The FPA guests for Saturday’s game against Wigan Athletic are Tony Cunningham, John Kennedy and Paul De Garis.
Tony Cunningham
Tony Cunningham was a powerful striker who was brought to the Imps by Colin Murphy from non-league club Stourbridge in May 1979. He made an instant impact on his debut in a League Cup tie against Barnsley when he was up against the former England defender Norman Hunter. Tony had too much pace and power for the ex-England man and marked his first City game with a goal. Tony remained a regular first-team player during his three full seasons at Sincil Bank and finished as leading scorer with 15 league and cup goals in 1981/82, when the Imps narrowly missed out on promotion to the second tier. He was sold to Barnsley in September 1982 and later played for clubs including Sheffield Wednesday, Manchester City, Newcastle United making a total of almost 500 senior appearances before ending his career with Wycombe Wanderers.
Debut vs Barnsley, home (Football League Cup) 11 August 1979
Lincoln City record:
Football League: 111 appearances plus 12 as substitute, 32 goals
FA Cup: five appearances plus one as substitute
Football League Cup: 13 appearances, eight goals
Other games: six appearances, two goals
John Kennedy
John Kennedy made over 250 appearances in goal for City after signing for the Imps in July 1967. John’s career began in his native Northern Ireland with the Distillery club. During his time there he played for the Northern Ireland and Great Britain amateur international teams, and for the Irish League representative team. In 1965 he signed for Celtic where he played most of his football in the reserves before moving to Sincil Bank in the summer of 1967. He was first choice goalkeeper throughout his seven seasons with City and was the first player to win the Player of the Season award when it started in 1969/70. John was one of the last part-time players to feature regularly for the Imps combining his football career with teaching. John left Sincil Bank in the summer of 1974 and had a couple of seasons with Lincoln United before retiring.
Debut vs Aldershot, home 19 August 1967
Lincoln City record
Football League: 251 appearances
FA Cup: 10 appearances
Football League Cup: 16 appearances
Other: one appearance
Paul De Garis
Paul De Garis was a goalkeeper who signed for City during the 1994/95 season. He made a number of reserve team appearances and was substitute goalkeeper for the first-team on several occasions including for the FA Cup third round tie at Premier League club Crystal Palace. De Garis returned to his native Guernsey in 1995 and continued to play in the island league, making appearances for the island representative team.
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