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This article is about Grimsby town football club. For Grimsby Town station, see Grimsby Town railway station. "GTFC" redirects here. For other uses, see GTFC (disambiguation).
Grimsby Town Football Club are an English football club playing in League Two, the fourth tier of English football. The club is located at Blundell Park in the seaside town of Cleethorpes, part of the conurbation of Grimsby Borough in North East Lincolnshire, on the Humber estuary.[1] Despite recently being the least successful, the club has previously been the most successful of the three professional league clubs in historic Lincolnshire, being the only one to play top-flight football. It is also the only club of the three to reach an FA Cup semi-final (doing so on two occasions) and is the only one to succeed in two finals at the old Wembley Stadium. It has also spent more time in the English game's first and second tiers than any other club from Lincolnshire. Notable managers include the late Bill Shankly, who went on to guide Liverpool to three League titles, two FA Cups and a UEFA Cup triumph and Lawrie McMenemy who, after securing promotion 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 manager, he had three spells as team manager between 1988 and 2008, and guided the club to two Wembley appearances during the 1997–1998 season winning both the Football League Trophy and the Nationwide Division 2 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.
[edit] History[edit] Early historyThe club was formed in 1878 after a meeting held at the Wellington Arms public house in Freeman Street. Several attendees included members of the local Worsley Cricket Club who wanted to form a football club to occupy the empty winter evenings after the cricket season had finished. The club was originally called Grimsby Pelham, this being the family name of the Earl of Yarborough, a significant landowner in the area. In 1880 the club purchased land at Clee Park which was to become their ground 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 and blue quartered shirts in 1884. In 1888 the club first played league football, joining the newly-formed 'Combination'. The league soon collapsed and the following year the club applied to join the Football League, an application that was refused. Instead 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. The first game was a 2-1 victory over Northwich Victoria. The 1901-02 season saw promotion to the first division; two seasons later they were relegated and within a decade they would be a non-league side again, failing re-election in 1910 and falling to the Midland League. However they won that at the first attempt and at the subsequent re-election vote, replaced local rivals Lincoln City in the Football League. Grimsby Town and Hull City were the only two professional teams which had official permission to play league football on Christmas Day because of the demands of the fish trade. That tradition has now disappeared following the dramatic reduction of their trawler fleets in recent years.[2] [edit] The Inter-War YearsThis was probably the most successful period in the club's history as they played at the highest level. The first full season after the Great War the club was relegated to the new Third Division North. By 1929 they were however back in Division One, 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 season. In 1925 they adopted the black and white stripes as their colours. On 25 March 1939, Wolverhampton Wanderers played Grimsby, in a FA Cup semi-final at Old Trafford. The attendance of 76,962 remains Old Trafford's largest ever attendance, though it is likely to be exceeded in the near future. The Mariners lost the game 5-0 after the second choice goalkeeper George Moulson was injured early on in the match (first choice keeper George Tweedy had caught the flu days earlier). With the then rules forbidding substitutes for injuries Grimsby had to play with 10 men and an outfield player in goal. It was at this match that the squad wore numbered shirts for the first time, three months before it became official. 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. [edit] Postwar declineWith 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. Much of the 1950s and 1960s were spent alternating between the Second Division and the Third Division North, later the Third Division. In 1968 they slipped into the Fourth Division for the first time. The following season the club had to apply for re-election to the league having finished second from bottom. 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 defeat to Brentford. [edit] Revival during the 1970sThree years later 22,489 people witnessed a home victory against Exeter City that saw the club promoted as Fourth Division Champions. This turnaround was credited to the appointment of Lawrie McMenemy as manager. The club stayed in Division Three until relegation in 1977 but were promoted again in 1979. A year later they finished as Third Division Champions under the stewardship of George Kerr and returned to the second tier of the English game, a level they had not been at for 16 years. In 1976 the club saw what could be said to be its' most prestigious visitor when the local Member of Parliament and then Foreign Secretary Anthony Crosland invited the then American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to watch the Mariners play Gillingham. [edit] Back in the Second DivisionThe first season back (1980-81) saw the club finish 7th. Work started that year on a new £1m stand, originally called the Findus Stand (now once again the Findus Stand) after the former Barretts Stand had been declared unsafe. In the 1983-84 season the club finished fifth in the Second Division after spending most of the latter part of the campaign in the top three promotion places. This was their highest league finish since the 1947-48 season. Grimsby's stay in the Second Division ended in 1987. They actually spent much of the 1986-87 season in the top half of the table, but a run of 8 losses and 2 draws in the final 10 games saw them fall from 8th to 21st. [edit] Another decline and another revival1987-88 saw Grimsby suffer a second successive relegation, placing them in the Fourth Division. The club's financial situation was also dismal, and as the 1988-89 season began, the task at Grimsby was to avoid relegation to the GM Vauxhall Conference and to avoid going out of business completely. Following the resignation of Dave Booth in 1986 (to pursue outside business 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 successive promotions with the chairman at that time being Peter Furneaux. Grimsby survived their first season back in the Second Division, with Buckley's current crop of players currently boasting some of the most popular and biggest cult heroes in the clubs history. Players such as Shaun Cunnington, Mark Lever, Dave Gilbert, Steve Livingstone, Paul Futcher, Paul Groves and Clive Mendonca to make the club a solid second tier side (the Second Division became Division One in 1992 on the creation of the Premier League from the old First Division). In 1992-93, Grimsby finished ninth 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 chance of a third promotion in four years (something that has so far only been achieved by Swansea City and Wimbledon). They dipped to 16th place a year later, though they were never in any real danger of relegation and it would have been unrealistic to except Grimsby to push for promotion as the division was now dominated by a host of sides with greater resources, such as Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City, Derby County and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Grimsby, however, won many friends with their attractive passing football during Buckley's first two spells in charge. The Mariners began to produce home grown talent from the clubs youth academy, players such as Jack Lester, John Oster, Gary Croft and Peter Handyside were the best of a big bunch of new players at Blundell Park. Buckley departed Grimsby in October 1994 to join West Bromwich Albion and he was replaced by defender Brian Laws. Laws seemed to be proving himself as a decent successor to Buckley, as he steered Grimsby to a 10th place finish in his first season as manager. During his tenure Laws became famous for a changing-room altercation after a defeat at Luton with Italian striker Ivano Bonetti, which left the latter with a broken cheekbone, and caused the popular player to leave the club at the end of the season, in which Grimsby finished 17th and were in the battle to avoid relegation right up to the penultimate game of the season. [edit] Wembley and back in Division OneIn 1996–1997 season The Mariners were relegated from Division One. Despite flowing goals from Clive Mendonca, and notably good performances from John Oster and new comer Kingsley Black, Grimsby failed to save themselves. The club had suffered at the losses of Gary Croft, who made a £1.5 million move to Blackburn Rovers and ever present Goalkeeper Paul Crichton, who would see his replacement, Jason Pearcey (who had been the club's second choice keeper in the previous season) struggle to fill his boots.
The 1997–98 season saw the return of Alan Buckley as manager, after an unsuccessful period at West Bromwich Albion, for Grimsby's most successful post-war season. In the summer of 1997, Buckley succeeded in bringing in players to the club who were to be instrumental in the clubs upcoming season. Former skipper Paul Groves was re-signed from West Bromwich Albion, and Kevin Donovan and David Smith also joined the club from Albion. The capture of Huddersfield Town midfielder Wayne Burnett proved to be a good bit of business for Buckley. After a seemingly poor start to the League, 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). A good run in the League Cup saw The Mariners knock holders Leicester City and fellow Premier League side Sheffield Wednesday out of the competition before finally losing out to Liverpool. A decent run of form had ignited the careers of such younger players like Daryl Clare, Danny Butterfield and Jack Lester who were becoming an integral part of the Blundell Park setup. The Mariners went on to dump Burnley out of the Football League Trophy Northern section area final, which would see the club book its first trip to Wembley Stadium.The club were drawn against Southern section champions AFC Bournemouth and in a tight game, an equaliser from substitute Kingsley Black brought the game into extra time. and in the 112th minute Grimsby secured the game courtesy of a golden goal from Wayne Burnett. This was the first major trophy awarded to the club following its first appearance at Wembley. It took only four weeks though for Grimsby to return to the stadium, this time to face Northampton Town in the Division Two Play Off Final. 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. The 1998-99 season saw Grimsby finish in a very respectable 11th place, but 1999-2000 season saw Grimsby struggle and finish 20th, avoiding relegation at the expense of Buckley's old club Walsall. The 2000-01 saw a boardroom change with Doug Everitt taking over from Bill Carr. Everett dismissed manager Alan Buckley just 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 flight. The new manager changed his entire team around and brought in some expensive loan signings from abroad such as Zhang Enhua, Menno Willems, David Nielsen and Knut Anders Fostervold. Despite this the club struggled to avoid relegation, only securing their place in Division One on the last day of the season with a win over promoted Fulham. The Mariners started the 2001–02 season strongly, topping the league table after five games and staying there for most of the next few weeks. The club knocked local rivals Lincoln City and Sheffield United out of the League Cup to meet holders Liverpool at Anfield. Grimsby held the Premier League team to a 0-0 draw after 90 minutes taking the game into extra time. Despite Gary McAllister scoring a penalty following a David Beharall handball to put the Reds 1–0 up, loan signing Marlon Broomes equalised and then Phil Jevons hit a wonderous 35 yard strike into the top corner of Chris Kirkland's goal to give the club a historic victory. Ultimately, Grimsby didn't have the strength to mount a serious bid for promotion and their form declined rapidly, with Lawrence being dismissed halfway into the season. skipper Paul Groves was chosen to replace him. Grimsby finished 19th in the final table, enough to avoid relegation, but a disappointing end to a season which had begun so promisingly. The season was overshadowed by loanee Martin Pringle's footballing career being ended after a leg-breaking tackle by Stockport County defender Dave Challinor as well as the collapse of ITV Digital putting enormous strain on finances. 2002–03 was a disaster for Grimsby Town. Mariners boss Paul Groves attempted to bolster his side as good as he could, veteran footballers Darren Barnard and Steve Chettle amongst others were brought to the club, and such players as Steve Kabba, Richard Hughes and returning hero John Oster all played some part in the season, but the club couldn't avoid relegation and Grimsby finished bottom of Division One and were relegated after five successive seasons at this level. Indeed, only one of their previous 12 seasons had been spent outside it. [edit] Financial crisis and another relegationThe sudden collapse of ITV Digital had left the club with debts of over £2m, £700,000 of which is owed to the Inland Revenue and a further substantial amount to their bankers, Lloyds TSB.Relegation had hit Grimsby very hard. The collapse had seen a lot of the smaller clubs playing in the second tier of English football struggle to make end meets. Coupled with this, it meant integral team members such as Danny Coyne and Georges Santos moved on to bigger and more financially stable clubs. For the new season, the club also had to supply its own kits following the closure of long serving kit suppliers Avec Sportswear. Grimsby played the season using the brand "Grimsby Town Sports" before a lucrative three year deal with Nike was signed in April 2004. Groves dabbed in the transfer market and brought in some rough diamonds, notably Jason Crowe and Des Hamilton, while Dutch striker Laurens Ten Heuvel joined on loan. His dealings saw The Mariners boast a thick squad for the 2003–2004 campaign but despite this, Groves soon found his men sliding down the league. And they found themselves involved in another relegation scrap with Sheffield Wednesday like the previous season. Groves was sacked in 2004 following a 6-0 drubbing against Oldham Athletic and was replaced by Nicky Law. To be fair, things were always against Law, after the club lost Goalkeeper Aidan Davison to injury, as well as players like Marcel Cas ,Alan Pouton and Michael Boulding departing for various reasons. Other players such as Iffy Onuora were deemed surplus to requirements and were released. Law brought in his own team, veterans Paul Warhurst, Alan Fettis and Jamie Lawrence were joined by controversial journeyman Mickael Antoine-Curier and injury prone Huddersfield midfielder John Thorrington. With little time left for the new team to gel, Grimsby dropped into the relegation zone and went down again on the last day of the season. [edit] Back in the basement division
With Nicky Law failing to keep Grimsby in the Second Division, chairman Peter Furneaux wielded the axe and ended his short stay as first team manager. The club move to appoint Scarborough manager Russell Slade as his replacement, and despite being questioned by some of the clubs supporters, he answered his critics with the signings of Michael Reddy, Andy Parkinson, Dean Gordon and Ashley Sestanovich who were all arguably considered to be of a standard higher than the division. In 2005 director John Fenty became the controlling shareholder in the club after a search for outside investors failed, and a sale of shares to the local public was poorly received. He now owns 51% of the club and has made significant loans to the club to ensure its continued operation. Former Leicester City chairman John Elsom also joined the board of directors, However with the current cash flow a problem, corners had to be cut and the squad was paper thin, numbers were mainly made up by inexperienced youth team players, and pointless loan signings. Like many other teams who suffer a relegation in the previous season Grimsby got off to a mediocre start and a lower mid table finish was a good as it would get for Slade's men. For the 2005–2006 season, The Mariners started well. Slade made more additions with popular signings Jean Paul Kamudimba Kalala and Gary Croft added to the already hungry looking team, the club soon found themselves 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 failed to gain automatic promotion into League One after conceding a last minute goal against Northampton Town, although a Lee Steele goal giving Leyton Orient victory at Oxford United condemned Grimsby to the play-offs regardless. This 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, perhaps surprisingly as the bookmakers made them favourites, they lost 1-0. On 31 May, manager Russell Slade left the club after failing to agree terms on a new contract. The club also lost important players such as Steve Mildenhall, Curtis Woodhouse and Jean Paul Kamudimba Kalala. Player of the season Rob Jones was also sold for £250,000 to Hibernian. In 2006 the club announced an arrangement with the Revenue which allowed the club to repay its tax liabilities in instalments. In the report for the year ending 31 May 2006 it was revealed that the club made a profit after tax of over £400,000, due mainly to cup exploits and the play-off final.Assistant Manager Graham Rodger was promoted to Manager and was looked on by some clubs supporters as the cheap option, but like Slade, he answered his critics by signing popular players. Isaiah Rankin who had a short but fruitful stay with the club in 2004, was re-signed from Brentford and other signings such as veteran Peter Beagrie and Sheffield United Goalkeeper Phil Barnes were brought in. Former Mansfield Town manager Stuart Watkiss was appointed as the clubs Assistant Manager. Despite high expectations The Mariners stumbled out the starting blocks and the mouth watering strike partnership of Rankin and Michael Reddy never got going due to injury woes and Reddy harboring the interest in playing at a higher level. Grimsby found themselves near the foot of the table, and by November the poor start had basically destroyed any chances of promotion. On 6 November , 2006 John Fenty sacked Graham Rodger, 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] Stuart Watkiss took temporary charge until the unexpected happened. On 9 November 2006 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,[citation needed] 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). Buckley inherited a strong but under performing side. He in turn brought in Peter Till from Birmingham City, Martin Paterson and Anthony Pulis on loan to bolster the squad. Buckley soon found himself under pressure as Grimsby slipped down too 22nd in the League, but the board and the supporters stuck by him, and he turned the clubs fortunes around with a whopping 6-0 victory away against Boston United. Grimsby once again stuttered into a lower mid table position. The 2007-2008 season was mainly non eventful but the club enjoyed a good run in the Football League Trophy and on 4 March 2008 Grimsby booked their place at the new Wembley Stadium after beating Morecambe in a nervy two-legged Northern Final. A Paul Bolland goal in the away first leg enough to see Town through. They went on to play MK Dons in the Final on 30 March, losing 2-0 after Danny Boshell had missed an early penalty. There was frustration from the start in the next season, with Town hunting for a new striker, Buckley failed to sign Delroy Facey and club hero Michael Boulding, coupled with this Grimsby fans grew frustrated with the lack of transfer action at the club, notably he did bring in Scotland International Robbie Stockdale, but the club were to start the season with want away Martin Butler, injured Danny North and the vastly inexperienced youngsters Andy Taylor and Nathan Jarman as their only striking options. Following a poor pre-season period in which the team suffered defeats to a number of different Non League clubs such as Farsley Celtic and Corby Town, the club started the new season poorly and soon dropped down to near the foot of the league. After a 13-game winless streak in the league stretching from 22 March 2008, on 15 September 2008 Alan Buckley was sacked as manager of Grimsby Town FC.[1] [edit] Mike Newell eraFollowing the dismissal of Alan Buckley, Assistant Manager Stuart Watkiss was given the role of Caretaker Manger for the second time since his arrival in 2006. In October 2008, he was replaced on a permanent basis by Mike Newell, a year and a half after his dismissal by Luton Town.[3] Newell's first transfer dealings were to sign two former Grimsby players, Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala and Robert Atkinson on loan.[citation needed] Grimsby's winless streak in the league, going back to March 2008, was finally ended after 23 games with a 2–0 win over Bury at Gigg Lane.[citation needed]. Newell continued to dab into the transfer market and in December 2008 the club offered former Liverpool and England striker Robbie Fowler the chance of becoming a player/coach. Despite positive signs for the deal to come off, Fowler decided to join North Queensland Fury when his contract expired at Blackburn Rovers the following month. Back on the pitch, after a further run of 10 games without a win, Grimsby dropped into the relegation zone for the first time this season, but moved back up to 22nd place after clinching a vital victory against local rivals Lincoln City. Despite their previous form, the Mariners ran out comfortable winners with a full-time scoreline of 5-1.[4] After dropping back into the relegation zone for a second time, the team recovered once again after a 3-0 victory at home against promotion chasing Gillingham. After an extensive campaign in the local newspaper and with tickets reduced to £5, this match achieved the biggest attendance of the season, with 6406 spectators.[5] This was broken with the next home game against Aldershot Town; the same £5 deal saw 7065 watch a 1-0 win for the Mariners. The Mariners went on to secure victories over Notts County and Port Vale going into the final 2 weeks of the 08-09 season, Town's previous run of form was heralded by manager Newell down to the fact that new loan signing Barry Conlon had improved morale in the dressing room, not to mention clinching 5 goals inside his first 6 appearances in a Grimsby shirt. The Mariners were all but mathematically safe from relegation, despite a 2-1 away defeat against relegation rivals A.F.C. Bournemouth - which saw The Cherries confirm safety. Fortunately Chester City could only manage a 2-2 draw with Aldershot Town which left City 3 points behind Grimsby with one game remaining, but with a vastly inferior goal difference. Chester lost their final game anyway, meaning that Grimsby were safe; however, they would have been relegated if not for Newell's previous club, Luton suffering a massive and ultimately fatal 30 point deduction. Shortly after the close of the 2008/09 season, the club announced that Assistant Manager Stuart Watkiss would not be offered a new contract for the 2009/10 season. He will be replaced by Brian Stein, who was brought to Grimsby Town by manager Mike Newell and was originally signed as senior scout. In a statement to the local press, chairman John Fenty admitted that Newell had always intended for Stein to be his right hand man and stated that it was unsustainable for the club to effectively have two assistant managers and that Watkiss paid the price with his job.[6] Mike started his summer spending by quickly securing Barry Conlon and Joe Widdowson on a permanent basis. Paul Linwood was brought in from Chester City, should hugely targeted Ryan Bennett be on his way, but after rejecting 2 offers from Peterborough United, the club tied the young skipper on an improved 4 year contract. Newell also managed to bring in former loan stars Adrian Forbes and Peter Sweeney, as well as Nick Colgan, Michael Leary and Chris Jones to finish his squad refurbishing. The Mariners had a mixed pre-season, consisting of a 12-1 thrashing of Winterton Rangers, a creditable 1-1 draw with Leeds United, as well as losses to Stockport and Doncaster. Season Tickets for the 2009/10 campaign had smashed through the previous seasons sales, summing up to around 2'500 tickets sold, a creditable total considering the economic climate. On 18th October 2009 the club's official website declared they had sacked Newell due to "irretrievable breakdown". [7] [edit] StadiumMain article: Blundell Park Grimsby play their home games at Blundell Park in Cleethorpes. This is the clubs fourth stadium. They originally played at Clee Park until 1879, they then moved to Lovett Street for one single season, before returning back to Clee Park for a further nine years. The Mariners then moved to Abbey Park Stadium until 1898 before a move to Blundell Park, the club's current stadium. The stadium has had an all-seated capacity of just under 10,000 since 1995. Since the late 1990s, there have been plans for a new 20,200-seat stadium at nearby Great Coates - tentatively titled the Conoco Stadium after a naming rights deal with the American oil producer ConocoPhillips. Situated inside the Findus Stand is the "McMenemys Function Suite" named after former manager Lawrie McMenemy. There have been numerous delays to the development of the new stadium. The plans have been met with resistance from many residents of the local area surrounding the proposed stadium site, but other factors have also slowed progress. One of the most notable difficulties for the club was in demonstrating how it planned to finance the scheme. As a result, they later amended their proposal to include a retail park on the site, which would help to fund the development. This raised other problems, due to a rival proposal by the property developer Henry Boot, who are continuing with plans for their own retail park, which will be in direct competition with the Grimsby Town site and which has also been approved by the local council. Henry Boot attempted to have the football teams development plan stopped, by asking for it to be sent for judicial review by the Government, however their attempt failed. Currently, the Grimsby Town stadium development 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 club would be able to move to the new stadium for the start of the 2011/12 season, however as a result of the ongoing global recession, the club have halted all progress on the new development and it is unlikely that any work will begin until financial stability returns, if at all. The official Grimsby Town website no longer carries information about the new stadium, so any development on the stadium front is not going to be forthcoming over the next few years, at the very least. Add to that Grimsby's poor league record in recent seasons and it is hard to make a case for any new development. [edit] MascotMighty Mariner is the Grimsby Town mascot. He wears the clubs home team strip, and normally parades in front of the Pontoon Stand as well as tormentingthe opposition fans. He also plays football with the mascots and warms up the Grimsby Town fans. Up until 1998, there was two club mascots, Mighty and Mini Mariner, and until then they used to wear yellow fishing rain coats, before Mini was dropped, and Mighty was given the home strip to wear. [edit] RivalsGrimsby share a geographical rivalry with fellow Humberside club Hull City, who are widely thought of as the clubs main rivals. However the two clubs have rarely played each other in recent times. Within recent years Grimsby have dropped from the higher breaches of professional football in England, down to the bottom, while Hull did the opposite and climbed the leagues. The last time the two clubs met in a competitive game was when Grimsby beat Hull 1-0 in the Football League Trophy in 1998 which incidentally Grimsby went on to win. The closest professional football club to Grimsby is Scunthorpe United. Like Hull, United are classed as local rivals, but also like Hull, both Grimsby and Scunthorpe have rarely spent time playing in the same leagues in recent seasons. With Grimsby spending most of their time in higher divisions, while Scunthorpe spent many seasons playing in the basement professional divisions. In recent seasons Scunthorpe, like Hull, have eclipsed Grimsby. In recent years Lincoln City has been viewed as Grimsby's local derby. However despite this, Lincoln are often not referred too as local rivals, and to some Grimsby supporters they are not seen as rivals at all. From 2000 to 2004 rivalry with Sheffield Wednesday intensified, with the two clubs being involved in the several relegation battles in both First and Second Divisions. Games between the two teams were very heated and at the time this fixture was seen as the biggest derby for Grimsby supporters. Other heated derby fixtures for Grimsby in past seasons, have been the games against Barnsley, Sheffield United and Bradford City. All three played Grimsby many times in the ten year period from 1993 to 2003 when Grimsby played all but one season in the second tier of professional English football. Other clubs such as Rotherham United, Doncaster Rovers, Huddersfield Town and Leeds United also fall into the clubs local catchment area for rivalry. Most games with any club generally from Yorkshire tends to be classed as a local derby. Other past rivalries have lessened due to thre other teams now playing at a non-league level, this includes teams such as Mansfield Town, York City, Boston United and Gainsborough Trinity. Other smaller non league football clubs that share the same geographical region as Grimsby include Brigg Town, Grimsby Borough, Louth United and Winterton Rangers. [edit] Players
[edit] First team squad
[edit] Out on Loan
[edit] Youth Team
[edit] Second Year Squad
[edit] First Year Squad
[edit] Non-Playing Staff
[edit] Managerial history
[edit] Assistant Managers
[edit] Notable Former Players/ManagersFurther information: List of Grimsby Town F.C. players
[edit] PFA Team of the YearThe following have been included in the PFA Team of the Year whilst playing for Grimsby Town : [edit] PFA Fans FavouritesThe following was included as the favorite Grimsby Town player in the a survey published by the Professional Footballers' Association in December 2007. [edit] BBC Sports Cult HeroesThe following were chosen by fans as the favorite club heroes in the BBC Sports Cult Heroes poll in 2006.
[edit] Kit
The original 1878 kit of Grimsby Pelham FC, featured a shirt with narrow horizontal stripes in royal blue and white, with long white shorts and black socks. Between 1884-1910, various kits colours were introduced, with the most most common colours being variations of pale blue and chocolate brown, worn with white shorts and black socks. Other kits from this period include:
Black and white bar stripes were adopted in 1910 and with a few exceptions, they have rarely been missing from the kit design ever since and have become one of the most recognisable features of the club. The 1911 kit included the black and white striped shirt, white shorts and black socks. Exceptions from the traditional bar-stripe kit:
Since the introduction of the black and white bar stripes in 1910, the GTFC kit have featured exclusively red, black and white. The only exceptions to this are the corporate colours used in a sponsor logo and the yellow/gold trim used between 2001-2003. The official GTFC club logo first appeared on the club kit in 1974. The new home and away kits were unveiled on 5 June 2009 for the 2009-2010 season. The home is black and white strips with a white collar and the away is blue with a black and white trim, with Errea being the kit manufacturer. For the [edit] HonoursMain article: Grimsby Town F.C. seasons
[edit] League Standings for last 10 SeasonsSee also: Grimsby Town F.C. seasons
Pos = Position; P = Played; W = Won; D = Drawn; L = Lost; F = Goals For; A = Goals Against; GD = Goal Difference; Pts = Points [edit] Records[edit] Club records
[edit] Player records
[edit] Current players - most appearancesThe 5 players with the most league appearances still at the club as of 3rd November 2009 are:
[edit] Current players - most goalsThe 5 players with the most league goals still at the club as of 3rd November 2009 are:
[edit] Top goal scorers (season by season)
[edit] Supporters Player of the Year[edit] See also[edit] References
[edit] External links
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