The return of a modern-day legend

Paul Morgan will return to Sincil Bank for the first time in Tuesday night's game against Macclesfield Town. The defender was the captain during both of our two appearances at the Millennium Stadium several years ago, also being part of a defence that only conceded 37 goals in 46 games, something we could only dream of these days.

Along with Mark Bailey, Paul Morgan will go down as one of the few decent signings that Alan Buckley made whilst manager of Lincoln City. The hungry Northern-Irishman came to Sincil Bank from Preston North End during the summer of 2001 as Buckley tried to reimage a City side that had almost been relegation to the Conference just a few months earlier. Despite not being an ever present in that season, Morgan became a regular fixture in the starting line up for the Imps, often partnering either Grant Brown or Steve Holmes.

With the Imps entering administration in 2002, Morgan was one of the players who helped save our football club when he agreed to a deduction in his wages to help the club out, a move that saw his popularity increase. Unfortunately the grip of administration saw the majority of City's side leave, including legendary Grant Brown, goalscoring defender Steve Holmes, skilful midfielder Justin Walker, and various other players.

During the pre-season of the 2002/3 season he was to see several new defenders come into the club, such as Simon Weaver and Ben Futcher. Morgan's first game of that season saw him part of a back 5 also containing Mark Bailey, Stuart Bimson, Simon Weaver and Richard Logan. Logan was obviously the weak link in all this and he was quickly dropped by new manager, Keith Alexander.

During the pre-season Keith had been experimenting with who his new captain would be. He at first went for experience in the form of Ben Sedgemore, but Sedge's impact as a captain was minimal and after one or two more attempts, Keith found his captain in Morgan. This is when Morgan came into his own and began his journey to become one of City's best defenders in recent memory.

Morgan excelled as captain and lead from the back. He formed part of a formidable defence that you'd have a very hard job of getting past. Morgan was the star of the team though, easily the best player we had at the time with his calm and collected defending that saw him impress the City crowd.

At the end of the season Morgan had lead the Imps to their first Playoffs campaign in history. City hadn't conceded more than 2 in a League game in more than a year, a Playoff game against Scunthorpe changed that though as the Imps conceded 3 for the first time since a 4-1 home drubbing by Mansfield in February 2002. Not that it mattered as City scored 5 that day and went through 6-3 on aggregate.

So there was Paul Morgan standing at the entrance to the Millennium Stadium, leading out his non-league legion that had been guaranteed relegation by the pundits. Although City were well beaten by Bournemouth, the Imps took pride in all they had achieved that season and we showed that you don't have to spend a lot of money to stand a decent chance of getting out of this division.

The next season was much of the same as the Imps didn't concede many goals but vitally, Paul Morgan was injured in a 2-0 win at Carlisle. City failed to win after this date but still made the Division 3 Playoffs. City were against Huddersfield Town and Morgan was replaced by Jamie McCombe, a new defender signed from Scunthorpe about six weeks earlier. However, McCombe was not in the same league as Morgan at the time and Huddersfield progressed 4-3 over the two legs.

Morgan found himself as part of a newdefensive unit the next year. Simon Weaver was on his way out, Mark Bailey had already left for Macclesfield and Bimson had long left for Cambridge United. The new Imps defence consisted of Kevin Sandwith, a man described as a player who regularly turned up to training smelling of alcohol, Gareth McAuley, another Northern-Irishman, Jamie McCombe, Ben Futcher and Morgan.

Despite getting off to a slow start again, the Imps started to climb up the League and even threatened to take the top spot at times, only to end up in the Playoffs again. A 2-1 win over Macclesfield in the semi finals was followed by a match against Southend United at the Millennium Stadium. City fans outnumbered their Essex opponents more than two-to-one and the Imps subsequently dominated the game, but goals in extra-time gave the Shrimps promotion.

The summer of 2005 could be considered a turning point for the Imps. An exodus of players left the club and by now, Paul Morgan was the only defender left from the 5 that only conceded 37 in a League season just 2 years earlier. Ben Futcher left for a Boston side who were building quite an impressive side at the time, Weaver had left for Kidderminster Harriers and Kevin Sandwith was yet another side to leave City for Macclesfield.

His new defensive partners were the returning Paul Mayo, Gareth McAuley, Jamie McCombe and Colin Cryan. The difference was immense as the Imps struggled against relegation early on, but Paul Morgan's long term City career effectively came to an end when City's game at Torquay had finished. City had produced a heroic display at Fulham a few days earlier and had taken the lead at Torquay, only for the Gulls to turn the game around. With just a few minutes to go he let his frustrations get the better of him as he swung out a vicious leg at Alan Connell and was given a red card.

Injuries soon started keeping him out of the side and Keith Alexander appointed Jamie McCombe (and his lucky pants) as the new captain. Morgan's absence from the team saw City improve from relegation candidates to promotion hopefuls, but as soon as he returned we were back to where we started and the Imps fell out of the Playoffs again thanks to two limp displays against Grimsby.

John Schofield was the next in the managerial hotseat and Morgan had seemingly been given a breath of fresh air as he got a long run in the team at the start of the season. He was back as the captain due to Jamie McCombe leaving for Bristol City earlier in the season but this wasn't the Morgan from before.

His defending had become sloppy and if anything he had become a liability. The news he had handed in his transfer request was met largely with ambivalence due to his generally poor form since the second Playoff Final. Morgan left the Imps at the end of the 2006/7 season as his contract was terminated by mutual consent.

Since that day he has represented both Bury and Macclesfield Town, never quite reaching the heights that he had done during his earlier years at City.