Alan Buckley

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Alan Buckley bigraphy, stories - Footballer; football manager

Alan Buckley : biography

20 April 1951 –

Alan Peter Buckley (born 20 April 1951, Mansfield, England) is an English former professional footballer turned football manager who is U17’s team manager at Conference National side Grimsby Town.

As a player he was a forward from 1967 to 1987 for Nottingham Forest, Walsall, Birmingham City, Stourbridge and Tamworth.

He moved into management and has been in charge of Walsall, Kettering Town, West Bromwich Albion, Lincoln City and Rochdale. He gained renown for his three stints as manager of Grimsby Town between 1988 and 2008, where his accolades have made him the clubs most successful manager. Buckley is one of only 14 managers to have reached 1,000 matches in charge of a league club, but the only one of the 14 never to have managed a team in the Premiership or its predecessor, the First Division.

Honours

As a player

Walsall

  • All time scoring record: 202 goals in all major competitions
  • Most expensive signing: £175,000 from Birmingham City in June 1979

As a manager

Kettering Town

  • GMAC Cup winner: 1987

Grimsby Town

  • Division Four runners up, Promoted: 1990
  • Division Three 3rd place, Promoted: 1991
  • Auto Windscreens Shield winner: 1998
  • Division Two Play-off winner: 1998
  • Johnstones Paint Trophy runners up: 2008

Personal life

His younger brother Steve played over 300 games as a full-back for Derby County, and well over 100 for Luton Town. His son Adam played in midfield for Grimsby Town and Lincoln City, and his other son Simon also had a brief stint with Grimsby.

Media career

Since his departure from management with Grimsby in 2008, Buckley who continues to live in the area is often the co-commentator and guest pundit for BBC Radio Humberside’s coverage of Grimsby Town games. He has continued to work in this role alongsided his current management duties of the clubs U17 side.

Management career

Later as a manager, after a spell with non-league Kettering Town, he guided Grimsby Town to promotion from the Fourth Division in 1990 and they reached the Second Division a year later – where they spent all but one of the next 12 seasons. In his first two spells at the club, Buckley’s Grimsby sides were renowned for their attractive passing game and mounted periodic challenges for the play-offs. Buckley remained at Blundell Park until the autumn of 1994 when he joined Grimsby’s Division One rivals West Bromwich Albion. His spell at the Hawthorns lasted two-and-a-half years before he was sacked for failing to get Albion anywhere near a promotion challenge.

A few months after being sacked by Albion, Buckley returned to Grimsby in summer 1997 for his second spell as manager. Town had just been relegated to Division Two, but he took them back to Division One at the first time of asking with two Wembley visits in 1998. Buckley remained in charge for two full seasons after that, but was dismissed after just two games of 2000–01. A couple of brief, short-lived spells in Division Three followed – first with Lincoln City, arriving at Sincil Bank in January 2001. Buckley left the Imps in April 2002, with the club stating that financial reasons were behind his departure. He then took charge of Rochdale in June 2003, but left by mutual consent in December of the same year after failing to revive the club’s fortunes. On 9 November 2006 Buckley was appointed manager of Grimsby for a third time.

In his first season back with Grimsby, a mid-table finish was considered a creditable achievement after relegation from the Football League had looked a distinct possibility. In 2007–08, Grimsby made a slow start but soon picked up. A good run in the Football League Trophy saw The Mariners travel to the new Wembley 10 years after their first visit. However this time Grimsby lost 0–2 to MK Dons. League form suffered terribly afterwards, the season ending with eight straight defeats. After gaining just two points from the opening six games of the 2008–09 season, Buckley was again dismissed as manager.