of the season. He does however look like a very good player and could very well be the future of Lincoln City.

Derek Asamoah - Having only played a small handful of games, I'm unsure what to make of Asamoah but he has got so much speed it's unbelieveable.

Ritchie Hanlon - I was slightly weary seeing his first few performances but time went on and his usual 10 minutes from the subs bench showed breifly what he is capable of and I don't think anyone's going to forget his goal against Boston in a hurry. I would be disappointed if he wasn't offered a new contract as he is a skillful player.