League Two Table

		P	GD	Pts
1	Stockport	45	+49	92
2	Mansfield	45	+43	85
3	Wrexham	45	+36	85

4	MK Dons	45	+15	77
5	Doncaster	45	+5	70
6	Crewe	45	+4	70
7	Barrow	45	+6	68

8	Crawley Town	45	+4	67
9	Bradford	45	-1	66
10	Walsall	45	0	65
11	Gillingham	45	-11	63
12	AFC Wimbledon	45	+9	62
13	Harrogate Town	45	-9	62
14	Notts County	45	+4	61
15	Tranmere	45	0	57
16	Morecambe	45	-14	57
17	Newport County	45	-11	55
18	Accrington Stanley	45	-11	54
19	Swindon	45	-6	53
20	Salford	45	-16	50
21	Grimsby	45	-15	49
22	Colchester	45	-21	44

23	Sutton Utd	45	-25	41
24	Forest Green	45	-35	39

Full League Two Table
Prem|Champ|L1|L2|NL|NLN|NLS
SPL|SC|S1|S2

Question of the Week

Where will Grimsby be next season?

Dave Boylen

The Hard Work Starts Now

By: Dave Boylen
Date: 29/06/2006

THE hard work starts now at the famous Blundell Park. Are we in a better position than Russell Slade was when he first came to Grimsby Town - he only had six players when he arrived (I am sure that if I am wrong I will be corrected on that score)?

Home > Features > Dave Boylen > The Hard Work Starts Now

Graham Rodger, after learning his trade from previous managers, is now in the hot seat and he has got the task to take the Mariners forward to hopefully a new level. I do think that possibly he is in a better position than Slade was when he first came regarding playing staff. Graham has got at least eight players available and a crop of youngsters who, if they get a chance, will be a asset to the football club.

But will Graham take the bull by the horns and play a couple of these youngsters? Russell certainly did not: one player springs to mind straight away, Danny North, a Potenshiel goal scorer and I do believe that when we kept bringing in these loan players we had a player there who was already in our ranks and was just bursting at the gut to play for the football club, and what's more he comes from Grimsby!

I am sure that Graham will have his own plans for the football club and the background of his own career speaks for itself: he knows Grimsby inside out, he has also worked alongside Russell Slade, like him or love him Russell could conjurer players from other clubs out of the blue.

I personally did not like the hoofing of the ball from one goalpost to the other. I think the tradition of the Mariners in my eyes has always been to at least try to play football on the ground. Over the years when we had Alan Buckley at the helm the Mariners were accused of playing too much football, can you believe that, and Alan's record speaks for itself - the most successful manager in the history of Grimsby Town: two Wembley finals in six weeks which we will never forget.

Alan Buckley could be prickly, I know that from when I played against him on a regular basis when he was at Walsall, but he was an extremely good footballer. Alan was a proven goalscorer and loved to play the ball along the green green grass of the football pitch.

The question of who is going to be no. 2 to Graham is still not been decided. This seems to be dragging on a bit, obviously Macca was rejected. I know that he applied for the job, but maybe they thought he needed some experience in the operations side of running a football club. Well possibly I agree to a certain extent, if that is the case why did the club not give him a coaching role at the football club? Maybe run the reserves alongside being a squad member for the first team, strange decision to me, after all this guy has given twenty years to the football club.

I feel that whoever has been asked to be No. 2 is thinking very hard about the job and I must state that I do not know who it is, I don't think that it is somebody already connected to the football club. It will be a person who is already tied to another football club and is probably trying to get released from his contract. All will be revealed possibly in the next week.

On this site I have seen people express that he nearly went to Hull the other year. On the other hand Macca turned down going to Charlton a few years back when they were in the Second Division and they went up to the Premier the year later. Also Ipswich came in for him and he stayed at Blundell Park. To me a true loyal servant.

I hope that some of these signings that are being rumoured to be coming to Grimsby are correct, at least they are players who play football on the ground. I don't ever want to see again the rubbish that was Cardiff, the supporters got let down badly. Please Graham get a good spirit in that dressing room once again.

This site is by the fans, for the fans, and we will consider articles on any subject relating to the Mariners whether it be related to current news, a nostalgic look back in the past, a story about a player, a game or games in the past, something about Blundell Park or football in general. Click here to submit your article!

Add To Facebook

Thread Title	Posts	Latest Post
Hollywood FC	3	mimma	25/04 21:17
Main stand	68	ska face	25/04 21:17
Crawley Away - Ali Barrs	3	The Yard Dog	25/04 20:57
The Official Summer Transfer Rumour Thread	98	ginnywings	25/04 20:31
Goalkeepers - suggestions please	41	Heisenberg	25/04 20:05
Fleetwood Town - Pilleygate Fraud! 13 Years Prison	27	Nelly GTFC	25/04 19:19
Callum Ainley	11	arryarryarry	25/04 19:08
"Beat the Clock" Crawley	16	Running like emson	25/04 19:03
Prediction Thread Crawley A	11	Grimal	25/04 18:31
Lincoln City	264	David Frazer	25/04 15:46

League Two Table

Question of the Week

The Hard Work Starts Now

Related Stories