Paul Groves
Encyclopedia
Paul Groves is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 former footballer who notably captained and managed Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town F.C.
Grimsby Town Football Club is an English football club based in the seaside town of Cleethorpes, in North East Lincolnshire, England, who compete in the Conference National. They were formed in 1878 as Grimsby Pelham and later became Grimsby Town...

. He was naturally a central midfield player, but later in his career was used as a central defender. He also played in the Football League for Leicester City
Leicester City F.C.
Leicester City Football Club , also known as The Foxes, is an English professional football club based at the King Power Stadium in Leicester...

, Lincoln City
Lincoln City F.C.
Lincoln City Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Lincoln, Lincolnshire. The club are currently members of the Conference National in 2011–12 following relegation from the Football League....

, Blackpool
Blackpool F.C.
Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...

, West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion F.C.
West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...

 and Scunthorpe United
Scunthorpe United F.C.
Scunthorpe United Football Club is an English association football team based in the town of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, who play in the Football League One....

 having also played at Non-League level for Belper Town
Belper Town F.C.
-History:They were established in 1883 and joined the Midland League in 1961. After the 1981–82 season, Belper Town joined the Northern Counties East League Premier Division, winning the title in 1984–85...

, Burton Albion
Burton Albion F.C.
Burton Albion Football Club are a professional English football club based in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. The club's home ground is the Pirelli Stadium, having moved from Eton Park in 2005...

, York City
York City F.C.
York City Football Club is an English football club based in York, North Yorkshire. The club participates in the Conference National, the fifth tier of English football. Founded in 1922, they joined the Football League in 1929, and have spent most of their history in the lower divisions...

 and Stafford Rangers
Stafford Rangers F.C.
Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts...

. His playing career lasted from 1986 until 2006 however he was player/manager at Grimsby Town from 2001 until 2004, he eventually retired in 2006 whilst he was player/assistant manager at Stafford Rangers
Stafford Rangers F.C.
Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts...

. He was the senior coach at West Ham United
West Ham United F.C.
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...

 following Avram Grant to the club from Portsmouth
Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...

. However, he parted company with the club on 24 June 2011, following the arrival of Sam Allardyce
Sam Allardyce
Samuel "Sam" Allardyce , nicknamed "Big Sam", is an English football manager and former professional player. In June 2011 he was appointed as manager of West Ham United....

 and became the Youth Team Manager of A.F.C. Bournemouth
A.F.C. Bournemouth
A.F.C. Bournemouth is an English football club currently playing in Football League One. The club plays at Dean Court in Kings Park, Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset and have been in existence since 1899....

 in July 2011.

Burton Albion

Born in Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...

, Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

, Groves began his career in non-League football
Non-league football
Non-League football is football in England played at a level below that of the Premier League and The Football League. The term non-League was commonly used well before 1992 when the top football clubs in England all belonged to The Football League; all clubs who were not a part of The Football...

, playing for Belper Town
Belper Town F.C.
-History:They were established in 1883 and joined the Midland League in 1961. After the 1981–82 season, Belper Town joined the Northern Counties East League Premier Division, winning the title in 1984–85...

 before joining Burton Albion
Burton Albion F.C.
Burton Albion Football Club are a professional English football club based in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. The club's home ground is the Pirelli Stadium, having moved from Eton Park in 2005...

 in 1988 for whom he appeared at Wembley Stadium for in the 1987 FA Trophy
FA Trophy
The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a knockout cup competition in English football, run by and named after The Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams...

 Final.

Leicester City

In April 1988 he moved to Leicester City
Leicester City F.C.
Leicester City Football Club , also known as The Foxes, is an English professional football club based at the King Power Stadium in Leicester...

 for £12,000. He made 19 appearances for the Foxes, scoring two goals. In August 1989 he was loaned out to Lincoln City
Lincoln City F.C.
Lincoln City Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Lincoln, Lincolnshire. The club are currently members of the Conference National in 2011–12 following relegation from the Football League....

, playing eight league games and scoring once. Having not made the grade at Filbert Street
Filbert Street
Filbert Street, in Leicester, England, was a football stadium, and the home of Leicester City from 1891 to 2002. Although officially titled "The City Business Stadium" in the early 1990s, it remained known almost exclusively by its address, like many English football stadia.- Early years :The club,...

, Leicester placed Groves on the transfer list and he eventually left the club in January 1990.

Blackpool

Groves signed for Blackpool
Blackpool F.C.
Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...

 on a permanent £60,000 deal. He became a regular in the side, making a total of 135 appearances and scoring 29 goals between 1990 and 1992.

Grimsby Town

In August 1992 Groves signed for Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town F.C.
Grimsby Town Football Club is an English football club based in the seaside town of Cleethorpes, in North East Lincolnshire, England, who compete in the Conference National. They were formed in 1878 as Grimsby Pelham and later became Grimsby Town...

 for £150,000 who at the time were managed by Alan Buckley
Alan Buckley
Alan Peter Buckley is an English football manager. He was manager of League Two side Grimsby Town until his dismissal in September 2008...

. Groves became very consistent as a player at Grimsby, and was a first team regular, regularly scoring goals from midfield, in addition to being a good tackler. His goals enabled him to top the clubs scoring chart in his first season at the club 1992–93, with 12 goals in 46 matches. He also topped the chart again in the 1995–96 . He also played every league game in his first (four-season) spell and in his first three seasons. Groves became part of a nostalgic playing squad managed squad that harboured such professionals as Ivano Bonetti
Ivano Bonetti
Ivano Bonetti is an Italian football manager and former player. His father Aldo played for Brescia until the Second World War, brother Mario played for Atalanta and brother Dario played over 100 games for Roma and won two caps for Italy.He is the current director of football of Lega Pro Prima...

, Steve Livingstone
Steve Livingstone
Stephen "Steve" Livingstone is an English former footballer who played between 1986 and 2004 notably for Grimsby Town...

, John McDermott and Gary Croft
Gary Croft
Gary Croft is a former English football player who played as a left back. He played as a professional between 1992 and 2008 notably for Grimsby Town, Blackburn Rovers and Ipswich Town, having also had spells with Wigan Athletic, Cardiff City and Lincoln City...

. Whilst at the club Groves also played under Brian Laws
Brian Laws
Brian Laws is an English former footballer and manager, most recently of Burnley.Playing as a defender, Laws made over 100 appearances for each of Burnley, Middlesbrough, and Nottingham Forest. In 1994, Laws became player-manager of Grimsby Town before taking a similar position with Scunthorpe...

, and caretaker managers John Cockerill
John Cockerill (footballer)
John Cockerill is a former professional football player and manager. He is the son of Ron and brother of Glenn Cockerill, both also professional footballers...

 and Kenny Swain
Kenny Swain
Kenny Swain is a retired English footballer who played in numerous positions, including striker, midfielder and full back.-Football career:...

.

West Bromwich Albion

His next port of call was to join West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion F.C.
West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...

 for £600,000 in 1996 where he was signed once again by Alan Buckley. After one season with Albion, Buckley had moved back to Grimsby taking Groves with him for £250,000 as well as Kevin Donovan
Kevin Donovan
Kevin Donovan is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder between 1989 and 2007. He notably played for Grimsby Town and West Bromwich Albion, and scored goals at Wembley Stadium for both clubs in Football League play-off finals...

 amongst others. Groves would be part of a selection of players who transferred between West Brom and Grimsby in the late to mid nineties through the Alan Buckley connection. Whilst with the club he played 33 times in all competitions scoring four goals.

Grimsby Town (second spell)

Groves returned to Grimsby for the start of the 1997–98 season where he soon became captain.
During his time at Grimsby, the club spent all but the 1997–98 season in the First Division
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....

. This was the successful play-off promotion and Football League Trophy
Football League Trophy
The Football League Trophy, currently known as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football knock-out competition open to the 48 clubs in Football League One and Football League Two, the bottom two divisions in the four fully professional top...

-winning season, in which Groves captained Grimsby to two Wembley Staium wins (the third of his career) in the space of three weeks and started all 68 games that season. In addition to league success, there were several cup runs in which Grimsby beat FA Premier League opposition including West Ham United
West Ham United F.C.
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...

, Leicester City
Leicester City F.C.
Leicester City Football Club , also known as The Foxes, is an English professional football club based at the King Power Stadium in Leicester...

, Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...

 and Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...

. Groves also finished the 98-99 season with 10 goals in 46 matches and in 1998–99 with 14 goals in 46 matches. Following the sacking of Lennie Lawrence
Lennie Lawrence
Robin Michael Lawrence, commonly known as Lennie Lawrence, is a British football manager who is assistant manager of Crystal Palace. He has managed a number of English clubs and one Welsh club in a coaching career spanning over 30 years...

 in 2001, Groves was appointed player-manager. He was sacked in 2004 but despite being relinquished of his managerial duties, Groves remained on as a player until he was jettisoned by the clubs incoming new manager. Groves joined Scunthorpe United
Scunthorpe United F.C.
Scunthorpe United Football Club is an English association football team based in the town of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, who play in the Football League One....

 on a one-month loan on 27 February 2004 following the appointnment of Nicky Law at Grimsby. Whilst there he scored the 100th league goal of his career, scoring twice in a 3–1 win at York City
York City F.C.
York City Football Club is an English football club based in York, North Yorkshire. The club participates in the Conference National, the fifth tier of English football. Founded in 1922, they joined the Football League in 1929, and have spent most of their history in the lower divisions...

. He was described as "inspirational" by Scunthorpe manager Brian Laws
Brian Laws
Brian Laws is an English former footballer and manager, most recently of Burnley.Playing as a defender, Laws made over 100 appearances for each of Burnley, Middlesbrough, and Nottingham Forest. In 1994, Laws became player-manager of Grimsby Town before taking a similar position with Scunthorpe...

. He signed for Scunthorpe on a permanent contract until the end of the 2003–04 season on 30 March after reaching a settlement on the remainder of his Grimsby contract.

York City

Groves signed a one-year contract with York City, who had recently been relegated to the Conference National
Conference National
Conference National is the top division of the Football Conference in England. It is the highest level of the National League System and fifth highest of the overall English football league system...

, in June 2004 along with former Grimsby teammate Kevin Donovan
Kevin Donovan
Kevin Donovan is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder between 1989 and 2007. He notably played for Grimsby Town and West Bromwich Albion, and scored goals at Wembley Stadium for both clubs in Football League play-off finals...

. After one season with York, Groves left the club.

Stafford Rangers

In the summer of 2005 he was appointed player/assistant manager when he signed for Conference North
Conference North
The Conference North also known as Blue Square Bet North for sponsorship reasons, is a division of the Football Conference in England, taking its place immediately below the Conference National. Along with Conference South it is at Step 2 of the National League System and the sixth overall tier of...

 side Stafford Rangers
Stafford Rangers F.C.
Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts...

. He brought his 19-year playing career to a close in May 2006 after helping them to promotion to the Conference National
Conference National
Conference National is the top division of the Football Conference in England. It is the highest level of the National League System and fifth highest of the overall English football league system...

 after making 32 appearanes and scoring five goals in the 2005–06 season.

Grimsby Town

Groves who at the time was the club captain at Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town F.C.
Grimsby Town Football Club is an English football club based in the seaside town of Cleethorpes, in North East Lincolnshire, England, who compete in the Conference National. They were formed in 1878 as Grimsby Pelham and later became Grimsby Town...

 was installed as the player/caretaker manager at the club following the sacking of Lennie Lawrence
Lennie Lawrence
Robin Michael Lawrence, commonly known as Lennie Lawrence, is a British football manager who is assistant manager of Crystal Palace. He has managed a number of English clubs and one Welsh club in a coaching career spanning over 30 years...

 and long serving assistant manager John Cockerill
John Cockerill (footballer)
John Cockerill is a former professional football player and manager. He is the son of Ron and brother of Glenn Cockerill, both also professional footballers...

. A week later in December 2001 he was installed as full time player-manager of Grimsby. At the time of his appointment the club were and had been in the second tier of English football since 1998 and were heading into a third successive relegation battle despite the fact the club had briefly topped the table in September. He brought back former player Graham Rodger
Graham Rodger
Graham Rodger is a Scottish born English former professional footballer and football manager. He played as a defender from 1984 until 1998 for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Coventry City and Luton Town before finishing his career with a six year stint at Grimsby Town, where he retired in 1998 following...

 as his assistant and bolstered his side with several good loan signings, including Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic F.C.
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...

 duo Andy Todd and Martin Pringle
Martin Pringle
Martin Pringle is a former Swedish professional footballer and current football manager who played as a centre forward between 1991 and 2002 notably for Benfica and Charlton Athletic, having also featured for Stenungsunds IF, Helsingborgs and Grimsby Town...

. Groves managed to steer the club to safety and secured Town's place within what is now the Football League Championship
Football League Championship
The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...

 for another year. The 2002–03 season was not as successful: the club was eventually relegated. A poor start to the 2003–04 season saw Groves sacked from his managerial duties in February 2004 but remarkably he was kept on as a player until the end of the season but found himself farmed out to local rivals Scunthorpe United
Scunthorpe United F.C.
Scunthorpe United Football Club is an English association football team based in the town of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, who play in the Football League One....

 on loan by his replacement Nicky Law
Nicky Law
Nicholas "Nicky" Law Snr is an English football manager and former player. He is the manager of Alfreton Town, and father of footballers Nicky Jr. and Josh.-Playing career:...

. He left Grimsby during the summer of 2004 and signed for York City
York City F.C.
York City Football Club is an English football club based in York, North Yorkshire. The club participates in the Conference National, the fifth tier of English football. Founded in 1922, they joined the Football League in 1929, and have spent most of their history in the lower divisions...

 as a player.

Portsmouth

In July 2006, he joined the coaching staff at Portsmouth
Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...

. He was appointed as caretaker manager
Caretaker manager
In association football, a caretaker manager is someone who takes temporary charge of the management of a football club, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caretaker may also be appointed if the regular manager is ill or unable to attend to his...

 at Portsmouth alongside Ian Woan
Ian Woan
Ian Woan is an English former professional footballer and current assistant manager at Watford. He played as a midfielder from 1985 until 2004, starting in non-league football. Signed by Nottingham Forest in 1990, he played for the club for 10 years, including a spell in the Premier League...

 on 24 November 2009 after Paul Hart
Paul Hart
Paul Hart is an English football manager and former football defender, who is currently Academy Director at Charlton Athletic. The son of Johnny Hart, a football inside forward and manager, Hart had five-year spells with both Blackpool and Leeds United, while also playing for Nottingham Forest and...

 left the club, before the appointment of Avram Grant two days later on 26 November. Whilst at Fratton Park
Fratton Park
Fratton Park is a football stadium in the English city-port of Portsmouth. It has been the home of professional club Portsmouth F.C. since its construction in 1898.-Description:...

 Groves worked for managers Harry Redknapp
Harry Redknapp
Henry James "Harry" Redknapp is a former English footballer who has enjoyed a long career in football management starting in 1983 with Bournemouth. He is the current manager of Tottenham Hotspur....

, Tony Adams
Tony Adams (footballer)
Tony Alexander Adams, MBE is an English football manager and former player.Adams spent his entire playing career of 22 years as a defender at Arsenal. He is considered one of the greatest Arsenal players of all time by the club's own fans and was included in the Football League 100 Legends...

, Paul Hart and Avram Grant.

West Ham United

In July 2010 Groves joined West Ham United as senior coach working under manager Avram Grant having previously worked under him at Portsmouth, but he parted company with the club on 24 June 2011 weeks after the dismissal of Avram Grant.

Managerial statistics

TeamNationFromGrimsby Town
Grimsby Town F.C.
Grimsby Town Football Club is an English football club based in the seaside town of Cleethorpes, in North East Lincolnshire, England, who compete in the Conference National. They were formed in 1878 as Grimsby Pelham and later became Grimsby Town...

28 December 2001 9 February 2004 103 24 31 48 23.3
Portsmouth
Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...

 (caretaker)
24 November 2009 26 November 2009 0 0 0 0 0
Total 10324314823.3

Blackpool

  • Fourth Division
    Football League Fourth Division
    The Fourth Division of The Football League was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season...

     playoff winners: 1991–92

Grimsby Town

  • Grimsby Town Supporters Player of the Year: 1995–96, 1998–99
  • Football League Trophy
    Football League Trophy
    The Football League Trophy, currently known as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football knock-out competition open to the 48 clubs in Football League One and Football League Two, the bottom two divisions in the four fully professional top...

     winner: 1997–98
  • Second Division
    Football League Second Division
    From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...

     playoff winner: 1997–98

Leicester Masters

  • Central Masters Player of the Tournament: 2005
  • Masters Cup winner: 2005
  • Coventry Masters Golden Boot Winner: 2007
  • Coventry Masters Winners: 2007

External links

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