Drewie wants Tilly: 'What he did at Southend was truly phenomenal when you look back'

Fair enough, but once he heard his former manager when at Roots Hall could be on his way to Linconshire, like the good old pro he is, Sutton was forgotten and words of support for Tilly from the veteran forward started to flow from his lips.

Broughton told www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk: "Steve's certainly the best manager I have played under. I've had a long career and have worked under many managers, but he always stood out. He is the type of manager who is instantly approachable, there is no ego, and what he did at Southend was truly phenomenal when you look back."

Interesting words for Shrimpers fans who are going to find it hard to accept Tilly wearing red if he get's the call.

However, for now, more on the extraondinary impact Tilson made when he took over at Southend and the start of a seven year adventure for the Blues faithful.

Drewie continued: "When he first arrived at Roots Hall, it was actually a very similar position to where we (Lincoln) are now in the table. Morale was low, chins were on the floor, nobody looked forward to going into training, but he came in and he changed that culture. He finished just outside the play-offs that season and reached a Johnstone's Paint Trophy final as well which was truly outstanding. But easily his biggest achievement was keeping the pressure off the players no matter what the situation."

Tilly of course has to get a job sometime and here at S24 we were hoping it would be a club near the bottom of League Two so he could show chairman Ron Martin what he could do with small resources whatever the rights and wrongs of Uncle Ron's decision.

However, with Tilly maybe hours away from a new position and listening to Drew's words one can be forgiven for feeling slightly sad that events turned out as they did.

The (expanded) Broughton Files