Marcus Bignot: Grimsby Town sack manager after five months in job

Marcus Bignot won the National League North title as Solihull Moors manager last season

League Two club Grimsby Town have sacked manager Marcus Bignot after five months in charge.

The Mariners won nine of their 27 matches under Bignot, who left National League club Solihull Moors to become Grimsby boss in November.

His last game at the helm was Saturday's 3-1 win at Blackpool, which left them 14th in the table.

Michael Moore and Gary Whild, who worked under Bignot, have also left the club.

Former QPR full-back Bignot took his first managerial job in the English Football League with Grimsby when Paul Hurst, who had guided the Mariners to promotion from the National League earlier in the year, became manager of League One strugglers Shrewsbury.

Bignot had taken Solihull into the fifth tier of English football for the first time in the club's history seven months before his departure to Blundell Park.

"Following Grimsby Town's return to the EFL, there remains a strong ambition to build on last season's promotion," read a club statement.

"Therefore, it is with regret that the club has decided to release the current management team from their first-team duties."

Grimsby were eighth in the table when Bignot took over but the club sold 19-goal top scorer Omar Bogle to Championship strugglers Wigan Athletic in January.

Bignot's departure leaves Brighton's Chris Hughton and Carlisle's Keith Curle as the only managers from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds in the top four divisions of the English game.