Early years (1878–1918) from joining as Grimsby Pelham in
1892–93 to the present|alt=refer to caption Grimsby Town was formed in 1878 after a meeting held at the Wellington Arms public house in Freeman Street, Grimsby. Several attendees included members of the local Worsley Cricket Club who wanted to form a football club to occupy the empty winter evenings after the cricket season had finished. In 1888 the club first played league football, joining the newly formed 'Combination'. The league soon collapsed and the following year the club applied to join the
Football League, an application that was refused. Instead the club joined the
Football Alliance. In 1890 the club became a limited company and in 1892 finally entered the Football League, when it was expanded to two divisions. The first game was a 2–1 victory over
Northwich Victoria. in
1900–1901 The
1901–02 season saw promotion to the First Division, having finished as champions; two seasons later they were relegated and within a decade they would be a non-League side again, failing re-election in 1910 and falling to the
Midland League. However, they finished as champions at the first attempt and at the subsequent re-election vote, replaced local rivals
Lincoln City in the Football League. Grimsby Town and
Hull City were the only two professional teams which had official permission to play league football on
Christmas Day because of the demands of the fish trade, but that tradition has now disappeared following the dramatic reduction of their trawler fleets in recent years.
Inter-War years (1918–1945) This was the most successful period in the club's history. The first full season after
World War I the club were relegated to the new Third Division; in the initial 1920–21 season they played against the former members of the
Southern League who had been invited to form the new division, but after a year an equivalent Third Division North was created and Grimsby moved across to that. By 1929 they were back in Division One, where they stayed (with a brief break from 1932 to 1934) until 1939, obtaining their highest-ever league position, 5th in Division One, in the 1934–35 season. Three Grimsby Town players, forward
Jackie Bestall, goalkeeper
George Tweedy and defender
Harry Betmead each received a solitary
England cap during the period 1935–1937. They remain the only players from the club to have received full England honours. Grimsby reached the semi-final of the
FA Cup in 1936, the game was played at
Huddersfield Town's
Leeds Road, but lost 1–0 to
Arsenal, with the goal coming from
Cliff Bastin five minutes before half time. On 20 February 1937, the club's record attendance of 31,651 was recorded when the club met
Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup. Grimsby also reached the semi-final of the FA Cup on 25 March 1939, Grimsby played Wolverhampton Wanderers, in a FA Cup semi-final at
Old Trafford. The attendance of 76,962 remains Old Trafford's largest ever attendance. The Mariners lost the game 5–0 after goalkeeper
George Moulson was injured early in the match. With the rules forbidding
substitutes for injuries, Grimsby had to play with 10 men and an outfield player in goal. Much of the 1950s and 1960s were spent alternating between the Second Division and the Third Division North, later the Third Division. From July 1951 to January 1953 they were managed by
Bill Shankly. His main problems were that Grimsby had been relegated twice in recent seasons, dropping from the First to the Third Division, and some good players had been transferred before he arrived. Shankly believed he still had good players to work with and was able to buy some additional players on the transfer market for low fees. Grimsby made a strong challenge for promotion in 1951–52 but finished second, three points behind Lincoln City (only one team was promoted from Division Three North, with one from Division Three South). Grimsby's aging team made a bright start in 1952–53 with five straight wins but eventually slipped and finished in 5th place. Shankly's record in league football at Grimsby was 62 wins and 35 defeats from 118 matches. Grimsby became the first English football club to appoint a foreign manager with the appointment of Hungarian
Elemér Berkessy in 1954. The appointment did not work out, and with the club in danger of having to apply for re-election,
Allenby Chilton joined from Manchester United as the club's first player-manager. While Chilton was unable to stop Grimsby from finishing 23rd, they were comfortably re-elected with 49 votes, and the following season, Chilton led the club to the Third Division North title. Chilton continued as manager at Grimsby Town until April 1959 when he joined
Wigan Athletic. The following season, the club once more had to apply for re-election to the league, having finished second from bottom. It was in this season that the lowest-ever attendance for a Football League match at
Blundell Park was ever recorded; 1,833 saw a 2–0 defeat to
Brentford.
Arthur Drewry, a local businessman, married the daughter of Grimsby Town's chairman, and subsequently served as a director of the club before his own chairmanship. Drewry became President of the
Football League and Chairman of
the Football Association after Grimsby, before he was elected as the 5th President of
FIFA. In the same year 22,489 people witnessed a home victory against
Exeter City that saw the club promoted as
Division Four Champions. This turnaround was credited to the appointment of
Lawrie McMenemy as manager. The club stayed in Division Three until relegation in 1977 but were promoted again in 1979. A year later they finished as
Third Division Champions under the stewardship of
George Kerr and returned to the second tier of the English game, a level they had not been at for 16 years. A popular myth has it that in 1976 the local
Member of Parliament and then
Foreign Secretary Anthony Crosland invited the then
United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to watch the Mariners play
Gillingham. Despite this being widely reported in the media, with some outlets claiming Kissinger subsequently became a Grimsby fan, in reality Kissinger's Boeing 747 simply stopped off for a two-hour breakfast discussion with Crosland on the issue of
Rhodesia at nearby
RAF Waddington before flying directly to Nairobi. However, Crosland's decision to force the US foreign policy leader to fly from London to Lincolnshire for their Saturday morning meeting was influenced by his desire to stay in his constituency and watch his local football team.
Return to the Second Division (1980–1987) The first season back (1980–81) saw the club finish 7th. Work started that year on a new £1 million stand, originally called the Findus Stand (now known as the Young's Stand) after the former Barrett's Stand had been declared unsafe, the stand opened for the first time on 29 August 1982, as the Mariners played hosts to Leeds United. This was their highest league finish since the 1947–48 season.
Initial decline and double promotion (1987–1997) 1987–88 saw Grimsby Town suffer a second consecutive relegation, placing them in the Fourth Division. The club's financial situation was also dismal, and as the
1988–89 season began, the task at Grimsby was to avoid relegation to the
Football Conference, avoid expulsion from the FA and avoid going out of business completely. This was achieved, finishing 9th. Following the resignation of
Dave Booth in 1986 (to pursue outside business interests) the club had two managers in two years (
Mick Lyons and Bobby Roberts).
Alan Buckley was appointed after the 1988 relegation and by 1991 had led the club to two successive promotions with the chairman at that time being
Peter Furneaux. Grimsby were to remain in football's second flight for six years. Buckley's crop of players consisting of some of the most popular and biggest cult heroes in the club's history; players such as
Shaun Cunnington,
Keith Alexander,
Mark Lever,
Dave Gilbert,
Steve Livingstone,
Paul Futcher,
Paul Groves and
Clive Mendonca made the club a solid second-tier side (the Second Division became Division One in 1992 upon the creation of the
Premier League from the old First Division). In
1992–93, Grimsby finished 9th in the new Division One, and until well into April they were in the hunt for a play-off place that would have given them the chance of a third promotion in four years. They dipped to 16th place a year later, though they were never in any real danger of relegation. The Mariners began to produce homegrown talent from the club's youth academy, including
Jack Lester,
John Oster,
Gary Croft and
Peter Handyside. Buckley departed Grimsby in October 1994 to join
West Bromwich Albion and he was replaced by defender
Brian Laws. Laws steered Grimsby to a 10th-place finish in his first season as manager. During his tenure, Laws became famous for a changing-room altercation after a defeat at Luton with Italian striker
Ivano Bonetti, which left the latter with a fractured cheekbone, and caused the popular player to leave the club at the end of the season. Grimsby finished 17th and were in the battle to avoid relegation right up to the penultimate game of the season. In the
1996–97 season the Mariners were relegated from Division One.
Double Wembley season (1997–98) The
1997–98 season saw the return of Alan Buckley as manager, after an unsuccessful period at
West Bromwich Albion, for Grimsby Town's most successful post-war season. In the summer of 1997, Buckley succeeded in bringing in players to the club who were to be instrumental in the club's upcoming season; former skipper
Paul Groves was re-signed from West Bromwich Albion, and
Kevin Donovan and
David Smith also joined the club from Albion. The mid-season capture of
Huddersfield Town midfielder
Wayne Burnett proved to be a great bit of business for Buckley. After a seemingly poor start to the League campaign, performances improved, which propelled the club into a promotion battle with
Watford,
Bristol City and an expensively assembled
Fulham (at the time the only club at this level to have spent seven-figure sums on players), with Grimsby finishing the season in 3rd place. A good run in the
League Cup saw the Mariners knock holders
Leicester City and fellow Premier League side
Sheffield Wednesday out of the competition before finally losing out to
Liverpool. A decent run of form had ignited the careers of such younger players as
Daryl Clare,
Danny Butterfield and
Jack Lester who were becoming an integral part of the
Blundell Park set-up. The Mariners went on to dump
Burnley out of the
Football League Trophy Northern section area final, which would see the club book its first trip to
Wembley Stadium. The club were drawn against Southern section champions
AFC Bournemouth and in a tight game, an equaliser from substitute
Kingsley Black took the game into extra time, and in the 112th minute Grimsby secured the game courtesy of a
golden goal from Wayne Burnett.
Return to the second tier (1998–2003) The
1998–99 season saw Grimsby Town finish in 11th place, but the
1999–2000 season saw Grimsby struggle and finish 20th, avoiding relegation at the expense of Buckley's old club
Walsall. The
2000–01 season saw a boardroom change with Doug Everitt taking over from Bill Carr. Everitt dismissed manager Alan Buckley just two games into the season, replacing him with
Lennie Lawrence, who earlier in his managerial career had guided both
Charlton Athletic and
Middlesbrough into the top flight. The new manager chopped and changed the playing squad around and brought in some expensive loan signings from abroad such as
Zhang Enhua,
Menno Willems signing from
Vitesse for 160K,
David Nielsen and
Knut Anders Fostervold. Despite this, the club struggled to avoid relegation, only securing their place in Division One on the last day of the season with a win over promoted
Fulham. The Mariners started the 2001–02 season strongly, topping the league table after five games. The club advanced to the third round of the
League Cup where they met holders
Liverpool at
Anfield. In one of the club most famous victories, Grimsby held the Premier League team to a 0–0 draw after 90 minutes taking the game into extra time. Despite
Gary McAllister scoring a penalty following a
David Beharall handball to put the Reds 1–0 up, loan signing
Marlon Broomes equalised before ex-
Everton youth player
Phil Jevons hit a 35-yard strike into the top corner of
Chris Kirkland's goal to give the club a historic victory. Grimsby's push for promotion faltered and the team's form declined rapidly, with Lawrence being dismissed halfway into the season.
Paul Groves, the
skipper, was chosen to replace him and he steered them to a 19th in the final table, enough to avoid relegation, but a disappointing end to a season which had begun so promisingly. The season was overshadowed by the collapse of
ITV Digital putting enormous strain on finances for the club. The
2002–03 season would bring relegation with the Mariners finishing bottom of Division One and relegated after five successive seasons at this level. At the time only one of their previous 12 seasons had been spent below the second tier of English football.
Sliding down the divisions (2004–2010) The sudden collapse of
ITV Digital had left the club with debts of over £2 million, £700,000 of which was owed to the
Inland Revenue and a further substantial amount to their bankers,
Lloyds Bank. The collapse had seen a lot of the smaller clubs playing in the second tier of English football struggle to make ends meet. Coupled with this, it meant first-team players such as
Danny Coyne and
Georges Santos moved on to other clubs. For the new season, the club also had to supply its own kits following the closure of long serving kit suppliers Avec Sportswear. Grimsby Town played the season using the brand "Grimsby Town Sports". Groves was dismissed in February 2004 following a poor stretch of games that had seen the club drop down the table, his replacement
Nicky Law was sacked himself only a few months later as Grimsby were relegated for a second consecutive season.
Russell Slade was appointed as the new manager in May 2004. In 2005, director
John Fenty became the controlling shareholder in the club after a search for outside investors failed, and a sale of shares to the local public was poorly received. He owned a 51% majority stake in the club and had made significant loans to the club to ensure its continued operation. Former
Leicester City chairman
John Elsom also joined the board of directors along with racehorse stable trainer and owner Michael Chapman in December 2002. Having guided Grimsby to a mid table finish in his first season, Russell Slade began the
2005–06 season with a good start to the season and much improved results and performances had seen Grimsby Town rise to the top of
Football League Two. A good run in the
League Cup saw Town beat
Derby County away at
Pride Park in round one, and defeat
Premier League side
Tottenham Hotspur at home in the second round, with
Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala hitting an 87th-minute winner. The Mariners eventually suffered elimination by
Newcastle United in the third round, losing 1–0 at home. Grimsby would fall out of the promotion places on the final day of the season and after defeating
Lincoln City in the play-off semi-finals they would lose 1–0 to
Cheltenham Town in the final at the
Millennium Stadium. On 31 May, manager Russell Slade left the club after failing to agree terms on a new contract. Slade's Assistant
Graham Rodger was his replacement but by November he had been dismissed following a poor start to the season, he was replaced by Alan Buckley who arrived back with The Mariners for a third time but could only produce a bottom half finish in League Two. During the
2007–08 season the club enjoyed a good run in the
Football League Trophy and on 4 March 2008 Grimsby booked their place at the new
Wembley Stadium after beating
Morecambe in a two-legged Northern Final. A
Paul Bolland goal in the away first leg was enough to see Town through. They went on to play
MK Dons in the Final on 30 March, The season ended with eight straight defeats. After a 13–game winless streak in the league stretching from 22 March 2008, on 15 September 2008 Alan Buckley was sacked as manager for a second time. The board appointed
Mike Newell as manager. The Mariners would finish 22nd in League Two narrowly avoiding relegation on the final day. Following another slow start to the season, and despite previous backings from the Grimsby Town board, on 18 October 2009 the club's official website declared they had sacked Mike Newell due to "irretrievable breakdown".
Neil Woods was controversially made permanent manager on 23 November 2009. The other main candidate for the job was former boss Russell Slade, but the board decided upon Woods ahead of Slade. and thus were relegated from the Football League for the first time in nearly 100 years.
Non-League (2010–2016) Neil Woods was relieved of his duties on 24 February 2011 after 15 months in charge, leaving the club in 9th position in the
Conference National. On 23 March 2011, former
Boston United managerial duo of
Rob Scott and
Paul Hurst were announced as the new joint managers. They finished the
2010–11 season in 11th on 62 points. On 19 September 2011,
John Fenty resigned as chairman of Grimsby Town with immediate effect, a position he had held for 7 years. Following an 11th-place finish in 2012, the Mariners enjoyed a positive cup run in the 2012–13 season
FA Trophy and reached the final at
Wembley Stadium where they played
Wrexham on 24 March 2013. Grimsby went ahead in the second half with 20 minutes left to go, through an Andy Cook strike. However, they conceded a penalty with 9 minutes left and
Wrexham equalised. This took the game to extra time, and then penalties, where Grimsby lost the shoot-out 4–1. Grimsby finished the season in good form, with a 9-match unbeaten run, finishing the season with a 3–0 win against
Newport County. This led them to finish in 4th place with 83 points. They faced Newport County again straight away in the play-off semi-finals, where they were knocked out by a 1–0 loss in both legs. The managerial duo was broken up on 6 September 2013 due to Rob Scott being suspended and
Paul Hurst was placed in sole charge of the team. Grimsby came third in the Conference Premier 2014–15 season, and secured a play-off spot. Grimsby reached the
2015 Conference Premier play-off final against
Bristol Rovers in front of a Conference record 47,029 crowd at Wembley Stadium. The game was forced to penalties where
Jon-Paul Pittman missed the penultimate penalty in their 5–3 shootout. Grimsby would play in the final of the FA Trophy, but lost 1–0 to
FC Halifax Town. The week before, Grimsby Town beat
Forest Green Rovers 3–1 in the
2016 National League play-off final at Wembley Stadium, seeing Grimsby
promoted back to
League Two after a six-year absence from the
Football League.
Return to the Football League (2016–2021) After promotion, manager, Paul Hurst, released a number of players, many of whom were pivotal to the previous season's promotion push. On 24 October 2016, Paul Hurst was appointed as
Shrewsbury Town manager,
Chris Doig also left Grimsby and made Hurst's assistant at Shrewsbury, thus leaving
Dave Moore and
Stuart Watkiss as caretaker managers. On 7 November 2016,
Marcus Bignot, then manager of non-League side,
Solihull Moors, was officially announced as the new Grimsby Town manager, along with the appointment of Micky Moore as his assistant. On 10 April 2017,
Marcus Bignot was sacked. His replacement was
Russell Slade, who joined the club for the second time as manager on 12 April 2017. The Mariners would finish 14th, with a total of 62 points. Slade was sacked on 11 February 2018 after the team failed to win in 12 league games, with eight losses; he left the team 17th in League Two. Paul Wilkinson took over as caretaker manager following the sacking.
Michael Jolley was appointed as the new manager on 2 March 2018 and twice secured Grimsby's
Football League status as well as securing cup runs that culminated in an
FA Cup tie away at
Crystal Palace and a
League Cup tie at
Chelsea. Jolley left the club by mutual agreement and was replaced on a temporary basis by assistant manager
Anthony Limbrick. On 29 December 2019,
Ian Holloway joined Grimsby Town as manager, at the same time becoming a shareholder in the club. On 23 December 2020, just under one year later, Holloway left the club abruptly in controversial circumstances, announcing on
Twitter that he was resigning with immediate effect. His decision was down to several boardroom issues, a big loss in form and his unwillingness to work with a consortium looking to buy out John Fenty.
Ben Davies was caretaker manager for two games. On 30 December 2020,
Paul Hurst was re-appointed as permanent manager, but could not prevent the club from being relegated back to the
National League following a 3–2 defeat to
Exeter City, after a five-year stay in the Football League.
Climbing to the Football League again & New takeover (2021–) On 5 May 2021, local businessmen
Jason Stockwood and
Andrew Pettit under their company 1878 Partners completed their takeover of the football club after buying out majority shareholder John Fenty. In the
2021–22 season, Grimsby finished 6th in the National League. They defeated
Notts County, in the quarter-final of the play-offs 2–1, and
Wrexham in the semi-final 5–4. In the
2022 National League play-off final, they defeated
Solihull Moors 2–1 after extra time to win promotion back to
League Two at the
London Stadium. On 1 March 2023, Grimsby advanced to the
quarter-finals of the
FA Cup for the first time since
1939 by beating
Premier League side
Southampton 2–1 away from home, becoming the first club in the competition's history to knock out five teams from a higher division. On 27 August 2025, Grimsby eliminated
Manchester United in the second round of the
EFL Cup, winning 12–11 on penalties following a 2–2 draw at Blundell Park in one of the biggest cup
upsets of all time. They followed that up with a 1–0 away win over
Championship side
Sheffield Wednesday on 16 September 2025, before losing 5–0 at Blundell Park to
Brentford in the fourth round on 28 October. On 25 April 2026, after a 4–0 against
Swindon Town, Grimsby earnt a place in the
League Two play-offs for the first time since their last appearance in 2006. ==Colours and strip==