After promotion, manager, Paul Hurst, released a number of players, many of whom were pivotal to the previous season's promotion push. On 24 October 2016, Paul Hurst was appointed as Shrewsbury Town manager, Chris Doig also left Grimsby and made Hurst's assistant at Shrewsbury, thus leaving Dave Moore and Stuart Watkiss as caretaker managers. On 7 November 2016, Marcus Bignot, then manager of non-League side, Solihull Moors, was officially announced as the new Grimsby Town manager, along with the appointment of Micky Moore as his assistant. During the January Transfer Window, Bignot brought in a total of 6 players permanently, including Solihull Moors midfielder, Jamey Osborne, and Gateshead midfielder, Sam Jones. Omar Bogle, Grimsby's top scorer at that point in the season, left the club for Wigan Athletic. On 10 April 2017, Marcus Bignot was released from the club, along with Micky Moore and Gary Whild due to inconsistent results and Bignot's failure to release or sell any players who were not needed. His replacement was Russell Slade, who joined the club for the second time as manager on 12 April 2017. Slade's assistant was former Grimsby player, Paul Wilkinson. Grimsby finished 14th in their first season back in league football, with a total of 62 points. At the end of the season, club legends, Craig Disley and Shaun Pearson departed the club, alongside Josh Gowling, Dan Jones, Ashley Chambers and Gavin Gunning. With Danny Andrew departing for Doncaster Rovers and Rhys Browne departing for Yeovil a few weeks later.