- Paul Groves
Football manager infobox
playername = Paul Groves
fullname = Paul Groves
nickname =
height = 5' 11" (1.80m)
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1966|2|28
cityofbirth =Derby
countryofbirth =England
currentclub = Portsmouth (coach)
position = Central Midfielder (retired)
years = 19??-19??1987-19881988-199019891990-19921992-19961996-19971997-2004 2004 2004-20052005-2006
clubs = Belper Town Burton Albion Leicester City→ Lincoln City (loan) Blackpool Grimsby Town West Brom Grimsby Town Scunthorpe United York CityStafford Rangers
caps(goals) = 00? 0(?)00? 0(?)016 0(1)008 0(1)107 (21)184 (38)029 0(4)268 (33)013 0(3)
042 0(3)
00? 0(?)
youthyears =
youthclubs =
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
manageryears = 2001-2004
2005-2006
2006-
managerclubs = Grimsby Town
Stafford Rangers(assistant manager)
Portsmouth(reserve team manager)Paul Groves (born
28 February 1966 inDerby ,England ) is an English former footballer who notably captained Grimsby Town and went on to manage the club between 2001 and 2004. He was naturally a central midfield player, but later in his career was used as a central defender. He currently is the reserve-team coach at Portsmouth.Career
As player
Groves began his career in
non-league football , playing for Belper Town and then Burton Albion. In April 1988 he moved to Leicester City for £12,000. He made 19 appearances for the Foxes, scoring two goals. In 1989 he was loaned out to Lincoln City, playing 10 games and scoring once. In January 1990 Groves signed for Blackpool on a permanent £60,000 deal. He became a regular in the side, making a total of 135 appearances and scoring 29 goals, before joining Grimsby Town for £150,000 in August 1992.Groves spent two spells as a player at Grimsby, and was very consistent, regularly scoring goals from midfield, in addition to being a good tackler. Indeed, he was top scorer in his first season at the club 1992-93, with 12 goals in 46 matches. He also topped the club's scoring chart in 1995-96 with 10 goals in 46 matches and in 1998-99 with 14 goals in 46 matches. He also played every league game in his first (four-season) spell and in his first three seasons after returning from West Brom. He joined West Brom for £600,000 in 1996 but returned just over a year later for £250,000. He also spent several seasons as Grimsby captain.
During his time at Grimsby, the club spent all but the 1997-98 season in the second tier of the football league, with only one season outside of it. This was the successful play-off promotion and Auto Windscreens Shield-winning season, in which Groves captained Grimsby to two Wembley 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 Premier League opposition including West Ham, Leicester City, Sheffield Wednesday and Liverpool.
In February 2004 Groves joined Scunthorpe United on loan. [cite news
date=2004-02-27
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/scunthorpe_utd/3493904.stm
title=Iron move for Groves
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-08-24] Whilst there he scored the 100th league goal of his career, scoring twice in a 3-1 win at York City. He was described as "inspirational" by Scunthorpe managerBrian Laws . [cite news
date=2004-03-10
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/scunthorpe_utd/3497430.stm
title=Groves hailed by Iron boss
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-08-24] Groves signed a one-year contract with York in June 2004, having been released a month earlier by Scunthorpe. [cite news
date=2004-06-17
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/y/york_city/3815967.stm
title=York sign Groves
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-08-24] He brought his 19-year playing career to a close in May 2005-06 with Stafford Rangers after helping them to promotion to theConference National . In July 2006, he joined the coaching staff at Portsmouth. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/5175646.stm Groves leaves Stafford for Pompey] ]As manager
Groves became player-manager of Grimsby in December 2001 with the club in danger of being relegated from Division One. With several good loan signings, including Andy Todd, he managed to steer the club to safety. The 2002-03 season was not as successful: the club was relegated. A poor 2003-04 season saw Groves sacked as manager in February, but remarkably kept on as a player.
This spell as manager, as well as his eventual transfer to rivals Scunthorpe and perceived lack of charisma, has tarnished his reputation with Grimsby Town fans and he is not as highly regarded as someone with his playing and goal scoring record should have been.
Honours
Blackpool
*Fourth Division playoff winners: 1991-92
Grimsby Town
*Grimsby Town Supporters Player of the Year: 1995-96, 1998-99
*Auto Windscreens Shield winner: 1997-98
*Second Division playoff winner: 1997-98Leicester Masters
*Central Masters Player of the Tournament: 2005
*Masters Cup winner: 2005
*Coventry Masters Golden Boot Winner: 2007
*Coventry Masters Winners: 2007References
External links
*soccerbase|id=3121|name=Paul Groves
*soccerbase (manager)|name=Paul Groves|id=1777
* [http://grimsbytown.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=909&stid=8384803&p=2 electronicfishcake.com] Player Profile
* [http://www.mastersfootball.com/masterscup2005.htm Masters Cup 2005] results
* [http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=2914 Paul Groves] on the Sporting Heroes database
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