By Nathan Jackson
July 4 2006

It appears that Lincoln City striker Gary Birch has agreed a new contract with the Imps are turning up for pre-season training yesterday. This could end weeks of speculation regarding the futures of the 3 out of contract strikers which saw Marvin Robinson and Simon Yeo leave the club.

Birch was automatically offered a new contract at the end of last season after playing more than 25 games a figure that triggered a clause stating that Birch must be offered a new contract. However, Birch revealed he wasn't happy about only being offered a 1 year contract and that he was holding out for a 2 year deal and despite the club's claims that he had agreed a new contract, he refuted these claims last week.

Birch ended the season as the 2nd highest goalscorer despite scoring just twice in the second half of the 2005/6 season and his goals won more points than any other striker throughout the season (for example, if you take his goal out of the Bristol Rovers home game, we'd have lost 2 points having gone from a win to a draw) but he wasn't a particular fan favourite after gaining a bit of weight throughout the season.

City fans were left to guess about Birch's contract and only a picture in the Lincolnshire Echo seems to reveal that Birch is staying as he is seen kicking a ball in the first pre-season session that took place yesterday. He was joined by just one new signing, striker Jamie Forrester who finished last season on loan at Sincil Bank but managers John's Schofield and Deehan have stated that they hope there will be a few new faces by the end of the week.