Heritage Number #799
Tony Ford’s story at Grimsby Town began before he was really old enough to comprehend what it might become. At just 16 years old, the Grimsby born teenager made his first-team debut against Walsall in October 1975, beginning what would become one of the longest and most remarkable careers in club history.
What followed was more than a decade in which Ford grew from an exciting local prospect into one of the most important players of his generation at Blundell Park. He was a key part of promotion winning sides, twice winner of the club’s player of the year award and became one of the faces of a Mariners side capable of competing at the top of the Second Division.
By the time Notts County arrived at Blundell Park in 1985, Ford had already spent a decade in a Grimsby shirt.
The two sides had drawn 2-2 at Meadow Lane just three days earlier, setting up a replay in front of the Blundell Park crowd. A 4-2 victory followed for the Mariners, with Gary Lund scoring a hat-trick and Paul Wilkinson adding another.
For Ford, though, it was just another victory in a Grimsby career that would see him set the all-time appearance record for the club. Just months earlier, he had been named Supporters’ Player of the Year, later that season he would claim the award for a second successive year.
By then his career was already beginning to tell its own story. He had made over 400 appearances at the club, scoring 65 goals in all competitions, while playing his part in two promotion winning campaigns and the club’s Football League Group Cup victory in 1982. He had been named the Supporters’ Young Player of the Year in 1976 before winning the main Player of the Year award twice in successive seasons in 1984 and 1985.
His individual numbers were remarkable too. In 1978/79 Ford scored 16 league goals as Grimsby won promotion from the Fourth Division, while in 1984/85 he appeared in all 42 of the Mariners’ league fixtures. By the time he left Blundell Park in 1986, the local teenager who had arrived a decade earlier had become one of the most experienced and decorated players at the club.
In the summer of 1986, Ford joined Stoke City following a brief loan spell in Sunderland, bringing an end to his first spell on the Lincolnshire coast. A £35,000 transfer had taken him away from the club where he had grown from a 16-year-old prospect into a player with 418 appearances to his name.
Stoke City would become another substantial chapter. Ford spent three seasons at the club, making 112 league appearances and scoring 13 goals, before moving to West Bromwich Albion in March 1989. There, too, he became a regular, making another 114 league appearances and scoring 14 times.
Yet, after half a decade away from Grimsby, the story came full circle. In November 1991, Ford returned to Blundell Park for a £50,000 fee. Where previously he walked into the side as a teenager, he now returned as a man with more than 600 league appearances behind him at 32 years old.
There was something fitting about the reunion. Ford had spent the latter part of his career travelling the country, but Grimsby remained the club that had given him his first opportunity. Years later, he would sum up the privilege of representing his hometown side, “it was great to actually be able to play for your home town club”.
While his second spell would not reach the statistical heights of his first, Ford went on to make a further 68 league appearances in black and white, before eventually moving on once again.
By 1994 Ford’s second spell at the side had come to an end. He moved to Scunthorpe United where he made another 76 league appearances before being released. At first, this appeared to be the end of his playing career.
After being released by Scunthorpe, Mansfield Town offered the midfielder a role in coaching, instead he found himself back on the pitch. At Mansfield the veteran continued to appear week in week out, and by 1999 he had reached 824 Football League appearances, equalling the record held by former England winger Terry Paine.
Just two years earlier, Ford had been contemplating a life away from the pitch, now he stood on the verge of becoming the most prolific outfield player in English Football League history. He broke the record the week after equalling it, and he was not finished yet.
He moved to Rochdale later that year and carried on playing into his forties. In 2001, at 42 years old, the journey finally came to an end. His final Football League appearance came against Torquay United, bringing his final tally to 931 matches. No outfield player in English Football League history has made more appearances.
However, Ford was never interested in chasing the records. He admitted “I’m not one for records, though now it’s there, it’s a good feeling.” He added, “What a wonderful way to earn a living, doing something you liked as a kid.”
The numbers are extraordinary. Nine clubs. 931 league appearances. 108 goals. A career spanning four decades. But before all of that, a boy from Grimsby who walked out at Blundell Park as a teenager who eventually returned as one of the most experienced players in the country.
For all the grounds, teammates and managers that came and went, this record-breaking story started in the same place as so many others, Blundell Park.
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