Grimsby Town History

2006-07 Season

15th in League Two
League Cup: 1st round; Crewe Alexandra h. 0-3
FA Cup: 1st round replay; Northampton Town h. 0-2
JP Trophy: 2nd round; Mansfield Town a. 0-3

Highlight:
6-0 win at Boston United, 3/2/07

Low Spot:
0-4 home defeat to Rochdale, 1/1/07

Good:
Tom Newey
Creative attacking full back who can be relied on to deliver quality service from the left flank. Sound defensively as well.
Danny North
This quick, young striker forced his way into first team contention and managed a goal every other game from his 12 starts including a hat trick against Barnet.
Looks a real prospect with genuine predatory instincts.

In Brief:
This was a very disappointing effort from the Mariners. There were two good spells, 4 wins in 5 games at the end of November and 7 in 8 from the start of February.
This second burst followed on the heels of seven straight defeats, however, and form in general was poor.
The basis of a decent team remains at Blundell Park but real strengthening needs to take place quickly if this potential is to be tapped.

Grimsby Town Football Club was formed in 1878 after a meeting at the Wellington Arms. In the first year of their existence the club was known as Grimsby Pelham FC, taking the family name of a large local landowner.

In 1892 the club became original members of Division Two, a division they won in 1901 to spend two seasons in the first division.

Grimsby finished bottom of the second division in 1920 and failed in their bid to be re-elected, losing out to the newly formed Leeds United. This led to them spending an arduous season in the newly formed Division Three which, besides themselves, consisted of only southern based clubs.

The following year the Division Three North was born and the Mariners took up residence in that. In 1926 the club were champions of this division and moved back into Division Two. In 1929 the club managed to win promotion again into Division One. This time they managed a three season stay in the top flight before relegation in 1932.

There was a swift return to the first division as champions in 1934 and the club managed to stay at the top level for seven seasons. Grimsby have not managed a return since their emphatic relegation in 1948, however.

The club have led a lively existence since then, moving up and down the divisions frequently and despite having dropped back down to the fourth tier of English football in 2004 their fans will surely remain hopeful of a positive response.

The FA Cup has brought little cheer since World War II but the club did enjoy several prolonged runs in the competition immediately prior that conflict.

In 1936 the Mariners dumped Manchester City and Middlesbrough out of the competition before losing out 1-0 to Arsenal in the semi finals.

Three years later the club reached the last four again after beating Sheffield United and Chelsea away from home. This time they suffered a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Wolverhampton Wanderers at Old Trafford. There was no hiding this hiding either. 76,962 people attended the game, a record for the ground.

Grimsby have twice reached the 5th round of the League Cup, in 1980 and 1985.

The 1979-80 season was particularly memorable for Grimsby and their fans. The club won the Division Three championship, reached the 3rd round of the FA Cup to be drawn away at Liverpool as well as making it to round five in the League Cup.

Grimsby knocked Everton out at Blundell Park before losing 2-0 to Wolves at the Baseball Ground, Derby after two drawn games.

In the 1984-85 League Cup run the Mariners took out Barnsley and Rotherham United in some style before claiming an exceptional 1-0 win at Everton, probably the best club side in the country at that point. In the 5th round Grimsby lost 1-0 at home to Norwich City who then went on to win the competition.

Grimsby have enjoyed success in a couple of the minor cup competitions competed in down the years. In 1982 the club won the Football League Group Cup beating Wimbledon 3-2 in the final at Blundell Park and in 1998 they also won the Auto Windscreens Shield at Wembley after an extra time golden goal winner in their 2-1 success over Bournemouth.

There was a slight disparity in the two attendances for these finals despite the fact that they were in basically the same competition.

3,423 turned out for the 1982 final whereas 62,432 made it for the game at Wembley in 1998.

Less than a month later just over 500 more turned out at the same venue to see Grimsby win the Division Two play off final with a 1-0 win over Northampton Town. Heady days.

Grimsby Town are one of the very few clubs whose appearance record is held by a player from the modern era. Full back stalwart John McDermott's total stood at 592 and counting at the beginning of this season, even though he has never managed to remain ever present during his first 18 years in the first team.

"Has done well but must try harder" on John's report perhaps.