2022/23 Grimsby Season Review

Now our season has been over for a little while, how do we all feel about it?

I think all in all, it's been a good season. Finished top half (just), if we could have converted 5 losses into wins we would have made playoffs.

I think solidifying our league status and finishing where we have has given us a good platform to build on for next season. With the right signings I believe we can crack top 7.

And still, very much enjoy Jason and Andrew's custodianship work for the club. KUTGW. UTM.

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Converting 5 losses to wins would require another 10 goals - more than 20% increase in our final total. Around 30% more victories than we managed as well.

It's been a decent season of consolidation given the big cup run, but let's not kid ourselves thaf we were anywhere close to the play-offs really.

I'd be very happy if we could score 20% more goals and win 30% more games next season!

Looking at stats it's been a very good first season back. 11th in league, progressed in tin pot cup, quarter finals.of the fa Cup. I'll look back and see the positives and memories I made with a few away games I went to.
But during the season I found myself frustrated at times due to our line up and substitutes etc. I'm 100% behind the club, owners, manager etc but if I had to bring a negative up it is that.
Results like Swindon away (I was there) aren't things that upset me as we genuinely tried and just got outplayed and done by a team on form on the day (not to mention having 10 men for a long period of time).

Overall it was a bumpy season, I think in the summer we really struggled to tie down an out and out goal scorer and that at times showed throughout the year. We were very inconsistent and at times won games we shouldn't have, but yet failed to put away teams we had bested.


We had some early promise, then it went flat and a few people were beginning to look over their shoulder but we managed to kick on a bit at the right time and in the end 11th place in League Two, however low to some is actually an achievement, hard to believe it's our highest finish since Slade took us to the Millennium Stadium in 2006.

However......

The FA Cup run was nothing short of staggering and hopefully the money received like mentioned can help us kick on a little. You'd like to think it put us on a platform and gives Hurst a good selling point when trying to get some of the deals over the line, which in his own admittance we have failed at times to attract players to the club.

I think most would agree Jason and Andrew have injected some much needed love and modernisation into the club on a whole and that decisions are being made to make the club successful and sustainable, so long may that continue. All in all, not a bad season, hoping for better next year though.

I suppose one's view of the season to some extent comes down to what your initial expectations were. Given the miraculous play off campaign it would be easy to get carried away and assume we would be right up there in L2 this season.

But taking a step back, we finished 6th in the NL, and then had a very short close season during which some of the the few players we did sign came also from the NL. So realistically a top ten finish would have been a pretty good result in the circumstances. We finished 11th, just one point off 9th place. So to me that is good going. I am happy with that.

Of course we also had an amazing cup run. We made history, and the Southampton game will live long in the memory. The run put us in the national spotlight. I am sure that will help with recruitment in the close season. Even in defeat, the reception the team got at the end of the Brighton game was truly moving. A very special moment.

Regarding next season we have retained a squad of players who have demonstrated they are capable of playing in a top half team. It's a good foundation to build on to take us to the next level, which is to be serious play off or promotion contenders. There was quite a gulf in points between the top 8 and the rest last season, which suggests we have a gap to close. But on our day we did beat several of the teams above us, including some that were promoted. So a few key additions could see us a real force next season.

One thing is for sure. If you had told me two years ago today what the next 24 months was going to bring I would have thought it was an unbelievable fantasy. What a ride it's been.        

Face value it's a great return season.  Quarter Finals of the FA Cup, knocking out a Premier League side, knocking out a Premier League side in waiting (potentially!), knocking out League One winners and two other League One sides....also going toe-to-toe for large periods with a Premier League side in the League Cup.

Shortened pre-season, long 18/24 months for some players, fatigue kicked in, robbed of our strike partnership for long periods of the season....with that in mind I think 11th isn't too bad.

But it still feels like a missed opportunity.  This was a pretty poor league and in my eyes there for the taking.

I do think the fatigue factor is one we underestimate and it probably had a bigger impact than what we see on the field.  But had we found ourselves in the hunting pack, I'm sure those heavy legs would have felt a bit lighter.  

Bare bones are in place for a very good side.  We just lacked those key ingredients when it came to attacking teams.  Last season we always had a magician at play, be it Sousa, McAtee or JMD (even Bagapa at points).  There was someone who caused teams problems.  This season I don't think we ever really had that, not until Lloyd came in and offered something a bit different.  It's all done with hindsight but had we looked to replace McAtee/Taylor pairing rather than hold onto McAtee for another season on loan, would we have done better rather than hope McAtee regains his form of last season and compliment with young loans?

Happy with where we finished and the progress made.

Not so happy with the footy served up at BP. Some games were excruciatingly dull; some just ok and a handful of good games.

We seemed to be better against the better footballing sides, especially in the cup.

Hoping for more entertainment next season.

5 Cup wins, a national record for beating higher league teams.   8 goals against champions Plymouth and Luton ( 3rd and maybe PL next season).  

The extra games probably reduced the number of league points that we could have achieved.  The shorter close-season set us back as well.  

We had the potential, which clearly showed in the impressive cup wins.  But I never really thought though that we were promotion material.

Closer to promotion next season hopefully.  

This a really good website for checking top assists, goals etc

[url]https://www.fotmob.com/leagues/109/stats/league-two/players[/url]

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It's been an ok season with the cup run adding a bit of gloss...  There was a big points gap to the play off group and we will have to make some significant signings to close that gap...  JS and AP are doing a decent job and their hearts are in the right place...