Imraam Ladak is back up to his old tricks after sacking ex-Imp John Deehan for allegedly making the wrong substitutions during last nights 5-1 defeat at the hands of Leeds Utd.
The anti-Lincoln agenda I’m sure didn’t come into play when the ex Lincoln man was fired, but it seems that Ladak is beginning to play manager as well as chairman. However current manager Lee Harper was not impressed with his assistants sacking after just a month at the club.
"I don't want to walk out on anybody, but I have to stick by my assistant who has been sacked. I don't think it was just," said the 38 year old ex Arsenal keeper.
He continued: "Every player says they stand by me so I don't know if there are going to be any players either."
Kettering trailed just 1-0 at the break, and took the tie to extra time when another ex Imp, Anthony Elding, struck an equaliser. However following Mike Grella’s introduction after 105 minutes, Kettering collapsed and ended up on the wrong end of a thrashing.
Harper claims Deehan deserved the credit for getting Kettering back into the game and pushing the League One leaders so hard up until the extra time break.
"Maybe I should let things cool down but if he's been told he's been sacked for the substitutions that he made when we only had three players who could possibly come on the pitch then I'm shell-shocked," said Harper.
"I'm gutted about the result but I need the job, I need the money and the chairman's (Ladak) looked after me in terms of that. However I'm a man of principle as well. John's a football man and he knows what he is doing and he got us that result - he got us to 1-1.”
Harper continued with his comments which will no doubt enrage controversial chairman Ladak.
“I've been in the game for getting on 20 years; John Deehan has been in the game for a lot longer. We are football people and we need to be left to run the team and do what we think is right."
One of Harpers first actions in his three week reign as manager was to bring former Norwich and Wigan boss Deehan in as his assistant.
Deehan, 52, has also been on the backroom staff of Sheffield United, Aston Villa, Northampton Town, Bolton Wanderers and Norwich City in various roles since leaving Wigan in 1998. Obviously we remember him best for producing a side that looked capable of winning League Two for a short spell in tandem with John Schofield.
The substitution in question was made by Deehan, who brought on Lee Fowler for Patrick Noubissie in the 106th minute, two minutes before Leeds scored their first of four in 11 minutes.
Ladak is no stranger to manager based controversy, having been the manager who fired Paul Gascoinge after a turbulent few weeks at Rockingham Road. He also made a statement to the press about Mark Cooper being linked with the vacant City job in October – despite Lincoln making no approach for Cooper.