One thing that's been delayed in recent weeks has been the 500th league appearance of Club Captain Shane Nicholson, a major milestone for the 35 year old full back who, as a 16 year old, made his first league appearance for Lincoln City at Turf Moor, on 22nd November 1986, playing in central midfield. At this stage, following his red card against Blackpool and subsequent three match suspension, the skipper has appeared in 499 games in the oldest organised league competition in the World, so will he hit the marker at Scunthorpe on Boxing Day or will he have to wait his turn to get back in the side?
Born in Newark, also the home Town of ex Chesterfield captain Steve Baines, on 3rd June 1970, Shinner joined Lincoln City and was soon drafted into the first team by then manager George Kerr, replacing Kevin Kilmore on the back of a six match unbeaten run in Division Four for the trip to Burnley.
"I remember quite a lot about it," recalls Shane, "I was marking a player called Billy Rodaway, he kicked me all over the place before I was subbed after about 70 minutes. I was doing all of the apprentice type jobs on the Friday before the game and the Manager called me into the Physio's room and asked me if I wanted to play the following day, so obviously I said 'yes' and that was that!"
The Red Imps lost 3-1, Rodaway got one of Burnley's goals but it was to be five months before young Shane was called on again and by that time, City had replaced Kerr, Peter Daniel was caretaker Manager and City were struggling in the lower reaches of the table but with a few places between them and the single relegation spot that was a feature back then. He played in a draw with Halifax, a loss at Stockport and a win over Northampton, leaving three games to play and the team in 20th spot, their lowest position of the season at that point.
With three games to play, Rochdale were bottom and three other teams, Tranmere Rovers, Torquay United and Burnley were also below Lincoln, but defeats at Wolves and at home to neighbours Scunthorpe meant everything rested on the last day. Rochdale had won two games going into the last day and were safe, leaving four teams to battle it out, Lincoln on 48 points, Torquay and Tranmere on 47 and Burnley on 46. Lincoln's goal difference was better than Burnley's, so a draw would almost certainly mean safety for the Sincil Bank side. Tranmere did what they had to do and beat Exeter 1-0, Burnley, with a near 16,000 crowd beat Orient whilst Torquay, 2-0 down at Crewe, came back to earn a point to move to 48 with a better goal record than City, who lost 2-0 at Swansea to fall to 24th place and the Conference.
"After getting the taste for it at Burnley, I wanted to play every week but had a long wait for another chance. At 16, you have to earn the right to get your place and I hope I got mine on merit back then, despite being a difficult season, I enjoyed it, apart from the trip to Swansea, I came on as a sub in the second half and after the defeat and the other results, it was a dreadful journey back home, it's a long way home in decent circumstances. But we stayed full time and, at 17, I played in most of the matches in the Conference and it was a massive learning curve for me and it really helped me. I dropped into the full back role that season, Colin Murphy was the Manager then, he put me there. I'd started off as a wide midfielder as a young lad, then I switched into the middle and as I got older, I moved further back. I'll probably be in goal for my 500th game!"
From Lincoln (133 league appearances) onto Derby County (74). Steve Thompson was the selling manager and he told Shane The Rams had made an offer of around £100,000 so Shane went over to Derby and spoke to a man well known in these parts, Arthur Cox, then Derby boss. "It was very daunting, I went into his office on my own, I had a chat with him, agreed my terms within about two minutes, you had to take exactly what he gave you, and I moved on, a fantastic move for me, going from Lincoln to be sitting next to Million Pound players all of a sudden." That was also the first time Shane crossed paths with Roy McFarland, "He was Cox's understudy and was a great bloke, he helped me a great deal, but Cox had a aura about him, very old school, every player knew that when he was around you had to be on your toes, but he got the best out everyone."
Next came West Bromwich Albion (52 appearances), Chesterfield first time around (24), Stockport County (77), Sheffield United (25) and Tranmere Rovers (54) before he rejoined Chesterfield in the summer of 2004 and he's subsequently added a further 60 league games, taking him to 499 in his career. "It'll be a great milestone, reaching 500 league games, and with all that's gone off in my career, I'll be quite pleased to get there."
Last season was of course a great personal success for Shane, virtually ever present, a few goals and multiple Player of the Year award winner, so does he feel that was his best ever season? "For consistency, yes. I was surprised to get the award, it was a real surprise and an honour, particularly getting the players' award and then to get the Captain's armband for this season has been a real source of pride for me."
As for this season, Shane admits it took a while to get into the swing of things, "It took us some time, we had a bit of a shaky start that co-incided with the Gaffer being ill, but now he's back, things are firing on all cylinders and the lads are playing well. We didn't have that bit of luck in the Cup replay but we're not down about it, we'll learn from it and we did play quite well in the second half."
Does Shane, along with Paul Hall, Blathers and The Chief, see himself as having some extra responsibility in bringing on some of the younger lads at Saltergate? "I think we have a massive responsibility, it's important we're there for the young lads both in training and in the games, especially when things are tough. I'm happy to have a chat with any of the lads about the game, we've got a great mixture here of youth and old age! It's working well."
And what about his penalties, surely he'd feel confident in telling the keeper exactly where he'll deliver and still be sure of scoring, and with Paul Hall scoring from the spot last week whilst Shane was rested, there's someone else obviously keen on the role! "As soon as I put the ball down on the spot, I've decided where I'm going to put it, it's happened to be the same side for a few weeks so who knows next time. I'm not looking to relinquish the job, even with Hally scoring a pen at Bristol City when I wasn't playing."
With his playing career closer to its end rather than its beginning, are there plans afoot to stay in the game? "Until recently I didn't want to, but I've had a turnaround and I'm going to start doing my coaching badge soon and look to get into the game that way, with 20 years experience, I think I've got something to offer. I can also easily talk to people, that must count for something, I've played under lots of Managers, 15 or 20, so there's information there that must be valuable to some people.
Finally this season, are we where we are in the table on merit? "Absolutely, without doubt, there's nothing in this league to frighten us, the lads now believe that, and every game we go out to win, if we can carry the crowd with us, who knows what will happen."
Congratulations Shane on closing in on a fantastic milestone.
PHIL TOOLEY
