Joe Waters
Bestall, Boylen, Waters. All legendary midfielders (in today's parlance) and not one of them over five feet five! What's more, all three played virtually all their football for the Mighty Mariners!
Joe Waters had been born in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, and had won Schoolboy and Youth caps for his country before being snapped up by Leicester City, for whom he turned professional in December 1973. He struggled to gain a First Team place at Filbert Street - Leicester's ground at that time - though he did win the BBC Goal of the Month competition while there. Perhaps this was the only time when a player with such little experience did win the accolade?
In 1976, he arrived at Blundell Park on loan, and made a scoring debut on 24 January at Millwall, literally in the Lions' Den, to earn Town a share of the points.
However, the usual story was that Town, though they would like to have kept the diminutive midfielder, were strapped for cash, and £10,000 was out of the price range of Town's boss Tom Casey. There was such an outcry from the fans, that with a £2,000 donation from the now-defunct Supporters Club, Waters was signed, and he made a total of 19 appearances in what remained of his initial season as a Mariner.
While Tom Casey's ability to sign talent such as Waters is now near legendary in itself, he was destined not to see it flourish into a successful team, and was sacked in November 1976. A couple of months later John Newman arrived from Exeter City, and Waters served him, and his in-club promotees George Kerr and Dave Booth loyally.
However, in Joe's first season with Town, things were at a low ebb, and the Mariners were heading for the Fourth Division. Casey, and then Newman used a total of 25 players. At a time when just one substitute was allowed, that figure alone tells its own story; if you want to find a season when Town struggled, simply look for an unsettled line-up! Only four players made 40 or more appearances, and though Joe was one of those, even he had appeared in three different positions, including full-back.
He made his full international debut in 1977 in a match versus Turkey.
While Newman took a season in Division Four to find his best side, Joe was popping up into scoring positions and knocking in a good tally of 8 goals from midfield. His 'penalty king' status had yet to be conferred on him - these were all goals from open play. Waters had also made the number 4 shirt his own - just once appearing at full-back in making the full 46 league appearances.
The 1978-9 season saw Town runners-up in Division 4. Joe was captain for the assault on the Division Four promotion spots. Waters again made the full complement of games, along with Nigel Batch, Kevin Moore, and new-boy Dean Crombie - brought from Lincoln City by Newman's number 2 George Kerr. Mike Brolly missed just 2 games and Tony Ford three. By the end of the season, the settled side was: Nigel Batch, Dave Moore, Kev Moore, Joe Waters, Clive Wiggington, Dean Crombie, Mike Brolly, Tony Ford, Kev Drinkell, Mike Lester and Bobby Cumming.
After this success Newman left, and his replacement, George Kerr's first task was to persuade the Irishman to stay at Blundell Park to captain the side for a similar assault on Division 3. Fortunately for Town, George was successful in his attempts, and Waters stayed to play a significant part once more in Town's promotion as Champions.
Though elsewhere you may read that Joe's large goals haul was down to his penalty taking, this is not borne out by the facts. By the beginning of the 1979-80 season he had scored 25 league goals, and 22 of those were from open play. The 1979-80 season saw Town with a forward line that would have tried the best in the land - DID try the best in the land! With Drinkell, Kilmore, Ford and Cumming raiding in the box, penalties came on a regular basis as defenders sought to stop the incessant Town onslaughts. Waters skill from twelve yards now began to pay huge dividends as half of his eight goals came from the spot, with another couple 'open-play' goals in the FA Cup. Under the charismatic Irishman, the Mariners prospered in the League, and both the League and FA Cups. The League Cup run went to 9 games, including a three-times-played fifth round tie with Wolves. The FA Cup ran to four matches before Liverpool won decisively at Anfield. 59 matches for the Mariners, 59 matches for Waters. And when Sheffield United came to Blundell Park on the last day of the season, a hat-trick from Kevin Drinkell, and the inevitable through-the-middle goal from the Captain - Waters - saw the Championship Trophy safely into the hands of Town's Captain Courageous.
A third successive promotion under the skipper looked on the cards during 1980-81. Despite a tentative start, Town had a marvellous run from Mid-November to the end of March, during which time they lost only two matches. Of his 10 league goals, 6 were from the spot, as Joe again chalked up a full set of appearances. Town's form deserted them right at the end of the season as they ended just 5 points from promotion.
By the time Waters limped off after 12 league matches of the 1981-2 season he had created a new record for consecutive appearances - 226 - on the trot (since beaten by Paul Groves). Though the league season was not one of Town's best, it will be remembered for the 6-1 FA Cup win over Millwall followed in the next round by a 2-1 win at Newcastle. The League Group Cup saw Town win every game including the final against Wimbledon at Blundell Park, and Waters picking up the cup - which Town still hold as the competition never ran again.
The following season, Joe was second top scorer with 8 goals, as Town struggled, but 1983-4 almost saw the miracle of Town once more in the elite of English football. Indeed, finishing fifth, these days Town would have been in the play-offs, but back in the early eighties the idea had not yet arisen. From early October to the end of February Town lost just one game, but as the season drew to an end, Town lost their captain, and with it possibility of a return to Division One. It was Joe Waters' swansong at Town.
He moved to the USA where the 'American 6s' were fashionable, and he inevitably enjoyed success there too.
However, in 1987, following the disastrous fall from the (then) Second Division under Mike Lyons, it was rumoured that Joe was a serious contender for the Manager's post at Blundell Park. Town fans everywhere were hoping that it was true, and that once more the genial Irishman would strut his stuff at Grimsby, if not actually on the pitch. It would have been a decision that would have brought an enormous boost in interest and in gates. In the event Bobby Roberts was appointed ... and Town slipped unceremoniously into the (old) Fourth Division.
In the complete record of Joe Waters' Town career below, the 'other' columns include games from the Anglo-Scottish Cup (1980), the League Group Cup (1981-2), and the League Trophy (1982).
Jonny Scott
Johnny Scott was arguably the best ball-player to have played for Town in living memory.
His skill in juggling the ball on the right-wing was a delight to behold, and the one thing that Town fans will immediately associate with the Irishman.
However, he had more than ball-control to his game. He was a superb penalty taker, was never afraid to have a shot himself, and delivered crosses with pin-point accuracy onto the deadly head of Ron Rafferty and his fellow forwards from the right, as Jimmy Fell repeated 'the medicine' from the left.
How Town came to have such a star on their books was the result of the Board signing Allenby Chilton from Manchester United as player-manager. Chilton had turned round the fortunes of the Mariners as they became Third Division North Champions in 1956, and after this success, he returned to his old club for Johnny Scott who had been with the Old Trafford side for five years.
In his first season with Town Scott scored 11 goals including one on his debut on 25 August 1956 at Blundell Park, against Notts County. His eleven strikes made him top-scorer, though Bob Crosbie, Evans, and Rafferty - who arrived mid-season - all notched 10.
Finishing in mid-table in 1957-58 - largely due to a sudden down-turn in form after January - Town went on a tour of Czechoslovakia, and played the Czech national side - and drew!
Later in the close season, Johnny was selected for Northern Ireland in the World Cup in Sweden, for whom he coincidentally played against ... Czechoslovakia!
He also played against France.
While it has to be admitted that Scott did play as an inside forward occasionally for Town - four times to be precise, and never before February 1959 - why the Northern Irish side played such a talented right winger at centre-forward in the World Cup beggars belief even now nearly fifty years later!
For those Mariners fans too young to be au fait with the football of the fifties and early sixties, a five-man attack was a quite rigid formation of right-winger, left winger and centre-forward with two inside forwards who may help out in what we now call 'midfield.' A winger and a centre-forward were players with quite separate and different roles and skills!
In 1957-8 Town had been a free-scoring side. In their first game, Leyton Orient had been dispatched 7-2, and in November Town went to Eastville - then the home of Bristol Rovers for a game which was broadcast live on the BBC Radio - a feature looked forward to by the entire nation of football fans as virtually the only 'live' football.
As Raymond Glendinning welcomed listeners at half-time, the Mariners were already 3-0 to the good. Scott had had a headed attempt saved by Rovers keeper Nicholls, only for Ron Stockin to stab home after six minutes. After 8 minutes Gerry Priestley had added a second, and with one minute to half-time, Scott scored on the rebound when his first attempt was saved.
As listeners leaned forward in front of their radios, Rafferty scored from the spot to make it four, Fell cut in to make it five, and then Rafferty blasted a second penalty over the bar!
With four minutes left, Johnny cut in - this time from the left wing, and scored number six, and two minutes later Stockin added a seventh, to record Town biggest ever away win!
On a personal note, Rovers famous forward, Biggs, had a less famous brother who was 'courting' (a 1950s expression for which there is no modern equivalent) the girl across the road in my Humberside village. Any self-respecting lad of the fifties would never have reminded the unfortunate brother of such a result, but on the other hand, the idea of striking while the iron was hot was a far better rule by which to live!
The following season is probably best forgotten. Though Rafferty scored 19 - his worst-ever haul, Cullen 11, and both Scott and Fell 8 apiece, the Mariners sunk once more, this time to the newly formed Third Division.
It would seem impossible these days that a team should have three men scoring 71 goals between them, yet not making promotion, yet that is precisely what happened to Town.
Johnny scored 14 including 6 penalties, Rafferty notched 24 and the much travelled Ralph Hunt blasted 33. Town finished 4th!
The following season they slipped a couple of places to 6th, but Town can never be kept down for long.
1961-2 saw the re-emergence of the Mariners. The most common line-up was Barnett, Donovan, Keeble, Welbourne, Jobling, Cockerill, Scott, Portwood, Rafferty, Cullen and Jones.
Those eleven apart, the only other player to make a significant number of appearances was Tony Knights in midfield.
Rafferty scored 34, and while Johnny Scott netted only 4 times, it has to be remembered that his service to Rafferty was what 'made' the striker his goals.
Back in Division 2 once more, Scott's appearances were very limited, and he moved on to York City before a further move to Margate.
However, the biggest shock to true Mariners fans came when they heard of his accidental death on a Manchester building site in June 1978.
But for those Town fans who saw the cultured Irishman play, his ball-playing skill on the wing is unlikely to be approached, never mind surpassed, and that will be his epitaph!
Paul Futcher
Never could £10,000 for an ageing player from Halifax Town Reserves have been better spent.
When Alan Buckley took the much-travelled half of the Futcher twins, he was signing a player who was to not just win two 'Player of the Year' titles, but a man who was to become a Town Legend in his own time at Blundell Park.
The Town Fanzine "Sing When We're Fishing' renamed him 'Fuchenstein'.
Many was the time when, 'Futch' - who no-one could call 'fast' by any stretch of the imagination - would find himself up against a spring-heeled opponent. Yet time and again the 'old man' would seem to attract the ball as if by magic. There was no magic of course, just impeccable timing and a football brain par excellence.
Futcher had twice been chosen for the England squad long before his Town days, and each time a road accident had put paid to him fulfilling the invitation.
However, his talent was obvious to all Town fans.
Futcher's centre-back partners were Mark Lever, Graham Rodger, and then Peter Handyside, who appeared to benefit immensely in his formative years from the experienced man beside him.
On a few occasions, the also-ageing Garry Birtles joined Futcher in what must have been the oldest centre-back pairing in the league!
Futcher had joined Town in January 1991, as Town made an effort to gain a second promotion under Alan Buckley.
With seven wins and three draws in his first eleven games for the Mariners, Town shot up the league. The penultimate match at Stoke saw Town feted by 4,000 travelling supporters for a battling scoreless draw that made promotion a formality if they could win their last home game - against Exeter City.
With two John Cockerill goals, Town scored a famous victory, and the Halifax reject had gained the chance to play in the Second Division once more.
Futch always kept his calm. Always that is except when he came up against John Aldridge, then of Tranmere Rovers. Aldridge already 'had a history' with the Town fans, so even Futch's sending off with Aldridge at Prenton Park boosted Futcher's reputation among the travelling band of Mariners' fans.
One of the most memorable matches that Futcher took part in was on October 24 1992, at St James' Park, Newcastle. The Tynesiders had already won eleven games from the season start, and a twelfth one would set a club record.
30,000 Geordies, Kevin Keegan, and the cream of the Second Division against 900 travelling Mariners, and a team consisting of Dave Beasant (his first game on loan), John McDermott, Gary Croft, Paul Futcher, Mark Lever, Jim Dobbin, Tommy Watson, Dave Gilbert, Paul Groves, Clive Mendonca, and Neil Woods.
Against all the odds, Futcher and co had kept a clean sheet, by half time, and the travelling army had raised their hopes to Town not being on the receiving end of a drubbing!
As the second half progressed, the hope that Town could keep a clean sheet, and achieve the 'impossible' - a scoreless draw grew in the fans hearts. In the final minute, Jim Dobbin strode upfield. Later, claiming he heard Buckley call out to 'put it in the corner', Jim did just that ... the corner of the Newcastle net! It was among Town's best-ever results!
When Buckley suddenly switched to WBA, Futcher, along with Cockerill and Graham Rodger took control of team affairs, with huge success.
Futcher scored just two goals while in Town colours, and both were memorable for different reasons. Only a few hundred fans were present to see Futcher score his only goal FOR Town, as he scored the winner against Boston United in the Lincolnshire Cup Final, from all of forty yards!
His other goal was in his own net at Nottingham Forest. Always cool, Futcher rolled the ball back to Paul Crichton in the Town goal. With all the time in the world to control the ball, Crichton somehow conspired to miss the back-pass completely, and watched it roll into the Mariners' net!
Eventually, Futcher did leave Blundell Park. Later he became the highly successful boss of Gresley Rovers, and the less successful manager of Southport.
But in Town fans eyes, 'Fuchenstein' was one of the greatest Mariners ever.
Bobby Cumming
When Bob had the ball, and more often ... when Bob didn't have the ball! ... it was time for the squeamish to close their eyes! To say that Bob was combative is an understatement!
But he was also a talented footballer too, able to play his heart out as a striker - though most frequently raiding in from the wing - a midfielder and a full-back too.
But Bob's whole-hearted approach did have one major drawback. Even Bob suffered injuries in his bone-crunching tackles, and so he never achieved a full complement of games in his 13 seasons as a Mariner.
Although he joined Town from Scottish junior football - he arrived at Blundell Park after being invited for a trial by Lawrie McMenemy - his emergence coincided with Tom Casey signing the talented youngsters of the Grimsby area - Ford, Drinkell, the Moore brothers, Terry Donovan, and Paul Wilkinson, and all, so he was pretty well accepted as just another of the local youngsters in the Blundell Park psyche - albeit with a strong Scottish accent!
He made his debut in the very first game of the 1974-5 season at left back against Blackburn Rovers, but was up against the incumbent - Dave Booth - if he was to be selected on a regular basis, and one game against Hereford apart when he was at number 11, only played when Booth was unavailable.
His second season at Town saw Ron Ashman replaced by Tom Casey, and Bob moving to a more usual attacking left-sided midfield position, rather than full-back. It was from this position that he scored his first goal - at home to Chester in April 1976. It had taken him 34 games to get on the scoresheet.
There would be another barren series of games for him the following season. He added a second to his tally in the final match at home to Gillingham.
The 1976-77 season was a disastrous one for Town with Bob now moving to right-back to partner new-boy Kevin Moore, and come January a fourth Town Manager to be involved in Bob's career took charge, and again tried him further forward - this time Cumming playing at 10. Town however were destined for Division 4.
As Town improved to end up sixth in their new station in life, Cumming played most of his games in midfield - on both wings - and as a striker, though his 27 matches produced just three goals.
However, Bob hit the goal trail the following season as Town took the Fourth Division by the scruff of the neck. Tony Ford top-scored with 16, and Cumming and Joe Waters held joint second spot with 10 apiece. All told 13 Town players got themselves onto the scoresheet. Bob had hit his only hat-trick in Town colours against York City two days before Christmas - including one goal from the spot.
The following season, the Mariners went one better and won the Third Division Championship under yet another boss - this time Bob's fellow countryman George Kerr. Top scorers were Kev Drinkell (16), Kevin Kilmore (15) and Bob Cumming (14).
Town attempted the near-impossible feat of being promoted three seasons in succession as they came close to gaining a promotion spot at the end of the 1980-81 season. Though taking part in just 32 of the league matches, Bob achieved top-scorer status hammering in 11 goals. Joe Waters was close with 10, and those included 7 penalties. Only a bad run of form seven matches from the end of the season stopped Town regaining the League position they lost in 1948.
By contrast, the 1981-2 was a major disappointment, except for Town winning the League Group Cup with a Bob Cumming goal. Bob was in and out of the team, George Kerr was sacked, and Cumming played under the sixth Town Manager to have influenced his career when Dave Booth took charge.
1982-83 saw a slight improvement in form, and Bob playing in four positions again from striker to full-back and on both sides of midfield.
1983-4 saw Town end in fifth spot - there were unfortunately no play-offs in those days, and Bob returned to full-back for almost the entire season. It was a major disappointment to the Town fans for whom Bob's running at defences and tasty midfield challenges were meat-and-drink.
For his remaining three seasons, Bob was in and out of the team, and when in was played as a striker, right-back, left-back, left midfielder, and right-midfielder.
By the time Booth had decided that his future was in property development rather than football, Bob's career was in the hands of a seventh Town manager - Mick Lyons. Playing 31 different players, only Don O'Riordan managed more than 30 starts all season! With crucial players such as Andy Peake, Nigel Batch and Kevin Moore departing the scene, it was no real surprise when Town were relegated.
It was time for Bob to go. Lincoln City had just been relegated from the League, and Bob helped them regain their status the following season.
However, with an American wife, Bob decided that the States were a better bet, and he joined Albany Capitals in May 1989.
Since retiring from football, he has continued living in the USA, and is now employed as a quality controller, and not - as he once wrote in the Mariner Matchday Magazine in answer to "What is your ambition after football?" ... To go on the dole!
No matter what Bob had chosen to do, while Town fans live and breathe, he'll have a special place in the hearts of those who saw him. As no doubt he has in the hearts of those on the receiving end of his mighty tackles!
Tommy Briggs
Every schoolboy of the late 1950s knew the name of Tommy Briggs.
Unfortunately, it was not for anything that he had done with Town. By scoring 7 goals in succession against Bristol Rovers, whilst playing for Blackburn Rovers, he had set a new, and still unbeaten record.
However, it was at Grimsby that his career had properly started, and it was at Grimsby that it properly finished. Though he later went to Glentoran, the top Irish side of the time, he returned to the Grimsby area after retirement, and spent his remaining days there.
He had been born in Chesterfield and played his early football 'down the road' in Doncaster, and learned the trade of butchery, but had spent his war years in the Royal Navy, naturally playing as a guest for Plymouth Argyle as was the practice during hostilities.
It was fortunate for Town that the greatest Mariner of all time - Pat Glover - lived in the area, and when he saw Tommy, he recognised him as someone who could take on his own mantle for the Mariners.
And so Tommy arrived at Blundell Park for a trial, signing as a professional shortly afterwards, in 1947.
Town fans love nothing more than to see a whole-hearted player, and Tommy certainly fulfilled that criteria, even though he may have lacked a little in skill. There were not so many big men about in those days - the diet of the thirties produced smaller men than is currently the case, so at six foot and 13 stone, Tommy intimidated defenders.
However, Town, basically with an ageing team from before the war, were struggling in the top division. They had survived the first proper season, but 1947-48 was to be their final one amongst football's elite until the current day.
Briggs played in more than half the games, but could find the net only five times as Town bowed out. And five goals made him Town's second top scorer!
The following season in the Second Division was to see Tommy burst onto the scene in all his glory. Playing 34 league games, he banged in 26 goals.
If Town's defence had matched their attack, there may have been a speedy return to Division One, but it wasn't, and they didn't. For the record, Tommy's scoring sequence was: 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 3, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 3, 1, 0, 2, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 2, 1, 1, 1.
The first hat-trick was against Coventry City, and without doubt, someone at Highfield Road made more than a passing record of the big centre-forward. His second hat-trick incidentally was against Lincoln City.
If that rated as a good season, the next one was even better from a personal point of view for Briggsy. He started off with a couple of goals at the Dell, Southampton, failed to score against Preston, and then hit a hat-trick ... against Coventry City. Again!
His scoring sequence for 1949-50 was: 2, 0, 3, 1, 0, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 0, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 3, 4, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 2, 1.
His second hat-trick of the season duly arrived in a 6-1 Blundell Park thrashing of Luton, who had England keeper Streten in goal. And, when Town travelled to Luton the following week Briggs went one better and put 4 past the country's number one!
It was hardly a surprise then that Briggs won an England 'B' Cap that same month! It turned out to be his only international honour, though what he would have done in the full England team with Matthews and Finney pinging in centres can only be left to the imagination!
Briggs scored a League best 36 goals. With Billy Cairns also knocking in 17, it should have been enough for Town to at least threaten the promotion spots. As the previous year, it wasn't to be.
Hair and Shearer scored 6 apiece, Stan Lloyd 4, McKenzie 2, and Bloomer and Johnston just one each. Town ended a respectable 11th in the Division.
Briggs played only 17 games the following season - scoring 11 goals - before being sold for a staggering £19,550 - an enormous sum in 1950, playing his last game (in this spell) on Christmas Day. And the team to splash out for his signature? None other than Coventry City, who had been on the receiving end of two of his hat-tricks. It should be noted that they still had to play Town twice in the season that they signed Tommy!
Tommy however did not settle at Coventry, and after just 11 games went along the road to Birmingham City. He failed to settle there too, and after another fourteen months moved on to Blackburn Rovers for the giveaway price of £15,000.
He played 194 League games for Rovers, scoring 140 goals, and is justifiably a legend in Lancashire as well as Lincolnshire.
He returned to Blundell Park, in 1958 for £2,000. He scored five goals in his first four games, including a hat-trick against Middlesbrough on Good Friday, but less than a year later he was, as already mentioned, at Glentoran.
Fans can only wonder quite what wonders Briggs and Town would have achieved had he remained a Mariner throughout the fifties. As he left Town, all hope seemed to disappear, and despite the best efforts of Bill Shankly, Town remained in Division Three North until Allenby Chilton worked the miracle.
Briggs was, though, among the elite of Town centre-forwards with Joe Robson, Pat Glover, Billy Cairns, and Ron Rafferty, when centre-forwards were the men who led the line and scored the goals.
Clarrie Williams
Clarrie Williams was born at Wardley in Newcastle on 13 January 1933.
He played for Doncaster YMCA before moving to Doncaster Rovers in 1949 - originally on amateur forms.
In March 1953 Bill Shankly brought him to Blundell Park, effectively to replace the retired George Tweedy. Though Stan Hayhurst had usually been in goal since Tweedy's retirement, he left the club for Weymouth in July 1953, leaving the way open for Clarrie to become Town's 'Number One.' (Technically speaking, though keepers were 'number 1' English League keepers in Clarrie's time never wore a number at all).
He made his league debut, and his only appearance of the 1952-3 season, in the penultimate match at Crewe Alexandra in a 2-1 win on 29 April.
In 1953-54, Clarrie began in goal for Town. In all he made 29 league appearances that season - missing the last two months of the season with a cartilage injury, and being replaced by rookie keeper George Nicholson.
However, although Town were knocked out of the FA Cup in the Third Round, he also appeared in no fewer than six cup matches! After Rochdale were disposed of in Round 1 by a 2-0 scoreline, non-league Witton Albion forced a draw at their place before Town hammered them 6-1 back at Blundell Park. It then took three matches (or to be more accurate, two-and-a-half) before losing to Fulham. The first of those saw five goals fly past Clarrie, - and another five past his opposite number! The return at Craven Cottage, on Clarrie's 21st birthday - was abandoned at half-time due to a waterlogged pitch, and then nine days after the original fixture the Cottagers won through 3-1.
Clarrie returned in mid-September 1954. It was a disastrous season for the Mariners. Clarrie had missed the start of the season - but he missed the end too as Town lost six of their last seven games to end in 23 rd spot, and seeking re-election. Highlight of the season again came in the cup when Wolverhampton Wanderers - the old enemy, and the Manchester United of their day were the Third Round visitors to Blundell Park. Town had already dispatched Halifax Town and Southampton. Almost 26,000 squeezed into Blundell Park, and before long a fairy-tale seemed to be on the cards. Town were 2-0 up against a Wolves side, brim full of stars such as England captain Billy Wright, and the fans were in heaven. Eventually though, the Wolves - a side that had been in the vanguard of European football - scored five goals. The first of these was a disputed goal - the ball having gone a yard over the goal-line and the Town defence anticipating a goalkick stopped playing.
If 1954-5 was a black year for Town, then 1955-6 was memorable for the very opposite reasons. Allenby Chilton was in charge of the Mariners, and in the second game Town scored 6 against Chester with new signing Bob Crosbie getting four of them. From the middle of September to the end of December Town remained undefeated - with just two draws in that run of thirteen games.
There was also a cup match tucked in there too which Town also won. By the time Town were due to play Southport in Cleethorpes on 25 April they just needed one more win to be champions of Division 3N and be promoted ahead of rivals Derby County. 23,056 packed in to Blundell Park to see Evans and Bob Crosbie score to lift the Championship, with two games still to go. Bob Crosbie's 35 goals constituted almost half of those scored all season, and fans remember him for that. But at least as important was Town's rock-solid defence and their keeper Clarrie Williams who made the full 46 appearances.
Clarrie kept a record 25 clean sheets - conceding just 29 goals all season - two records still held to this day (Though Aidan Davison had more clean sheets altogether in 1997-8, his tremendous record included: 6 games in the FA Cup, 6 in the League Cup, 7 in the auto-windscreens shield, and 3 in the divisional play-offs). Not one goal was conceded in the last eight games! The goals conceded all season reads: 1, 1, 1, 2, 0, 0, 2, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 3, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 2, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0.
Back in Division 2 for the 1956-7 season, Clarrie chalked up another 41 league matches. Town finished 16th in the division, but it was mainly through the tight defence that Town gained such lofty heights. Throughout the season Clarrie - and one-match Thomas Daley - conceded 62 goals - only four teams beating that record in all the division.
Season 1957-8 saw Town again safe in Division 2 ending thirteenth in the league, with Clarrie making 27 appearances, and Colin Tinsley the other fifteen.
By 1958-59 Clarrie was coming towards the end of his Town career, by now sharing the keeper's duties with Alexander Bell, Alan Barnett, and the unfortunate Malcolm White. And Jimmy Fell!
Clarrie was injured in the very first game - at Anfield - and had to be replaced between the sticks by left-winger Jimmy Fell as no substitutes were allowed in those days. Jimmy did such a good job in goal that the resulting 3-3 draw was considered worthy of the Daily Mirror presenting Town's dashing wingman an 'Andy Capp' award.
Malcolm White was 'unfortunate' in the Town goal two matches in succession. With Clarrie unavailable through injury, the youngster played in Town's friendly at home to Prague Dynamo. The Czech keeper Doeljst cleared the ball, and it bounced over young Malcolm's head into the net to score the only goal of the night! In the very next match at Hillsborough, Sheffield Wednesday put 6 goals past White, and he didn't play in the first team for another two years! Clarrie returned immediately afterwards!
Keeping goal for just 13 games - his last just before Christmas, the Town stalwart was out of the team as they plunged towards the newly formed Division 3.
Clarrie was transferred to Barnsley in March 1960, but not before pulling on the keeper's jersey four more times, the last one being at Blundell Park in a 1-1 draw against Tranmere Rovers.
After two years in Yorkshire Clarrie returned to Blundell Park as the goalkeeping coach to Town's squad.
In his Town career, Clarrie conceded an average of just 1.4 goals per game. At a time when the top clubs in each division regularly scored over one hundred goals in a season, that record is testimony to Clarrie's ability.
Harry Betmead
Harry was born in Grimsby on 11 th April 1912 - the date the Titanic left Queenstown in Ireland on its maiden voyage!
He played Grimsby schoolboy football, and when he left school he started his working life as a railway porter.
He stood six feet one inch tall, and weighed in at just 12 stones.
He was playing for Grimsby local side Hay Cross FC when he was signed for the Mariners by Wilf Gillow in October 1930 aged 18 years old, and made his debut almost a year later on 15 September 1931 against Bolton Wanderers in a Division One match.
The team was: Read, Wilson, Jacobson, Gardner, Betmead, Buck, Prior, Bestall, Glover, Cooper, Marshall. Town won 2-0 and Glover and Prior scored the goals for the Mariners in front of 10,857 fans.
Harry had taken over from regular centre-half John Priestley. Harry also played in the next two games - a 3-0 win over Leicester City and a 4-0 defeat at Liverpool. Harry didn't play again until late November, and this time had more of an extended run in the team until the New Year. He then played sporadically until the end of the season - including a couple of games at right-half.
Many Town fans, even now, could name "Hall, Betmead, Buck" as the most famous half-back line in the club's history, and this trio came together for the very first time on 20 February 1932. The trio played together as Town's half-back line on 222 occasions.
Despite many famous Town names being involved that year, the side was destined to go down to the Second Division, along with rock-bottom West Ham United.
That season - his initial season as a first-teamer - Harry made 17 appearances and scored 2 goals. With new boss Frank Womack in charge, the team started the new season in Division 2. Frank clearly needed to find his 'first eleven' and after a little experimentation, it turned out to be 'Rocket' Read in goal, Wright or Kelly at right back, Jacobson at left back, Hall, Betmead and Buck, and a front line of Jennings, Bestall, Glover, Craven and Fielding.
Harry was an ever present from the game at Burnley on 27 December 1932, chipping in with another two goals towards the end of the season as Town ended ominously on an eleven-match unbeaten run, to finish in thirteenth spot in Division 2.
The exploits of the Mariners over the next three seasons outdo virtually anything else achieved in the glorious history of Grimsby Town. In 1933-4 the club stormed to the Second Division Championship. No fewer than seven players were ever-present in the league - and the same seven also appeared in Town's two cup games too. Kelly, Jacobson, Hall, Betmead, Buck formed the Town defence in every game, Jackie Bestall and Charlie Craven were ever-present inside forwards, and Pat Glover missed just three games at centre-forward. Town failed to score in just two matches all season, and by May had won the Championship with seven points to spare over second-placed Preston North End. Though Harry didn't score this season, he didn't need to as Town banged in 103 goals - 42 from Pat Glover.
1934-35 saw Town back in Division One and ending the season in their highest ever position of fifth. Only Arsenal, Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester City ended above a Town side who were above Derby County and Liverpool by virtue of goal average. Harry missed the end of the season.
1935-36 saw Town finish a disappointing 17th in the First Division, but it was in the cup that Town came to the fore. Town had dispatched Hartlepools, Port Vale, and Manchester City to reach Round 6 in which they were drawn to play Middlesbrough at Blundell Park. This brought former Town star Tim Coleman into direct contention with Harry, and, as is so often the case where two former colleagues are in opposition, there was a clash, and both men were dismissed from the field.
Town went on to their first-ever semi-final against the mighty Arsenal without their dominant centre-half, and missed a Wembley appearance by the narrowest of margins. If only Betmead had been playing, there was quite a possibility that Town would have made their first Wembley visit (complete with fishing fleet in the Pool of London) 62 years earlier than they eventually did in 1998!
Town had another comfortable season in Division One in 1936-37, but for Harry Betmead the highlight came in May 1937 when he was selected to play for the full England side against Finland in Helsinki. England - then thought to be more or less invincible - ran out 8-0 winners. It is said of Harry that he was unfortunate in that Stan Cullis was the regular England centre-half at the time for there is little doubt that the Town man was amongst the very best in the country at the time. His England appearance made him the third Town player to appear for the England side - team mates Jackie Bestall and George Tweedy had been capped in 1935 and 1936 respectively. Added to those, Charlie Craven was an uncapped reserve in 1935 for England, Pat Glover played a record seven times for Wales between 1931 and 1937, and John Coulter played twice for Northern Ireland in 1937 and 1938 - and the quality of the Town team that Harry played in is plain for all to see.
The 1937-38 season again had Harry Betmead making a substantial number of appearances - 38 in the league and one in the Cup, though one of those against Leeds United at Blundell Park saw Harry making an appearance at centre-forward! The season didn't go too well. In fact despite winning four of their previous six games, the last day of the season saw the Mariners in bottom spot, and only a final day win over Chelsea, while Manchester City and West Brom were losing, allowed Town to leapfrog those two teams to safety.
Town lost many of their forward stars for the 1938-9 season, but with the defence of Tweedy, Vincent, Hodgson, Hall, Betmead, and Buck playing well over 30 times unchanged for any reason in the season, the Mariners had the basis for an excellent season. League-wise the team ended only two points short of their 1935 total, and in this last season before the Second World War finished in tenth spot.
But it was in the FA Cup that the Mariners again excelled. Only when they reached the semi-final at Old Trafford was the defence deprived of one of their regulars - George Tweedy in goal. Worse, Town also lost stand-in keeper Moulson within twenty minutes of the start, and with left-back Jack Hodgson in goal, Wolves were able to capitalise on the weakened ten men of Town. This game was the first that Town wore numbers on their shirts, so Harry became the first Town player to wear the number 5 shirt.
Harry was chosen for the FA XI 1939 tour to South Africa, and played in two of the three matches.
The three matches played in the football league before the programme was abandoned at the outbreak of war are usually not counted in playing records. For the record, Harry played in all three.
Football restarted on a 'wartime footing' and various leagues and cup competitions were run for the duration of hostilities. The make-up of teams depended on 'guest players' - those whose military postings took them close to a club. Harry became a physical training instructor in the army but still managed to get in 40 games and score five goals for Town.
As the Football League restarted at the end of August 1946, Harry, now 34 was coming towards the end of his career in an ageing Town side. He managed to make another 34 league appearances, with the team ending the season a respectable 16th in the division.
In the cup Harry made a further three appearances. He retired in December 1947, never playing in the ill-fated 1947-48 season, which proved to be Town's last in the top division. He went into business in Hertfordshire.
During his time with the Mariners, Betmead also played minor counties cricket for Lincolnshire.
There had been many offers of large sums for Harry's transfer in the 1930s but all were resisted, and Town hung on to a man who was very possibly the finest local product ever to play for the club.
He died on 26 August 1984, aged 72.
In official records the 1939-40 season is expunged, so OFFICIALLY Harry played a total of 296 league games, and 315 games altogether.
John McDermott
JOHN McDERMOTT - A former trainee, "Macca" made his league debut for the Mariners in 1987 and by the age of 21, he had experienced two relegations and two promotions with the club. His overall consistency guaranteed his selection throughout the 1990's and he went on to become the club's record league appearance holder when he played his 451st league game for Grimsby Town against Wolves at Molineux on 21st November 2000.
A keen tackler and excellent passer of the ball, he starred in the two Wembley successes of 1998, being named as Man of the Match in the Auto Windscreens Shield win over Bournemouth. In all he made 753 appearances in the famous black & white shirt, and finally hung up his boots at the end of the 2006/ 07 Season.
Keith Jobling
Until passed by John McDermott, Keith Jobling was the Town appearance record holder for 33 years, having himself passed Jackie Bestall's record of 427 appearances set 30 years previously.
For the record, the list of appearance record holders is given at the bottom of this page.
Keith Jobling was born locally on 26 March 1934 and played for New Waltham before signing for Town on amateur forms in the 1952-3 season. In July 1953 he turned professional. In the days when National Service meant players could be away from their clubs for two years, Jobling had to wait until February 13 1954 to make his debut, though he didn't become a regular until January 1958.
His first appearances were made when Duncan MacMillan was unavailable, in the third division north. At a time when the number on a player's back indicated strictly the position the player fulfilled, Jobling's first appearances were at centre half.
Amazingly for a centre-half, he stood just 5' 11" and weighed less than eleven and a half stones.
His next appearances - 6 in total - were in October 1954 at wing-half, in a season when Town's fortunes hit rock-bottom, being required to seek re-election from second bottom place in the Third Division North.
Not surprisingly, towards the end of the season a new manager was brought in - Allenby Chilton from Manchester United as player-manager. Equally unsurprisingly, with Chilton being a centre-half, neither Jobling, nor anyone else got a look-in as 'pivot' (as centre-halves were frequently termed). Keith therefore missed out on the 1955-56 promotion season, but made another handful of appearances in the Second Division campaign the following year at left-half.
Tucker and Player frequently played at centre-half, the position usually favoured by Keith, but in the second half of the 1957-8 season he played 13 of the last seventeen games.
Jobling now became Town's key man in defence for the next eleven years, clocking up the following sequence of appearances - 42, 42, 36, 46, 41, 41, 46, 42, 21, 18, 41.
As Jobling became the regular choice at centre-half from the first game of the 1958-9 season, he was joined by Ron Cockerill who was his most regular partner in the half-back line throughout his career. Apart from 'Cannonball' Cockerill though, the half-back line was one that seemed to be consistently in a state of flux. Local lad Duncan Melbourne (actually he was born at Scunthorpe, and played for the Iron as an amateur) partnered Ron and Keith fairly regularly from 1959 to the end of 1961, when Tony Knights found favour for a couple of seasons. He in turn was replaced by former Southampton man, the cultured Brian Clifton, and then Bobby Ross. Towards the end of his playing career football tactics were becoming far more defence minded. The 'clean-sheet' theory was much espoused - if you don't let the opposition score, then you're guaranteed at least one point, and Jobling became part of a twin-centre half set-up with Graham 'Basil' Rathbone. At the time it was a novelty to have two centre-halves, a scheme of things that is regarded as normal these days.
Following on from his full set of appearances in the 1958-9 relegation season, Jobling was made captain for the first year in Division 3, taking over from Dick Conner. It was a position he retained until 1964.
For two season's under his captaincy, Town threatened to escape Division Three, and Keith scored his first goal for Town in a 3-1 home victory over Walsall on 8 October 1960.
Then in 1962, Town finally won promotion to Division 2. Jobling, along with Brian Keeble at left back, and Ron Rafferty at centre-forward or inside left, made the full quota of 46 league appearances. The Town rearguard had a great record - allowing only 56 goals past them which was the fourth best in the Division. That is only half the story. 38 goals were leaked up to the Christmas period, but from January 1 onwards, only 18 goals got past Jobling's men as Town powered up the table from twelfth to second, losing just two games in 21!
Under his leadership, Second Division football was maintained in the 1962-3 season, Jobling scored his second goal in a 3-0 victory at Charlton, and the season finished on a high note as Town beat eighth placed Bury 5-1 - George McLean scoring four of them. The following season though, there was to be no such happy ending, though it so nearly came off. If Town could get one more point than Plymouth, they would be safe, but Town had to face the task of at least drawing with Sunderland - who were fighting it out with Leeds for the title. 16,442 fans crowded into Blundell Park to see Town almost do it - drawing 2-2 in a charged atmosphere. Level on points with Plymouth, the difference in goal average was just 0.045.
The following three seasons saw Town in mid-table security in Division Three, but there was the incredible sight of Town putting 7 goals past Ray Clemence in the Scunthorpe goal in September 1966. That evening, Rod Green and Brian Hill scored a hat-trick apiece - a feat not equalled again until Michael Boulding and Alan Pouton hit three each against Wimbledon in March 2002.
The 1967-68 ended in similar circumstances to the season four years earlier, as Town, again above Scunthorpe, finished level on points with the team that was 'safe' - Mansfield. This time Town's goal average was just 0.008 worse than their rivals, and relegation occurred again. However, Town's loyal servant, Jobling, made only 18 appearances that year.
The following season, he was back with a bang, notching up a final 41 games in the league. Though Town shipped 69 goals, 17 of those were scored in the five games that Keith was missing! On 7 December Jobling equalled Jackie Bestall's appearance record at Blundell Park, and the following week he broke it at Saltergate, Chesterfield. Though Bestall had been gone for more than 30 years, his name was still regarded as the greatest ever to have played for the Mariners. For Jobling to beat the diminutive man's record was therefore even more of a notable event.
Keith made another 22 appearances to record exactly 450 league games.
Matt Tees
Matt Tees was under five feet 10, and weighed just over 10 stone - yet became one of the Mariners top scorers in the last 35 years!
Born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, the Scot played for Penaleen Athletic and Cambuslang Rangers before joining Airdrieonians (then a Scottish top-division side) in 1960. After three years, he was brought to Blundell Park for £5,000 to start the 1963-4 season, starting in the first match at Swansea. With the help of a Matt Tees goal, the Mariners drew 1-1. The slightly built Scot was playing up front with a forward line that included Pennington, Foster, McLean and Hill.
A couple of games later, Tees scored against Southampton at Blundell Park, but there was no sign of Tees becoming a scoring legend among the Town faithful. His appearances in the team were in fits and starts throughout the first two seasons, and his goals haul moderate. That first season he scored just 5 goals in 21 league appearances (Cliff Portwood was top marksman with 11 in 28) and Town ended up by being relegated.
Scoring 9 in 26 appearances in his second season was some improvement, though this time George McLean outshone him with 19 goals.
However, with the signing of Rod Green for the 1965-66 season, the missing piece of the jigsaw was found. Suddenly, Matt couldn't stop playing, and he couldn't stop scoring. For the third season running he scored in the first game (this time at home to Bristol Rovers - again in a 1-1 draw but this time the goals didn't dry up. Between the start of the season and Christmas his goals per league game were: 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1.
Town had great runs in both the FA and League Cups that year too. In the FA Cup Town disposed of Barrow in the First Round - the 2-1 scoreline including a Tees goal. In the next round at Barnsley a 1-1 draw brought the Tykes back to Blundell Park where a Tees brace disposed of the Yorkshire side, and the Third Round brought a similar story against Portsmouth. A 0-0 draw in Cleethorpes took the Mariners to the south coast where Tees again scored. With Rod Green scoring two, Pompey were cut down 3-1 on their own patch. Unfortunately, though thousands travelled to Maine Road for the Fourth Round, Manchester City won 2-0.
In the League Cup, Tees didn't get on to the score sheet until Round 4. However, he made up for lost time by hitting a hat-trick against Preston NE, which gave Town a 4-0 victory (Ronnie Foster scoring the remaining goal), and brought West Ham to Blundell Park. The Hammers were two divisions above Town, but more importantly their side featured three men who would star in England's sole World Cup winning team eight months later. In retrospect, it seems incredible that with Geoff Hurst - World Cup Final hat-trick hero, - Bobby Moore - World Cup Captain and universally acknowledged as the best footballing defender ever to play for England, - and Martin Peters - the 'find' of the World Cup set-up, were not only brought to Blundell Park, but that they were genuinely lucky to scrape a draw!
Even with Angus Davidson making his debut in midfield at the age of 17, Tees and partner Green put Town 2-1 up! The star-studded Hammers were fortunate to score via Hurst with twenty minutes left. It was the 1960s equivalent of the current Town side leading the first team squad of Manchester United or Arsenal!
Though Town only finished 11 th in Division 3, Matt scored 28 league goals, plus another nine in the two cup competitions. As a total for the season it equalled Ron Rafferty's 1961-2 season , though from 54 games rather than the 48 of 'Chips.'
Such scoring feats were hardly likely to go unnoticed in the closed world of football. Though the manner in Tees' departure was somewhat surprising. Halfway through the next season, Tees had chalked up 9 goals, and Rod Green 12 . and the pair were sold for £23,000 in one deal to Charlton Athletic - the club to which keeper Charlie Wright had been transferred twelve months earlier. And that, thought the Town fans of the time, was that.
By 1970, Town were struggling in the nether regions of the Fourth Division, with crowds hovering, and sometimes falling below, the 4,000 mark. With Bobby Kennedy as player-manager at the helm, Tees (who had moved to Luton by this time) was brought back to Blundell Park for the ridiculously low figure of £5,000. Matt played his first game at home to Cambridge United, and scored on his return, in front of over 7,000 spectators - the increase in spectators more or less recouping his entire transfer fee in his first match! Though the slim Scot became top scorer with 10 goals in 23 matches, Town ended up sixth bottom in the league. It could have been worse but for Town winning all of their last four games - unusually every one of those being at home.
Kennedy was sacked, and McMenemy was appointed. Many are the stories told of McMenemy's amazement at the height and weight of Town's 'star' striker. But if Lawrie had any real doubts, they were dispelled before the end of August. Matt scored a hat-trick in the first game of the season as the Iron were defeated 4-1. McMenemy's old club - Doncaster - were then beaten by 4-3 in the League Cup with Matt chalking up his fourth of the season. Town then went down to Exeter, and for the third match in succession scored four, and for the third game in succession Tees was on the score sheet.
A 1-1 draw with Workington Town ended the Mariners high-scoring start - but not Tees - who was again Town's scorer. Being injured against Doncaster in the League, Matt missed the following three games - the only ones he didn't take part in all season.
The League Cup again became a diversion as Town reached Round 4, drawing 1-1 with Norwich City in a game that the referee described as the best he had ever been involved with. The run came to an end at Carrow Road, where ironically Tees scored only his second goal in the run which had included six matches.
Town, Tees and McMenemy soared to the top of the Division Four table, ending up with the final match against Exeter City at Blundell Park. With 22,500 packing the place to the rafters - some fans sitting on top of the old Barratt Stand roof, Tees settled the nerves with the first goal, followed by ones from Hickman and Chatterley. Tees had scored 27 goals that season, and Town had 88. In an era when many clubs were looking for, and achieving, 0-0 draws it was a remarkable number of goals. More remarkable still - it was the most ANY team in the entire Football League had notched. Only Southend, and Division 3's top two - Aston Villa and Brighton - had made it past the 80 goal mark.
The following season, back in Division Three, Town threatened to go straight through for much of the time, but poor results towards the end saw them finish ninth. Tees played in nine out of the first ten games, but time was now beginning to catch up with him, and he played only another 8 games all season. His last goals for the Mariners were scored at Vicarage Road Watford, as he netted both of Town's in a 2-1 triumph.
At the end of the season, Matt Tees went down the well-trodden path for many former Mariners - joining Boston United.
In his football career in the English and Scottish leagues, Matt scored 150 goals in 360 appearances. His Town career accounted for more than half of those totals.
He still lives locally, and is regularly seen at Blundell Park, where the fans still remember his as the hero when McMenemy's boys stormed to the Championship of the fourth division.
Ron Rafferty
Ron Rafferty is second only to Pat Glover in the scoring annals of the Mariners with 145 league goals, compared to Glover's 180.
He was probably best known for his headed goals, from crosses supplied by Johnny Scott and Jimmy Fell, and will never be forgotten by Town fans of the late fifties and early sixties. He could seem to climb and 'hang' in the air.
Like all the top goalscorers, Rafferty was the epitome of consistency, scoring 10 goals in just 17 appearances in his first season for the Mariners. He followed that up with season league totals of 26, 19, 24, 24, and 34, before spending much of his last season for Town as a right-half - but still contributing a further 8 goals.
Ron Rafferty was born in South Shields on 6 May 1934. He was an amateur with Shrewsbury and Wycombe Wanderers (who were then a non-league side), before signing for Portsmouth as a professional in June 1954. He made only a limited number of first team appearances for Pompey before being brought to Blundell Park by Allenby Chilton in 1956 for a fee of £3, 500.
His nickname 'Chips' was taken from that of an Australian actor.
He made his Town debut on 12 January 1957 in a game at Leyton Orient in a Division 2 game. Although he didn't score in that match, it wasn't long before he was making his mark. In his third game for the Mariners he scored 2 goals in a 4-3 defeat at Leicester, and the next game he scored two again, this time in a 3-2 win at Bury. He finished off the season with five goals in the last five matches as he took over the mantle of Bob Crosbie in the number 9 shirt.
The following season Rafferty made 40 appearances - missing just two games towards the end of the season.
The season got off to a remarkable start - a 7-2 victory against Leyton Orient - at the time quite a 'fashionable' club - with six different Town players getting on the score sheet - including Ron of course.
The traditional 2-3-5 formation saw a regular front line of Johnny Scott, an Irish international signed from Manchester United, Gerry Priestley signed from Exeter three years earlier, Rafferty, Ron Stockin who had been signed from Cardiff City at the beginning of the season for £5,000 and local lad Jimmy Fell on the left wing.
It was an excellent start to the season, with just one defeat by the end of September. Rafferty was scoring consistently, his record beginning 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 2, 2, 0, 1. This then brought Town to the game at Bristol Rovers on 14 December 1957 - remarkable in the first instance by the fact that the second half was broadcast live on the Radio with commentator in chief being Raymond Glendinning. As the radio commentary began, Town were 3-0 to the good. A further four goals were added during the second half to record Town's best ever away victory. Of the seven, Rafferty scored just one - from the penalty spot. Perhaps even more remarkable is that 'Chips' missed a second from the spot, or the defeat on the Eastville side could have been even greater!
By the end of January, Town had failed to score just once, thanks in a large part to Rafferty's 22 goals. For the rest of the season, though, the Mariners struggled to find the net with any regularity. Former goalscoring hero Tommy Briggs returned to the club and ousted Rafferty to the number 10 shirt. Town finished the season half-way down the division, and Rafferty ended up with 26 goals. Town's 86 goals were bettered only by four other clubs.
Season 1958-9 started with a remarkable game at Liverpool where Town were 3-2 down. Jimmy Fell and Johnny Scott had scored Town's goals. Clarrie Williams then suffered a horrific knee injury which meant he left the field - and no substitutes were allowed in those days. Jimmy Fell went in goal and performed so well that the Daily Mirror awarded him an 'Andy Capp' award. While he was keeping Liverpool out at one end, Ron Rafferty was pulling the scores level at the other - and the game ended in a draw. It was arguably the best result ever at Anfield - until bettered in the League Cup in 2001!
11 days later Town went to Sincil Bank and played out a 4-4 draw. Ron scored all four for Town. Though Rafferty had scored two goals in a game many times, this was his first hat-trick. In a Lincolnshire Senior Cup game two years later, Rafferty was the scourge of Lincoln again - this time hitting a double hat-trick in an 8-3 victory!
Though Rafferty scored regularly again, Town's season began to fall apart from February onwards again - and this time the Mariners suffered the ignominy of relegation to Division 3.
It was the only full season when Ron Rafferty failed to reach at least 20 goals.
For the following season Town signed the much travelled Ralph Hunt and for the only time, Rafferty was out-scored! Ron played in every game and ended up with 24 goals - Ralph scoring 33 times in 39 games. What is probably as amazing is that there were only five other Town players who got on the score sheet. Even so, Town were third highest scorers in the Division, and ended up placed fourth.
The ever-consistent Chips, then scored another 24 goals in season 1960-1, and having a higher strike rate than the long-injured Hunt. He scored a couple of hat-tricks - against Barnsley and Tranmere, and also scored Town's first ever goals in the newly formed League Cup competition - though his delight at having netted twice was no doubt rather diminished by the fact that Bolton scored 6.
The 1961-2 season was to be the last that Rafferty played consistently in Town's forward line . but what a season!
Rafferty had a new strike partner in Cliff Portwood, and a new left-winger in Fred Jones.
By the end of the year, the Mariners were in twelfth position and going nowhere. Rafferty had scored another hat-trick against Reading, and had achieved a five match scoring run, but it was all so inconsistent for Town, with a heavy 7-0 defeat at Northampton being the low point.
From the New Year though, everything clicked into place. In the 21 games to the end of the season, Town failed to find the net only once - and that in a 0-0 Blundell Park draw with Crystal Palace. Rafferty scored in every one of the first ten games of 1962, his record from January 6 to the end of the season being 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 2, 1. Ironically, the team keeping Town out of top spot was Rafferty's former club Portsmouth. The last game of the season was at Brentford. With the possibility of QPR overhauling Town should the Mariners lose to the Bees, the home crowd was swollen by thousands of Rangers fans who temporarily swapped allegiance for the night to roar on their West London compatriots. Cliff Portwood put the Mariners in front, and then fittingly Rafferty scored his 34 th league goal, and Grimsby's final one of the campaign. He had scored almost half of all Town's league goals - with just Portwood getting into double figures on 14. It was all the more remarkable as Ron had been injured since early March.
The 1962-63 season saw Town back in Division 2, and with a new boss - Tom Johnston.
For reasons not known to the author, Ron Rafferty was moved to right half for much of the middle part of the campaign. The position did not appear to suit the previous season's top scorer, and he appeared in just 31 games - a low number for a man who had missed just one game in the previous three seasons. Even so, he scored 8 more goals for Town as the Mariners finished in 19 th spot.
During the close season Ron moved to local rivals Hull City for £10,000 though he broke his ankle in his third game for the Tigers and his appearances 'across the water' were limited to 16 appearances in 3 seasons. He then joined Aldershot where he made 79 league appearances scoring 10 goals, before joining Guildford as player-coach for six months.
