Onuora later denied that this was the case, claiming that Atkinson was at the club to film a fly-on-the-wall documentary called Big Ron Manager.
•
After a reasonable month with Grimsby, Onuora made his move to Blundell Park a permanent one, with the club pairing him up front with Michael Boulding in the absence of the injured Phil Jevons.
Shimelis appeared with Ethiopia in 2012 AFCON Qualifying, and emerged as one of the best players in Iffy Onuora's team which was eliminated from the final stages of the tournament.
After suffering an injury early on in the 2003–04 season, Soames found it tough to break back into the first team, and with the club having Michael Boulding, Iffy Onuora, Laurens ten Heuvel, Phil Jevons, Darren Mansaram, Jonathan Rowan and eventually Lee Thorpe and Isaiah Rankin in the squad, his first team appearances throughout the season were numbered.