The 2008–09 season was Grimsby Town's 5th season in League Two. 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.
Matches
Legend WinDrawLoss
Pre-season and friendlies +DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 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 RankPlayerGoals1 North2= Bore23 Butler1= Hope1= Jarman1= Till1As of 22 July 2009
Lincolnshire Cup +DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 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.
League Two
Results by matchday
+DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 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 StadiumGillingham 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
+DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 8 Nov Morecambe Christie Park, Morecambe L 1–2 - Stockdale
Football League Cup
+DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 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
+DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 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 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.
Coaching staff
RoleNationalityNameFirst-Team Manager (sacked 15/09/08)Alan BuckleyFirst-Team Manager (hired 6/10/08)Mike NewellFirst-Team Assistant ManagerStuart WatkissFirst-Team CoachBrian SteinReserve Team ManagerStuart WatkissHead of YouthNeil WoodsYouth Team ManagerNeil WoodsChief ScoutBrian SteinGoalkeeping CoachSteve CroudsonPhysiotherapistDavid MooreCommunity Sport CoachGary ChildsCommunity Sport CoachGraham Rodger
Squad overview
Appearances & Goals
Loaned out player stats
Scorers
All ScorerGoals Adam Proudlock8 Nathan Jarman7 Barry Conlon5 Nick Hegarty Ryan Bennett Adrian Forbes3 Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro Danny Boshell Stuart Elliott2 Liam Trotter Jean-Paul Kalala Danny North Peter Till Rob Atkinson Dean Sinclair1 Joe Widdowson Robbie Stockdale James Hunt Tom Newey Jamie Clarke Peter Bore
League ScorerGoals Adam Proudlock8 Nathan Jarman6 Barry Conlon5 Ryan Bennett Nick Hegarty4 Adrian Forbes3 Jean-Paul Kalala Danny Boshell Rob Atkinson2 Liam Trotter Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala Peter Till Stuart Elliott Dean Sinclair1 Joe Widdowson Danny North Peter Bore Jamie Clarke
Domestic Cups ScorerGoals James Hunt1 Tom Newey Nick Hegarty Nathan Jarman Robbie Stockdale Danny North
Transfers
In
Pre-season #PlayerFromAgeFee02 Robbie Stockdale Tranmere Rovers 28 Free Transfer05 Matthew Heywood Brentford 28 Free Transfer06 Richard Hope Wrexham 30 Free Transfer10 Chris Llewellyn Wrexham 28 Free Transfer21 Simon Heslop Barnsley 21 Loan
Mid Season #PlayerPrevious clubAgeFee06 Peter Sweeney Leeds United 24 Loan09 Adam Proudlock Darlington 27 Loan09 Adam Proudlock Darlington 27 Undisclosed16 Javan Vidal Manchester City 19 Loan16 Jean-Paul Kalala Oldham Athletic 26 Loan21 Joe Widdowson West Ham United 19 Loan24 Liam Trotter Ipswich Town 20 Loan24 Barry Conlon Bradford City 30 Loan25 Malvin Kamara Huddersfield Town 24 Loan25 Rob Atkinson Barnsley 21 Loan25 Rob Atkinson Barnsley 21 Free Transfer26 Tomi Ameobi Doncaster Rovers 20 Loan26 Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro FCM Brussels 23 Signed27 Mickael Buscher Gretna 21 Signed29 Bradley Wood Grimsby Town Youth Academy 18 Pro Contract30 Stuart Elliott Doncaster Rovers 30 Loan31 Dean Sinclair Charlton Athletic 24 Loan32 Adrian Forbes Millwall 30 Loan33 Wayne Henderson Preston North End 25 Loan34 Jonathan Lund Leeds United 22 Signed35 Josh Fuller Grimsby Town Youth Academy 17 Pro Contract
Out
Pre-season #PlayerToAgeFee10 Ciarán Toner Rochdale 27 Free Transfer15 Justin Whittle Harrogate Town 37 Free Transfer16 Nick Fenton Rotherham United 28 Free Transfer19 Gary Jones Retired 33 Released
Mid Season #PlayerToAgeFee01 Phil Barnes Gainsborough Trinity 30 Free Transfer03 Tom Newey Rochdale 26 Loan06 Richard Hope Retired 30 Released07 Peter Till Chesterfield 23 Loan09 Martin Butler Burton Albion 34 Free Transfer13 Gary Montgomery Retired to compete in cricket 26 Released18 Peter Bore York City 20 Loan
See also List of Grimsby Town F.C. seasons
References