Grimsby Town F.C.
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| Grimsby Town | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Grimsby Town Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | The Mariners | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 1878 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Blundell Park Cleethorpes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity | 9,106 (10,000 with temporary seats) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman | John Fenty | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | Alan Buckley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | League Two | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | League Two, 4th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Grimsby Town F.C. are an English football League Two team. The club is located at Blundell Park in Cleethorpes, the seaside town conurbation of Grimsby borough, North East Lincolnshire, on the river Humber in the north-east of England.
Although fallen on hard times in the last few years the club is the most successful of the four professional clubs in historic Lincolnshire, being the only one to play top-flight football. It is also the only club of the four to reach an FA Cup semi-final (in fact doing so on two occasions) and is the only one to succeed in two finals at Wembley Stadium. It has also spent more time in the English game's second tier than any other club from Lincolnshire.
Notable managers of Grimsby Town include the late Bill Shankly who went on to guide Liverpool to great success and Lawrie McMenemy, who after securing promotion to the then third division in 1972 moved to Southampton, where he managed the FA Cup winning side of 1976.
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[edit] History
[edit] Early history
On 25 March 1939, Wolverhampton Wanderers played Grimsby Town, in a FA Cup semi-final at Old Trafford. Many of the 76,962 crowd had made the long journey from Grimsby. This remains Old Trafford's largest ever attendance, though it is likely to be exceeded in the near future. It was during this decade that the club played at its highest level, with top flight football seen at Blundell Park from 1929 to 1939 (with the exception of seasons 1932-33 and 1933-34). In 1934-35 the club finished 5th in the original first division, its highest ever league position.
As well as the semi-final of 1939 the club also reached the semi-final of the FA Cup in 1936 but lost 1-0 to Arsenal. With the resumption of the Football League for the 1946-47 season after World War II the club were relegated at the end of the 1947-48 season and have never returned to this level. The closest they have come since was in the 1983-84 season, finishing fifth in Division Two after spending most of the latter part of the campaign in the top three promotion places.
[edit] Recent years
The Mariners started well in the 2005/2006 season, rising to the top of Coca-Cola League Two, and beating Derby County and Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup (although they were finally knocked out of the cup by Newcastle United). Grimsby Town failed to gain automatic promotion into League One after conceding a last minute goal against Northampton Town, combined with a Lee Steele goal giving Leyton Orient victory at Oxford United which condemned Grimsby to the play-offs, despite being amongst the automatic promotion places for the majority of the season. The Mariners faced local rivals Lincoln City in the play-offs semi-finals, going on to win 3-1 on aggregate. They faced Cheltenham Town at The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff but lost 1-0.
On 31 May, manager Russell Slade left the club after failing to agree terms on a new contract. His assistant, Graham Rodger, was promoted to replace him, but was himself dismissed by the board on 6 November 2006 after a disappointing beginning to the season, when the club released a statement saying "He has been a loyal servant to the club, but has become a victim of circumstances,... Graham has qualities this club needs - the shame of it is that this man deserved better."[1]
The 9th of November saw the return of Alan Buckley for his third stint at managing the club in the last twenty years. Generally agreed to be the club's most successful manager he had already taken the club from a basement division position to one that became established in what is now the Championship in his first term at the club (1988-1994).
He returned in 1997 after being sacked by West Bromwich Albion who had lured him away three years earlier. It was during his first season back (1997-98) that the club enjoyed its' most successful spell in recent years, where they twice travelled to Wembley Stadium and won, in the Auto Windscreens Shield with Wayne Burnett scoring a golden goal in extra time and then in the second division play-off final with Kevin Donovan scoring the winner. They also beat several clubs above them in the league structure that season, including (in the League Cup) Sheffield Wednesday and Leicester City (who were the holders of the cup at the time).
[edit] Stadium
Grimsby play their home games at Blundell Park, which has possessed an all-seated capacity of just under 10,000 since 1995. Since the late 1990s, there have been plans for a new 20,100-seat stadium at nearby Great Coates - expected to be known as the Conoco Stadium. Delays have marred the progress of this new stadium and fans have set up a Stadium Campaign website in order to increase awareness of the stadium delay in the same manner in which Brighton and Hove Albion managed to do with their Falmer Stadium campaign.
[edit] Current squad
[edit] Famous Ex-Players/Managers
| Person | Grimsby Record (league) | Claim to Fame |
|---|---|---|
| Jackie Bestall | Player 1926-38 427 games, 76 goals | 1 England cap (6 February 1935, vs Northern Ireland, 2-1, Goodison Park). Has the smallest road in Grimsby and Cleethorpes named after him, the only Town footballer to be honoured in this way. |
| Harry Betmead | Player 1930-47 296 games, 10 goals | 1 England Cap (20 May 1937, vs Finland, 8-0, Helsinki) |
| George Tweedy | Player 1932-52 347 games, Caretaker Manager 1950-51 | 1 England Cap (2 December 1936, vs Hungary, 6-2, Highbury) |
| Bill Shankly OBE | Manager 1951-53 | Liverpool Manager 1959-74, 3 League titles, 2 FA Cup wins, 1 UEFA Cup win. |
| Graham Taylor OBE | Player 1962-68 189 games, 2 goals | England Manager 1990-93, W 18 D 13 L 7. |
| Tony Ford MBE | Player 1975-86 & 1991-94 423 games, 58 goals | Holds all-time record, 931, for matches played in the English league by an outfield player. |
| Dave Beasant | Player 1992, 6 games | 1988 FA Cup winner, first goalkeeper to save a penalty in an FA Cup final, first goalkeeper to captain an FA Cup final team. 2 England caps. |
| Clive Mendonca | Player 1991-97 187 games, 64 goals | Winner of Grimsby's BBC cult heroes poll in 2004<ref>BBC Sport - Grimsby's cult heroes</ref>. Scored a hat-trick in Charlton Athletic's 1998 play-off final win |
| Danny Coyne | Player 1999-2003 181 games | Welsh international goalkeeper 1996-present, 11 caps. |
[edit] Colours
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| Grimsby Town's traditional home kit | |||||||||
The black and white stripes are synonymous with Grimsby, and have rarely not featured on the design of the home kit. The notable exceptions being the pinstripes in 1958-1959, 1965-1966 and 1993-1994, plus the shirt from 1960-1962, which was plain white. However, this trend was slightly bucked for 2006-2007 season, where the amount of stripes were halved, with the stripes getting bigger.
[edit] Honours
| Competition<ref>League divisions given as pre-Premier League names</ref> | Honour | Date<ref>Promotions in Bold</ref> |
|---|---|---|
| Division One | Highest placing, 5th | 1934-35 |
| Division Two | Champions | 1900-01, 1933-34 |
| Runners-up | 1928-29 | |
| Third Place | 1895-96, 1896-97 | |
| Division Three | Champions | 1978-79 |
| Runners-up | 1961-62 | |
| Third Place | 1990-91, 1997-98 | |
| Division Three North | Champions | 1925-26, 1955-56 |
| Runners-up | 1951-52 | |
| Third Place | 1921-22 | |
| Division Three South | Highest placing, 13th | 1920-21 |
| Division Four | Champions | 1971-72 |
| Runners-up | 1978-79, 1989-90 | |
| Play off finalists, 4th | 2005-06 | |
| Football Alliance | Third Place | 1890-91 |
| Midland League | Champions | 1910-11, 1930-31, 1932-33, 1933-34, 1946-47 |
| FA Cup | Semi Final | 1935-36, 1938-39 |
| Quarter Final | 1907-08 | |
| League Cup | Quarter Final | 1965-66, 1979-80, 1984-85 |
| Football League Group Trophy | Winners | 1981-82 |
| Football League Trophy | Winners | 1997-98 |
| Full Members Cup | Second Round North | 1991-92 |
| Anglo-Italian Cup | 2nd, English Group 1 | 1993-94 |
| Anglo-Scottish Cup | Preliminary Stage | 1980-81 |
| Lincolnshire Senior Cup | Winners | 1886, 1889, 1897, 1899 |
| Midland Youth Cup | Winners | 2005-06 |
[edit] Player Records
- Most league goals in a season - 42 Pat Glover (1933-34)
- Most league goals in total - 180 Pat Glover (1930-39)
- Most league appearances - 623 (as of end of 05/06 season) John McDermott (1987-present}
[edit] Supporters Player of the Year
| Year | Player | Young Player |
|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Harry Wainman | |
| 1973 | Dave Booth | |
| 1974 | Dave Boylen | |
| 1975 | Frank Barton | Ian Walton |
| 1976 | Harry Wainman | Tony Ford |
| 1977 | Joe Waters | Kevin Drinkell |
| 1978 | Geoff Barker | Shaun Mawer |
| 1979 | Joe Waters | Dave Moore |
| 1980 | Dean Crombie | Phil Crosby |
| 1981 | Nigel Batch | Andy O'Dell |
| 1982 | Nigel Batch | John Steeples |
| 1983 | Kevin Drinkell | Paul Wilkinson |
| 1984 | Tony Ford | Gary Lund |
| 1985 | Tony Ford | Andy Moore |
| 1986 | Gordon Hobson | Tony Barratt |
| 1987 | Neil Robinson | John McDermott |
| 1988 | Don O'Riordan | Tommy Watson |
| 1989 | Shaun Cunnington | Mark Lever |
| 1990 | Garry Birtles | John McDermott |
| 1991 | Dave Gilbert | Mark Lever |
| 1992 | Paul Futcher | John McDermott |
| 1993 | Paul Futcher | Gary Croft |
| 1994 | Paul Crichton | Gary Croft |
| 1995 | Gary Croft | Gary Croft |
| 1996 | Paul Groves | Jamie Forrester |
| 1997 | Graham Rodger | John Oster |
| 1998 | Kevin Donovan | Daryl Clare |
| 1999 | Paul Groves | Danny Butterfield |
| 2000 | Mark Lever | Danny Butterfield |
| 2001 | Danny Coyne | Jonny Rowan |
| 2002 | Danny Coyne | Simon Ford |
| 2003 | Georges Santos | Darren Mansaram |
| 2004 | Phil Jevons | Graham Hockless |
| 2005 | John McDermott | Nick Hegarty |
| 2006 | Rob Jones | Gary Cohen |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
<references />
[edit] External links
- Grimsby Town F.C. on BBC Sport: Club News - Recent results - Upcoming fixtures - Club stats
- Grimsby Town Football Club website
- The Grimsby Town Supporters Trust
- Black and White Corner Online Fanzine - GTFC News and BAWC Fanzine News
- Electronic Fishcake
- Cod Almighty - Grimsby Town online fanzine
- Grimsby Town New Stadium Campaign
- Vital Grimsby Town FC Online News and Features
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