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Not a turtle neck in sight...

Who’s gonna knock the first bottle over on the floor?

Ultra professional  all round. The manager n owners are at one

PH is one of us isn't he? He gets it. Great sense of humour aswell, can see why players enjoy being around him.

Loving it. they really, really care. And they are ultra professional as well. We are in such a good place compared to Fenty

Think it’s confirmed what most of us knew, we’ve got a good bunch of people at the helm

I’ve been watching for a good 20 minutes and I haven’t shivered with embarrassment yet. Am I watching the right video?

They're talking about Paul Hurst's underwear atm

Quoted from Chrisblor

They're talking about Paul Hurst's underwear atm

Still not as cringey as the last efforts…

Quoted from Poojah

I’ve been watching for a good 20 minutes and I haven’t shivered with embarrassment yet. Am I watching the right video?

i've watched 20 minutes and im shaking with emotion. they all really get it. The stuff about the play offs had me welling up

The Fishy been mentioned a few times...

Brilliant stuff so far, really enjoying it, much better than that last  shower of shite with you know who around.

This is brilliant - to have these competent, sincere, articulate, committed people running the club. Just such a contrast to what’s gone before. They’re so invested. So passionate and thankful and ambitious. It’s great.

I bloody love Paul, i know social media is mentioned and you hear the negative voices more than the positves, the Jacko’s the placebobs of this world, but Paul has been manager for some of the greatest days and nights in my lifetime and i’m beyond appreciative that he is our manager, and i hope he knows how valued he is

I enjoyed that and thought it was good

Very honest, open and transparent with proper topics and content, everything about this event shows how much this club has moved forward and is moving forward?

So for once without picking the bones out of it;

Training ground ✅
Fenty paid off ✅
Jason & Andrew’s contribution 🙏✅
Undisclosed fees ✅
Loses 😱✅
Playing budget ✅
Toilets v Players ✅
Social media ✅
Cynics ✅
DC defending the teams ✅
Personal digs ✅
Play offs 😍
Fan base appreciation ✅
JT referencing this forum and it’s relative unimportance ✅

Other stuff…..

- There “is” a proper plan
- Transparent & modest feels like it’s in the DNA
- Achievable ambitions
- Complete unity & teamwork between the owners, DC and the gaffer, that should carry us far👍
- Gaffer has a sense of humour, we knew that, he also has lucky boxers.
- Subs, well he’s admitted he’s stubborn so can posters shut up about it now.
- We’re gunna win the cup….. according to Andrew, who hasn’t got too much wrong so far💪

Half time ….. feels like we’re 3 - 0 up, when was the last time that happened at BP🤔

UTM!!

Quoted from HertsGTFC

I enjoyed that and thought it was good

Very honest, open and transparent with proper topics and content, everything about this event shows how much this club has moved forward and is moving forward?

So for once without picking the bones out of it;

Training ground ✅
Fenty paid off ✅
Jason & Andrew’s contribution 🙏✅
Undisclosed fees ✅
Loses 😱✅
Playing budget ✅
Toilets v Players ✅
Social media ✅
Cynics ✅
DC defending the teams ✅
Personal digs ✅
Play offs 😍
Fan base appreciation ✅
JT referencing this forum and it’s relative unimportance ✅

Other stuff…..

- There “is” a proper plan
- Transparent & modest feels like it’s in the DNA
- Achievable ambitions
- Complete unity & teamwork between the owners, DC and the gaffer, that should carry us far👍
- Gaffer has a sense of humour, we knew that he also has lucky boxers.
- Subs, well he’s admitted he’s stubborn so can posters shut up about it now.
- We’re gunna win the cup….. according to Andrew, who hasn’t got too much wrong so far💪

Half time ….. feels like we’re 3 - 0 up, when was the last time that happened at BP🤔

UTM!!

I believe the term professional sums this all up. We should all be proud of the wonderful team we now have running our club.

The contrast with the Forum where Matt Dean got ambushed is incredible. Professional people in charge of a  football club , just as it always should be

Nice to see the real Paul Hurst tonight, not as guarded and very relaxed and really pretty amusing.

Watched most of and laughed out loud several times and not cringed once. I like PH even more now , he's genuine and honest and I like his personality.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Nice to see the real Paul Hurst tonight, not as guarded and very relaxed and really pretty amusing.

Perhaps it's because he's working in a 'Happy' atmosphere and free to do and say as he likes.

Just a quick note to Herve...accounts will be out in a couple of weeks!..you happy now?..
Gotta say, I'm enjoying this, open, honest, didn't seem to be any BS and Stockwood can't help himself can he, he just has to throw a swear word in when he can!!..

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Nice to see the real Paul Hurst tonight, not as guarded and very relaxed and really pretty amusing.

Loved his quip about moving the training ground to Sheffield

This is the real Paul Hurst. He isn’t a “dour yorkie” he isn’t boring. He can seem that way in post match interviews and the media. But every now and then he lets us in a bit. He’s funny, intelligent and articulate. I want that in a manager.

We just got onto the juicy subject of the transfer window and somebody asked a question about the bloody youth team!

Quoted from darren9

This is the real Paul Hurst. He isn’t a “dour yorkie” he isn’t boring. He can seem that way in post match interviews and the media. But every now and then he lets us in a bit. He’s funny, intelligent and articulate. I want that in a manager.

Definitely an intelligent and articulate decision not to use social media.

Great comments on the window that shut down some of the moaners.

Hurst confirms Andrew Dallas sensationally REFUSED the opportunity to join us last month! A cowardly position from a player content to loiter in mid-table national league obscurity!

Quoted from Chrisblor

Hurst confirms Andrew Dallas sensationally REFUSED the opportunity to join us last month! A cowardly position from a player content to loiter in mid-table national league obscurity!

What I took from that is that he has it in his head he can get a bigger move. If and what that is who knows, agents like to fill their heads with all kinds of nonsense in the hope of pushing them towards a deal that benefits them more. Probably end up at some mediocre Scottish team with some money that can pay the agent a fee.

Screw him. He’ll regret that.

Quoted from chaos33

Screw him. He’ll regret that.

Screw him?  That’s no way to respect the man who provided such a brilliant assist for JMD’s play off winner  

Jason Stockwood has never heard of the concept of induced demand. He's rolled out the 'we're only averaging 6.5k, there's still space in Blundell Park so we don't need to expand yet' line again. We absolutely would sell more tickets if casual supporters knew they could decide on the day of a game to go along to Blundell Park and confidently buy a few tickets for them and their family / mates. Right now there's no guarantee they'll be able to do that (without their seats being individually dotted around or coming with restricted views), but if we managed to add a few hundred (or 1000+) extra seats on the capacity i'm almost certain they'd get filled and our average attendances would increase. Wish someone would put these points to him!

PH spills the beans on his interview the first time round for the job...

Would you stay overnight at Barnet away?
Yes
We don't stay overnight at Barnet.
No then....

“Second Alf” …..as Mancini would say.

Now this was interesting and revealing, the ticks are measured on what I think was honesty & transparency rather than the answer I like or don’t like (there wasn’t much I personally didn’t like BTW),

Rationale behind the youth ✅
Hull recall example ✅
Transfer window openness ✅
Creative recruitment approach ✅
Signing players that want to be here ✅
Interested but not in for Dallas, agent as suspected? ✅
Commercial ✅
Colleague departures ✅
Ticketing system ✅
Season ticket discussions ✅
Kits based upon volumes & demand ✅
Next seasons contracts ✅
Increase In capacity ✅
Pitches ✅
Disabled parking ✅
Steward behaviour ✅
Pre season tour? ✅
Attacking coach ✅
Overnights & travel ✅
Cup income to playing budget clarity ✅
Planes 😂
Regulator ✅
Appreciation of the “support” ✅
The gaffer is happy working here, phew!! ✅

I reckon that’s the best fans forum we’ve had.

Look how good these events can be when the toxicity has been replaced by integrity and authenticity.

As DB says a professional vein is starting to appear.

Well done all.

UTM!

Quoted from Chrisblor

Jason Stockwood has never heard of the concept of induced demand. He's rolled out the 'we're only averaging 6.5k, there's still space in Blundell Park so we don't need to expand yet' line again. We absolutely would sell more tickets if casual supporters knew they could decide on the day of a game to go along to Blundell Park and confidently buy a few tickets for them and their family / mates. Right now there's no guarantee they'll be able to do that (without their seats being individually dotted around or coming with restricted views), but if we managed to add a few hundred (or 1000+) extra seats on the capacity i'm almost certain they'd get filled and our average attendances would increase. Wish someone would put these points to him!

Why didn't you go then and you could have put that point to him personally?

Quoted from Chrisblor

Jason Stockwood has never heard of the concept of induced demand. He's rolled out the 'we're only averaging 6.5k, there's still space in Blundell Park so we don't need to expand yet' line again. We absolutely would sell more tickets if casual supporters knew they could decide on the day of a game to go along to Blundell Park and confidently buy a few tickets for them and their family / mates. Right now there's no guarantee they'll be able to do that (without their seats being individually dotted around or coming with restricted views), but if we managed to add a few hundred (or 1000+) extra seats on the capacity i'm almost certain they'd get filled and our average attendances would increase. Wish someone would put these points to him!

I agree with you but he gives the same answer each time so I think it is obvious it is not on their agenda just yet probably due to cost.

One thing that did make my ears sharp object up was the difficulty they were having in getting sponsorships, which is in an area I thought they may have excelled in.

Overall though it was good; they clearly have the club's best interests at heart and they all seem committed to the cause, but it will be a case of slow and steady improvements.

All good apart from blind spots on ticketing system and need for extra ground capacity. PH a revelation.

Is there any evidence that people aren’t buying a ticket on the small chance they might not be able to sit next to their relatives or friends? Not saying increasing capacity isn’t valid but are we in danger or over egging this and actually, at present, we e enough seats for the genuine demand.

The training facilities are the clear priority and it’s nice to hear that’s a genuine plan that is in the latter stages of being finalised, rather than hearing an egocentric twit bang on about a new stadium that was about as likely as a solid stool after a curry…

Quoted from Chrisblor

Hurst confirms Andrew Dallas sensationally REFUSED the opportunity to join us last month! A cowardly position from a player content to loiter in mid-table national league obscurity!

Maybe he thought he’d done enough at this club after his assist for JMD in the PO final, he possibly thought he couldn’t reach that level if contribution again in the big games.

Quoted from chipsandgravy

Why didn't you go then and you could have put that point to him personally?

I live 70 miles away from Grimsby, have nowhere there to stay tonight, and made the same point from my earlier post in the Youtube live stream chat (where the club said they were also taking questions from) immediately after Jason made the remark. But thanks for the suggestion!

Quoted from Chrisblor

Hurst confirms Andrew Dallas sensationally REFUSED the opportunity to join us last month! A cowardly position from a player content to loiter in mid-table national league obscurity!

Makes you wonder if the Jamie Osborne experience played some part in his decision

Quoted from Chrisblor

Jason Stockwood has never heard of the concept of induced demand. He's rolled out the 'we're only averaging 6.5k, there's still space in Blundell Park so we don't need to expand yet' line again. We absolutely would sell more tickets if casual supporters knew they could decide on the day of a game to go along to Blundell Park and confidently buy a few tickets for them and their family / mates. Right now there's no guarantee they'll be able to do that (without their seats being individually dotted around or coming with restricted views), but if we managed to add a few hundred (or 1000+) extra seats on the capacity i'm almost certain they'd get filled and our average attendances would increase. Wish someone would put these points to him!

What facts do you have to substantiate we’d sell more tickets if we had more free seats next to each other?

Serious question not a dig, is this something you’ve experience and expertise in?

Quoted from Chrisblor

Jason Stockwood has never heard of the concept of induced demand. He's rolled out the 'we're only averaging 6.5k, there's still space in Blundell Park so we don't need to expand yet' line again. We absolutely would sell more tickets if casual supporters knew they could decide on the day of a game to go along to Blundell Park and confidently buy a few tickets for them and their family / mates. Right now there's no guarantee they'll be able to do that (without their seats being individually dotted around or coming with restricted views), but if we managed to add a few hundred (or 1000+) extra seats on the capacity i'm almost certain they'd get filled and our average attendances would increase. Wish someone would put these points to him!

I would have thought that the two blocks in osmand meets that demand you can’t buy a season ticket in that area so plenty of chance toget two or more seats together

Quoted from Chrisblor

I live 70 miles away from Grimsby, have nowhere there to stay tonight, and made the same point from my earlier post in the Youtube live stream chat (where the club said they were also taking questions from) immediately after Jason made the remark. But thanks for the suggestion!

70 miles....thats practically next door! Poor excuse!!

Quoted from Jarmo.Is.God

PH spills the beans on his interview the first time round for the job...

Would you stay overnight at Barnet away?
Yes
We don't stay overnight at Barnet.
No then....

On reflection that’s made me bloody angry, what kind of question is that to ask a potential manager of your football club.

Just shows what mattered most to Fenty.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

What facts do you have to substantiate we’d sell more tickets if we had more free seats next to each other?

Serious question not a dig, is this something you’ve experience and expertise in?

I don't have any hard evidence, but I do work in marketing and have a degree in economics so I can rationalise my thinking around this a bit further. As a football club we have core fans (season ticket holders), regular supporters (who go to most home matches), floating fans (who go to the odd game here and there), and non-supporters. For the purpose of this analysis core fans and regular supporters aren't going to be impacted by the availability of seating in the run up to a match at Blundell Park, but floating supporters, and non-supporters (i.e. potential *new* supporters) are. The club should be doing everything it can to attract floating supporters and non-supporters (who currently spend their Saturday afternoons and Tuesday evenings doing something other than paying to watch Grimsby Town) to more matches to increase ticketing revenue.

There are tens of thousands of people living around Blundell Park who don't go to matches - it's almost certain that some of them have looked into going to watch town given the increased success and profile of the club in the last 18 months, but have been put off by the difficulty in purchasing blocks of tickets together, especially at short notice. If the only seating options left at Blundell Park for new supporters (or floating supporters) to purchase immediately prior to kick-off are dotted around individually all over the place, or stuck behind restricted views, we're never going to increase that 6.5k average attendance without expanding the ground somehow. Considering we're obliged by the EFL to offer visiting clubs 3 of the 5 blocks in the Osmond as an away allocation (which many visiting teams then don't fill), quite a lot of those empty seats Jason claims to exist aren't even available for our fans to purchase!

Quoted from HertsGTFC

On reflection that’s made me bloody angry, what kind of question is that to ask a potential manager of your football club.

Just shows what mattered most to Fenty.

Why should that make you angry? It’s history, thankfully. He’s gone.

As an 1878 lover the 1 thing that I riled against was jason being disingenuous about the capacity. I think 1250 ie 15% is designated for way fans. There are a substantial amount of sth holders who dont attend all the games. If me n my wife go  wed have to wait till the last minute for the Ossie to open. Even worse if we were to try n persuade the kids to come (who are interested bystanders). Just open the Ossie up from day 1, n let people have a choice of seats ffs!

Quoted from Chrisblor

Jason Stockwood has never heard of the concept of induced demand. He's rolled out the 'we're only averaging 6.5k, there's still space in Blundell Park so we don't need to expand yet' line again. We absolutely would sell more tickets if casual supporters knew they could decide on the day of a game to go along to Blundell Park and confidently buy a few tickets for them and their family / mates. Right now there's no guarantee they'll be able to do that (without their seats being individually dotted around or coming with restricted views), but if we managed to add a few hundred (or 1000+) extra seats on the capacity i'm almost certain they'd get filled and our average attendances would increase. Wish someone would put these points to him!

I am a STH and travel from Sheffield. As the warmer weather approaches it would be nice to think I could persuade one or two of my N.E. Lincs relatives to come with me to the odd game like we did 20-30 years ago. For work and health reasons, this is problematic enough, but I sense that it would be very difficult to find extra seats near my own in the Upper on a Friday before the game. If the club could be more proactive and flexible in how seats of non attending STH's could be made available then I imagine the number of 'walk ups ' would increase. When I was on holiday at the start of the season I made sure that my seat was available. I did not hear all of the Forum so apologies if this was covered. It just seems silly that seats are not used when friends and families could have used them.

Paul Hurst was the star of the show. Eloquent even a bit of cheeky charm and charisma peeping through. Maybe take that down from YouTube. Otherwise the Deadpool crew might make come calling…Reynolds must have noticed our cup run and if he saw that and compared to their jabbering tosser…

Quoted from forza ivano

As an 1878 lover the 1 thing that I riled against was jason being disingenuous about the capacity. I think 1250 ie 15% is designated for way fans. There are a substantial amount of sth holders who dont attend all the games. If me n my wife go  wed have to wait till the last minute for the Ossie to open. Even worse if we were to try n persuade the kids to come (who are interested bystanders). Just open the Ossie up from day 1, n let people have a choice of seats ffs!

Disingenuous ! Glad I didn’t say that.

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

Paul Hurst was the star of the show. Eloquent even a bit of cheeky charm and charisma peeping through. Maybe take that down from YouTube. Otherwise the Deadpool crew might make come calling…Reynolds must have noticed our cup run and if he saw that and compared to their jabbering tosser…

Think wrexshow would be the last place Paul would be tempted too. I think Paul is here for the long haul with the owners giving him all he wants

Quoted from Chrisblor

I don't have any hard evidence, but I do work in marketing and have a degree in economics so I can rationalise my thinking around this a bit further. As a football club we have core fans (season ticket holders), regular supporters (who go to most home matches), floating fans (who go to the odd game here and there), and non-supporters. For the purpose of this analysis core fans and regular supporters aren't going to be impacted by the availability of seating in the run up to a match at Blundell Park, but floating supporters, and non-supporters (i.e. potential *new* supporters) are. The club should be doing everything it can to attract floating supporters and non-supporters (who currently spend their Saturday afternoons and Tuesday evenings doing something other than paying to watch Grimsby Town) to more matches to increase ticketing revenue.

There are tens of thousands of people living around Blundell Park who don't go to matches - it's almost certain that some of them have looked into going to watch town given the increased success and profile of the club in the last 18 months, but have been put off by the difficulty in purchasing blocks of tickets together, especially at short notice. If the only seating options left at Blundell Park for new supporters (or floating supporters) to purchase immediately prior to kick-off are dotted around individually all over the place, or stuck behind restricted views, we're never going to increase that 6.5k average attendance without expanding the ground somehow. Considering we're obliged by the EFL to offer visiting clubs 3 of the 5 blocks in the Osmond as an away allocation (which many visiting teams then don't fill), quite a lot of those empty seats Jason claims to exist aren't even available for our fans to purchase!

There is theoretical rationale in what you’re saying for sure but I have to say but as a marketeer you’ll know that the club can only have so much penetration into its catchment.

From what I’ve seen from the owners they’ll have insight of the size of the available market, demand and an understanding of why people may not come to BP.

Jason referenced it tonight, there is only so much money to play with and it needs to be prioritised on “must do” which includes improving the playing squad which will fill the ground and then fill it and give us a good problem to have.

Personally I’m not sure too many people are put off from coming because they can’t sit with their mates, if that’s your reason for not coming then maybe in reality it doesn’t mean enough to you.

Many clubs add seats in one way or an another, very few at our level fill them all. I’d rather the club spent money on players at the moment rather than what might happen.

Quoted from forza ivano

As an 1878 lover the 1 thing that I riled against was jason being disingenuous about the capacity. I think 1250 ie 15% is designated for way fans. There are a substantial amount of sth holders who dont attend all the games. If me n my wife go  wed have to wait till the last minute for the Ossie to open. Even worse if we were to try n persuade the kids to come (who are interested bystanders). Just open the Ossie up from day 1, n let people have a choice of seats ffs!

They keep repeating it…it’s wrong, we will never average 8k with Blundell Park in its current form - even in the Championship, there wouldn’t be 1,250 away fans every game. It’s clearly part of the narrative. I didn’t realise the training ground was going to cost £6 million, it’s the priority and that’s fair enough. We need to be able to have that in the show reel to show to players. Blundell Park is ranking behind it. From what AP hinted at they are looking at something better than temporary seats in the open corners but I suspect that will be a couple of years off.

In the meantime yes - just open both blocks of Ossie day 1.

The best fans forum to date for me, professional, honest and didn't shy away from any of the questions, and i actually enjoyed it (and wanted to hear more).  towards the end i thought PH got a little bit emotional after his speech about the club, he does get it and that shows to me he is one of us.

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

Paul Hurst was the star of the show. Eloquent even a bit of cheeky charm and charisma peeping through. Maybe take that down from YouTube. Otherwise the Deadpool crew might make come calling…Reynolds must have noticed our cup run and if he saw that and compared to their jabbering tosser…

I only watched the last episode of their TV thing oddly enough.

What made me laugh was Parkinson telling his team to “put them to the sword” whilst I suspect the gaffer was in the away dressing room talking through shape, transition, doubling up,  forward runs and playing the full 120+.

Paul Hurst came across as well as I’ve ever seen him. Such a funny and likeable bloke

I didn't get round to asking a question but it would have been something like.

Its not just the club that needs to improve (and is making steps as we can see), but the council also need to get onboard in making the area a bit better and to have something for people to do and to get rid of this stigma of it being a dump, and you could argue they have been a bit like the way JF previously ran the club (or felt like that) stagnating....just keeping our heads above water whilst everyone else swims by and i honestly think the council have done the same (now i dont live in GY anymore but visit parents every month).

“…ok thank you we’ll take that as a statement rather than a question, any more from the floor?”


Enjoyed that, good listen, killed some time while I was folding the washing. All sounded very positive on the training ground front, much more so than the “major problem” someone had mentioned on here recently.

Would be interested to see what £5-6m gets you in this kind of project. Lincoln’s initial outlay was £1.3m apparently and their’s looks like shít. Bradley initially cost £3m and has had another £1m investment in 2019 for 2no. new 3G pitches. Of that £4m total, £2m has come from the Football Foundation, about £1.4m from the Council and the remaining £600k from elsewhere.

Would imagine this is where it’s helpful for the club to have a training ground based in the area, and also have a community-use element. You wouldn’t get Doncaster or Goole Councils digging into reserves to part-fund a training ground for us.

Literally nine days ago people were saying thousands wouldn't renew season tickets because of a lack of ambition in the transfer window but now we want a couple of thousand extra seats in somewhere? Some value in scarcity as well.

Quoted from ska face

“…ok thank you we’ll take that as a statement rather than a question, any more from the floor?”


Enjoyed that, good listen, killed some time while I was folding the washing. All sounded very positive on the training ground front, much more so than the “major problem” someone had mentioned on here recently.

Would be interested to see what £5-6m gets you in this kind of project. Lincoln’s initial outlay was £1.3m apparently and their’s looks like shít. Bradley initially cost £3m and has had another £1m investment in 2019 for 2no. new 3G pitches. Of that £4m total, £2m has come from the Football Foundation, about £1.4m from the Council and the remaining £600k from elsewhere.

Would imagine this is where it’s helpful for the club to have a training ground based in the area, and also have a community-use element. You wouldn’t get Doncaster or Goole Councils digging into reserves to part-fund a training ground for us.

I think Lincoln's only cost 1.3 million. Unless they have had an upgrade...https://thelincolnite.co.uk/2018/11/first-look-at-imps-1-3m-training-facility/

Glad to see those so irate a few weeks ago were falling over each other queuing up to have their say tonight…

I was really impressed with that. We’ve heard a lot from the owners over the last 18 months and they never disappoint; honest, to the point and refreshing from years gone by.

What I was most impressed with though, was Paul Hurst. I suppose we should all have known he isn’t this dull Yorkshireman pushed by some. To be successful and have such a good reputation amongst players that he’s managed it’s obvious there’s more to him than the 5/10 minute media appearance every couple of days which he is somewhat guarded at - who can blame him to be honest.

Really insightful from what he said about the window, the work going on and some of the examples he gave. Also I thought there were some nice little anecdotes about his mother in law and family not being able to help themselves with telling him little bits from Social Media etc. We definitely saw a different side to him tonight - wish we saw that more to be honest.

Overall a really refreshing and positive listen/watch.

If  we just extended the main stand to meet up with the pontoon ( the police box could be moved )

That should add another 1,000--- 1250 seats maybe even 1500 extra seats we could average 8,000 next season if we are in the play off places or even better a top three place.

How much would that cost ?  And how long would it be to pay off. ?

Brilliant watch, our club is in good hands. Really, really impressed with Hurst, top bloke!

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

Literally nine days ago people were saying thousands wouldn't renew season tickets because of a lack of ambition in the transfer window but now we want a couple of thousand extra seats in somewhere? Some value in scarcity as well.

Aye. Some fans seem to have a "if we build it, they will come" take on things.

On a more general point, I think tonight showed what safe hands we are in and I hope it goes some way to convincing the naysayers as such.

I also noticed how PH got a few digs in against the old guard and emphatically pointed out why he left first time around.

The only thing left for us fans to do is to get behind the team for the rest of the season and see where we end up.

Quoted from Kris2

What I took from that is that he has it in his head he can get a bigger move. If and what that is who knows, agents like to fill their heads with all kinds of nonsense in the hope of pushing them towards a deal that benefits them more. Probably end up at some mediocre Scottish team with some money that can pay the agent a fee.

Everything that is wrong with football, get agents out of our game, ruining football for their means.

Quoted from The Yard Dog

Everything that is wrong with football, get agents out of our game, ruining football for their means.

I think there are good ones in the game that put the players best interests at the forefront. Read Ryan Giggs autobiography recently and he has high praise for his agent Harry Swales who he's been with a long time. You hear other stories where sadly this isn't the case.

Overall very positive and enjoyable watch. Paul was so relaxed, honest and cheeky, just shows he is happy and trusted in his job.

Regards the capacity, I understand people's frustration. We should have the osmond open straight away but for me we should be shoving away fans in the corner and having 3 blocks for town fans unless we can guarantee the away team will be bringing 1k+. 2 reasons for me, 1 it gives us more space and options of seats together, 2 it gives us our fans behind both goals to generate noise. But for me it isn't a major issue, yet.

Felt all the panel were very honest. I loved the fact Paul was very open about the transfer window. I admire him for that. Especially enjoyed (or not) the part were he explained about those 5 players (2 went to league 1, 1 didn't want to because of location, I forgot the other 2s reason!) But it was very insightful.

Anyway, very positive. I hope all Grimsby fans felt they'd come away from watching it with a better insight of the club and a more positive outlook.

UTM

I really enjoyed watching and listening to the "Head Team" at Blundell Park. Literally, every figure mentioned had 5 or more noughts behind it. £150K to improve the toilets, cost of new training ground has gone up to 5/6 Million, money to be spent on the pitches etc.

Now I'm not knocking JS as I think 1878 has done a brilliant job but his figure of 8,500 attendances doesn't and never will add up. He also talked of filling the 9,000 capacity ground. I did send in a question on this but it wasn't asked. Out the 9,000 capacity we have seats covered in tarpaulins, then the away allowance of up to about 1,500 fans. You are then looking at 7,500ish available seats. ST's are 6,000+, which leaves about 1,000+ walk ins.

JS quoted an average attendance of 6,500, but failed to say how many ST's don't turn up on average of which these NTU's have already paid an entrance fee (Money in the bank). Was the 6,500 just Town fans or did it included the away fans.

To me looking at those figures he certainly swerved the question of more seats/alterations to the structure of BP as did AP. The other thing which AP confirmed, as mentioned in posts on The Fishy, was that the excellent sales of ST's helped the clubs cash flow, as it meant a large lump sum was available from day 1 to plan the club's finances and not a drip feed income from match days. It was and is part and parcel of the budgeted income to run the club and not extra revenue for additional players.

What did come across very strongly was that although there has been an increase of none playing staff all of this is done to support the 1st Team and build extra finances for that purpose. Apart from my above rant, I thought that the questions were answered honestly and as much information was given as was possible.

While I, and most others on here, was frustrated about the January window Paul did give us an insight as to what the problems are, in so far as a players injured, now he's fit but you can't have him. The last day of the window comes and do you want him now as we have a replacement coming in?.

Dallas - we're interested in you can we talk? NO I don't want to come. Who would want Hursty's job?

I know some seem hell bent on wanting to increase stadium capacity but I really don’t think it’s the problem many think it is. Perhaps the ozzie tickets should be on sale straight away but other than that I really don’t think it’s worth worrying about just yet.

Regards the transfer window, again, I suspect anyone with half a brain and a sense or rationality probably knew what Hurst was gonna say and it’s totally understandable. For me, Dallas is probably hoping for a bigger mover with a bigger signing on fee in the summer but there’s a real chance he’s be another Jamie Osborne and his career will expand no further then dipping his toe in the league and then back to non league. We want players who want to play for us, for Hurst.

The general take on the whole thing, aside from being sleek and professional is that the club is in safe hands and decisions aren’t made on a whim. Any issues that have arisen regarding staffing have clearly been dealt with and there’s a plan, a vision but also some pragmatism, knowing that sometimes things will take longer or indeed, much like promotion last year, they come sooner…

Easy to belittle Dallas about that, but Forest Green are probably saying the same about us and Harry Clifton!  

Quoted from Chrisblor

Hurst confirms Andrew Dallas sensationally REFUSED the opportunity to join us last month! A cowardly position from a player content to loiter in mid-table national league obscurity!

Quoted from wigworld

Easy to belittle Dallas about that, but Forest Green are probably saying the same about us and Harry Clifton!  

Not really, Clifton signed a new contract with a football league club, Dallas appears to be running his contract down to perhaps negate a transfer fee and secure a better wage as a free agent. Risky for him as a bad injury in the next few weeks could scupper his plans, but it would put him in a much better bargaining position especially if he scores a few goals,
I doubt very much that many Forest Green fans see themselves as a bigger club than us.  I would be very surprised if clubs a lot bigger than FGR are not watching Harry very closely

I have just got around to watching the Fans Forum and what a refreshing change from previous 'attempts' by the previous owner/dictator. They all 'get it' in how much the club means to the fans and how important it is to be open and honest with them.

Any ideas who the two strikers who went to League 1 were ?

Quoted from Mikey_345

Glad to see those so irate a few weeks ago were falling over each other queuing up to have their say tonight…

I was really impressed with that. We’ve heard a lot from the owners over the last 18 months and they never disappoint; honest, to the point and refreshing from years gone by.

What I was most impressed with though, was Paul Hurst. I suppose we should all have known he isn’t this dull Yorkshireman pushed by some. To be successful and have such a good reputation amongst players that he’s managed it’s obvious there’s more to him than the 5/10 minute media appearance every couple of days which he is somewhat guarded at - who can blame him to be honest.

Really insightful from what he said about the window, the work going on and some of the examples he gave. Also I thought there were some nice little anecdotes about his mother in law and family not being able to help themselves with telling him little bits from Social Media etc. We definitely saw a different side to him tonight - wish we saw that more to be honest.

Overall a really refreshing and positive listen/watch.

Pleased to see my question about the transfer window & its challenges was read out, pretty pleased with the answer and that we have plans to address it

Quoted from gytone

Any ideas who the two strikers who went to League 1 were ?

We established at the time when Hurst made one of his comments about it that one of them was a kid as they were the strikers that went to League 1 clubs that week.

A few people seemed to think it was 19 year old Dale Taylor from Forest who went to Burton. He's played twice, scored once.

Fantastic and thoroughly professional discussion from the top team. Yes I am also a bit frustrated about JS discussions on capacity which I think are unrealistic (we can't wait until we get 8k every week as that isn't even dependent on Town fans as there are only room for about 7300 of them - the rest is for away fans).

But overall it was an excellent viewing, the owners really get it, and we are clearly in good hands. Hurst was very open and honest esp about the window and signing players, more so than I expected. He was also clearly at ease and as has been said more humorous and cheeky than he normally let's on. Some of the stuff him and JS was saying had me laughing out loud.

Such a contrast with the state the club was in under the fenty regime, like night and day.

Our location can also work in our  favour because we don't have any direct competition for support like Doncaster for example.

As a comparison we have a similar catchment area to Ipswich who, like us, are also out on a limb. They have I believe, around 13,000 season ticket holders in div 1. Granted it's a more affluent place to live, but their ticket prices are higher than ours. It's all relative. I'm not saying we could get that many, but we should be aiming for crowds higher than 6 - 8,000 ?

Quoted from mimma

Our location can also work in our  favour because we don't have any direct competition for support like Doncaster for example.

As a comparison we have a similar catchment area to Ipswich who, like us, are also out on a limb. They have I believe, around 13,000 season ticket holders in div 1. Granted it's a more affluent place to live, but their ticket prices are higher than ours. It's all relative. I'm not saying we could get that many, but we should be aiming for crowds higher than 6 - 8,000 ?

Ipswich have a much higher catchment population than us. Only professional team in a county of 760,000 people. We have a realistic catchment of about 200,000. Maybe a little more

Quoted from mimma

Our location can also work in our  favour because we don't have any direct competition for support like Doncaster for example.

As a comparison we have a similar catchment area to Ipswich who, like us, are also out on a limb. They have I believe, around 13,000 season ticket holders in div 1. Granted it's a more affluent place to live, but their ticket prices are higher than ours. It's all relative. I'm not saying we could get that many, but we should be aiming for crowds higher than 6 - 8,000 ?

Good point. During a lot of our non-league years, Scunthorpe was the beneficiary by hoovering up young talent and/or young supporters who live in North Lincolnshire because they were seen to be the team with more prospects, as indeed they were at the time.

I suppose we will now be trying to reverse this process and become the go-to club for uncommitted fans in our geographical area.

I think on the capacity issue they have decided it would too expensive at this stage of the project to increase it for the return it would give. I get the impression it will be the training facilities first before any major work is undertaken at BP. Like many I am frustrated at the lack of capacity but all in good time I guess.

If there is ever an example of football being a results business it was last night; a couple of very good results and everyone is happy - it would not have been quite so harmonious if it had been held a couple of weeks ago, fairly or unfairly.

Quoted from immariner

Ipswich have a much higher catchment population than us. Only professional team in a county of 760,000 people. We have a realistic catchment of about 200,000. Maybe a little more

Half of Suffolk is nearer to Cambridge then Ipswich . Supporters are allowed to cross county boundaries.

Went to the fans forum last night and I can honestly say that this is the first time i've fully felt that the people in charge have the club at heart. Sometimes you need to see it in the whites of their eyes I guess!

First time i've met Andrew Petit after having a mega quick chat with him afterwards and he seems a decent enough guy. Certainly has a good business head on him.

Stockwood for me is very good answering questions, sometimes swerves (but don't they all) however last night I don't think he did. Seems a decent chap aswell after speaking to him just once.

Debbie seems to be that she has her head on her shoulders, probably works well with the team.

Hurst last night really changed my opinion on him. He seemed relaxed, had a laugh, answered questions honestly (was surprised he answered the Dallas one, but glad he did) and I honestly felt last night, that I really hope the bloke goes on and has more success with the club and pushes up the league. Think he deserves it.

We are not always going to agree with his choice of starting line up and we will get frustrated with his signings at times, but we can only hope he gets more decisions right that wrong.

Looking forward to tomorrow now.... Another win would really add to the positivity going round the last week or so.

Lets get behind them all and the team and start pushing up the league... Play offs (although tough) is not impossible.

Quoted from Corkyefes

Went to the fans forum last night and I can honestly say that this is the first time i've fully felt that the people in charge have the club at heart. Sometimes you need to see it in the whites of their eyes

Hurst last night really changed my opinion on him. He seemed relaxed, had a laugh, answered questions honestly (was surprised he answered the Dallas one, but glad he did) and I honestly felt last night, that I really hope the bloke goes on and has more success with the club and pushes up the league. Think he deserves it.

We are not always going to agree with his choice of starting line up and we will get frustrated with his signings at times, but we can only hope he gets more decisions right that wrong.
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In some ways I do feel for Hurst. He's a nice enough fella who in many ways has his hands tied with who he can sign for Grimsby. As he stated location has been a problem in the past in trying to sign players due to the geographical position of Grimsby and I imagine money would be an issue as well in some cases. A decent up and coming player will have other suitors after him and the player and his agent will do what's best for themselves financially  ( can't really  blame them). Apply's to football in general ultimately.  

Quoted from Rick12

In some ways I do feel for Hurst. He's a nice enough fella who in many ways has his hands tied with who he can sign for Grimsby. As he stated location has been a problem in the past in trying to sign players due to the geographical position of Grimsby and I imagine money would be an issue as well in some cases. A decent up and coming player will have other suitors after him and the player and his agent will do what's best for themselves financially  ( can't really  blame them). Apply's to football in general ultimately.  

I didn't get that impression. I felt he was saying it was more the bad reputation we have got after 20 years in the doldrums in non-league and the lower reaches of League 2. Grimsby? No thanks, sort of reaction. Some agents and players won't be the least interested in the longer-term aspirations of the board, community club and improvements. It was interesting he mentioned some sort of promotional video which was well received.

Players will react the same to a lot of clubs I would imagine. Hartlepool? No ta and many others wherever they are if a player thinks he can do better.  

Quoted from Rick12

In some ways I do feel for Hurst. He's a nice enough fella who in many ways has his hands tied with who he can sign for Grimsby. As he stated location has been a problem in the past in trying to sign players due to the geographical position of Grimsby and I imagine money would be an issue as well in some cases. A decent up and coming player will have other suitors after him and the player and his agent will do what's best for themselves financially  ( can't really  blame them). Apply's to football in general ultimately.  

It's no secret that its difficult for Grimsby to sign players and somewhat you feel sorry for a manager like Hurst.

He did say last night that although location is a factor, there are numerous factors including reputation of the club (previously), unrealistic wage demands and player ambitions.
Its proven with Dallas thinking he will be able to sign for a higher club in the summer that location isn't always the main factor.

Out of them problems, we can really only control one, which is the reputation, as hopefully over the coming years, ours will improve with the new owners.

We are where we are and we just have to hope that we have a good end to the season. I for one would be delighted for Hurst if he managed to sneak us in the play offs (although, its a very tough task).

I always thought that we would consolidate this season anyway, so personally if we finish between 8th and 14th, we haven't had a bad first season back.
We just then hopefully bring in the players in the summer to take us that step further.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

I didn't get that impression. I felt he was saying it was more the bad reputation we have got after 20 years in the doldrums in non-league and the lower reaches of League 2. Grimsby, no thanks sort of reaction. Some agents and players won't be the least interested in the longer-term aspirations of the board, community club and improvements.  

I only watched snippets of the fans forum on you tube Lew but I still feel money ultimately talks in football. Players by and large are playing league 2 for a reason eg market forces . Put it this way if Real Madrid come after you as an under 18  year old as in the case of Vincius Jr where they paid 38  million for him where are you going to go there or Grimsby ?.

I do think though as others have said this club is in safer hands now than it was under previous owners which is good to see.

Quoted from Rick12

I only watched snippets of the fans forum on you tube Lew but I still feel money ultimately talks in football. Players by and large are playing league 2 for a reason eg market forces . Put it this way if Real Madrid come after you as an under 18  year old as in the case of Vincius Jr where they paid 38  million for him where are you going to go there or Grimsby ?.

I do think though as others have said this club is in safer hands now than it was under previous owners which is good to see.

Yes we agree on that. Money talks. A high percentage of league 2 players we wanted would "come to Grimsby" if we were paying Wrexham's wages.

We are never going to do that, so we will have to try to achieve success in other ways which is their stated aim which is fair enough.

Just watched it from start to finish and I'm probably unaware sometimes of the cost of things that happen behind the scenes that you don't even think about. It's lovely to see how in harmony Paul seems to be with the owners and that he personally cares for the club and it means alot to him. Must also feel nice that he feels he's 100% backed and have the owners beside him with him being the man to lead the helm.

Regarding transfers again I don't think there was anyone that thought that the window was abit lacklustre and didn't think we brought enough in but the process of us evolving and having it explained to me shows that I think we will be more than OK going forward and when the summer arrives can only see it being positive for us.

Great night and think it was very positive.

Quoted from immariner

Ipswich have a much higher catchment population than us. Only professional team in a county of 760,000 people. We have a realistic catchment of about 200,000. Maybe a little more

Living in Suffolk and travelled to most towns working for Suffolk C.C.

I can tell you there are many teams not far away that a lot of people support rather than Ipswich including Norwich. Cambridge.Colchester and even GRIMSBY  

I have just caught up with the fans forum, I think it was long overdue and emphasises that we are in good hands. Overall it was good, things were generally backed up with numbers: toilets would cost £150k, a new pitch would cost £700k or £1m, training ground likely to cost £6m etc.

I do keep getting irked on this capacity thing though. We can't get 8000+ in for league games because a high volume of STHs don't turn up for a lot of games! I bought the last 2 tickets together in the Upper the other week and the whole row in front of me was empty with plenty of empty seats elsewhere in the Upper. I get that expansion does cost money but Jason expecting 8000+ every week before we do anything is just not possible.

And the ticket system, we all know as users of it that it isn't good enough and ticket office staff have made comments to me about it when I've phoned through the order instead. Yes, Ticketmaster is expensive but I am sure there are alternatives at a similar price point. Our ticket system needs to become more intelligent and not allow people to leave single seats because the lack of being able to buy two seats together is a problem.

Overall though, it was very informative and interesting. We are looking at a £1m loss when the accounts come out in a few weeks. Hurst is clearly happy here, I think he's learned what football clubs can be like from his previous spell here and during his time away. By all accounts, he has been heavily involved in what the training facility will eventually look like and I think he wants to see these improvements through.

Quoted from HerveJosse

Half of Suffolk is nearer to Cambridge then Ipswich . Supporters are allowed to cross county boundaries.

Only around the western fringes will Ipswich be losing support to Cambridge and along the northern fringes to Norwich. I'm also certain that there's far more people in north Essex that support Ipswich than people in south Suffolk supporting Colchester. The point I was trying to make (badly) was it's not the size of the catchment that's important, it's the amount of people living in it

Quoted from jamesgtfc

I have just caught up with the fans forum, I think it was long overdue and emphasises that we are in good hands. Overall it was good, things were generally backed up with numbers: toilets would cost £150k, a new pitch would cost £700k or £1m, training ground likely to cost £6m etc.

I do keep getting irked on this capacity thing though. We can't get 8000+ in for league games because a high volume of STHs don't turn up for a lot of games! I bought the last 2 tickets together in the Upper the other week and the whole row in front of me was empty with plenty of empty seats elsewhere in the Upper. I get that expansion does cost money but Jason expecting 8000+ every week before we do anything is just not possible.

And the ticket system, we all know as users of it that it isn't good enough and ticket office staff have made comments to me about it when I've phoned through the order instead. Yes, Ticketmaster is expensive but I am sure there are alternatives at a similar price point. Our ticket system needs to become more intelligent and not allow people to leave single seats because the lack of being able to buy two seats together is a problem.

Overall though, it was very informative and interesting. We are looking at a £1m loss when the accounts come out in a few weeks. Hurst is clearly happy here, I think he's learned what football clubs can be like from his previous spell here and during his time away. By all accounts, he has been heavily involved in what the training facility will eventually look like and I think he wants to see these improvements through.

From a financial point, it does not matter if ST's do not turn up as the ticket money is already in the bank. Hence the calculated income is ST's,plus walk ins and away fans.

There’s an issue with the online ticketing system, we know that and they clearly do but there’s obviously contractual obligations.

The obsession over people being able to buy tickets isn’t clearly an issue to the club really and let’s be honest, will anyone be locked out of BP tomorrow because they can’t get a ticket.

I would argue that perhaps a better system for STh to sell back their ticket is needed and should be marketed properly but equally, surely the club won’t just allow STH to sell their ticket back for a cash return and then be in a position to not sell that seat? We’d end up out of pocket.

I guess there could be work to be done regarding those regular non attendees but once we’ve had their money there’s little that can be done really.

May be we’re just so used to having something to moan at we’ve found this as our new focus.

Overall though, the fans forum was a great example of how well run the club currently is and as a fan it is reassuring that we have some unity and vision to drive us forward…