Wilko On Board

By: Rob Sedgwick
Date: 16/10/2000

Former player Paul Wilkinson has returned to the Mariners as a new reserve team coach. 35-year-old Wilkinson, who began his playing career with Town in 1982, will take charge of the team's second string, leaving Assistant Manager John Cockerill to concentrate on the coaching side with the 1st team.

Wilkinson, who played 82 times for Town, scoring 33 goals in the process, is probably best remembered at Blundell Park for the winning goal against Everton in the FA cup match at Goodison Park back in 1984. The big striker left Grimsby to join Everton for £250K in 1985, a record fee received by the Mariners for a player at the time. Wilkinson went on to play for Forest, Watford, Middlesborough, Oldham, Luton, Barnsley, Millwall and Northampton before hanging up his boots. Town manager Lennie Lawrence feels the club are short-staffed in the coaching department as well as on the playing side, and has been looking to strengthen things behind the scenes. Wilkinson joins the Mariners from Leeds United where he has been working at the Yorkshire club's Football Academy. Wilkinson was brought up in the Grimsby area, went to school at Toll Bar, and supported the Mariners when he was a boy.

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