In 15 years, Grimsby Town has gone from a respectable second tier club occasionally on the fringes of the playoff race, to spending five years competing in non-League football.
While every team experiences a decline in fortunes at some stage or another, few falls have been as startling as this – although in fairness, there have been stories with similarly startling revivals. For one, Oldham Athletic will now have spent 19 seasons in the third tier of football, but that compares favourably to clubs that have dropped out of the Football League altogether, although some have since recovered. However, which each level one drops comes the need to confront a new normality – a lower station and a lower standard of football, clashing with heightened expectations based on a status earned, yet squandered in the not so distant past.
Some who have had rather hard falls, like Luton Town (from 10 years of First Division football in 1982-92 to relegation from the League in 2009) and Bradford City (from Premier League to League Two in six years), have slowly been picking themselves back up.
During that 2009-10 season when they finally dropped out of League football, an angry rant on a Grimsby fan forum became a worldwide sensation. Indeed, the online Grimsby community has become renown for their stinging wit, typified by the Cod Almighty fan site.
Historically, Grimsby recovered from previous depressions pretty quickly. The club had spent a fair share of time in the First Division before World War II and were relegated from in 1948. Through the 50s and 60s they bounced up and down between the Second and Third divisions, before relegation to the Fourth for the first time in 1968. The club won the Fourth Division title under Lawrie McMenemy in 1972 and then stayed five years in the third tier.
By 1980, however, they were Third Division champions after two consecutive promotions (a season in which they beat Everton in the League Cup, a feat repeated five years later) with the management of George Kerr. Under Kerr and his successor David Booth, Grimsby enjoyed a successful era where they were periodically promotional contenders. Yet by 1988, the club were in the Fourth Division after consecutive relegations. Alan Buckley steered them back to the Second Division for the 1991-92 season, renowned for playing attractive passing football. In both of Buckley’s first two spells at the club, Grimsby were able to get on the fringes of the playoff race at times and though they never quite pushed on, the brief interlude under Brian Laws was made infamous for the Ivano Bonetti incident.
Indeed, it was Buckley’s sacking in 2000 that began the downward spiral. Successive replacements under an incompetent board saw the club living beyond its means, and consecutive campaigns ending in relegation meant they were back in the basement division by 2004. They were nearly out two years later, but even the return of Alan Buckley for a third spell could not lift the club above mediocrity – for too much damage had been done in the years he was away. His sacking in 2008 was followed by two seasons of struggle, culminating in the drop from the Football League in 2010, joining a colony of excised clubs, although some have since returned. Recent developments at the likes of Torquay United, however, show the perils of being an ex-League club at this level.
Under the management of former Rotherham United player Paul Hurst, Grimsby have made the playoffs in the Conference (now known as the National League) for two seasons running. The present squad contains some experienced players, and Chris Doig (who spent two years with Central Coast Mariners) is now assistant manager. This season, Grimsby Town’s goal is again ending an exile from the Football League that now stands at five seasons – going on six. York City, Mansfield Town, Luton Town and Cambridge United have all recently ended their extended absences from League football and have re-established themselves quite comfortably. The hopes at Blundell Park are that they will do the same.
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