League Two Table

		P	GD	Pts
1	Walsall	10	+7	19
2	Gillingham	10	+7	19
3	Barrow	10	+6	19

4	Doncaster	10	+3	19
5	Notts County	10	+8	18
6	Port Vale	10	+3	18
7	Fleetwood Town	9	+7	16

8	Crewe	9	+1	16
9	Newport County	9	-2	15
10	Grimsby	10	-4	15
11	Chesterfield	10	+7	14
12	AFC Wimbledon	7	+4	13
13	MK Dons	10	+1	12
14	Bradford	9	+1	12
15	Salford	9	-3	12
16	Colchester	10	-2	11
17	Tranmere	9	-4	11
18	Harrogate Town	10	-7	11
19	Bromley	10	-2	10
20	Cheltenham	10	-4	10
21	Swindon	10	-4	8
22	Carlisle	10	-9	7

23	Accrington Stanley	9	-8	6
24	Morecambe	10	-6	4

Full League Two Table
Prem|Champ|L1|L2|NL|NLN|NLS
SPL|SC|S1|S2

The Way Ahead

Rodger - The Challenges Ahead

By: Bill Osborne
Date: 07/06/2006

THE appointment of Graham Rodger to the post of manager of Grimsby Town was not met with overall approval. Despite his long term commitment to the club, there were many who wanted a high profile or more experienced manager.

But the die is cast and Rodger follows on from Russell Slade who was the most successful manager at Blundell Park in recent years and Graham Rodger will have to work hard to emulate the success of Slade.

It will not be easy for him.

It seems that some of the better players like Reddy, Mildenhall, Jones and Bolland are looking for greener pastures unless they can be persuaded to stay and with a change of manager that may not be impossible.

The new season will present many challenges to Rodger. He has now to create a new team capable of not only getting us out of this division, but able to play a more attractive style of football which everyone wants to see.

John Fenty is no fool. He also recognises the challenges Rodger will be facing and he has responded by assuring us that the player acquisition budget is at a level to enable Rodger to achieve the club's aims.

So the hard work has begun and the first task Rodger has is to secure his number 2 and then sort out which players are likely to stay if offered the chance and replace some of those who he does not want to keep.

It looks like being a hard road this season particularly with the need to rebuild the squad. But the players know Rodger so that particular task may be a little easier with the retained players. The rest he will have to find and that will be the first test of his abilities.

One other thing Rodger will be expecting is that the fans and supporters will be behind him. Even those who were not pleased with his appointment. There were many, including myself, who thought that only a high profile experienced manager could bring the excitement back to Blundell Park.

But that is football and you do not always get what you want. There is also an old saying that you should be careful what you wish for - You might get it!

So it is now up to the other part of the team, the fans, to play their part by supporting Graham Rodger and giving him a fair go. He will need a little time when the season begins to get the team settled and start producing results. So it is no good expecting him to break records from day one. That would be a bonus.

He needs that little time and it will do no good if the fans are on his back if the initial results are not a string of wins.

Get behind him and allow him the time to build his team and produce better flowing football at Blundell Park.

All at the Fishy wish him good luck!

This site is by the fans, for the fans, and we will consider articles on any subject relating to the Mariners whether it be related to current news, a nostalgic look back in the past, a story about a player, a game or games in the past, something about Blundell Park or football in general. Click here to submit your article!

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Rodger - The Challenges Ahead

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