diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/10906-linode-modutils.yml b/changelogs/fragments/10906-linode-modutils.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ced88a7474
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/10906-linode-modutils.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+minor_changes:
+  - linode module utils - remove redundant code for ancient versions of Ansible (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/10906).
diff --git a/plugins/module_utils/linode.py b/plugins/module_utils/linode.py
index 966b4352fc..3700082bd8 100644
--- a/plugins/module_utils/linode.py
+++ b/plugins/module_utils/linode.py
@@ -11,11 +11,9 @@
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+from ansible.module_utils.ansible_release import __version__ as ansible_version
+
 
 def get_user_agent(module):
     """Retrieve a user-agent to send with LinodeClient requests."""
-    try:
-        from ansible.module_utils.ansible_release import __version__ as ansible_version
-    except ImportError:
-        ansible_version = 'unknown'
     return f'Ansible-{module}/{ansible_version}'