Tales of the unexpected.

 

I can’t remember his exact words but I was struck by the here today gone tomorrow nature of some players employment circumstances and possibly Michael Appleton’s ruthlessness and desire to succeed when Appleton was invited to heap praise on the returning hero Max Melbourne who, after all had secured all three points with his last gasp winner. Was there any way back into his affections? Ha ha, yes, he did quite well. That’d be a no then.

There are plenty more examples of players who seem to be part of the furniture, Neal Eardley and Michael Bostwick for example, absolute bedrocks of the team, yesterday’s men before you know it. I was impressed with John Marquis’ ability to override his situation, one minute generating, for our level, big money transfers, the next, new manager comes in, out in the cold. He commented it was a long way home last night but where is home?

Yet here they all are, thrown together in the melting pot that is the modern Lincoln City, the actual permanent squad, decimated by injury and not just injury, this is a Lincoln City roster of crocks, serious medical difficulties and players that can’t play three games in a row. When will it all end I ask myself? The answer is, I would imagine, these players will be shipped out as soon as circumstances allow, see above for an example of the managers resolve.

In the meantime we reflect on the unlikely turn of events that have got even some of our legendary pessimists thinking we may yet be alright this season. Oxford, home, Sunderland away, Cambridge home, Plymouth away, that’s three points for the Cambridge fixture, forget the rest and move on. Wrong again.

How has all this been done? Well, for my money, as long as City weren’t bottom of the league I don’t think Michael Appleton’s situation was at all vulnerable as far as the board were concerned, whatever the doomsayers were predicting. The powers that be were aware that the summer transfer business had been a disappointment to say the least. I don’t think the injury situation was regarded as the managers sole responsibility either although you do have to wonder how this mayhem has come about. Is football just too hard at the moment? I think we mostly regard modern footballers as a fairly pampered lot, even at our level but something’s going awry and it’s not often City don’t have a midweek game to contend with and with the powers that be insisting that minor cup games be fitted in at the drop of a hat it’s probably no wonder players welfare is being threatened.

Anyway, where were we, oh yes, Plymouth away and, innocent that I am as regards team construction and tactics it was always my belief that this team wasn’t that far away from being a decent outfit, in fact you could almost narrow it down and say if we’d had a fit Tom Hopper and maybe an understudy, we’d have been doing a whole lot better than we have. Well now we’ve rectified that, at least for the moment. I wonder if the Marquis situation is regarded by the club as a temporary solution, until Hopper is fit. I don’t really see how the club can afford his wages once the reported support from Portsmouth ends but there again, what do I know? Nothing Lincoln City do surprises me anymore. Exciting, isn’t it?