David Artell: Grimsby Town appoint ex-Crewe Alexandra boss as head coach
- Published
David Artell previously won promotion from League Two with Crewe Alexandra during the Covid-interrupted 2019-20 season
Grimsby Town have appointed former Crewe Alexandra boss David Artell as their head coach on a deal until the end of the 2025-26 season.
The 42-year-old replaces Paul Hurst, who was sacked by the Mariners in October after a run of one win in 10 League Two games left them 21st.
It is Artell's first managerial role since leaving Crewe in April 2022.
"It's an exciting time to be part of this football club," Artell told the club's official website., external
"I think there's a lot of hard work ahead, both on and off the pitch, but it's a challenge that I'm excited about and that I can certainly get on board with.
"I think it's been well documented now that I've turned down a few jobs in League Two, I turned down one last week, and I turned down assistant coach at Standard Liege in Belgium before that.
"The key thing is that there's a plan. [Owners] Jason [Stockwood] and Andrew [Pettit] have been absolutely explicit in the detail of where they want this club to go and I went 'that'll do'.
"Quite a lot of other clubs think that I'm the plan and I understand that but, at the same time, it's not just that. I've been mightily impressed by Jason and Andrew and what they have said."
Artell, who won seven international caps for Gibraltar during his playing career, was appointed by Crewe in January 2017 following the sacking of Steve Davis and led them to promotion from the fourth tier during the Covid-interrupted 2019-20 season.
He was the eighth longest-serving manager in English league football before he was sacked by the Railwaymen following their relegation to League Two late in the 2021-22 campaign.
"What really stood out to us when we looked at David's record is the impact his coaching had on the performance and quality of football played by his teams," Grimsby chairman Stockwood said.
"We've spoken before about playing attractive football in the 'Grimsby way', and we believe that we have secured a head coach who can work to produce that for our fans."