Birch agrees to stay but is Marvin going?

By Nathan Jackson
June 21 2006

Imps striker Gary Birch has agreed to sign a new contract with the club but Marvin Robinson still has reservations about his. Robinson ended the season as leading goalscorer but has been offered a new contract which will see him become the club's lowest earning striker and he's far from happy.

Robinson took the top goalscorer accolade from Gary Birch in the final game of the season against Grimsby Town and feels that over the course of the season, he has earnt a contract that wouldn't put his as one of the club's lowest paid players and he is now holding out for a better deal, despite the deadline to agree the new deals having past yesterday. With Keith Alexander's departure, Marvin suddenly saw his contract offer suddenly change for the worse and he is far from happy.

He told the Echo : "The new offer makes me the lowest paid striker at the club - and I'm only getting 12 months. I'm not saying I should be the highest paid, but I do think I should get what I'm worth.
I asked the club if it would be possible to make up my money with goal bonuses - if I score I get rewarded, if I don't I get no money. I thought that was fair, but I've not heard anything."

Robinson also confirms that he has yet to speak to either John Schofield or John Deehan despite it being nearly a week since the 2 were appointed in their respective management roles. Since joining after being released by Chesterfield last season, Robinson found himself furthur down the pecking order at Sincil Bank as strikers Simon Yeo, Martin Gritton and Jamie Forrester all joined in the second half of the season but Robinson still managed to get a fair few games in.

The same couldn't be said for Gary Birch though as he only made a handful of appearances in the second half of the season and most of those came from the bench. If his form in the first half of the season had continued, Birch could have easily got 15 goals last season but with the purchases of several other strikers, he found his chances of impressing restricted. Despite this, he has agreed to sign a new contract with the Imps and will report back for pre-season training on July 3rd.