Lincoln City Career: 102+(13) appearances and 32 goals between November 1997 - December 2000.

Position: striker.

Clubs: Man City, Hull, Lincoln City, Cardiff City, Oxford United, Notts County, Crawley Town and Histon.

Gavin Gordon joined The Imps as an 18-year-old and was classed as Lincoln's most promising player, which made it all the more surprising that it was not until the 1999/2000 season that he was given a settled run in the side. A productive partnership with Phil Stant in the early part of the 1998/99 reserves' season earned him a first team recall but despite scoring 2 goals in 3 matches, he was dropped until January 1999.

Gordon was signed in November 1997 from Hull for £30,000 and instantly became a player to watch for the future both at Lincoln and at a higher level. It seemed that he would remain at Sincil Bank for the 2000/01 season, as in April 2000 the club announced that he had signed a new three year contract.

During 2000 there were strong rumours that Nottingham Forest were interested in signing Gordon. However, whilst other clubs dithered, Cardiff City made an offer worth £550,000 in December 2000. That fee was derived from complex calculations such as a payment if Cardiff won promotion and payments when Gordon played 25, 50, 75 and 100 games for Cardiff.

His time at Cardiff was mixed, and he spent a period on loan at Oxford United. In 2004, he joined Notts County on a free transfer.

Gordon spent 18 months at Notts County but suffered a mixed time at Meadow Lane. Injuries did not aide him and in January 2006, he was unexpectedly released. Even more surprising was that he opted to drop from the Football League to join struggling Conference club Crawley Town. However, Gordon sustained a serious injury that kept him out of the game for a year. So after making just 4 appearances for Crawley, he joined Histon in 2007.

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Lincoln City Career: 48+(29) appearances and 6 goals between January 1999 and May 2001.

Position: midfielder.

Clubs: Sheffield FC, Hull City, Lincoln City and Chester City.

Richard Peacock joined Lincoln from Hull in January 1999 in exchange for Jon Whitney and Jason Perry, who were valued at £20,000 combined. Former Imps' manager John Beck had originally considered signing Peacock in 1995 but he joined Hull before Beck could make an approach.

He had mixed fortunes for the Imps, playing the 1998/99 season mainly in the reserves. His good form of the 1999/2000 pre-season friendlies continued into the early part of the season and he enjoyed his best spell at Lincoln. Unfortunately, he suffered several injuries from October 1999 onwards and was unable to recapture his form as the season drew to a close.

Lincoln released Peacock in May 2001 when he rejected a new one year contract. Peacock promised much, but often failed to produce the performances that he was capable of.

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Position: striker.

Lincoln City Career: 35+(22) appearances and 3 goals between May 2002 - March 2004.

Clubs: Sheffield Wednesday, Worksop Town, Gainsborough, Lincoln City, Boston United, Kings' Lynn and Matlock Town.

The then aged 19 year old Dene Cropper arrived from UniBond First Division side Worksop Town on a free transfer. He began his career as a trainee at Sheffield Wednesday but left at the end of the 2000/01 season without making a first team appearance for the Owls.

He had trials at both Hull City and Oldham Athletic although neither side made any attempt to sign him, so instead he joined non-league Worksop. It was there that his 10 goals from 20 appearances drew attention to his potential and Lincoln City signed him in May 2002.

Cropper worked hard for Lincoln's team during the 2002/03 season but his effort failed to be reward by goals. In February 2003, he suffered a serious knee injury; against the odds he returned earlier than expected and featured in Lincoln's play-off campaign.

He struggled to break into The Imps' first team for the 2003/04 season, lying behind Gary Fletcher, Marcus Richardson, Francis Green and Simon Yeo in the strikers' order. Despite this, he made 20 appearances during the 2003/04 season, although only 5 of those were starts. In order to play regular first team football he opted for a loan deal at Gainsborough Trinity but in February 2004, he rejected a similar loan deal at Scarborough. A month later, he left Lincoln via a free transfer to join rivals Boston United. They released Cropper in May 2004 and he went to play for Kings' Lynn before rejoining Worksop Town.

Cropper left Worksop in September 2005 to join Matlock Town, where he scored 18 goals during the remainder of the 2005/06 season.

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