Kyle Lightbourne

A £475,000 signing from Walsall in the summer of 1997 will be barely remembered by most City fans. In a Highfield Road career that lasted only seven months, he made ten first team appearances, six of them as a substitute. He arrived with a reputation for goalscoring having netted 86 goals in 190 appearances in four seasons for the Saddlers and although he had stiff competition in the form of Dion Dublin, Noel Whelan and Darren Huckerby he felt he could prove that he had the talent to break into the side.

His first appearance on the opening day of the season was a dream. City were 1-2 down to Chelsea with twenty minutes left when substitute Kyle replaced Huckerby. Dion Dublin scored two goals in the last eight minutes to give City a famous victory. Several more sub appearances followed before a first start in a 0-1 loss at Blackpool in the League Cup.

Kyle, struggling to rediscover his Walsall form but gave his best display in the 4-1 League Cup victory over Everton. His final appearance in a Sky Blue shirt was 25 minutes as a sub at West Ham on Boxing Day. In the meantime City had started to put some good results together, all the strikers were fit and a new one, Viorel Moldovan had been signed. Kyle had become surplus to requirements.

A brief loan to Fulham yielded 3 goals and in February Stoke paid City’s asking fee of £425,000. In three and a half seasons with the Potters he scored 25 goals in 130 games.

He moved on to Macclesfield where he made 61 games scoring 12 goals and enjoyed loan spells at Swindon, Cardiff and Hull before retiring. He now lives in Bermuda and together with Shaun Goater formed Bermuda Hogges, a United States Soccer League Two side.