Was yet another season of pretty much nothingness for Grimsby. The league campaign never got started, and it wasn't till around Xmas that they found any sort of form at all. By which point, it was all too late, and despite making the top ten at one point, they reverted to type late on losing their last seven games in succession. The Johnstone's Paint Trophy provided some respite for them, with a trip to Wembley where they were beaten by MK Dons.

Good old Alan Buckley. He's fast becoming like your favourite uncle, who you'll see a couple of times over the year, receive a present from him each time - three points in this case, and you'll wave him goodbye safe in the knowledge that come what may, he'll still be about next year to allow the same thing to happen again.  We like Alan Buckley, and we don't think that his six months at Spotland (seven if you include that first month when he went off on holiday to celebrate getting the job) was representative of him as a manager. He attempts to play good football, and he'll turn up as the new Grimsby manager every couple of years.

We do have to question the job he is doing with Grimsby tho. Following on from Slade who led them to the Play Offs, Buckley has transformed Grimsby into a very comfortable lower half of the table club, with no chance whatsoever of pushing towards the sort of level where they should be playing. It might be a black and white stripes thing, but he's basically turned Grimsby into Notts County and that is certainly not a good thing. But there's always a cup run here or there to suggest that there may be better things on the horizon for the Fishy folk.

Inconsistency seemed to be the biggest problem for the Mariners last time round as mentioned above. But you could take it a stage further and say that their finish of 16th wasn't representative of their season as a whole. They finished with seven straight defeats, but they came at a time of the season when there was nothing left to play for other than play out the season. Mid table sides regularly finish the season poorly, as they come up against more motivated sides. With something to play for, they could easily have finished 5 or 6 places higher up the table.

The Wembley trip didn't help. It brought great League form in the run up, but they've lost every game since then reinforcing the seeing out the season idea floated above. That JPT run showed what this club is capable of doing. Every game they played in the competition was against a side higher up the league, including key wins over League one sides Huddersfield and Doncaster Rovers.

So if they can focus on the League rather than the Trophy, then they might just be able to put a run together that will threaten the top half of the table.

Every argument listed above could be thrown back at them as a reason why things won't go according to plan. Inconsistent sides don't suddenly find consistency from out of nowhere, and with the season no doubt looking that the relegation battle is sewn up before the season has even started, a bad start could see them writing the season off before the end of September. If they do that, and tread water in such a way like they finished last season, they could find themselves in a battle down at the bottom before they realise it, at which point it could be too late.

There's been little changes in terms of personnel. They've brought in some new defenders, but they pretty much look your average League Two journeymen. Players deemed not good enough for Wrexham and Brentford will do little to offer encouragement.

18th - Lower half nothingness

But they seem to spend so many seasons just making up the numbers. I appreciate it's rich for a supporter of club like ours who have been in this division since the year dot to say this, but if ever there was a club going nowhere, then it would appear to be Grimsby.

My perception could be way off, but they have just seemed to lurk around the lower reaches of the table, without any danger of troubling the top half or being dragged into the relegation battle. As we said above, they've turned into a slightly better version of Notts County, and that's far from being a good thing.

On the face of it, I find it difficult to see how things are going to be any different this time round. New signings seem okay, but not of a level that would see them shoot up the table. The signing of a Welsh international sounds great on paper, but on delving deeper and seeing that he was on the released list  from relegated Wrexham, then it's hardly time for ticker tape. Stockdale sounds alright, but he's a player on the way down in his career, rather than the way up.

As mentioned in previous previews, there are too many sides with ongoing issues whether it be points deductions or general incompetence to ensure that Buckley doesn't take Grimsby down into a relegation battle, but that will not define a successful season, and Buckley could be the first managerial casualty of the season. Surely another season down battling it out amongst the likes of Dagenham and Macclesfield will not be tolerated, can it?