Grimsby Town F.C.

Association football club in Cleethorpes, England
“ Grimsby Town ” redirects here. For the railway station, see Grimsby Town railway place
Football cabaret

Reading: Grimsby Town F.C.

Grimsby Town Football Club is a master football baseball club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed “ the Mariners ”, the cabaret was founded as Grimsby Pelham Football Club in 1878, changed its name to Grimsby Town a year late, and moved to its current stadium, Blundell Park, in 1898. Grimsby Town are the most successful team of the three professional clubs in historic Lincolnshire, being the alone matchless to play top-flight English football. It is besides the only clubhouse of the three to reach an FA Cup semi-final ( doing so on two occasions, both times during the 1930s ). It has besides spent more clock time in the English game ‘s first and second tiers than any other golf club from Lincolnshire. luminary early managers include Bill Shankly, who went on to guide Liverpool to three League titles, two FA Cups and a UEFA Cup gloat, and Lawrie McMenemy who, after securing forwarding to the then Third Division in 1972, moved to Southampton where he won the FA Cup in 1976. Alan Buckley is the club ‘s most successful director ; he had three spells between 1988 and 2008, guiding the clubhouse to three promotions and two appearances at Wembley Stadium during the 1997–98 season, winning both the Football League Trophy and the Football League Second Division play-off Final. In 2008 Buckley took Grimsby to the capital again, but lost out to MK Dons in the final of the Football League Trophy. The Mariners had besides reached the Football League Two play-off Final in 2006 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, but lost the equal 1–0 to Cheltenham Town, Later trips to Wembley in 2013 and 2016 saw them defeated in the FA Trophy final by Wrexham and F.C. Halifax Town respectively, having besides lost at the venue in the 2015 National League play-off final to Bristol Rovers before last gaining promotion by winning the 2016 final against Forest green Rovers. Grimsby Town ‘s relegation in 2010 made them the fourthly club to compete in all crown five divisions of English football ( after Carlisle United, Oxford United and Luton Town, and before Leyton Orient and Notts County ). Grimsby ‘s 1939 FA Cup semi-final attendance of 76,962 versus Wolverhampton Wanderers is inactive a record at Manchester United ‘s Old Trafford stadium. In 1954 they became the first English club to appoint a alien coach, Hungarian Elemér Berkessy. The cabaret ‘s record appearance holder is John McDermott, who made 754 appearances between 1987 and 2007, while their run scorer is Pat Glover, with 180 goals ( 1930–39 ) .

history [edit ]

early years ( 1878–1918 ) [edit ]

Grimsby Town was formed in 1878 after a meet held at the Wellington Arms public house in Freeman Street, Grimsby. [ 5 ] several attendees included members of the local Worsley Cricket Club who wanted to form a football club to occupy the vacate winter evenings after the cricket temper had finished. [ 1 ] The club was in the first place called Grimsby Pelham, this being the family name of the Earl of Yarborough, a significant landowner in the area. [ 5 ] In 1880 the club purchased kingdom at Clee Park which was to become their labor until 1889 when they relocated to Abbey Park, before moving again in 1899 to their present home, Blundell Park. The original colours were blue and white hoops, which were changed to chocolate brown and blue quartered shirts in 1884. [ 6 ] In 1888 the golf club first played league football, joining the newly formed ‘Combination ‘. The league soon collapsed and the follow year the baseball club applied to join the Football League, an application that was refused. rather the club joined the Football Alliance. In 1890 the club became a limited company and in 1892 finally entered the Football League, when it was expanded to two divisions. [ 8 ] The first crippled was a 2–1 victory over Northwich Victoria .
The 1901–02 temper saw forwarding to the First Division, having finished as champions ; [ 9 ] two seasons later they were relegated [ 10 ] and within a ten they would be a non-League side again, failing re-election in 1910 and falling to the Midland League. [ 11 ] however, they finished as champions at the first gear attempt and at the subsequent re-election right to vote, replaced local rivals Lincoln City in the Football League. [ 12 ] Grimsby Town and Hull City were the merely two professional teams which had official permission to play league football on Christmas Day because of the demands of the pisces trade, but that custom has immediately disappeared following the dramatic reduction of their trawler fleets in holocene years. [ 13 ]

Inter-War years ( 1918–1945 ) [edit ]

This was the most successful period in the club ‘s history. The first entire season after World War I the club were relegated to the new Third Division ; [ 14 ] in the initial 1920–21 season they played against the former members of the Southern League who had been invited to form the new division, but after a class an equivalent Third Division North was created and Grimsby moved across to that. By 1929 they were back in Division One, [ 15 ] where they stayed ( with a brief break from 1932 to 1934 ) until 1939, obtaining their highest-ever league position, 5th in Division One, in the 1934–35 temper. [ 1 ] In 1925 they adopted the black and white stripes as their color. [ 6 ] [ 16 ] Three Grimsby Town players, ahead Jackie Bestall, goalkeeper George Tweedy and defender Harry Betmead each received a lonely England cap during the period 1935–1937. They remain the only players from the club to have received full England honor. On 20 February 1937, the baseball club ‘s record attendance of 31,651 was recorded when the cabaret met Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup. [ 17 ] Grimsby reached the semi-final of the FA Cup in 1936, the game was played at Huddersfield Town ‘s Leeds Road, but lost 1–0 to Arsenal, [ 18 ] with the goal coming from Cliff Bastin five minutes before one-half time. [ 19 ] Grimsby besides reached the semi-final of the FA Cup on 25 March 1939, Grimsby played Wolverhampton Wanderers, in a FA Cup semi-final at Old Trafford. The attendance of 76,962 remains Old Trafford ‘s largest always attendance. [ 20 ] [ 21 ] The Mariners lost the game 5–0 after goalkeeper George Moulson was injured early in the match. With the rules forbidding substitutes for injuries, Grimsby had to play with 10 men and an outfield player in goal. [ 20 ]

Post-war decline ( 1946–1970 ) [edit ]

With the resumption of the Football League for the 1946–47 season after World War II the cabaret was relegated at the end of the 1947–48 temper and has never returned to the highest horizontal surface. [ 22 ] [ 23 ] Much of the 1950s and 1960s were spent alternating between the Second Division and the Third Division North, late the Third Division. From July 1951 to January 1953 they were managed by Bill Shankly. [ 24 ] [ 25 ] His main problems were that Grimsby had been relegated twice in recent seasons, dropping from the First to the Third Division, and some dear players had been transferred before he arrived. [ 26 ] Shankly believed he inactive had good players to work with and was able to buy some extra players on the transfer market for first gear fees. [ 27 ] Grimsby made a potent challenge for promotion in 1951–52 but finished second, three points behind Lincoln City ( only one team was promoted from Division Three North, with one from Division Three South ). [ 28 ]

“Pound for pound, and class for class, the best football team I have seen in England since the war. In the league, they were in they played football nobody else could play. Everything was measured, planned and perfected and you could not wish to see more entertaining football” .Bill Shankly, in his autobiography in 1976.[27]

Grimsby ‘s aging team made a bright begin in 1952–53 with five straight wins but finally slipped and finished in 5th home. [ 26 ] In 1953–54, Shankly became disillusioned when the dining table could not give him money to buy modern players. He was reluctant to promote some promise reserves because of loyalty to the older players ( a fault that was to resurface at Liverpool years late ) and he finally resigned in January 1954, citing the board ‘s lack of ambition as his independent cause. [ 29 ] Shankly ‘s record in league football at Grimsby was 62 wins and 35 defeats from 118 matches. [ 29 ] Shankly went on to win the Football League, FA Cup and UEFA Cup with Liverpool. [ 30 ] Grimsby became the first English football club to appoint a extraneous director with the appointment of hungarian Elemér Berkessy in 1954. curtly afterwards Allenby Chilton became Grimsby ‘s first player-manager, he joined late in the 1954–55 season from Manchester United and was ineffective to stop them having to apply for re-election, [ 31 ] but the follow season under his management they were champions of Division Three North – the only club always to go from re-election to promotion in one temper. [ 32 ] Chilton continued as coach at Grimsby Town until April 1959 when he joined Wigan Athletic as coach for one season during 1960–61. [ 24 ] In 1968 Grimsby slipped into the Fourth Division for the first time. [ 33 ] The following season the cabaret had to apply for re-election to the league having finished second from bottom. [ 34 ] It was in this season that the lowest-ever attendance for a Football League match at Blundell Park was ever recorded ; 1,833 saw a 2–0 get the better of to Brentford. [ citation needed ] Arthur Drewry, a local businessman, married the daughter of Grimsby Town ‘s president, and subsequently served as a director of the baseball club before his own chairmanship. [ 35 ] Drewry became President of the Football League and Chairman of the Football Association after Grimsby, before he was elected as the 5th President of FIFA. [ 35 ]

revival of the 1970s ( 1970–1980 ) [edit ]

Grimsby Town broke their transfer record in 1972 with a fee of £20,000 for the sign language of Phil Hubbard. [ 36 ] In the same year 22,489 people witnessed a home plate victory against Exeter City that saw the golf club promoted as Division Four Champions. [ 37 ] This reversion was credited to the appointment of Lawrie McMenemy as director. [ 38 ] The club stayed in Division Three until delegating in 1977 but were promoted again in 1979. [ 39 ] [ 40 ] A year late they finished as Third Division Champions under the stewardship of George Kerr and returned to the second tier of the English game, a charge they had not been at for 16 years. [ 41 ] [ 42 ] A popular myth has it that in 1976 the local anesthetic Member of Parliament and then Foreign Secretary Anthony Crosland invited the then United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to watch the Mariners act Gillingham. [ 43 ] [ 44 ] [ 45 ] Despite this being widely reported in the media, with some outlets claiming Kissinger subsequently became a Grimsby sports fan, in world Kissinger ‘s Boeing 747 simply stopped off for a two-hour breakfast discussion with Crosland on the issue of Rhodesia at nearby RAF Waddington before flying directly to Nairobi. [ 46 ] [ 47 ] however, Crosland ‘s decision to force the US alien policy drawing card to fly from London to Lincolnshire for their Saturday dawn meet was influenced by his desire to stay in his constituency and watch his local football team .

return to the Second Division ( 1980–1987 ) [edit ]

The first temper rear ( 1980–81 ) saw the club finish 7th. [ 48 ] Work started that class on a fresh £1 million point of view, in the first place called the Findus Stand ( now known as the Young ‘s Stand ) after the erstwhile Barrett ‘s Stand had been declared insecure, the stand opened for the beginning prison term on 29 August 1982, as the Mariners played hosts to Leeds United. [ 1 ] In the 1983–84 season the golf club finished 5th in the Second Division after spending most of the latter part of the crusade in the crown three forwarding places. [ 49 ] This was their highest league polish since the 1947–48 season. [ 23 ] Grimsby Town ‘s stay in the second Division ended in 1987, having spent much of the 1986–87 temper in the clear one-half of the board, but a run of 8 losses and 2 draws in the final 10 games saw them fall from 8th to 21st. [ 50 ]

Another decline and another revival ( 1987–1997 ) [edit ]

1987–88 saw Grimsby Town suffer a second gear consecutive relegation, placing them in the Fourth Division. [ 51 ] The club ‘s fiscal situation was besides blue, and as the 1988–89 season began, the task at Grimsby was to avoid delegating to the Football Conference, avoid ejection from the FA and avoid going out of business completely. This was achieved, finishing 9th. [ 52 ] Following the resignation of Dave Booth in 1986 ( to pursue outside clientele interests ) the club had two managers in two years ( Mick Lyons and Bobby Roberts ). Alan Buckley was appointed after the 1988 relegation and by 1991 had led the club to two consecutive promotions with the chair at that time being Peter Furneaux. [ 53 ] [ 54 ] Grimsby were to remain in football ‘s second flight for six years. [ 55 ] Buckley ‘s crop of players consisting of some of the most popular and biggest cult heroes in the club ‘s history ; players such as Shaun Cunnington, Keith Alexander, Mark Lever, Dave Gilbert, Steve Livingstone, Paul Futcher, Paul Groves and Clive Mendonca made the golf club a solid second-tier side ( the Second Division became Division One in 1992 upon the universe of the Premier League from the old First Division ). In 1992–93, Grimsby finished 9th in the new Division One, and until well into April they were in the hunt for a play-off place that would have given them the opportunity of a third base promotion in four years. [ 56 ] They dipped to 16th plaza a class subsequently, though they were never in any real danger of relegation. [ 57 ] The Mariners began to produce homegrown endowment from the club ‘s youth academy, including Jack Lester, John Oster, Gary Croft and Peter Handyside .Buckley departed Grimsby in October 1994 to join West Bromwich Albion and he was replaced by defender Brian Laws. [ 58 ] Laws steered Grimsby to a 10th-place finish up in his first season as coach. [ 59 ] During his tenure, Laws became celebrated for a changing-room affray after a frustration at Luton with italian striker Ivano Bonetti, which left the latter with a fracture cheekbone, and caused the democratic musician to leave the cabaret at the end of the season. [ 60 ] [ 61 ] Grimsby finished 17th and were in the struggle to avoid relegation correct up to the penultimate bet on of the season. [ 62 ] In the 1996–97 temper the Mariners were relegated from Division One. [ 55 ] Despite flowing goals from Clive Mendonca, notably dependable performances from John Oster and newcomer Kingsley Black, Grimsby failed to save themselves. [ citation needed ] The golf club had suffered from the losses of Gary Croft, who made a £1.7 million move to Blackburn Rovers and always salute goalkeeper Paul Crichton. [ 63 ]

Double Wembley season ( 1997–98 ) [edit ]

The 1997–98 temper saw the render of Alan Buckley as coach, after an abortive menstruation at West Bromwich Albion, for Grimsby Town ‘s most successful post-war temper. In the summer of 1997, Buckley succeeded in bringing in players to the clubhouse who were to be implemental in the club ‘s approaching season ; early skipper Paul Groves was re-signed from West Bromwich Albion, and Kevin Donovan and David Smith besides joined the club from Albion. [ citation needed ] The mid-season capture of Huddersfield Town midfielder Wayne Burnett proved to be a great morsel of business for Buckley. [ 64 ] After a apparently poor start to the League campaign, performances improved, which propelled the club into a promotion battle with Watford, Bristol City and an expensively assembled Fulham ( at the time the only club at this level to have spent seven-figure sums on players ), with Grimsby finishing the season in 3rd stead. [ 65 ] A good run in the League Cup saw the Mariners knock holders Leicester City and mate Premier League side Sheffield Wednesday out of the competition before ultimately losing out to Liverpool. [ 66 ] A decent rivulet of form had ignited the careers of such younger players as Daryl Clare, Danny Butterfield and Jack Lester who were becoming an built-in function of the Blundell Park set-up. The Mariners went on to dump Burnley out of the Football League Trophy Northern section sphere final examination, which would see the club record its first slip to Wembley Stadium. [ 67 ] The club were drawn against Southern section champions AFC Bournemouth and in a fast game, an counterweight from substitute Kingsley Black took the game into extra fourth dimension, and in the 112th infinitesimal Grimsby secured the bet on courtesy of a aureate goal from Wayne Burnett. [ 67 ] This was the first major trophy awarded to the club following its first appearance at Wembley. It took only four weeks for Grimsby to return to the stadium though, this clock time to face Northampton Town in the Division Two play-off Final. [ 67 ] Town won the game 1–0 thanks to a first half Kevin Donovan goal which gave the club a historic Wembley double and the Mariners promotion back to Division One. [ 68 ]

back in the second grade ( 1998–2003 ) [edit ]

The 1998–99 season saw Grimsby Town finish in 11th stead, but the 1999–2000 season saw Grimsby contend and finish 20th, avoiding relegation at the expense of Buckley ‘s honest-to-god golf club Walsall. The 2000–01 season saw a boardroom change with Doug Everitt taking over from Bill Carr. Everitt dismissed coach Alan Buckley fair two games into the season, replacing him with Lennie Lawrence, who earlier in his managerial career had guided both Charlton Athletic and Middlesbrough into the top fledge. The new director chopped and changed the play police squad around and brought in some expensive loanword signings from afield such as Zhang Enhua, [ 69 ] [ 70 ] Menno Willems signing from Vitesse for 160K, [ 71 ] David Nielsen and Knut Anders Fostervold. Despite this, the club struggled to avoid relegation, lone securing their place in Division One on the concluding day of the season with a acquire over promote Fulham. [ 72 ] The Mariners started the 2001–02 season strongly, topping the league mesa after five games. The cluib advanced to the third base round of the League Cup where they met holders Liverpool at Anfield. In one of the cabaret most celebrated victories, Grimsby held the Premier League team to a 0–0 drawing card after 90 minutes taking the game into extra time. [ 73 ] Despite Gary McAllister scoring a penalty following a David Beharall handball to put the Reds 1–0 up, loan sign Marlon Broomes equalised before ex- Everton youth player Phil Jevons hit a 35-yard strickle into the crown recess of Chris Kirkland ‘s goal to give the club a historic victory. [ 73 ] [ 74 ] Grimsby ‘s push for promotion faltered and the team ‘s form declined quickly, with Lawrence being dismissed halfway into the temper. Paul Groves, the skipper, was chosen to replace him and he steered them to a 19th in the final examination table, adequate to avoid relegation, but a disappoint end to a temper which had begun so promisingly. [ citation needed ] The season was overshadowed by loanee Martin Pringle ‘s [ 75 ] footballing career being ended after a leg-breaking harness by Stockport County defender Dave Challinor, This was besides aggravated more by the referee Mike Dean only awarding Challinor a chicken card for the awful career ending challenge., [ 76 ] a well as the collapse of ITV Digital putting enormous strain on finances for the golf club. [ 77 ] The 2002–03 season would bring relegation with The Mariners finishing bottom of Division One and were relegated after five consecutive seasons at this level. At the time lone one of their previous 12 seasons had been spent below the second tier of English football .

demise to the fourth flush ( 2004–2010 ) [edit ]

The sudden collapse of ITV Digital had left the club with debts of over £2 million, £700,000 of which was owed to the Inland Revenue [ 78 ] [ 79 ] and a far significant sum to their bankers, Lloyds Bank. The collapse had seen a bunch of the smaller clubs playing in the second grade of English football contend to make end meet. Coupled with this, it meant first-team players such as Danny Coyne and Georges Santos moved on to early clubs. [ 80 ] [ 81 ] For the newly season, the club besides had to supply its own kits following the blockage of long serving kit suppliers Avec Sportswear. Grimsby Town played the season using the brand “ Grimsby Town Sports ”. Groves was dismissed in February 2004 following a hapless elongate of games that had seen the club flatten down the postpone, [ 82 ] his substitution Nicky Law was sacked himself merely a few months late as Grimsby were relegated for a second consecutive season. Russell Slade was appointed as the new director in May 2004. [ 83 ] In 2005, director John Fenty became the controlling stockholder in the club after a search for outside investors failed, and a sale of shares to the local public was ailing received. He owned a 51 % majority stake in the club and has made significant loans to the clubhouse to ensure its continue operation. Former Leicester City president John Elsom besides joined the board of directors along with racehorse stable flight simulator and owner Michael Chapman in December 2002. [ 84 ] [ 85 ] Having guided Grimsby to a mid table ending in his first season, Russell Slade began the 2005–06 season with a good start to the season and much improved results and performances had seen Grimsby Town rise to the top of Football League Two. A dear run in the League Cup saw Town outwit Derby County away at Pride Park in attack one, and kill Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur at home in the second round, with Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala hitting an 87th-minute achiever. [ 86 ] The Mariners finally suffered elimination by Alan Shearer ‘s Newcastle United in the third base circle, losing 1–0 at home. Grimsby would fall out of the promotion places on the final day of the season and after defeating Lincoln City in the Play-off trailer truck finals they would lose 1-0 to Cheltenham Town in the final at the Millennium Stadium. [ 87 ] On 31 May, coach Russell Slade left the club after failing to agree terms on a newfangled sign. [ 88 ] Slade ‘s Assistant Graham Rodger was his surrogate but by November he had been dismissed following a hapless start to the season, he was replaced by Alan Buckley who arrived back with The Mariners for a third base time but could alone produce a bottomland half ending in League Two. During the 2007–08 season the clubhouse enjoyed a good range in the Football League Trophy and on 4 March 2008 Grimsby booked their place at the modern Wembley stadium after beating Morecambe in a two-legged Northern Final. a Paul Bolland goal in the away first leg was adequate to see Town through. They went on to play MK Dons in the Final on 30 March, [ 67 ] losing 2–0 after Danny Boshell missed an early penalty. [ 89 ] The season ended with eight straight defeats. After a 13–game winless streak in the league stretching from 22 March 2008, on 15 September 2008 Alan Buckley was sacked as coach for a moment meter. [ 90 ] The board appointed Mike Newell as director. [ 91 ] The Mariners would finish 22nd in League Two narrowly avoiding relegation on the final day. Following another slow begin to the season, and despite previous backings from the Grimsby Town board, on 18 October 2009 the club ‘s official web site declared they had sacked Mike Newell due to “ irretrievable dislocation ”. [ 92 ] [ 93 ] Neil Woods was controversially made permanent coach on 23 November 2009. [ 94 ] [ 95 ] The other chief campaigner for the job was early foreman Russell Slade, but the control panel decided upon Woods ahead of Slade. [ 94 ] Almost immediately Woods was dealt a blow when the golf club decided to do a U-turn and sell captain Ryan Bennett to Peterborough United for £500,000 despite rejecting this offer in the summer and the player only recently signing a newly four-year softwood. Grimsby under Woods struggled and despite winning four and drawing one of their survive six games to give them a find of league survival going into the last crippled of the season., they were defeated 3–0 by Burton Albion, [ 96 ] and therefore were relegated from the Football League for the first time in about 100 years. [ 97 ]
Neil Woods was relieved of his duties on 24 February 2011 after 15 months in charge ,. [ 98 ] leaving the clubhouse in 9th military position in the Conference National. On 23 March 2011, erstwhile Boston United managerial couple of Rob Scott and Paul Hurst were announced as the raw joint managers. [ 99 ] They finished the 2010–11 season in 11th on 62 points. [ 100 ] [ 101 ]
On 19 September 2011, John Fenty resigned as chair of Grimsby Town with immediate effect, a position he had held for 7 years, although he continues to act as a director of the club. [ 102 ] [ 103 ] Following an eleventh place polish in 2012, The Mariners enjoyed a positive cup operate in the 2012–13 season FA Trophy and reached the final at Wembley Stadium where they played Wrexham on 24 March 2013. Grimsby went ahead in the second half with 20 minutes left to go, through an Andy Cook strickle. however, they conceded a penalty with 9 minutes left and Wrexham equalised. This took the crippled to supernumerary time, and then penalties, where Grimsby lost the shoot-out 4–1. Grimsby finished the season in good form, with a 9 match unbeaten run, finishing the season with a 3–0 succeed against Newport County. [ 104 ] This led them to finish in 4th place with 83 points. [ 105 ] They faced Newport County again straight aside in the play-off semi-finals, where they were knocked out by a 1–0 loss in both legs. The managerial couple was broken up on 6 September 2013 due to Rob Scott being suspended and Paul Hurst was placed in exclusive bang of the team. [ 106 ] Grimsby came one-third in the Conference Premier 2014–15 temper, and secured a play-off spot. [ 107 ] Grimsby reached the 2015 Conference Premier play-off Final against Bristol Rovers in front of a Conference record 47,029 crowd at Wembley Stadium. [ 108 ] [ 109 ] The bet on was forced to penalties where Jon-Paul Pittman missed the penultimate penalty in their 5–3 gunfight. [ 108 ] [ 109 ] [ 110 ] Grimsby ‘s highest attendance in the 2015–16 season was in the 2–0 victory over local rivals Lincoln City, a gate of 7,650 which besides was the highest attendance of all the clubs in the 2015–16 season. [ 111 ] Grimsby would play in the concluding of the FA Trophy, [ 112 ] but they lost, the final resultant role was 1–0 to Halifax Town. [ 113 ] The workweek before, Grimsby Town beatnik Forest Green Rovers 3–1 in the 2016 National League play-off Final at Wembley, seeing Grimsby promoted back to League Two after a six-year absence from the Football League. [ 114 ] [ 115 ] [ 116 ] [ 117 ]
After promotion, director, Paul Hurst, released a number of players, many of whom were pivotal to the previous season ‘s promotion advertise. [ 118 ] On 24 October 2016, Paul Hurst was appointed as Shrewsbury Town director, Chris Doig besides left Grimsby and made Hurst ‘s assistant at Shrewsbury, frankincense leaving Dave Moore and Stuart Watkiss as caretaker managers. [ 119 ] On 7 November 2016, Marcus Bignot, then director of non-League side, Solihull Moors, was officially announced as the new Grimsby Town director, along with the appointee of Micky Moore as his assistant. [ 120 ] During the January Transfer Window, Bignot brought in a total of 6 players permanently, including Solihull Moors midfielder, Jamey Osborne, and Gateshead midfielder, Sam Jones. Omar Bogle, Grimsby ‘s top scorekeeper at that indicate in the season, left the cabaret for Wigan Athletic. [ 121 ] On 10 April 2017, Marcus Bignot was relieved of his duties from the cabaret. [ 122 ] His replacement was Russell Slade, who joined the club for the second time as coach on 12 April 2017. Slade ‘s assistant was former Grimsby player, Paul Wilkinson. [ 123 ] The Mariners would finish 14th, with a total of 62 points. [ 124 ] Slade was sacked on 11 February 2018 after seeing the team fail to win in 12 league games, with eight losses, he left the team 17th in League Two. [ 125 ] Paul Wilkinson took over as caretaker director following the sacking. During this time, Grimsby faced far defeats against Cambridge United and Exeter City. Michael Jolley was appointed as the new director on 2 March 2018 and doubly secured Grimsby ‘s Football League status deoxyadenosine monophosphate well as securing cup runs that culminated in an FA Cup tie away at Crystal Palace and a League Cup tie at Chelsea. Jolley left the club by reciprocal agreement and was replaced on a temp basis by assistant director Anthony Limbrick. [ 126 ] On 29 December 2019, Ian Holloway joined Grimsby Town as director, at the same time becoming a share-owner in the golf club, [ 127 ] On 23 December 2020, equitable under one year late, Holloway left the club abruptly in controversial circumstances by announcing on Twitter that he was to resign with immediate effect. His decision was down to several boardroom issues, a big loss in human body and his unwillingness to work with a consortium looking to buy out John Fenty. [ 128 ] which left Ben Davies as caretaker director for two games. [ 129 ] [ 130 ] On 30 December 2020, Paul Hurst was re-appointed as permanent wave director, [ 131 ] however he could not prevent the baseball club from being relegated back to the National League following a 3-2 get the better of to Exeter which confirmed their render after a 5 class quell back in the Football League. [ 132 ]

New Takeover ( 2021– ) [edit ]

On 5 May 2021, local anesthetic businessmen Jason Stockwood and Andrew Pettit under their company 1878 Partners completed their takeover of the football club after buying out majority stockholder John Fenty. [ 133 ]

Colours and strip [edit ]

Grimsby Town ‘s traditional home kit

stadium [edit ]

Dates

Ground

1878–1879
Clee Park

1879–1880
Lovett Street

1880–1889
Clee Park

1889–1899
Abbey Park

1899–present
Blundell Park
Grimsby Town play their home games at Blundell Park in Cleethorpes. This is the club ‘s fourth stadium. They originally played at Clee Park until 1879, they then moved to Lovett Street for a single season, before returning to Clee Park for a farther nine years. The Mariners then moved to Abbey Park until 1899 before a move to Blundell Park, the club ‘s current stadium. [ 1 ] In 1953 the club introduced its first floodlights to the ground and with that enabling Grimsby Town to play night-time fixtures. [ 134 ] Tall floodlights were purchased second hand from Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1958 and installed in 1960 at a cost of £9,000 which was raised by the supporters club, they have illuminated matches always since when required. however, in 2019, these original lights were replaced with newer, brighter lights. fortunately, 3/4 of the original pylons remain ! [ 5 ] [ 135 ] The stadium has had an all-seated capacity of barely under 10,000 in late years, being in and around 27,000 before the stadium was made all seated in 1995. The cabaret ‘s demise from the second grade of English football, down to the fourthly meant the expansion seating was removed. This brought the overall capacitance polish from around 12,000 to what it is today. Situated inside the Findus Stand at Blundell Park, is “ McMenemy ‘s Function Suite ”, named after former director Lawrie McMenemy. Since the former 1990s, there have been plans for a raw 20,200-seat stadium at nearby Great Coates – tentatively titled the Conoco Stadium after a appointment rights deal with the American energy corporation ConocoPhillips. [ 136 ] There have been numerous delays to the growth of the new stadium. The plans have been met with resistor from many residents of the local anesthetic area surrounding the proposed stadium web site, but other factors have besides slowed advance. One of the most noteworthy difficulties for the cabaret was in demonstrating how it planned to finance the schema. As a solution, they by and by amended their marriage proposal to include a retail park on the site, which would help to fund the development. This raised other problems, due to a equal proposal by the property developer Henry Boot, who are continuing with plans for their own retail park, which will be in lineal competition with the Grimsby Town site and which has besides been approved by the local anesthetic council. Henry Boot attempted to have the football team ‘s development design stopped, by asking for it to be sent for judicial review by the Government, however their attempt failed. Currently, the Grimsby Town stadium development marriage proposal has satisfied all the conditions that were imposed by planning officials and consent for the project has been granted. initial estimates had suggested that the golf club would be able to move to the new stadium for the start of the 2011–12 season. however, as a resultant role of the ongoing global recession, the golf club has halted all progress on the new development and it is unlikely that any ferment will begin until an upturn in the economy. As of the 2012–13 season, the GTFC Supporters Trust known as the ‘Mariners Trust ‘ has taken over province for the operation of most of the bars at the stadium, which hopefully will lead to refurbishment, and new ideas from fans as to how the bars operate. Plans were afoot to relocate the club to nation at the side of the Peaks Parkway in Grimsby. [ 137 ] As of 2020, new plans have been agreed with the council, Grimsby Town FC and The Freemen of Grimsby to build the stadium on recently cleared estate off Freeman Street .

Rivalries [edit ]

Grimsby Town ‘s geographic region pits them against three main professional rivals, two of which like Grimsby are from the erstwhile county of Humberside. Hull City, on the north bank of the Humber Estuary have traditionally been viewed as Grimsby ‘s main rival but a contrast in their holocene fortunes has meant that the two clubs have not met in the League since 1987, anterior to a 2020 EFL Trophy victory for Hull the club had last met in 1997 when The Mariners won 1-0 in the same contest. The closest football club to Grimsby are Scunthorpe United, The Iron are chiefly see as Town ‘s biggest rival although historically Scunthorpe have played most of their football in divisions below The Mariners. In the mid 2000s Grimsby ‘s fall from the second tier to the fourth was followed closely with Scunthorpe earning several promotions, with the 2004–05 season being the entirely campaign both sides met in the same division before being reunited once more in 2019. Games involving all three erstwhile Humberside clubs are known as the Humber bowler hat. In more late times games against Lincoln City ( a Lincolnshire bowler hat ) has been Grimsby ‘s chief bowler hat game, although historically Lincoln are another local side who have predominantly spent a distribute of meter in lower divisions to the ones Grimsby have regularly featured in, Town ‘s relegation to League Two in 2004 renewed this competition with celebrated games being the play-off semi-final in 2006 in which Grimsby ran out 3–1 winners on aggregate. In a line to Mariners fans regarding Scunthorpe as their independent rival, supporters of Lincoln City would regard Grimsby as theirs. A flimsy competition with Sheffield Wednesday intensified between 2000 and 2004, with the two clubs competing with each early in relegation battles over four seasons in both the First and Second Division but the clubs have not met since this menstruation. Barnsley, Doncaster Rovers and Boston United are three other examples of clubs who have shared some kind of competition with Grimsby in by seasons, whilst they were in the second and fourth tiers respectively. There are two early clubs within the Borough of Grimsby who are on the football ladder, Grimsby Borough and Cleethorpes Town, coupled with other Non-League sides in Lincolnshire such as Gainsborough Trinity, games with these clubs merely form pre-season friendlies or fixtures in the Lincolnshire Senior Cup .

mascot [edit ]

The Mighty Mariner is Grimsby Town ‘s mascot. He wears the club ‘s home airstrip and normally parades in front of the Pontoon Stand a well as tormenting the resistance ‘s fans. He besides plays football with the mascots and warms up the Grimsby Town fans. [ 138 ] Up until 1998, there were two cabaret mascots, Mighty and Mini Mariner, and until then they used to wear chicken fish rain coats, before Mini was dropped, and Mighty was given the dwelling strip to wear. once, the mascot was a fictional character named “ Harry Haddock “, alleged after Grimsby ‘s fishing diligence, who is actually a rainbow trout .

Supporters [edit ]

The newly rebranded Mariners Trust [ 139 ] has been working with the fans and the club on a number of projects and events with the aim of improving the match day experience for the fans. It has a new Junior Mariners section, works with like GTFC-friendly organisations like the internet mariners and the PPAG and is run by volunteers of 400+ members and continues to encourage GTFC fans to join and get involved. Since the late 1990s Grimsby Town have had a scandinavian supporters group based in Norway and Sweden. [ 140 ] Mariners fans since 2006 have besides had a friendship with the supporters of belgian club Eendracht Aalst. [ 141 ] actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen who is most widely known for creating and portraying the characters Ali G and Borat was spotted at Grimsby Town ‘s home plate crippled against Cambridge United during the 2013–14 temper. He watched The Mariners 1–0 frustration before talking to fans in the Blundell Hotel dressed in a Grimsby shirt and hat. [ 142 ] Cohen had been in the town to think of ideas for a new film and had besides visited the town ‘s fish docks. In December 2013 it was announced that Cohen would be appearing in a raw film called Grimsby. [ 143 ] noteworthy Mariners fans include Soccer AM presenter and comedian Lloyd Griffith, American actor and television presenter Adam Richman. Despite not being from Grimsby or England for that matter the Man v. Food presenter came out in saying he is a patron of the golf club, and was involved in a BBC Radio 5 Live phone-in before the 2013 FA Trophy final between Grimsby and Wrexham. [ 144 ] In 2015 Richman contributed to a fan fundraiser “ Operation Promotion ” and in June 2020 became a club stockholder. [ 145 ] Grimsby-born actor Thomas Turgoose, who starred as the run function character Shaun Fields in the drama film This Is England and the television follow-up ‘s This Is England ’86, This Is England ’88 and This Is England ’90, is a season ticket holder. [ 146 ] He appeared as a node on Sky show Soccer AM in 2007 sporting a Grimsby Town shirt. other celebrated fans include politician Norman Lamont, historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, former professional snooker players Mike Hallett and Dean Reynolds, singer and songwriter Ella Henderson and BBC weather donor Keeley Donovan. [ 147 ]

Grimsby Town in popular acculturation [edit ]

In April 2007, it was announced that Grimsby Town had struck a batch with Sky impart Propeller television to show four 30-minute shows named GTTV. The show chiefly focused on actor and staff interviews and, match reviews. After the first four shows had aired, the project was finally scrapped. [ 148 ] Grimsby Town has popped up in two british films, being mentioned as one of Mike Bassett ‘s early clubs in Mike Bassett: England Manager deoxyadenosine monophosphate well as the film ID. [ 149 ] Grimsby is the football cabaret that Sacha Baron Cohen ‘s character Nobby supports in the 2016 legal action comedy movie Grimsby. [ 150 ]

Grimsby Town Women [edit ]

In 2019, it was announced that Grimsby Town would enter the world of female football with the launch of its first ever affiliate women ‘s team. The 2019/20 season saw the team speculation into the Lincolnshire Women ‘s League for the identical first clock led by newly appointed coach Dale Houlston. This was the 7th tier of the women ‘s football pyramid, basically the very penetrate ring of the ladder. In a season that was cut shortstop in March 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Grimsby Town Women remained undefeated, winning every competitive plot that they played. They were merely two games away from certain forwarding when the season was cut short, a good as reaching the League Cup Final and the Lincolnshire Women ‘s County Cup Final. Sadly none of those Cup Finals took place because of the Covid-19 pandemic. During the summer of 2020, the FA announced that following a restructure to the leagues, Grimsby Town Women would be promoted to the 6th tier of the women ‘s football pyramid, meaning that the team commenced the 2020/21 season in the East Midlands Women ‘s Regional Football League, Division 1 North. The 2020/21 season besides saw Grimsby Town Women enter The FA Women ‘s Cup for the very first time. Grimsby Town Women commenced the 2021/22 season very strongly and led the league as potent favourites to gain forwarding once again. In November of this season, coach Dale Houlston inexplicably resigned his position, having played 7 games, winning 6 and drawing equitable 1. Their dominance in the division at this time saw them score 30 goals in just 7 games, conceding precisely once. It was a mystery why Houlston felt the need to resign, given that he was such a enthusiastic ambassador for women ‘s game, and had done then a lot to champion the geological formation of women ‘s football at the club .

Players [edit ]

First-team squad [edit ]

As of 25 November 2021

note : Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality .

Out on loan [edit ]

note : Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality .

Academy squad [edit ]

As of 21 December 2020[151][152][153]

notice : Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality .

Players of the season [edit ]

As voted for by supporters of the club.[154]

top goal scorers ( season ) [edit ]

* Current season

club officials [edit ]

managerial history [edit ]

As of 14 May 2021[25][155]

Chairman [edit ]

noteworthy former players and managers [edit ]

noteworthy Players & Managers [edit ]

top flight players [edit ]

The following players have played in a major acme flight league and have moved to Grimsby Town late in their career .
The following players have gone on to play top trajectory football in a major league after first playing with Grimsby Town .

International Players [edit ]

Players signed to, and have played for Grimsby Town that have had full international caps during their careers .

PFA Team of the year [edit ]

The following have been included in the PFA Team of the Year whilst playing for Grimsby Town :

PFA Fans ‘ Favourites [edit ]

The following was included as the favorite Grimsby Town musician in the a survey published by the Professional Footballers ‘ Association in December 2007 .

BBC Sports Cult Heroes [edit ]

The following were chosen by fans as the front-runner clubhouse heroes in the BBC Sports Cult Heroes poll in 2006. [ 157 ]

Honours [edit ]

Seasons [edit ]

club records [edit ]

More clubs have lost their managers after meeting Grimsby Town than after playing any other clubhouse. [ 158 ]

Games [edit ]

musician records [edit ]

References [edit ]

foster reading [edit ]

Bell, Pat; Green, Pete (2015). We are Town: Writing by Grimsby Fans 1970–2002. Grimsby: Mariners Trust. ISBN 978-0-9934115-0-2.
Briggs, Rob; Wherry, Dave (2007). Mariner Men: Grimsby Town Who’s Who 1892–2007. Uxbridge: Yore Publications. ISBN 978-0-9552949-8-3.
Buckley, Alan; Thundercliffe, Paul (2013). Alan Buckley: Pass and Move: My Story. Leicester: Troubador Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-78306-140-2.
Ford, Geoff (1989). Grimsby Town Football Club: a pictorial history. Runcord: Archive Publications. ISBN 0-948946-62-8.
Hadgraft, Rob (2010). Grimsby Town: through the trapdoor: the road to hell 2001–2010. Essex: Desert Island Books. ISBN 978-1-905328-81-9.
Lamming, Douglas (1985). A who’s who of Grimsby Town AFC 1890–1985. Beverley: Hutton Press. ISBN 0-907033-34-2.
Lincoln, Bob; Robinson, Michael (2003). Reminiscences of Grimsby Town football club 1879–1912. Cleethorpes: Soccer Books Ltd. ISBN 1-86223-082-X.
Lord, Richard; Johnson, Jack (2014). My favourite game: a collection of memories from Grimsby Town supporters. Cleethorpes: The Mariner Books.
Rake, Matthew (1999). 1997/98: a season to remember. London: Gowers Elmes Publishing. ISBN 0-9536431-0-7.
Wherry, Dave (2008). The Grimsby Town Story: 1878–2008. Uxbridge: Yore Publications. ISBN 978-0-9557889-3-2.

Official websites

News sites

Supporters’ trust