1996-97 season
Chairman	Bill Carr
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...   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...   Kenny Swain Kenny Swain Kenny Swain is a retired English footballer who played in numerous positions, including striker, midfielder and full back.-Football career:...
Team captain	Mark Lever Mark Lever Mark Lever is a former English footballer who played as a defender from 1988 until 2005 notably for Grimsby Town where he spent the first 12 years of his career...
Home stadium	Blundell Park Blundell Park Blundell Park is a football ground in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England and home to Grimsby Town Football Club. The stadium was built in 1898, but only one of the original stands remain. The current capacity of the ground is 9546, though with the introduction of all seating in the late...
Division One
FA Cup FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
League Cup Football League Cup The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
Lincolnshire Senior Cup Lincolnshire Senior Cup The Lincolnshire Senior County Cup is a football competition for senior football clubs in Lincolnshire organised by the Lincolnshire FA....
Top goalscorer	Clive Mendonca Clive Mendonca Clive Paul Mendonca is an English former professional footballer, who played as a striker between 1986 and 2002 notably for Grimsby Town and Charlton Athletic...  (19)
Highest home attendance
Highest away attendance
Lowest home attendance
Lowest away attendance
← 1995–96  1997-98 →

During the 1996–97 English football season, competed in the Football League 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....

.

Season summary

The Mariners were relegated from Division One. Despite flowing goals from Clive Mendonca

Clive Mendonca

Clive Paul Mendonca is an English former professional footballer, who played as a striker between 1986 and 2002 notably for Grimsby Town and Charlton Athletic...

 and good performances from John Oster

John Oster

John Morgan Oster is an English born Welsh international footballer, who plays as a midfielder for Football League Championship club Doncaster Rovers. Oster progressed through the youth ranks at Grimsby Town before moving on to Premier League Everton...

 and newcomer Kingsley Black

Kingsley Black

Kingsley Black is an English-born Northern Ireland former professional footballer. He notably played for Luton Town, Nottingham Forest and Grimsby Town...

, Grimsby failed to save themselves. The club had suffered from the losses of ever-present goalkeeper Paul Crichton

Paul Crichton

Paul Andrew Crichton is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper and is currently the goalkeeping coach of Football League Championship side Sheffield United, where he is also registered as a player...

 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...

, who made a £1.5 million move to . 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...

 had been sacked late in 1996; 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:...

 both had stints as caretaker during the season. At the end of the season, former manager 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...

, who had taken Grimsby from the Fourth to the old Second Division in his first stint in charge, rejoined the club in an attempt to take Grimsby back to the second tier.

Kit

Italian company Lotto

Lotto Sport Italia

Lotto Sport Italia is an Italian sports apparel manufacturer. Its products are now distributed in more than 60 countries.-History:Lotto was established in 1973 by the Caberlotto family in Montebelluna, northern Italy, the world centre of footwear manufacturing. In June 1973, Lotto made its debut...

 became Grimsby's new kit manufacturers, and introduced a new kit for the season. Europe's Food Town remained kit sponsors.

Squad

In

• Alan Miller
  Alan Miller (footballer)
  Alan John Miller is an English former professional football goalkeeper.Miller began as an apprentice at Arsenal in 1984. With them he won the FA Youth Cup in 1988, and won four caps for the England under-21 team...
  
   - , loan
• Paul Trollope
  Paul Trollope
  Paul Jonathan Trollope is an English-born Welsh international football midfielder, now turned manager. He was manager of Bristol Rovers from 2005 to 2010. In July 2011, Paul was appointed first-team coach at Birmingham City....
  
   - , loan
• Michael Appleton
  Michael Appleton
  Michael Antony Appleton is an English former footballer who is the current manager of Portsmouth.He played as a midfielder until his playing career was cut short by a serious knee injury. He also played as a professional for Manchester United, Lincoln City, Grimsby Town and Preston North End...
  
   - , loan
• Jason Lee
  Jason Lee (footballer)
  Jason Lee is an English footballer who plays as a forward for Boston United. He is currently also the club's joint manager.He has previously played in the Premier League for Nottingham Forest...
  
  - , loan