Wayne Burnett

Last updated : 24 February 2005 By Gtm
Wayne for Grimsby!
A lot of fans will choose Wayne in there all time Grimsby 11. A very loyal strong figure in the centre of midfield and a promising player from the word go.

Burnett started his career of in 1989 with Leyton Orient. After making around 50 apperances he was sold to Premiership club Blackburn Rovers for £80,000 in 1992 where he failed ever to make an apperance outside the reserve team.

Wayne spent a year at Ewood Park before he moved to Plymouth Argyle on a free transfer after his release from Blackburn. The effort and decent peformances he made in his 2 years at Plymouth earned him a deal with another top club. This time he joined Bolton Wanderers at Christmas time 1995 for £100,000.

Burnett made only 3 sub apperances for Bolton and was farmed out on loan to Huddersfield Town, where it took 3 apperances to convince The Terriers to sign him permanently for £100,000 and end his nightmare year at Burnden Park.

Burnett made around 50 apperances at the McAlpine Stadium in his 2 seasons with the club and was a regular in the squad and continued to impress and earn intrest from the higher clubs. However in January 1998 Wayne was loaned to Grimsby Town for 1 month, his first game was an away trip to Scunthorpe United in the Auto Windscreen Shield Northern Section Semi Final. The Mariners won 2-0 and Burnett played a blinder and scored for Town on the 90th minute.

Alan Buckley was so impressed that Huddersfield agreed to sell Burnett on yet again for £100,000. Wayne settled in straight away and spear headed the centre of the park and lifted Town in the last attempt of promotion. He will be greatly recognised as the player who scored the winning goal in the 2-1 Wembley win over Bournemouth in the Auto Windscreen Shield.
Wayne for Grimsby!


Burnett plugged on at Blundell Park and despite injuries he never really lost his place in the starting 11, as soon as he was fit he replaced anyone in his way.

Wayne played his last season for Town in 2001/2002 and his injury problems were getting too much for the club just like Richard Smith in the season previous.

Wayne was released at the end of the season and joined Conference club Woking. His non league affair lasted only a few weeks after Burnett decided to leave the club following an altercation with the clubs supporters. Apparently the club were losing heavily, Burnett came on as a sub and the fans expected him to turn the game round on his own as he was the clubs only Professional.

After a few weeks the player signed for Grays Athletic and also was added as a footballing extra in the Sky One Television football soap Dream Team. After cutting his deal short with Grays it was reported he had retired until he joined Grimsby rivals Peterborough United on a monthly rolling basis. It came as a huge shock as he was jolted back into the Professional gameafter over a year out of it, however Peterborough terminated his contract after only one month and he never got to play a single game.