Danny Cowley believes the "right decision" was reached for Paul Farman following his move to Stevenage today.
Farman left Sincil Bank following 200 league starts during a seven-year spell, but goes with the very best wishes of the Imps boss.
"He’s a fantastic lad, he’s a brilliant character, but ultimately sometimes in football you have to do the right thing by people. He goes with our very best wishes," Cowley said.
"We think an awful lot of Paul, but he wants to play. He’s worked so hard to get into the EFL, and play such a big part in the year we won promotion, and we just believe he deserves this opportunity."
Farman's 228 appearances for the Imps puts him fourth in the all-time appearances list for goalkeepers, ahead of the likes of David Felgate and Barry Richardson, but behind others such as Alan Marriott and Peter Grotier.
"He’s been brilliant for this football club, he’s been a fantastic servant, and very loyal to the club. We just felt that it was the right thing to do, and it’ll be a loss to the squad, but it’s the right thing for him and his family," Cowley added.
"Sometimes you’ve just got to be fair to people, and do the right thing by them, particularly people that have been good to us, and he’s been brilliant since he’s been here, both on and off the pitch."
The 28-year-old's departure leaves the Imps with Josh Vickers as the sole goalkeeper currently signed on for next season, but the Imps boss is working on a replacement for Farman.
"We obviously have Josh (Vickers) who we think an awful lot of, but unfortunately he was unable to play in the second half of the season due to injury, which was disappointing for him and us," he added.
"He had a really good spell going into January. We will look to bring another goalkeeper in, because we want competition all over the pitch, it’s very important to us."
