Time's up for City stars

By Nathan Jackson
June 19 2006

The time for 3 City strikers to make their minds up about their contracts has now ended and they must inform City tomorrow. Gary Birch, Marvin Robinson and Simon Yeo has all delayed their decisions but they must make their final decision tomorrow as their deadline ends.

The 3 strikers, the only out of contract players at the club were given a deadline of June 20th to make their minds up about their future otherwise the club said they would consider withdrawing the offers. Yeo has delayed deciding about his future because of a pay despite but has been offered contracts with Peterborough United and more significantly, Stockport County, his home town club and where his family are based. Yeo only returned to City in January but had his season cut short in the local derby against Boston but still managed to score 5.

Gary Birch admitted that he wanted a 2 year deal that would give him the security to relocate to Lincoln from his Walsall home but that came with a lot of critisism from the Imps' fans. Birch would have easily ended the season as top scorer if he had a regular place in the first team in the second half of the season and after being very popular in the first half the season, his lack of games meant he only scored twice in 2006 and the fans quickly turned on him.

Marvin Robinson took the highest goalscorer accolade off of Birch with a headed goal in the playoff game against Grimsby. Robinson was also a fairly consistent striker throughout the season but was never a fans favourite despite very rarely getting a start until the end of the season. Out of all 3 players, he is the most likely to sign his new contract.

By this time tomorrow, Deehan and Schofield will know which initial group of players they'll be able to work with next season and then they'll hopefully add to that squad so the Imps can mount a decent promotion campaign.