Paul Groves (footballer)

Paul Groves

200px Groves at West Ham United, August 2010
Personal information
Full name	Paul Groves
Date of birth	(1966-02-28) 28 February 1966
Place of birth	Derby, England
Height
Position(s)	Defender / Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
19??–19??	Belper Town	?	(?)
198?–1988	Burton Albion	?	(?)
1988–1990	Leicester City	16	(1)
1989	→ Lincoln City (loan)	8	(1)
1990–1992	Blackpool	107	(21)
1992–1996	Grimsby Town	184	(38)
1996–1997	West Bromwich Albion	29	(4)
1997–2004	Grimsby Town	270	(33)
2004	→ Scunthorpe United (loan)	7	(2)
2004	Scunthorpe United	6	(1)
2004–2005	York City	42	(3)
2005–2006	Stafford Rangers	30	(5)
Total		699	(109)
Managerial career
2001–2004	Grimsby Town
2009	Portsmouth (caretaker)
2012	Bournemouth
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Paul Groves (born 28 February 1966) is an English former professional footballer and manager. He notably captained and managed 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, Lincoln City, Blackpool, West Bromwich Albion and Scunthorpe United having also played at non-league level for Belper Town, Burton Albion, York City and Stafford Rangers. His playing career lasted from 1986 until 2006. 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. He was the senior coach at West Ham United following Avram Grant to the club from Portsmouth. However, he parted company with the club on 24 June 2011, following the arrival of Sam Allardyce he joined Bournemouth as the club's youth team manager. On 25 March 2012 he became the club's first team manager following a caretaker spell in charge, however he was relieved of his duties in October that year but was re-appointed as youth team boss.

Playing career

Burton Albion

Born in Derby, Derbyshire, Groves began his career in non-League football, playing for Belper Town before joining Burton Albion in 1988 for whom he appeared at Wembley Stadium for in the 1987 FA Trophy Final.

Leicester City

In April 1988 he moved to Leicester City for £12,000. He made 19 appearances for the Foxes, scoring two goals. In August 1989 he was loaned out to Lincoln City, playing eight league games and scoring once. Having not made the grade at Filbert Street, Leicester placed Groves on the transfer list and he eventually left the club in January 1990.

Blackpool

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 between 1990 and 1992.

Grimsby Town

In August 1992 Groves signed for Grimsby Town for £150,000 who at the time were managed by Alan Buckley. Groves became very consistent as a player at Grimsby and was a first team regular who regularly scored goals from midfield, in addition to being a good tackler. His goals enabled him to top the club's 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 played every league game in his first (four-season) spell and in his first three seasons. Groves became part of a nostalgic playing squad that harboured such professionals as Ivano Bonetti, Steve Livingstone, John McDermott and Gary Croft. Whilst at the club Groves also played under Brian Laws, and caretaker manager John Cockerill

West Bromwich Albion

His next port of call was to join West Bromwich Albion 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 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. This was the successful play-off promotion and Football League Trophy-winning season, in which Groves captained Grimsby to two Wembley Stadium 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, Leicester City, Sheffield Wednesday and Liverpool. 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 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 club's incoming new manager. Groves joined Scunthorpe United 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. He was described as "inspirational" by Scunthorpe manager Brian Laws. 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, in June 2004 along with former Grimsby teammate Kevin Donovan. 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 side Stafford Rangers. He brought his 19-year playing career to a close in May 2006 after helping them to promotion to the Conference National after making 32 appearances and scoring five goals in the 2005–06 season.

Management and coaching career

Grimsby Town

Groves who at the time was the club captain at Grimsby Town was installed as the player/caretaker manager at the club following the sacking of Lennie Lawrence and long serving assistant manager John Cockerill. 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 as his assistant and bolstered his side with several good loan signings, including Charlton Athletic duo Andy Todd and Martin Pringle. Groves managed to steer the club to safety and secured Town's place within what is now the Football League Championship 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 on loan by his replacement Nicky Law. He left Grimsby during the summer of 2004 and signed for York City as a player.

Portsmouth

In July 2006, he joined the coaching staff at Portsmouth. He was appointed as caretaker manager at Portsmouth alongside Ian Woan on 24 November 2009 after Paul Hart left the club, before the appointment of Avram Grant two days later on 26 November. Whilst at Fratton Park Groves worked for managers Harry Redknapp, Tony Adams, 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.

Bournemouth

Groves became youth team manager of Bournemouth in July 2011. On 25 March 2012, following the dismissal of Lee Bradbury, he became joint-caretaker manager of Bournemouth with head of youth Shaun Brooks, until the end of the 2011–12 season. In May 2012, despite having won only two of his eight games as caretaker manager, Groves was appointed as manager on a permanent basis, to the upset of a number of fans, who had called for an experienced candidate. Groves and assistant Shaun Brooks were sacked in October 2012 after only one win in the new season, Groves was replaced by former Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe. Two weeks later both Groves and Brooks were re-appointed to their previous roles at the club with Groves once again becoming youth team manager. He left Bournemouth in January 2014.

Crawley Town

In June 2014 Groves joined Crawley Town as a first-team coach. Groves left Crawley in May 2015.

Managerial statistics

As of match played 2 October 2012.

Team	From	To	Record					Ref
G	W	D	L	Win %
Grimsby Town	28 December 2001	9 February 2004	103	24	31	48	23.3
Portsmouth (caretaker)	24 November 2009	26 November 2009	0	0	0	0	0
Bournemouth	25 March 2012	3 October 2012	20	3	11	6	15.0
Total			123	27	42	54	21.95

Honours

Blackpool

• Football League Fourth Division play-offs: 1991–92

Grimsby Town

• Grimsby Town Supporters Player of the Year: 1995–96, 1998–99
• Football League Trophy: 1997–98
• Football League Second Division play-offs: 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

• Paul Groves career statistics at Soccerbase
• Paul Groves management career statistics at Soccerbase
• Masters Cup 2005 results