During the 1997–98 English football season, Grimsby Town F.C. competed in the Football League Second Division.

Season summary The 1997–98 season saw the return of Alan Buckley as manager, after an unsuccessful period at West Bromwich Albion, for Grimsby'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). 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. This was the first major trophy awarded to the club following its first appearance at Wembley. It took only four weeks for Grimsby to return to the stadium though, this time to face Northampton Town in the Division Two Play Off Final. Town won the game 1–0 thanks to a first half Kevin Donovan goal which gave the club a historic Wembley double and The Mariners promotion back to Division One.

Transfers

Transfers in DatePosPlayerTransferred fromFeeRef1 August 1997MF Kevin Donovan West Bromwich Albion£300,0001 August 1997MF Paul Groves West Bromwich Albion£250,0001 August 1997FW Lee Nogan Reading£170,0001 August 1997GK Aidan Davison Bradford CityFree Transfer16 January 1998MF David Smith West Bromwich Albion£200,00012 February 1998MF Wayne Burnett Huddersfield Town£100,00026 March 1998MF Jim Dobbin ScarboroughFree transfer

Loans in DatePosPlayerTransferred fromDate UntilRef10 August 1997MF Dave Gilbert West Bromwich Albion13 September 19971 August 1997MF Paul Holsgrove Reading9 November 19979 January 1998MF Wayne Burnett Huddersfield Town8 February 1998

Transfers out DatePosPlayerTransferred ToFeeRef31 May 1997FW Clive Mendonca Charlton Athletic£700,00031 May 1997MF Craig Shakespeare Scunthorpe UnitedReleased31 May 1997DF Joby Gowshall Lincoln CityReleased31 May 1997DF Neil Webb Aldershot TownReleased31 May 1997GK Andy Quy Stevenage BoroughReleased31 May 1997MF Paul Harsley Scunthorpe UnitedReleased1 August 1997MF John Oster Everton£1,500,0007 August 1997MF Jimmy Neil Scunthorpe UnitedReleased1 September 1997MF Gary Childs Wisbech TownReleased6 December 1997MF Nicky Southall GillinghamFree transfer

Loans out DatePosPlayerTransferred ToDate UntilRef 7 November 1997 FW Neil Woods Wigan Athletic 9 November 1997 17 January 1998 FW Neil Woods Scunthorpe United 16 February 1998 17 February 1998 FW Neil Woods Mansfield Town 17 March 1998 26 March 1998 DF Ashley Fickling Darlington 31 May 1998

Transfers in: £1,020,000 Transfers out: £2,200,000 Total spending: £480,000

Final league table

Results Grimsby Town's score comes first

Legend WinDrawLoss

Football League Second Division DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 9 August 1997 Bristol CityH1–16,220Widdrington 16 August 1997 Plymouth ArgyleA2–26,002Donovan (pen), Nogan 23 August 1997 WrexhamH0–04,404 30 August 1997 BrentfordA1–33,875Nogan 2 September 1997 Preston North EndA0–29,489 9 September 1997 York CityH0–05,308 13 September 1997 FulhamA2–06,874Livingstone (2) 20 September 1997 MillwallH0–14,267 27 September 1997 BournemouthA1–03,712Groves 4 October 1997 Wigan AthleticH2–14,623Donovan (2 pens) 11 October 1997 Northampton TownH1–04,778Donovan 18 October 1997 BlackpoolA2–25,234Nogan, Donovan (pen) 21 October 1997 Oldham AthleticA0–24,520 25 October 1997 WatfordH0–15,699 1 November 1997 Southend UnitedH5–14,501Nogan (2), Lester, Groves, Widdrington 4 November 1997 WalsallA0–02,599 8 November 1997 ChesterfieldA0–15,004 22 November 1997 BurnleyH4–14,829Groves, Widdrington, Lester, Nogan 29 November 1997 GillinghamA2–04,855Jobling, Black 2 December 1997 Wycombe WanderersH0–04,160 12 December 1997 Bristol RoversA4–04,801Gallimore, Livingstone (2), Donovan 20 December 1997 Carlisle UnitedH1–06,222McDermott 26 December 1997 York CityA0–07,093 28 December 1997 Preston North EndH3–16,725Donovan (2), Black 10 January 1998 Bristol CityA1–412,567Groves 17 January 1998 BrentfordH4–04,624Groves, Smith, Donovan, Clare 31 January 1998 FulhamH1–16,785Burnett 7 February 1998 MillwallA1–06,020Livingstone 14 February 1998 Wigan AthleticA2–03,548Nogan, Donovan 21 February 1998 BournemouthH2–15,456O'Neil (own goal), Groves 24 February 1998 BlackpoolH1–04,924Clare 28 February 1998 Northampton TownA1–26,932Donovan 3 March 1998 ChesterfieldH0–04,940 7 March 1998 Southend UnitedA1–04,829Clare 14 March 1998 WalsallH3–04,916Nogan, Donovan (2) 21 March 1998 Luton TownA2–25,700Gallimore, Donovan 24 March 1998 Plymouth ArgyleH1–04,661Groves 28 March 1998 BurnleyA1–28,256Lester 31 March 1998 WrexhamA0–05,421 4 April 1998 GillinghamH0–05,190 7 April 1998 Luton TownH0–14,455 10 April 1998 Wycombe WanderersA1–15,846Lester 13 April 1998 Bristol RoversH1–25,484Donovan (pen) 21 April 1998 Carlisle UnitedA1–03,956Donovan (pen) 25 April 1998 WatfordA0–014,002 2 May 1998 Oldham AthleticH0–28,054

Second Division play-offs

+RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers9 May 1998 FulhamA1–113,954Smith13 May 1998 FulhamH1–0 (won 2–1 on agg)8,689Donovan24 May 1998 Northampton TownN1–062,988Donovan

FA Cup

+RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers15 November 1997 Shrewsbury TownA1–13,193Southall25 November 1997 Shrewsbury TownH4–03,242Nogan, Herbert (own goal), Lester, Jobling6 December 1997 ChesterfieldH2–24,762Rodger, Nogan16 December 1997 ChesterfieldA2–04,553Lester, Groves3 January 1998 Norwich CityH3–08,161McDermott, Woods, Donovan14 January 1998 Leeds UnitedA0–229,598

League Cup

+RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers12 August 1997 Oldham AthleticA0–15,65626 August 1997 Oldham AthleticH5–0 (won 5–1 on agg)5,078Lester (3), Livingstone, Donovan17 September 1997 Sheffield WednesdayH2–06,429Groves, Livingstone1 October 1997 Sheffield WednesdayA2–3 (won 4–3 on agg)11,120Nogan, Groves14 October 1997 Leicester CityH3–17,738Jobling, Livingstone (2)18 November 1997 LiverpoolA0–328,515

Football League Trophy

+RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers9 December 1997 ChesterfieldA1–01,128Nogan6 January 1998 Hull CityH1–04,778Butterfield27 January 1998 Scunthorpe UnitedA2–04,596Groves, Burnett17 February 1998 BlackpoolH1–08,027Burnett10 March 1998 BurnleyH1–16,064Groves17 March 1998 BurnleyA2–0 (won 3–1 on agg)10,257Nogan, Donovan19 April 1998 BournemouthN2–162,432Glass (own goal), Burnett

Squad

References