Grimsby Town's Manager - Alan Buckley

By Nathan Jackson
July 29 2008

Alan Buckley is one of those names that is becoming connected to Grimsby Town in such a way that you can't really imagine him going to another club anymore. One of only fourteen managers to take charge of more than 1,000 senior games, Buckley is certainly a rarity as a manager.

Alan Buckley is a rarity in terms of footballing managers. Not only is he one of the very few managers to take charge of over 1,000 games. Only 13 other managers have achieved that feat and Alan Buckley is the only one of the 14 to never have managed at the top level. He is also one of the few that has managed both Lincoln City and Grimsby Town....although to very different end results.

Born in 1951 in Mansfield, his first professional club was at local Nottingham Forest. He was never a regular at the City Ground and made just 18 appearances in his six year spell before transferring to Walsall. He became very prolific at Fellows Park in his five year stint there, scoring a very respectable 125 goals in just 241 games for the Saddlers before he gained a transfer to Birmingham City.

Again, he didn't have a bad record but after 28 games and 8 goals, Buckley returned to Walsall for a new club record fee of £175,000. His second spell wasn't quite as prolific as his first, but he still managed to score 49 times in 178 appearances, this period also included a spell as manager of the Saddlers. His time at the Saddlers ended in 1986 as he was sacked by Terry Ramsden, that despite leading the club to a League Cup semi final.

A spell in the non-league as the manager of Kettering Town was followed by his first stint at Grimsby Town FC. He achieved two promotions in his time there before moving onto West Bromwich Albion. His time at the Hawthorns was generally unsuccessful, the club failing to even remotely challenge for a place in the Playoffs. He was sacked in 1997 and quickly returned to Grimsby.

12 months later and he had won promotion for Grimsby via the Playoffs. He would last a further two years at Blundell Park before leaving. He spent some time away from the game before answering Lincoln City's call for help. Buckley saved the club after Phil Stant had almost drove it into the Conference, but Buckley wasn't immune from a relegation battle himself and he was relieved of his duties at the end of the 2001/2 season as part of the cost-cutting measures needed to help the club survive. However, it would have been likely that he would have been sacked eventually anyway, having won just 16 of his 69 games in charge, a record of just 23.18%

He was briefly in charge of Rochdale just over a year later, getting them involved in a relegation battle before being sacked. He would disappear for the next three years before returning to Grimsby a third time. However, he certainly hasn't had the same success as his first two spells at the club, over seeing two seasons where Grimsby spent long spells near the drop zone. He has never been relegated with the Mariners.