Before 1920, Grimsby Town’s team was selected by committees comprising club officials, directors and senior players. Haydn Price became the club’s first formally appointed team manager in June 1920.

Manager	From	To	Status
Haydn Price	30 Jun 1920	22 Nov 1920	Manager
Selection Committee	22 Nov 1920	23 Mar 1921	Interim team selection
George Fraser	23 Mar 1921	31 Mar 1924	Manager
Wilf Gillow	30 Jun 1924	15 May 1932	Manager
Frank Womack	23 May 1932	15 Oct 1936	Manager
George Pearce	15 Oct 1936	22 Mar 1937	Caretaker
Charlie Spencer	22 Mar 1937	May 1951	Manager
George Tweedy	Jul 1950	20 Jan 1951	Caretaker during Spencer’s illness
Frank Womack	20 Jan 1951	7 May 1951	Caretaker
Bill Shankly	6 Jun 1951	31 Dec 1953	Manager*
Selection Committee	10 Jan 1954	19 Feb 1954	Interim team selection
Billy Walsh	19 Feb 1954	1 Mar 1955	Manager
Selection Committee	1 Mar 1955	16 Mar 1955	Interim team selection
Allenby Chilton	16 Mar 1955	22 Apr 1959	Player-manager
Bill Lambton	22 Apr 1959	4 Feb 1960	Caretaker
Tim Ward	Feb 1960	22 Jun 1962	Manager
Tom Johnston	Jul 1962	26 Oct 1964	Manager
George Higgins	26 Oct 1964	23 Nov 1964	Caretaker
Jimmy McGuigan	24 Nov 1964	1 Jul 1967	Manager
Don McEvoy	19 Jul 1967	13 Jan 1968	Manager
Bill Harvey	17 Jan 1968	19 Jan 1969	Manager
George Higgins	19 Jan 1969	3 Mar 1969	Caretaker
Bobby Kennedy	4 Mar 1969	5 May 1971	Manager
Lawrie McMenemy	24 May 1971	21 Jun 1973	Manager
Ron Ashman	23 Jun 1973	3 Feb 1975	Manager
John Fraser	3 Feb 1975	28 Feb 1975	Caretaker
Tom Casey	28 Feb 1975	8 Nov 1976	Manager
Dick Conner	8 Nov 1976	20 Dec 1976	Caretaker
John Newman	21 Dec 1976	11 Jul 1979	Manager
George Kerr	11 Jul 1979	10 Jan 1982	Caretaker, then manager
Dave Booth	11 Jan 1982	20 Oct 1985	Caretaker, then manager
Peter Grotier	21 Oct 1985	11 Nov 1985	Player-caretaker
Mick Lyons	12 Nov 1985	30 Jun 1987	Manager
Bobby Roberts	1 Jul 1987	9 May 1988	Manager
Alan Buckley	6 Jun 1988	20 Oct 1994	Manager
John Cockerill	20 Oct 1994	28 Nov 1994	Caretaker
Brian Laws	29 Nov 1994	1 Nov 1996	Player-manager
John Cockerill	1 Nov 1996	14 Nov 1996	Caretaker
Kenny Swain	15 Nov 1996	21 May 1997	Caretaker, then manager
Alan Buckley	21 May 1997	21 Aug 2000	Manager
John Cockerill	21 Aug 2000	28 Aug 2000	Caretaker
Lennie Lawrence	28 Aug 2000	28 Dec 2001	Manager
Paul Groves	28 Dec 2001	9 Feb 2004	Player-manager
Graham Rodger	9 Feb 2004	3 Mar 2004	Caretaker
Nicky Law	4 Mar 2004	10 May 2004	Manager
Russell Slade	28 May 2004	31 May 2006	Manager
Graham Rodger	5 Jun 2006	6 Nov 2006	Manager
Stuart Watkiss	6 Nov 2006	9 Nov 2006	Caretaker
Alan Buckley	9 Nov 2006	15 Sep 2008	Manager**
Stuart Watkiss	15 Sep 2008	7 Oct 2008	Caretaker
Mike Newell	6 Oct 2008	18 Oct 2009	Manager**
Neil Woods	19 Oct 2009	23 Feb 2011	Caretaker, then manager
Dave Moore & Robbie Stockdale	23 Feb 2011	22 Mar 2011	Caretaker management team
Rob Scott & Paul Hurst	23 Mar 2011	6 Sep 2013	Joint managers
Paul Hurst	6 Sep 2013	24 Oct 2016	Manager
Dave Moore & Stuart Watkiss	24 Oct 2016	7 Nov 2016	Caretaker management team
Marcus Bignot	7 Nov 2016	10 Apr 2017	Manager
Russell Slade	12 Apr 2017	11 Feb 2018	Manager
Paul Wilkinson	11 Feb 2018	4 Mar 2018	Caretaker
Michael Jolley	2 Mar 2018	15 Nov 2019	Manager**
Anthony Limbrick	15 Nov 2019	1 Jan 2020	Caretaker
Ian Holloway	31 Dec 2019	23 Dec 2020	Manager**
Ben Davies	23 Dec 2020	30 Dec 2020	Caretaker
Paul Hurst	30 Dec 2020	28 Oct 2023	Manager
Ben Davies & Shaun Pearson	29 Oct 2023	27 Nov 2023	Interim co-head coaches
David Artell	27 Nov 2023	Present	Head coach

Notes

* Bill Shankly resigned on 31 December 1953 but agreed to continue until a replacement was found; his final match in charge was the 5–5 FA Cup draw with Fulham on 9 January 1954.

** There are a few brief overlaps between appointment dates and caretaker periods because the incoming manager had been appointed but left the caretaker in charge for the next match. GTFC Heritage explicitly documents this for Buckley in 2006, Newell in 2008, Jolley in 2018 and Holloway in 2019/20.