Grimsby Town's Michael Jolley: Living through Twin Towers terror attack puts management in perspective

Michael Jolley, Grimsby football manager.
Cambridge graduate Michael Jolley was working as a bond trader in New York at the time of the terrorist attacks Credit: David Rose

Michael Jolley has always felt like an outsider. Grimsby Town’s bright manager is reminded of it constantly, every time he picks up a matchday programme, he is told he is the odd one out, the man who should not really be in the dugout.

He is the Cambridge University graduate from Sheffield, with an economics degree, who quit a lucrative life as a bond trader in New York shortly after his friend died, when the Twin Towers were brought down in a terrorist attack in 2001, to pursue his dream of becoming a football manager.

He was an outsider when he returned to England to try and force his way into coaching, working part time with Crystal Palace’s youth team, despite being told years earlier that he was not good enough to play the game as a teenager with Barnsley. 

Jolley remains an outsider now, as he prepares for his biggest test since he was appointed in March last year, returning to Palace to take on the former England manager Roy Hodgson in the third round of the FA Cup.

“People often say: look at what else you could have been doing,” said Jolley, sitting on a plastic chair in a portable office at Grimsby’s basic, but salubrious training ground, surrounded by half unpacked boxes of club merchandise. “But there’s nothing I would rather be doing than this.

Michael Jolley, Grimsby football manager
He was told he was not good enough to play footballer as a teenager with Barnsley Credit: David Rose

“Actually, a good number of my peers have contacted me and said they wish they were doing what I’m doing. Life’s full of choices. This was a long shot. A huge long shot.

“But, if you fix your mind on something and you work hard enough towards it for long enough, then in the end you can make it happen. And that’s something I try and preach to my players.

“I gave up a lucrative career, but listen, it’s the journey I’ve been on and I’m proud of it. It’s not everyone’s preferred profile for a manager. A lot of people like to have a manager that’s played many, many professional games. But as an outsider coming back into football, you’ve got to find a way.

“If you stand in front of players and you’re not credible, if you don’t know what you’re doing, the players will soon sense that and find you out. Hopefully in this first part of my management career I’ve made some small steps to becoming a successful manager.

“I suppose when you reach a situation like that, being told you’re not good enough to be a player, after studying at Cambridge, when you leave a great job in New York, it becomes about whether you’re willing to take a risk or not.

“I’m just a great believer that if you’ve got - I’m loath to use the word dream - but if you’ve got something you want to work towards, do not settle for something you’re not happy with.

“This was what I wanted to do, and as much as people can say you’re an outsider and you haven’t played the game, I feel that I’ve earned the right over 15 years, working in lots of different contexts, to get this opportunity at Grimsby.”

Michael Jolley, Grimsby football manager
Lolley's Grimsby Town take on Crystal Palace in the FA Cup on Saturday Credit: David Rose

Jolley had been selected by the FA to take part in their inaugural Elite Coaches Award in 2011, before his big break at Burnley as under-23 development coach, where he became a close friend and confidante of manager Sean Dyche.

A year in Sweden as the manager of AFC Eskilstuna was tough, but it led to the Grimsby job where Jolley has blossomed. He kept the team in League Two last season and his side – who were playing in the National League two years ago - have earned a reputation for their attractive football.

Jolley has done more than that. He has realigned the club with its town, after far too many conflicts with disgruntled supporters, re-establishing it at the heart of a community.

“This is a unique area,” Jolley explained. “I think anyone that reads about Grimsby and the region will understand that it’s had its challenges. The fishing industry and all of that.

“But there’s a re-energising, a growth and redevelopment process. There’s a huge wind farm being built off shore, and all kinds of things happening.

“This is a really proud area, and for us we have to understand our place in the community. The football club is a very important part of people’s lives here. It’s important that we take that role very seriously, that we engage with people, support local charities, local businesses…

“The fact that we’ve got 5,500 people going to the Palace game - with a 5.30 kick-off and no train back afterwards - tells you all you need to know about how Grimsby’s people feel. They care deeply. People want to get behind the football club - this is a great opportunity for them to do that.”

And through everything that has happened, Jolley retains a sense of perspective unavailable to most. His experience on that horrific September day in New York, when hundreds of people died, when his world came crashing down around him, frames everything.

“It was just an incredibly sad day,” Jolley explains, eyes fixed on the floor. “To live there, in too close a proximity for comfort, was something I’ll never forget. I had a friend who was lost that day.

“So, when you’re having a bad day here at Grimsby, and the skies are grey, that kind of thing pinches you. You remember how lucky we are.  It was just a sad, sad time. Again, the thing I’ve taken from it is a real sense of perspective. How lucky we are to do the jobs that we do and live the lives that we do.”

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