2008–09 Grimsby Town F.C. season

Grimsby Town
Season 2008-09
Chairman	John Fenty
Managers	Alan Buckley (until 15 Sept. 08) Mike Newell
Team captain	Matthew Heywood
Home stadium	Blundell Park
Football League Two	22nd place
FA Cup	First Round
League Cup	Second Round
Football League Trophy	Second Round
Lincolnshire Senior Cup	Runners Up
Top goalscorer	League: 0 Adam Proudlock (8 goals) All comps: 0 Adam Proudlock (8 goals)
Highest home attendance	7,095 0v0 Aldershot Town 28 March 2009
Highest away attendance	12,816 0v0 Bradford City 31 January 2009
Lowest home attendance	1,858 0v0 Tranmere Rovers 12 August 2008
Lowest away attendance	1,200 0v0 Accrington Stanley 28 December 2008
← 2007–08 0 0 0 0 0 0 2009-10 →

Grimsby Town Football Club entered the 2008-2009 as a member of the Coca Cola League Two for the 5th season on the trot. The club were still managed by Alan Buckley until September, when he was dismissed after poor pre-season and poor start to the club's League campaign. Mike Newell was given the job on a permanent basis after Assistant Manager Stuart Watkiss briefly took control of first team affairs. The club are still aiming to leave Blundell Park within the next few seasons.

Fixtures and results

Pre season matches

Friendlies

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
16 Jul	Corby Town	Rockingham Triangle, Corby	L 1 - 3	-	Bore
19 Jul	Oldham Athletic	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	L 1 - 2	-	Hope
21 Jul	Winterton Rangers	West Street, Winterton	D 1 - 1	-	North
22 Jul	Gainsborough Trinity	The Northolme, Gainsborough	W 2 - 0	-	Till, Butler
25 Jul	Farsley Celtic	Throstle Nest, Farsley	L 0 - 3	-	-
30 Jul	Eastwood Town	Coronation Park, Eastwood	L 1 - 5	-	Jarman
4 Aug	Brigg Town	The Hawthorns, Brigg	D 1 - 1	-	North

The Mariners struggled to gel in pre-season, and it became clear the club would struggle in the league. Manager Alan Buckley included utilised his first team squad in the games against Corby, Oldham and Gainsborough, while a weakened side took a 5-1 drubbing by Eastwood Town.

Pre Season Top Scorers

Rank	Player	Goals
1	North	2
=	Bore	2
3	Butler	1
=	Hope	1
=	Jarman	1
=	Till	1
As of 22 July 2009

Lincolnshire Cup

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
29 Jul	Lincoln City	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	W 1 - 0	-	Bore
2 Aug	Scunthorpe United	Glanford Park, Scunthorpe	L 0 - 4	-	-

A late strike from Peter Bore gave a youth dominated Grimsby side the win against Lincoln City in the semi finals, only to see another youthful side get be well beaten, in the next round by Scunthorpe United.

Football League Two

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 Aug	Rochdale	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	D 0 - 0	-	-
18 Aug	Brentford	Griffin Park, Brentford	L 0 - 4	-	-
23 Aug	Chesterfield	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	L 0 - 1	-	-
30 Aug	Lincoln City	Sincil Bank, Lincoln	D 1 - 1	-	Till
Sept 06	Gillingham	KRBS Priestfield Stadium Gillingham	L 0 - 3	-	-
Sept 13	Chester City	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	L 1 - 3	-	North
Sept 20	Morecambe	Christie Park, Morecambe	D 1 - 1	-	Till
Sept 27	Barnet	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	L 0 - 1	-	-
4 Oct	Rotherham United	Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield	L 1 - 4	-	Boshell
11 Oct	Wycombe Wanderers	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	D 1 - 1	-	Bore
18 Oct	Exeter City	St James Park, Exeter	D 0 - 0	-	-
21 Oct	Luton Town	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	D 2 - 2	-	Bore, Bennett
24 Oct	Bradford City	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	L 1 - 3	-	Trotter
28 Oct	Dag & Red	Victoria Road, Dagenham	L 0 - 4	-	-
1 Nov	Darlington	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	L 1 - 2	-	Kalala
15 Nov	Bury	Gigg Lane Stadium	W 2 - 0	-	Trotter, Jarman
21 Nov	AFC Bournemouth	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	D 3 - 3	-	Clarke, Bennett, Atkinson
25 Nov	Macclesfield Town	Moss Rose, Macclesfield	L 0 - 1	-	-
6 Dec	Port Vale	Vale Park, Burslem	L 1 - 2	-	Proudlock
12 Dec	Shrewsbury Town	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	W 1 - 0	-	Proudlock
20 Dec	Aldershot Town	Recreation Ground/EBB Stadium, Aldershot	D 2 - 2	-	Kalala, Hegarty
26 Dec	Notts County	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	L 0 - 1	-	-
28 Dec	Accrington Stanley	Crown Ground, Accrington	L 1 - 3	-	Proudlock
17 Jan	Wycombe Wanderers	Adams Park, High Wycombe	W 1 - 0	-	Jarman
24 Jan	Rotherham United	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	W 3 - 0	-	Widdowson, Proudlock, Sinclair
27 Jan	Dag & Red	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	D 1 - 1	-	Elliott
31 Jan	Bradford City	Valley Parade, Bradford	L 0 - 2	-	-
2 Feb	Exeter City	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	D 2 - 2	-	Jarman (2)
10 Feb	Barnet	Underhill Stadium, Barnet	D 3 - 3	-	Bennett, Elliott, Forbes
14 Feb	Bury	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	L 1 - 2	-	Proudlock
21 Feb	Darlington	The Northern Echo Darlington Arena	L 1 - 0	-	-
24 Feb	Morecambe	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	L 2 - 3	-	Forbes (2)
28 Feb	Rochdale	Spotland Stadium, Rochdale	L 0 - 2	-	-
3 Mar	Brentford	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	L 0 - 1	-	-
7 Mar	Lincoln City	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	W 5 - 1	-	Proudlock (3), Akpa Akpro (2)
11 Mar	Chesterfield	Saltergate, Chesterfield	L 1 - 2	-	Bennett
14 Mar	Chester City	Deva Stadium, Chester	D 1 - 1	-	Hegarty
17 Mar	Luton Town	Kenilworth Road, Luton	L 1 - 2	-	Bennett
21 Mar	Gillingham	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	W 3 - 0	-	Akpa Akpro, Hegarty, Conlon
28 Mar	Aldershot Town	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	W 1 - 0	-	Conlon
4 Apr	Shrewsbury Town	New Meadow, Shrewsbury	D 1 - 1	-	Conlon
11 Apr	Accrington Stanley	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	L 0 - 1	-	-
14 Apr	Notts County	Meadow Lane, Nottingham	W 2 - 0	-	Atkinson, Boshell
18 Apr	Port Vale	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	W 3 - 0	-	Conlon (2), Jarman
25 Apr	AFC Bournemouth	Dean Court, Bournemouth	L 1 - 2	-	Jarman
2 May	Macclesfield Town	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	D 0 - 0	-	-

FA Cup

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
8 Nov	Morecambe	Christie Park, Morecambe	L 1 - 2	-	Stockdale

League Cup

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
12 Aug	Tranmere Rovers	Blundell Park, Cleethorpes	W 2 - 0	-	Hunt, Chorley(O.G)
28 Aug	Blackburn Rovers	Ewood Park, Blackburn	L 1 - 4	-	Newey

Football League Trophy

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
Sept 03	Chesterfield	Saltergate, Chesterfield	D 2 - 2	-	Jarman, North (Grimsby win 4-1 on penalties)
7 Oct	Scunthorpe United	Glanford Park, Scunthorpe	L 1 - 2	-	Hegarty

League table

Football League Two

Brentford made a return to League One as champions, the second club to win the fourth tier three times since Doncaster Rovers. Exeter won their second successive promotion, and on the final day of the season managed to pip Wycombe Wanderers for the runners-up spot. Wycombe themselves managed the final automatic promotion spot by virtue of a single goal over Bury. The play-offs were won by Gillingham, who made an immediate return to League One after the previous season's relegation.

Several teams suffered heavy points deductions during the season. Rotherham were docked 17 points at the start of the season and Darlington 10 points later on. Without these penalties they would have both qualified for the play-offs, but instead managed only mid table. Bournemouth also suffered a 17-point deduction pre-season, and halfway through it looked to be enough to cost them their League status; however, a fightback under new manager Eddie Howe saw them climb to safety and secure survival with a game to spare.

Luton suffered the heaviest deduction however, and the loss of 30 points proved too much for them to survive. They suffered their third successive relegation and dropped out of the league, making them only the third English team to suffer three successive relegations, and the first to drop from the second tier to the Conference in successive years. The other relegated team was Chester City, who were statistically the worst team in the division and returned to the Conference after only five years. Grimsby would also have suffered relegation, if not for Luton's points deduction.

			P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
C	1	Brentford	46	23	16	7	65	36	+29	85
P	2	Exeter City	46	22	13	11	65	50	+15	79
P	3	Wycombe Wanderers	46	20	18	8	54	33	+21	78
	4	Bury	46	21	15	10	63	43	+20	78
P	5	Gillingham	46	21	12	13	58	55	+3	75
	6	Rochdale	46	19	13	14	70	59	+11	70
	7	Shrewsbury Town	46	17	18	11	61	44	+17	69
	8	Dagenham & Redbridge	46	19	11	16	77	53	+24	68
	9	Bradford City	46	18	13	15	66	55	+11	67
	10	Chesterfield	46	16	15	15	62	57	+5	63
	11	Morecambe	46	15	18	13	53	56	-3	63
	12	Darlington	46	20	12	14	61	44	+17	62*
	13	Lincoln City	46	14	17	15	53	52	+1	59
	14	Rotherham United	46	21	12	13	60	46	+14	58*
	15	Aldershot Town	46	14	12	20	59	80	-21	54
	16	Accrington Stanley	46	13	11	22	42	59	-17	50
	17	Barnet	46	11	15	20	56	74	-18	48
	18	Port Vale	46	13	9	24	44	66	-22	48
	19	Notts County	46	11	14	21	49	69	-20	47
	20	Macclesfield Town	46	13	8	25	45	77	-32	47
	21	Bournemouth	46	17	12	17	59	51	+8	46*
	22	GRIMSBY TOWN	46	9	14	23	51	69	-18	41
R	23	Chester City	46	8	13	25	43	81	-38	37
R	24	Luton Town	46	13	17	16	58	65	-7	26*

* Darlington deducted 10 points for entering administration. Rotherham United and Bournemouth both deducted 17 points for failing to follow the Football League insolvency rules. Luton Town deducted 30 points; 20 for exiting administration without a Company Voluntary Arrangement, and 10 for making illegal payments to agents.

Coaching staff

Role	Nationality	Name
First-Team Manager (sacked 15/09/08)		Alan Buckley
First-Team Manager (hired 6/10/08)		Mike Newell
First-Team Assistant Manager		Stuart Watkiss
First-Team Coach		Brian Stein
Reserve Team Manager		Stuart Watkiss
Head of Youth		Neil Woods
Youth Team Manager		Neil Woods
Chief Scout		Brian Stein
Goalkeeping Coach		Steve Croudson
Physiotherapist		Dave Moore
Community Sport Coach		Gary Childs
Community Sport Coach		Graham Rodger

Squad overview

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Phil Barnes (Departed in April 2009) 2 DF Robbie Stockdale 3 DF Tom Newey 4 DF Ryan Bennett 5 DF Matthew Heywood 6 DF Richard Hope (Departed in February 2009) 6 MF Peter Sweeney (on loan from Leeds United) 7 MF Peter Till 8 MF Paul Bolland 9 FW Martin Butler (Departed in October 2008) 9 FW Adam Proudlock 10 MF Chris Llewellyn 11 MF Danny Boshell 12 MF Jamie Clarke 13 GK Gary Montgomery (Departed in April 2009) 14 MF James Hunt 15 DF Matthew Bird 16 DF Javan Vidal (on loan from Manchester City) 16 MF Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala (on loan from Oldham Athletic) 17 MF Nick Hegarty 18 MF Peter Bore

No. Position Player 19 FW Danny North 20 FW Andy Taylor 21 MF Simon Heslop (on loan from Barnsley) 21 DF Joe Widdowson (on loan from West Ham United) 22 FW Nathan Jarman 23 MF Grant Normington 24 MF Liam Trotter (on loan from Ipswich Town) 24 FW Barry Conlon (on loan from Bradford City) 25 MF Malvin Kamara (on loan from Huddersfield Town) 25 DF Rob Atkinson 26 FW Tomi Ameobi (on loan from Doncaster Rovers) 26 FW Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro 27 MF Mickael Buscher (Departed in May 2009) 28 GK Leigh Overton 29 DF Bradley Wood 30 MF Stuart Elliott (on loan from Doncaster Rovers) 31 MF Dean Sinclair (on loan from Charlton Athletic) 32 MF Adrian Forbes (on loan from Millwall) 33 GK Wayne Henderson (on loan from Preston North End) 34 GK Jonathan Lund 35 MF Josh Fuller

Appearances & Goals

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		League Two		League Cup		Football League Trophy		FA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK		Phil Barnes	37	0	32	0	2	0	2	0	1	0
2	DF		Robbie Stockdale	22	1	20	0	1	0	0	0	1	1
3	DF		Tom Newey	29	1	24	0	2	1	2	0	1	0
4	DF		Ryan Bennett	49	5	45	5	1	0	2	0	1	0
5	DF		Matthew Heywood	22	0	18	0	2	0	2	0	0	0
6	DF		Richard Hope	7	0	6	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
6	MF		Peter Sweeney (on loan from Leeds United)	8	0	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	MF		Peter Till	21	2	16	2	2	0	2	0	1	0
8	MF		Paul Bolland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	FW		Martin Butler	5	0	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
9	FW		Adam Proudlock	29	8	28	8	0	0	0	0	1	0
10	MF		Chris Llewellyn	32	0	28	0	1	0	2	0	1	0
11	MF		Danny Boshell	28	3	24	3	1	0	2	0	1	0
12	DF		Jamie Clarke	35	1	32	1	1	0	2	0	0	0
13	GK		Gary Montgomery	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
14	MF		James Hunt	27	1	22	0	2	1	2	0	1	0
15	DF		Matthew Bird	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
16	DF		Nick Fenton	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
16	DF		Javan Vidal (on loan from Manchester City)	4	0	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
16	MF		Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala (on loan from Oldham Athletic)	22	2	21	2	0	0	0	0	1	0
17	MF		Nick Hegarty	39	5	36	4	1	0	2	1	0	0
18	MF		Peter Bore	29	1	27	1	1	0	0	0	1	0
19	FW		Danny North	18	2	15	1	1	0	1	1	1	0
20	FW		Andy Taylor	9	0	6	0	2	0	1	0	0	0
21	MF		Simon Heslop (on loan from Barnsley)	11	0	8	0	2	0	1	0	0	0
21	DF		Joe Widdowson (on loan from West Ham United)	20	1	20	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
22	FW		Nathan Jarman	37	7	33	6	1	0	2	1	1	0
23	MF		Grant Normington	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
24	MF		Liam Trotter (on loan from Ipswich Town)	16	2	15	2	0	0	1	0	0	0
24	FW		Barry Conlon (on loan from Bradford City)	8	5	8	5	0	0	0	0	0	0
25	MF		Malvin Kamara (on loan from Huddersfield Town)	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
25	DF		Rob Atkinson	32	2	31	2	0	0	0	0	1	0
26	FW		Tomi Ameobi (on loan from Doncaster Rovers)	3	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
26	FW		Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro	20	3	20	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
27	MF		Mickael Buscher	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
28	GK		Leigh Overton	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	DF		Bradley Wood	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	MF		Stuart Elliott (on loan from Doncaster Rovers)	11	2	11	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
31	MF		Dean Sinclair (on loan from Charlton Athletic)	9	1	9	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
32	MF		Adrian Forbes (on loan from Millwall)	15	3	15	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
33	GK		Wayne Henderson (on loan from Preston North End)	14	0	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
34	GK		Jonathan Lund	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
35	MF		Josh Fuller	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Loaned out player stats

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		League Two		League Cup		Football League Trophy		FA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
3	DF		Tom Newey (on loan at Rochdale)	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	MF		Peter Till (on loan at Chesterfield)	15	0	15	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
18	MF		Peter Bore (on loan at York City)	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Most frequent starting line-up

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<Barnes

Stockdale

Bennett

Atkinson

Newey

Jarman

Kalala

Boshell

Hegarty

Proudlock

Akpa Akpro

Most frequent starting line-up uses the team's most used formation: 4-4-2. The players used are those who have played the most games in each respective position, not necessarily who have played most games out of all the players.

Scorers

All

Scorer	Goals
Adam Proudlock	8
Nathan Jarman	7
Barry Conlon	5
Nick Hegarty
Ryan Bennett
Adrian Forbes	3
Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro
Danny Boshell
Stuart Elliott	2
Liam Trotter
Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala
Danny North
Peter Till
Rob Atkinson
Dean Sinclair	1
Joe Widdowson
Robbie Stockdale
James Hunt
Tom Newey
Jamie Clarke
Peter Bore

League

Scorer	Goals
Adam Proudlock	8
Nathan Jarman	6
Barry Conlon	5
Ryan Bennett
Nick Hegarty	4
Adrian Forbes	3
Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro
Danny Boshell
Rob Atkinson	2
Liam Trotter
Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala
Peter Till
Stuart Elliott
Dean Sinclair	1
Joe Widdowson
Danny North
Peter Bore
Jamie Clarke

Domestic Cups

Scorer	Goals
James Hunt	1
Tom Newey
Nick Hegarty
Nathan Jarman
Robbie Stockdale
Danny North

Transfers

In

Pre-Season

#	Player	From	Age	Fee
02	Robbie Stockdale	Tranmere Rovers	28	Free Transfer
05	Matthew Heywood	Brentford	28	Free Transfer
06	Richard Hope	Wrexham	30	Free Transfer
10	Chris Llewellyn	Wrexham	28	Free Transfer
21	Simon Heslop	Barnsley	21	Loan

Mid Season

#	Player	Previous club	Age	Fee
06	Peter Sweeney	Leeds United	24	Loan
09	Adam Proudlock	Darlington	27	Loan
09	Adam Proudlock	Darlington	27	Undisclosed
16	Javan Vidal	Manchester City	19	Loan
16	Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala	Oldham Athletic	26	Loan
21	Joe Widdowson	West Ham United	19	Loan
24	Liam Trotter	Ipswich Town	20	Loan
24	Barry Conlon	Bradford City	30	Loan
25	Malvin Kamara	Huddersfield Town	24	Loan
25	Rob Atkinson	Barnsley	21	Loan
25	Rob Atkinson	Barnsley	21	Free Transfer
26	Tomi Ameobi	Doncaster Rovers	20	Loan
26	Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro	FCM Brussels	23	Signed
27	Mickael Buscher	Gretna	21	Signed
29	Bradley Wood	Grimsby Town Youth Academy	18	Pro Contract
30	Stuart Elliott	Doncaster Rovers	30	Loan
31	Dean Sinclair	Charlton Athletic	24	Loan
32	Adrian Forbes	Millwall	30	Loan
33	Wayne Henderson	Preston North End	25	Loan
34	Jonathan Lund	Leeds United	22	Signed
35	Josh Fuller	Grimsby Town Youth Academy	17	Pro Contract

Out

Pre-Season

#	Player	To	Age	Fee
10	Ciaran Toner	Rochdale	27	Free Transfer
15	Justin Whittle	Harrogate Town	37	Free Transfer
16	Nick Fenton	Rotherham United	28	Free Transfer
19	Gary Jones	Retired	33	Released

Mid Season

#	Player	To	Age	Fee
01	Phil Barnes	Gainsborough Trinity	30	Free Transfer
03	Tom Newey	Rochdale	26	Loan
06	Richard Hope	Retired	30	Released
07	Peter Till	Chesterfield	23	Loan
09	Martin Butler	Burton Albion	34	Free Transfer
13	Gary Montgomery	Retired to compete in Cricket	26	Released
18	Peter Bore	York City	20	Loan