An open letter from our sporting director Jez George to Lewis Montsma, who has completed a permanent move to Dundee FC.
Dear Lewis
On behalf of everyone connected to LCFC…
I remember the first time Joe (Hutchinson, head of recruitment) called me excited about a centre back he had found in the Dutch Eerste Divisie and our subsequent Zoom call.
I then remember your first day visiting Lincoln. You and your dad at the EPC. The Red Arrows flying overhead against a blue backdrop without a cloud in the sky. They finished with a love heart. I told you that we only arranged that for special players! Over the next five and a half years you proved to be not just that, but also a special person.
You took Lincoln City and English football by storm...
Nine goals in that first season, starting with that volley on your debut at Crewe. Six in your first nine games! From centre back. Everyone will have their own memories from those early games, but mine was the keepy uppies in the Blackpool penalty area before your late winner, on Brennan Johnson’s first start.
And one against Liverpool when you stood in the tunnel as our own Dutch colossus next to Virgil Van Dijk.
Forty-nine appearances was an incredible return for your first season of English football. That season eventually ended in heartbreak at Wembley, although the true meaning of that word only really became clear the following season when you landed from a routine header against Oxford and ruptured an ACL. I was in Swansea that day trying to sign Liam Cullen on loan. Their game kicked off in the FA Cup at 5.30pm. I didn’t look at the score from our game until it had finished, so I didn’t torture myself throughout. We were struggling and desperately needed three points, but my elation at the result turned to worry after seeing that you had been substituted after 39 minutes. That became devastation when the prognosis was confirmed.
You attacked your rehab with the aggression and determination of your duals on the pitch. You worked tirelessly with the medical and sports science department over 13 months to come back at Accrington the following February, and you immediately looked a million dollars. You had already suffered an ACL injury previously in Holland, so even this was already your second journey back from this despair to get back playing. Therefore, the feeling at Fleetwood for you from everyone when you fell awkwardly from an innocuous challenge felt so much worse. Not again. Not Lewis. It’s a feeling in the pit of your stomach, a sense of dread and look in everyone’s eyes, mostly Kieran’s, that everyone knew but no-one wanted to say. The scan confirmed every fear.
Having climbed Everest, you had to do that again. A word too about our staff that I know you would echo. They are top people, they care so much about our players, they had climbed Everest with you once, from a medical perspective, but also an emotional one, and they also had to do that again. The emotion was raw, tears were shed, but the only option was to double down, show support, care, empathy, and start the long journey back again.
A mention too for your dad, Jelle, who lived every step of this journey and became an indefatigable supporter of Lincoln City.
I am so proud to work for this football club, and that doesn’t come from winning games, it comes from the people who own the club, run the club, work for the club (players and staff) and those who support the club. In every one of those groups, there was just love, care and support shown to you, not as a player but as a human being first. You are an unbelievable person who made Lincoln your home as well as an incredible footballer who made Lincoln your club.
The owners/board acted as they always do; they showed love, care and support for our player. A contract extension was agreed and signed, and surgery was arranged in Holland so you could be with your family in the early stage of his rehab and spend time at home. Kieran (Walker, head of medical) travelled over to see you on numerous occasions, planning those first three months meticulously to look after your mental wellbeing as well as your physical work. Then it was time to go again with your rehab in Lincoln, and you showed the most incredible desire, determination, focus and resilience to attack this rehab like never before. Your mindset is so impressive.
Your first steps back on a football pitch were scary for everyone, so goodness knows how that felt for you. But one game became two, and that season ended with 21 appearances.
Throughout the season, I was again proud of the club. The medical advice was clear. If you played on a Saturday and Tuesday, then we would exponentially increase the risk of a re-injury. The fact that we compromised results by selecting you for Saturday games only, when injuries dictated that we also needed you on some Tuesday games, speaks so highly for Michael Skubala, his integrity and the culture of our club.
No ending is ever perfect. We know that you’ve been robbed of three years of your career, so you are rightly desperate to play. The performances of other players in his position and results meant that we couldn’t give you what you needed: playing time. Therefore, the harsh reality was that our final act of trying to help you would have to be letting you go.
Thankfully, there was one final appearance for you at a full LNER Stadium, even though we didn't know that at the time, against Chelsea, and the story almost did a complete 360 degrees as you struck the inside of the post in the opening seconds. What a moment that would have been. The football gods really should have let that one go in.
In ending, on behalf of everyone connected to Lincoln City, who have all shared all or part of your journey, we want to thank you for everything and wish you every success for the next chapter of your career at Dundee FC and beyond. The opportunity for you to play in the SPL at a club captained by another ex-Imp is fantastic and one we are so pleased that we could facilitate. I just hope you don’t kick each other as much as you did in training here!
Finally, I remember you in with our fans at Doncaster (with your little brother, Oliver), I remember you with the 617 Squadron at our games during your rehab (evident by them immediately singing your song!) and the affection shown to you by all of our supporters throughout your time with us.
That love heart from the Red Arrows is how we felt then and definitely how we feel now.
Go well, Lewis. Always an Imp.
Jez
Sporting director