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Thanks to Donald Nannestad.
The FPA guests for Saturday’s game against Burton Albion are Phil Neale, Terry Cooper and Ron Harbertson. The host is Gavin Gordon. Details of our guests are here:
Phil Neale
Phil Neale was a member of the Imps hugely successful 1975-76 team and went on to make over 350 first team appearances during his 11 seasons with the Imps. Phil was first signed as an amateur while he was studying at Leeds University making his first team debut in January 1975. He signed professional forms for City later the same year and from then onwards he was a regularly in the first team defence before leaving Sincil Bank in May 1985. Phil combined his football with a career as a cricketer. He briefly played for Lincolnshire in the Minor Counties Championship before joining Worcestershire. He made over 350 first class appearances scoring over 17,000 runs for Worcestershire and twice captained the team to the County Championship. He was team manager of Northamptonshire and then Warwickshire before being the England team operations manager for 21 years until his retirement. He was awarded the OBE in 2006 for services to cricket.
Debut vs Swindon Town, away (FA Cup), 4 January 1975 as substitute
Lincoln City Record:
Football League: 327 appearances plus 8 as substitute, 22 goals
FA Cup: 16 appearances plus 2 as substitute
Football League Cup: 11 appearances plus 1 as substitute
Other Games: 4 appearances
Terry Cooper
Terry Cooper initially signed for City in December 1971 on loan from Notts County. He went back to Meadow Lane after making three appearances for the Imps but in the summer of 1972 he made a permanent move to Sincil Bank. Terry, who started out playing in midfield, switched to centre-back with great success and went on to play almost 300 first team games for City. He was a key member of the 1975-76 team which won the Division Four championship and was twice voted Player of the Season by the supporters. Terry left Sincil Bank in the summer of 1979 and later played for Bradford City and Rochdale.
Debut vs Stockport County home 18 December 1971
Lincoln City Record:
Football League: 268 appearances plus 2 as substitute, 12 goals
FA Cup: 15 appearances plus 1 as substitute, 1 goal
Football League Cup: 13 appearances
Ron Harbertson
Ron Harbertson, at 93 years of age, is one of the oldest former Imps players. Ron was a forward whose career began at Newcastle United and he went to play for clubs including Bradford City, Brighton, Grimsby and Darlington before he joined City in March 1958 when the club looked doomed to be relegated into the Third Division. However the Imps had a dramatic change of form winning the final six games of the season to avoid the drop with Ron scoring in each of the matches. He was a regular in the City team before departing to play for Wrexham in March 1960. Ron then had a short spell with Darlington before returning to Sincil Bank for the 1961-62 season. He later played for Grantham.
Debut vs Liverpool, away 15 March 1958
Lincoln City Record
Football League: 86 appearances, 25 goals
FA Cup: 5 appearances, 1 goalFootball League Cup: 1 appearance, 2 goals
