We all love it when a former Imp goes on to play in the Premier League.
We marvel at loan signings, such as Brennan Johnson and Morgan Rogers, but it’s even more special when Harry Toffolo or someone like that pops up in the top flight. We feel like one of our own has made it, vindication for the transfer policy.
It was even the case in the early days of the Premier League. In the late eighties, the First Division was littered with former Imps such as Steve Thompson, Trevor Peake, Gordon Hobson, Wayne Biggins and many more. That number dwindled because in 1992/93, when the Premier League started, we hadn’t had a significant sale for a while.
The first season of the Premier League saw a few ex-Imps appear. Mick Harford played for two sides, Chelsea and Sunderland, scoring 11 goals across 39 appearances. Gary Crosby popped up at Forest with 23 outings and a single goal, while John Fashanu netted six in 29 for Wimbledon. Devon White also played, a little-known ex-Imp at QPR, bagging two goals in three games, while Glenn Cockerill’s extensive top-flight career was winding down with 23 goalless outings for Southampton.
The following year, Harford, White, Cockerill and Fashanu all played again, but all of those former Imps had one thing in common, they’d played for us before we dropped out of the Football League. However, there was one player who popped up in the top flight after appearing for the Imps in the 90s. He was the fifth ex-Imp to score four or more Premier League goals, and yet the likelihood is many of you will not know his name.
Here is the story of Keith Scott.
Scott was plucked out of non-league by Colin Murphy after a prolific spell with Leicester United. Murph had a great record with signings, Fashanu and White were both players he signed who went on to play in the Premier League. White was a big one, he was plucked from Arnold Kingswell.
Scott had also played for Hinckley and Bedworth, and Murph liked what he saw. At 6ft 1in he had an aerial threat, and £22,500 later, he was wearing City colours. The 1989/90 season was an odd one, City threatened to do well but had tailed off by the middle of the campaign. Tony James had been sold, so there was a bit of cash floating around.
Scott was pitched in as part of a two-man strike force, including Tony Lormor, and he appeared twice from the bench before being given a chance against Torquay United on April 4th. He was instantly effective in the middle of a 4-2-4 formation, getting what would be deemed a second assist for the opener. He slipped a ball through a defender’s leg to Lormor, who teed up Gordon Hobson for the opener. He bagged the second himself, picking the ball up 40 yards from goal, beating a couple of defenders and scoring.
He tired as the game went on, and the Echo noted that his stamina would surely improve. He didn’t score in the next five matches, all starts, and then wasn’t used as we won 2-1 at Carlisle. Needing two wins for a play-off spot, he did play against Gillingham, replacing Matt Carmichael, and netting as Gordon Hobson turned provider. The 1-1 wasn’t enough, and as City pushed forward in the final game against champions Exeter, they were beaten 5-1.
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Hopes were high for Scott over the summer, but something happened, and that something was Allan Clarke. Clarke was very critical of Lincoln City players, claiming many could not carry out the instructions he gave. Scott couldn’t get a look in as Clarke loaned Gary Powell, then David Wilson and finally Phil Stant on short-term loans.
He was farmed out on loan to Gateshead, where he netted four goals, and when he returned, he still only got reserve team football. He scored a few for the second string, against Birmingham City Reserves and Walsall Reserves. The Walsall game was November 26th and the next day he started the Leyland DAF Trophy defeat against Birmingham. That was Allan Clarke’s final game in charge.
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Out went Clarke and in came Steve Thompson, tasked with helping get the Imps scoring goals again. In the first game after Clarke left, City won 2-0, Schofield and Paul Smith scoring. Scott came off the bench, replacing Phil Stant, but already the writing was on the wall. He did the same as we lost 2-0 to Hartlepool two weeks later, then got a start on New Year’s Day as we drew 0-0 with Wrexham.
Sadly for him, New Year’s Day also saw news break that the Imps were in for Paul Dobson. His story is interesting as well, he was the player who scored the goal that relegated us in 1987, and his story can be found here. Scott dropped back to the bench, replacing Dobson twice and Keith Alexander once, before a short loan move to Boston United.
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He did well at Boston, grabbing a couple of goals, but another side were looking. Wycombe Wanderers were in the GMVC and hunting a spot in the league. Managed by Martin O’Neill, they liked what they saw from Scott, and a bid was formulated.
The striker hadn’t been given a fair crack of the whip at City. Playing under three managers in less than a year, he looked promising under Murphy, but the Clarke experiment really cost him. Thommo came in and obviously had his own ideas about what a strong XI looked like, and it didn’t include Keith Scott.
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A deal was struck, but it was controversial. After two outings for the Pilgrims, he moved to Buckinghamshire for £30,000, not a huge profit at all. Geoff Davey, the eighties version of Jez George, offered genuine regret that he’d recalled Scott from a Pilgrims side struggling for traction in the GMVC.
Boston were having none of it. They claimed they’d bid the £30,000 that Wycombe had, and that City had turned down their bid and gone with Wycombe’s. Chairman John Reames got involved, claiming that it wasn’t true. It all played out on the back of the local paper, but it bothered Scott little; he was off to Wycombe and getting regular football.
Scott bagged his final goal in Imps colours against Nottingham Forest reserves on March 4th, 1991, while on loan at Boston. His near-post header, against a side featuring Franz Carr, Scott Gemmill and Lee Glover, could have convinced Thommo to keep him. It didn’t.
Wycombe were ambitious, and in two seasons, he was a huge success. He was their leading scorer in 1991/92 with 18 goals as they finished second to Colchester United. A year later, they were 15 points clear at the top, and Scott’s 20 goals helped put them there, as well as helping them to the FA Trophy.
In 1993/94, he’d bagged ten goals by mid-autumn, and quickly went from fourth-tier striker to the top flight. He earned himself a move to Premier League Swindon Town for £300,000, where he scored four goals during their Premier League season. The Robins were bottom from the first game to the last, but he did strike at Anfield to earn them a 2-2 draw with Liverpool.
He remained productive after relegation, netting 12 times in the old First Division, before joining Stoke City in December 1994. His time at the Victoria Ground proved difficult, with just four goals to his name, and he was eventually exchanged with Norwich City in a deal involving forward Mike Sheron.
After several seasons of solid but unspectacular Championship football, Keith returned to a struggling Wycombe Wanderers side in League One. His physical presence and consistent goal return quickly stood out, leading to a move to Reading, which Wycombe accepted amid financial pressures.
As his 15-year professional career drew towards its end, Keith dropped back into non-league football at the age of 35, turning out for Dover Athletic, Scarborough, Leigh RMI, Dagenham & Redbridge, Tamworth, Windsor & Eton, and later Northwood.
He might only have two goals for City, he might have only bagged us a few grand, but he was the first post-GMVC City player to appear in, and score in, the Premier League, and now you know exactly who he is.