Articles by Neville Butt

Cod Almighty | Writers

An ancient Mariner reaches back

28 February 2023

Our own ancient Mariner, Neville Butt, has a wander down memory lane to find the connections between the Mariners and the Saints

Ron Rafferty: more valuable than all the Sputniks in Russia

16 February 2021

Ron Rafferty was the lynchpin of Grimsby's talented squad of the last 1950s and early 1960s. Neville Butt remembers his great career

Erratic, tetchy but somehow enjoyable: a first away game

27 April 2020

Leeds was the home of John Charles, the gentle giant. But there was nothing gentle about the game Neville Butt saw there in 1951

Reckless abandon

14 April 2020

Farce or frustration are inevitable when a game has to be stopped. But Neville Butt's memories suggest it often rebounds to Town's advantage

GTFC hair or not XIs

13 April 2020

Lockdown time and you've got to think outside the box to keep your mind active. Dave Wherry has done just that and sent us some squad lists

Town take on the Old Invincibles

29 October 2019

Town's second home game after World War Two was a top-flight clash with Preston North End. It was Neville Butt's first match and it set a pattern that would last a lifetime

No advantage: the English FA and the Berkessy affair

20 August 2019

In the 1950s, English football was in decline. But as Neville Butt recalls, still the FA believed they had nothing to learn from other countries

Teachers and policemen

9 April 2019

Not all ex-players run a pub or open a sports shop. Neville Butt remembers some who swapped boots for mortarboard or truncheon

Bolton Wanderers well met

2 November 2016

Bolton Wanderers v Grimsby Town sounds like a fixture steeped in history. Neville Butt, a Town fan since the 1940s, picks out some highlights

One-hit wonders: the prequel

18 February 2016

Playing for Town once and once only is nothing new. Neville Butt takes the story back in time.

Neville Butt's Great Grimsby XI

10 March 2015

Time is running out to vote in the GreatGYXI poll, so let a man who has been watching Town since 1948 mark your card

I'm just wild about Clarrie: Grimsby keepers 1951-57

31 August 2014

Tom Daley's debut in a Lincolnshire derby described in Neville Butt's colourful article on Town keepers of the 1950s

In the shadow of Tweedy: Grimsby keepers 1947-51

24 July 2013

Town's England no.1 George Tweedy proved a tough act to follow. Neville Butt remembers his hapless successors

It all begins here

9 August 2012

A look back at opening-day encounters down the years and what they can tell us about the season ahead

Fifty years on

7 November 2009

Neville Butt remembers the last time Town took on Bath City