Graham Rodger: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=MayNovember 20122021}}

| height = {{height|ft=6|in=2}}

| position = [[Defender (association football)|Defender]]

| currentclub = [[Grimsby Town F.C.|Grimsby Town]]<br>(Community Coach)

'''Graham Rodger''' (born 1 April 1967) is a Scottish-bornan English football coach, former professional [[association football|footballer]] and football manager who now works as a community coach and scout for [[League Two]] side [[Grimsby Town F.C.|Grimsby Town]].

As a player, he was a [[Defender (association football)|defender]] from 1984 until 1998 for [[Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.|Wolverhampton Wanderers]], [[Coventry City F.C.|Coventry City]] and [[Luton Town F.C.|Luton Town]] before finishing his career with a six-year stint at [[Grimsby Town F.C.|Grimsby Town]], where he retired in 1998 following the club's promotion to [[Football League First Division]]. Since his retirement from the playing side of the game Rodger has remained with Grimsby, firstly holding the position of community coach and later assistant manager and caretaker manager. In 2006, he had a brief stint as the club's permanent manager but was dismissed after 5 months in charge. Shortly after his dismissal he was brought back to the club once again taking up his role in the community.

The highpoint of GrahamRodger's playing days was his [[FA Cup]] win in 1987. Playing against the favourites [[Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur]], [[Coventry City F.C.|Coventry City]] secured a memorable extra-time victory. GrahamRodger featured as a substitute for the injured captain [[Brian Kilcline]] late in normal time, and played an important part in the winning goal<ref>[http://football.guardian.co.uk/FA_Cup/Story/0,,121412,00.html 1987 FA Cup Final]</ref> with a superb pass through several players to [[Lloyd McGrath]] which resulted in the goal seconds later.

Rodger transferred to [[Grimsby Town F.C.|Grimsby Town]] in 1992 and was an ever-present Defenderdefender for the club for the next six seasons. He was a regular for the club up until his final season, in which he was a part of the historic 1997/1998 Promotion team. He was released by manager [[Alan Buckley]] in the summer of 1998, and after training with [[Hull City A.F.C.|Hull City]] he retired from professional football.

After retiring from playing in 1998, Rodger was appointed Sports Inin Thethe Community Officer at Grimsby a year later in 1999. GrahamRodger later moved onto the coaching staff at [[Blundell Park]] and following the dismissal of manager [[Lennie Lawrence]] and his assistant [[John Cockerill (footballer)|John Cockerill]] in 2001, the new Town boss [[Paul Groves (footballer)|Paul Groves]] appointed Rodger as his new Assistant Manager. GrahamRodger was then given the managerial position on a caretaker basis when Groves was sacked in 2004. In his first game in charge of the club, The Mariners defeated local rivals [[Barnsley F.C.|Barnsley]] 6-16–1, with 4 goals coming from the ever-popular [[Phil Jevons]]. However, despite the good form under Rodger he was overlooked for the job and it in turn went to [[Nicky Law (footballer born 1961)|Nicky Law]]. With Grimsby suffering relegation to League Two a few months later, Law lost his job, and in stepped [[Russell Slade]].<ref>{{cite Onweb 5| June 2006, Rodger would finally get his break, and was appointed as the club's fullurl=https://leaguemanagers.com/managers/graham-timerodger/ manager, when Slade departed to join [[Yeovil Town F.C.|Yeovil Town]].title=League However,Managers hisAssociation managerial- career was not a happy one, and after a poor start to the season he was sacked on 5 November after five months in charge, with Grimsby hoping for promotion, the club found itself in the bottom third of the table. His replacement was to be [[Alan Buckley]] who in turn broughtGraham Rodger back to then club again as the Sports In The Community Officer, a previous position he had held from 1999 to 2001. Former Town midfielder [[Gary Childs]] was also given the same job.}}</ref>

===Grimsby Town=Honours==

{{reflist|30em}}

[[Category:English men's footballers]]

[[Category:Scottish men's footballers]]

[[Category:England men's under-21 international footballers]]

[[Category:AssociationMen's association football defenders]]