Exclusive: 39-yr-old in contention to become new Grimsby boss
Former Grimsby Town star Danny Butterfield is in the frame for the vacant manager’s job at Blundell Park, Football Insider understands.
The League Two side are searching for a new manager after parting company with Michael Jolley last week after a run of seven games without a win.
A source at Grimsby has told Football Insider that a host of names have applied for the vacancy at the club and ex-Mariners hero Butterfield is among them.
Butterfield, who started his career at Grimsby and made over 140 appearances for the club before moving to Crystal Palace in 2002, is understood to be keen to become a manager in his own right and is keen to take that next step at Grimsby.
The 39-year-old is highly regarded in coaching circles after starting his coaching career while a player at Exeter before hanging up his boots in 2016.
Butterfield enjoyed a two-year spell coaching at Southampton’s famed academy between 2016-2018 before linking up with his former Exeter manager Paul Tisdale at MK Dons as first-team coach.
The manager that succeeds Jolley will have to guide the club away from the relegation battle as they currently sit 18th in the fourth tier only six-points clear of bottom-placed Morecambe.
The Mariners spent a chunk of last season in the bottom half of League Two before Jolley guided the club to safety with them ending up finishing 17th.
The 42-year-old won only 29 games of his 86 matches as Grimsby boss following his appointment in March 2018.
In other League Two news, a Premier League side are keeping tabs on a highly-rated defender at a north-west club.