Contract Deal or No Deal

Joe Anderson is one of City's left sided defenders and he was a first choice regular under Chris Sutton. He has certainly taken a fair amount of stick from City fans since joining the club last January and returned to the starting line up in the 6-0 thrashing against Rotherham on Tuesday night.

I don't think Anderson is as bad as a lot of people make him out to be, however, I am going to do this whole article as fairly as possible. He has made just seven appearances since Tilson took over in mid-October and regardless of all debates about ability, there's no point in wasting wages in that manner. I imagine that given that he came from Fulham, he will be on a decent wage and it's wages we can't afford to spent on a player that's not actually going to play.

DREWE BROUGHTON - NO DEAL

Drewe Broughton, a trier, a man who wil give his all for the team, but one who has somehow remained in the Football League for many years without ever really impresing. If it was down to pure effort alone then there's no doubt I would keep him, but we have to be realistic, he's only ever come close to scoring once in nearly 30 appearances for the club.

Steve Tilson has already gotten rid of him once during his managerial career and it'd be a brave man who would bet against him doing it again. Rumour has it that Broughton earns the most out of any player at the club, something which he certainly doesn't earn and the fact AFC Wimbledon's form has gone badly downhill since he joined just says it all.

JAMIE CLAPHAM - UNDECIDED

Jamie Clapham is a player I can't decide on at all. His impact early on in the season was excellent, he was a calming influence and to be fair, he rarely puts in a bad performance, however, an increasing number of wingers do get past him when he does play and age is catching up to him.

He left back wasn't such a vital position then I'd have him down as a definite for a new contract, but the problem is that as we've seen with Julian Kelly, if you don't have a good enough wing back then you put your centre backs under a lot of pressure. Out of all of those up for renewal, his is the future which is one of the cloudiest.

DELROY FACEY - DEAL

I like Delroy Facey, I think he's a great motivator for the rest of the side is a cult-hero type player. I have changed opinion on him during the season after being incredibly disappointed that we signed him after what was effectively a poor loan spell last season. He is arguably the most improved player since Steve Tilson took over the side.

I would offer Delroy a new contract as, whilst he won't score a lot of goals, he will bring something which is desperately needed by Lincoln these days, team spirit. Realistically we won't be promotion challengers for several years, if at all, so for now Delroy is what we need, if we become promotion chasers then that might become a different story.

PAUL GREEN - NO DEAL

Our longest serving player and the only one of the current crop to have featured for us in the Playoffs. He has been one of the most debated players for years with fans either loving or hating him, however, I'm not going to debate his ability. I'm not going to go deep into his ability because it's been a LONG time since he was a first team regular because of his injuries and that is precisely the reason I would get rid of him.

Put aside all debates about ability, Green has been here for four and a half seasons and made just 110 League appearances in that time, a total which is nothing anywhere near what you'd expect foe someone who is consisttently offered new contracts. 14 appearances this season and just 16 last season, putting it nicely, isn't a great total and we can't afford to keep a player who spends more than half a season injured every year.

DANNY HONE - DEAL

Since making his debut in Peter Jackson's first game at Lincoln, Danny Hone has only regularly been out of the side under Chris Sutton, who sent him out on loan to Darlington earlier in the season. Since coming back he has arguably been our best defender and when he was dropped for Friday night's game against Rotherham, his replacement was responsible for four of the five goals conceded whilst he was on the pitch...Hone soon came on and it improved.

Since coming back from his loan Hone has been near enough ever present and I'd be surprised if he isn't offered offered a new contract.

CIAN HUGHTON - NO DEAL

After a very impressive 2009/10 season, Hughton has found this season a struggle. He started off as a regular under Chris Sutton but other than scoring the winning goal at Gillingham right at the beginning of the season, you'd have been hard pushed to notice Hughton making a positive contribution. Up until Tilson took over, Hughton was an ever present this year, since then it's been a far different story.

Tilson has obviously not been impressed with the youngster and Hughton has only made five appearances since Tilson took over, the last one being in the 2-2 draw at Aldershot in February, but before that his only appearance since mid-November was an enforced on in the FA Cup game against Hereford.

Realistically Hughton is not going to be offered a new contract. Tilson quite clearly doesn't have any interest in him and his is one of the more likely appearances

ANDY HUTCHINSON - NO DEAL

I've never been a fan of Andy Hutchinson. He started off well by scoring in just his second game for the Imps and people still hang onto that goal when talking about him.....even though it's coming up to two years since his one and only goal.

He made a rare appearance at Stevenage recently and it was the type of performance which is why I don't think he's a good player. He was on the pitch for around 30 minutes and barely even touched the ball. In 22 games for the Imps, he has scored just once and other than that one goal, he's not done anything noteworthy and I'd be amazed if he got offered a new deal, because he has done absolutely nothing to warrant yet another new contract.

Simon Weaver took him on loan to Harrogate Town and he scored just one for them. Despite not impressing at that level, you'd be highly surprised if he ended up at another League club if we released him....then again, Lenell John-Lewis managed it.

ALBERT JARRETT - NO DEAL

If you had asked me at the beginning of the season whether I would offer Jarrett a long term deal then I would have given a guaranteed yes, but as the season went on it became more and more obvious why he has been at a different club every season. A miserable player on the pitch, he seemed to just stop caring once Sutton left and his form went down hill.

The problem is that he was putting in numerous crosses a game, but gradually the quality went seriously downhill and they would either hit the first defender or be whipped in far too quickly for anyone to reach it before it went out of play.

I'd be surprised if he got a new contract. The skill is there when he's motivated....but that's the problem, he's rarely motivated. There was a quote from the film "Cool Runnings" that seems familiar when thinking about Jarrett - "I may be on your team but I am no-one's team mate."

PATRICK KANYUKA - NO DEAL, NOT A CHANCE, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT

I used to have a lot of faith in any player that Tilson signed as up until late-January, every signing had been excellent.....but then he signed Patrick Kanyuka. Kanyuka makes Moses Swaibu, Nat Brown, Steve Torpey and various others look capable of playing for England, he really is that atrocious.

If Tilson offers him a new contract, serious questions need to be asked.

CLARK KELTIE - NO DEAL

Keltie was the unsung hero of Davide Somma's goalscoring run last season. He had an excellent end to last season but much like a lot of the other Chris Sutton signings, his form seemed to go downhill as soon asd Sutton left.

His passing ability went downhill and Tilson quickly seemed to lose patience with him long before he gained an injury. I'd be surprised if he got a new contract because him generally being injury prone and Tilson not overly willing to play him when he was fit.

PAUL MUSSELWHITE - NOT APPLICABLE, PROBABLE RETIREMENT

I say not applicable because Musselwhite will more than likely fully retire from playing and just concentrate on his coaching. If this is the case, he will retire by joining the rare club of "One Appearance Wonders" after his cameo against Southend in October.

SCOTT SPENCER - UNDECIDED

I was calling for Spencer to be given his chance after several cameo appearances but then against Stevenage he finally got his chance. Two starts later and he hasn't overly impressed. He hasn't looked like scoring, mainly because he hasn't taken a shot. Whether he's not match fit due to not having played regularly for quite some time or not might explain it, however, he hasn't done a lot to impress so far.

Personally I am undecided with regards to Spencer, but Tilson seems to rate him and he did achieve a rate of just over a goal every-other game in League One with Southend. I'd be surprised if he didn't get offered a new deal.

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