Name: Gordon Hobson
Seasons Played: 1977/78-1984/85, 1988/89-1989/90
Position: Forward
Date of Birth: 27.11.1957
Birthplace: Sheffield
League Debut: 08.04.1978, Cambridge United (h), Div 3
League Games: 321+12
League Goals: 96
Career: Sheffield Rangers, Manchester Villa (Chesterfield), LCFC, Grimsby Town, Southampton, LCFC, Exeter City, Walsall, Salisbury City, Farnborough Town.

Gordon Hobson was a fast and tricky striker who scored goals regularly throughout his playing career, reaching a total of 129 from his 459 appearances spread over 14 years.

His total of 96 League goals for the Imps puts him third in the Club's list of all-time scorers behind Andy Graver and Johnny Campbell.

Although Hobson had played for City's nursery team Sheffield Rangers as a teenager, he began an apprenticeship as a plumber when he left school. He continued to play in l,ocal football, turning out for a junior side on Saturdays and for Manchester Villa, a Sheffield pub team, on Sundays.

It was not until he was 20 and by now a qualified plumber, that Imps' scout Geoff Worth decided that he might make it in the professional game and he signed for City in December 1977.

Hobson went on to make his senior debut against Cambridge United in April 1978, producing a sparkling performance in which he seemed to mesmerise the opposition defenders.

His crosses from the right flank provided two goals for the Imps and he added one himself in a 4-1 victory over a team that was pushing hard for the Third Division title.

He quickly established himself as a first team regular, forming a useful partnership with another young star Mick Harford but it was not until Colin Murphy became manager that the Imps began to flourish.

Hobson hit his first hat-trick in a 5-2 victory at Torquay on the final day of the 1979/80 campaign and the following season he finished leading scorer with 21 goals as City won promotion from the Fourth Division. One highlight was an 8-0 thrashing of Northampton Town when Hobson scored four times.

Over the next two seasons Murphy's team mounted a serious challenge for a place in the second tier of English football but eventually missed out and one by one players such as Tony Cunningham, Glenn Cockerill and Trevor Peake moved on but Hobson stayed at Sincil Bank until the summer of 1985, leaving at the same time as Murphy.

Hobson moved on to Grimsby Town for a £35,000 fee and finished leading scorer with 15 goals in his first season. In November 1986 he was sold to First Division Southampton for £120,000 where he linked up with Cockerill, his former City team mate.

Hobson scored on his debut for the Saints in a 3-1 win over Watford and towards the end of the season netted a hat-trick at Manchester City, becoming the first Southampton player to net three times in an away match for almost 20 years.

Personal reasons led to him returning to Sincil Bank for a record £60,000 fee in 1988 and he spent two more years with the Imps, finishing top scorer on both occasions. Highlights included a hat-trick in a 4-1 win at table-topping Burnley in November 1988.

Despite being back with City, he kept his house in Southampton and in the summer of 1990 he joined Exeter City for his last full season of League football. He scored seven goals in 37 games for the Grecians but left the club after Alan Ball took over in charge from Terry Cooper.

He then had a brief spell with Walsall before playing non-League football with Farnborough Town and Salisbury City.

Since leaving the game, Hobson has developed his business interests and now a director of a yacht charter and sales business, based in Hamble, near Southampton.

Profile adapted from an original article that appeared in the official Lincoln City FC match day programme, season 2000/01.