Fenty's Faults

Lets look what John Fenty has done as chairman,

He has made many mistakes appointing the wrong men to manage the club,

But

He has put his own money into the club to cover his own mistakes,

Can anybody else tell us why he is a bad chairman, ?

Relegations has been down to the managers picking the wrong players so please do not include that

Whilst he is in charge, surely the board has a say in the selection of the manager as well??? So can that fully be attributed to him

Quoted from grimsby pete

He has made many mistakes appointing the wrong men to manage the club,

Hindsight is a wonderful thing

John's biggest fault is his inability to ignore the fans calling for managers to be sacked.

Quoted from grimsby pete

Lets look what John Fenty has done as chairman,

He has made many mistakes appointing the wrong men to manage the club,

But

He has put his own money into the club to cover his own mistakes,

Can anybody else tell us why he is a bad chairman, ?

Relegations has been down to the managers picking the wrong players so please do not include that

Of course you can include relegation's... That's like saying you can never sack the manager because it's the players who play...

The ground is rotten...

We are losing 1 million a year...

He hasn't sorted out the poor services at the club...

He hasn't sorted out the customer service side of the club...

He actually blames fans for his mismanagement...

bill and ben will have a couple of games to prove their worth, if not they'll be out too.....
we didnt really need this atm

Quoted from Chris

John's biggest fault is his inability to ignore the fans calling for managers to be sacked.

Unfortunately, his second biggest fault is an inability to appoint capable managers.

Whoever takes over as Chairman (assuming Fenty doesn't return), I hope they retain Shorty and Shouty as managers for the rest of the season, just for some much-needed stability, if nothing else. We can't afford to chop and change yet again.

We might be losing 1 million a year, but the other other options are to spend big like the last lot of idiots who ran the club, get ourselves in huge debt, have to re-mortgage Blundell Park - or sell it as other clubs have done with their grounds,  be locked out by the ground owner, be forced to play games on another ground, go bankrupt, go into administration, be demoted to the bottom pyramids of football......

JF has kept us away from all those nightmare scenarios, without him who knows what might happen.

Quoted from Chris

John's biggest fault is his inability to ignore the fans calling for managers to be sacked.

It depends how many fans were calling for the manager to be sacked.
What % of fans would you expect to be calling for a change before a chairman to take action ?
When has there been such a demand where Fenty hasn't taken action ?

Quoted from Harry Haddock

It depends how many fans were calling for the manager to be sacked.
What % of fans would you expect to be calling for a change before a chairman to take action ?
When has there been such a demand where Fenty hasn't taken action ?

Are you talking about how many contributors to the Fishy? How exactly will you establish the percentages of people wanting a manager out without conducting a ballot of supporters? And then what qualifies the supporter to have a right of a say?

He reacts to message boards, letters in the paper, individual comments in the ground.

He takes each and every comment far too personally in my opinion. He should care less about the loudest voices in my opinion and stick more to the bigger picture, have patience and give things time. For this, read Alan Buckley and Neil Wooods, both of whom were sacked too early, largely because a few fans got grumpy on message boards.

Nepotism.

Quoted from Chris

.

He takes each and every comment far too personally in my opinion. He should care less about the loudest voices in my opinion and stick more to the bigger picture, have patience and give things time. For this, read Alan Buckley and Neil Wooods, both of whom were sacked too early, largely because a few fans got grumpy on message boards.

Both of whom shouldn't have been appointed in the first place. We'd been needing a fresh appointment, something to break the old club connections for a while but gave Buckley a 3rd chance which, while worth a gamble if none of the other potential managers were standing out, didn't work out.
The Woods appointment was ridiculous and IF Fenty really does become influenced by 'grumpy fans' then he should have had his ear to the ground when considering Neil Woods as potential manager. He'd have heard an almost resounding groan.

Don't get me started on Newell. A little research there would maybe have averted his disastrous appointment, instead of what looks like a cherry-picking of his managerial stats.
Whether it was John Fenty or The Board with John Fenty, the management decisions have been the worst possible and lead us to where we are now.

Gave Buckley a "third chance"?? You're having a laugh aren't you? More like he gave US Another chance! He should never have been sacked from his second appointment here!!

Quoted from Chris

He takes each and every comment far too personally in my opinion. He should care less about the loudest voices in my opinion and stick more to the bigger picture, have patience and give things time. For this, read Alan Buckley and Neil Wooods, both of whom were sacked too early, largely because a few fans got grumpy on message boards.

Spot on, Chris!

Who actually knows ?

Who here actually dealt with JF in his role as Chairman and is privvy, first hand, to the ongoing running of the football club?

To lay blame, pick fault , character assassinate without any kind of actual knowledge is futile.

Manager selection / removal - board decision not one individual
Playing Budget - board decision not one individual

There are hundreds of things that people will aim at JF as its convenient to do so but they or i dont really know the truth behind our individual gripes.

I for one would only raise one thing from what i can assess of the man, and this is hardly a fault as such,  and that is that he is probably is too much of a fan and too accessible to fans which has perhaps got in the way and detracted from the day to day business.

The new ground business seemed to be a personal crusade for him and rightly so for all the economic reasons he has previously quoted but the financial outlay on that and dedicated time, which now appears wasted, (hindsight again), maybe could have gone elsewhere but who could foretell the credit crunch, double dip recession etc that has prevented that going forward. At least he tried to get it unlike every other board and chairman since 1989 when i think it was first muted.

Reflect on this especially following recent dispatches programme regarding ownership;

we know who he is
we know who we owe our debt (benign...if he keeps to his word) to
he is visible
you can e-mail him and he will reply
he climbs ladders to fix tannoys when its blowing a gale (ridiculous but hey, a mark of how much he cares)
he lifted the ban on thermos flasks (just for Icey that one)
in personal dealings with him regards using BP for charity games he has been approachable, extremely generous and helpful

and i dont believe he has made one single decision that he did not think was in the better interests of the clubs overall survival.

Quoted from Chris

Gave Buckley a "third chance"?? You're having a laugh aren't you? More like he gave US Another chance! He should never have been sacked from his second appointment here!!

Maybe the initial sacking was wrong but his third stint was a tired and much less energetic Alan Buckley, the appalling winless run under him was testament to that. Phrase it how you want, but we gave him a 3rd chance when we should have been looking further afield and breaking out of the former employee/promotion from within mentality.

Grimsby Town approached Alan Buckley, not the other way around. And an appalling winless run was side by side with a fantastic unbeaten run, which saw us as high as 9th and yet another Wembley appearence. This was also the last year Town mad a profit! Buckley worked with what he had and didnt demand a massive budget. Anyway, old arguments. My point stands. Fenty listens to the fans way too much, I've told him this and he denied it, so he agrees with you apparently which still doesnt make the tiniest bit of difference to me because I didnt believe him when he said it.

Quoted from moosey_club

Who actually knows ?

Who here actually dealt with JF in his role as Chairman and is privvy, first hand, to the ongoing running of the football club?

To lay blame, pick fault , character assassinate without any kind of actual knowledge is futile.

Manager selection / removal - board decision not one individual
Playing Budget - board decision not one individual

There are hundreds of things that people will aim at JF as its convenient to do so but they or i dont really know the truth behind our individual gripes.

I for one would only raise one thing from what i can assess of the man, and this is hardly a fault as such,  and that is that he is probably is too much of a fan and too accessible to fans which has perhaps got in the way and detracted from the day to day business.

The new ground business seemed to be a personal crusade for him and rightly so for all the economic reasons he has previously quoted but the financial outlay on that and dedicated time, which now appears wasted, (hindsight again), maybe could have gone elsewhere but who could foretell the credit crunch, double dip recession etc that has prevented that going forward. At least he tried to get it unlike every other board and chairman since 1989 when i think it was first muted.

Reflect on this especially following recent dispatches programme regarding ownership;

we know who he is
we know who we owe our debt (benign...if he keeps to his word) to
he is visible
you can e-mail him and he will reply
he climbs ladders to fix tannoys when its blowing a gale (ridiculous but hey, a mark of how much he cares)
he lifted the ban on thermos flasks (just for Icey that one)
in personal dealings with him regards using BP for charity games he has been approachable, extremely generous and helpful

and i dont believe he has made one single decision that he did not think was in the better interests of the clubs overall survival.

Top post.

Quoted from moosey_club

Who actually knows ?

Who here actually dealt with JF in his role as Chairman and is privvy, first hand, to the ongoing running of the football club?

To lay blame, pick fault , character assassinate without any kind of actual knowledge is futile.

Manager selection / removal - board decision not one individual
Playing Budget - board decision not one individual

There are hundreds of things that people will aim at JF as its convenient to do so but they or i dont really know the truth behind our individual gripes.

I for one would only raise one thing from what i can assess of the man, and this is hardly a fault as such,  and that is that he is probably is too much of a fan and too accessible to fans which has perhaps got in the way and detracted from the day to day business.

The new ground business seemed to be a personal crusade for him and rightly so for all the economic reasons he has previously quoted but the financial outlay on that and dedicated time, which now appears wasted, (hindsight again), maybe could have gone elsewhere but who could foretell the credit crunch, double dip recession etc that has prevented that going forward. At least he tried to get it unlike every other board and chairman since 1989 when i think it was first muted.

Reflect on this especially following recent dispatches programme regarding ownership;

we know who he is
we know who we owe our debt (benign...if he keeps to his word) to
he is visible
you can e-mail him and he will reply
he climbs ladders to fix tannoys when its blowing a gale (ridiculous but hey, a mark of how much he cares)
he lifted the ban on thermos flasks (just for Icey that one)
in personal dealings with him regards using BP for charity games he has been approachable, extremely generous and helpful

and i dont believe he has made one single decision that he did not think was in the better interests of the clubs overall survival.

Top post. Yes he has been a failure, but for all the reasons above, I'm grateful to him for keeping us in business. Yes, we're in a crumbling ground, yes we're pissing away £1m a year on wages, but up to now, that's mainly come out of HIS pocket. If he hadn't put his hand in there, who knows where we'd be? Nobody does. I know we have a club to go to, for now, and if we do go pop, it will now be in spite of JF, not because of him.

Quoted from Chris

Grimsby Town approached Alan Buckley, not the other way around. And an appalling winless run was side by side with a fantastic unbeaten run, which saw us as high as 9th and yet another Wembley appearence. This was also the last year Town mad a profit! Buckley worked with what he had and didnt demand a massive budget. Anyway, old arguments. My point stands. Fenty listens to the fans way too much, I've told him this and he denied it, so he agrees with you apparently which still doesnt make the tiniest bit of difference to me because I didnt believe him when he said it.

I'm actually agreeing, up to a point. Perhaps he listens only when it's something he has already made his mind up on, but seeks a little back up to make him more comfortable with the decision ? But if he takes on the views of the fans when sacking someone , he doesn't seem to employ the same method of gathering such views when taking them on in the first place, e.g Woodsy.

Quoted from Chris

Are you talking about how many contributors to the Fishy? How exactly will you establish the percentages of people wanting a manager out without conducting a ballot of supporters? And then what qualifies the supporter to have a right of a say?

He reacts to message boards, letters in the paper, individual comments in the ground.

He takes each and every comment far too personally in my opinion. He should care less about the loudest voices in my opinion and stick more to the bigger picture, have patience and give things time. For this, read Alan Buckley and Neil Wooods, both of whom were sacked too early, largely because a few fans got grumpy on message boards.

I cannot agree. Buckley shouldn't have come back a third time and Woods should have been sacked in February or early March, 2010; had woods been replaced then I believed, and still believe, Grimsby would not have dropped out of the 92.
Now is the time that loyalty to, and patience with, managers is an essential virtue, rather than a fault. In H&S Mr Fenty has finally got it right. How sad if they are not able to complete their mission, either through financial difficulties at Blundell Park or because a new man at the top wants his own appointment. Obviously I haven't had the connection with the club throughout Mr Fenty's tenure that true supporters have had, but my impression of him has been more favourable than negative, certainly compared to chairmen of many other clubs I've come across.
Good Luck anyway, I hope this all works out well, rather than the nightmare scenario that others have correctly pointed out could be the case.

Quoted from Chris

Grimsby Town approached Alan Buckley, not the other way around. And an appalling winless run was side by side with a fantastic unbeaten run, which saw us as high as 9th and yet another Wembley appearence. This was also the last year Town mad a profit! Buckley worked with what he had and didnt demand a massive budget. Anyway, old arguments. My point stands. Fenty listens to the fans way too much, I've told him this and he denied it, so he agrees with you apparently which still doesnt make the tiniest bit of difference to me because I didnt believe him when he said it.

Chris.  I spoke to John recently saying that it's the fans that get managers the sack.  Shooting me down he said "Not one sacking has been influenced by fan pressure"  Believe it if you want!  UTM!

Quoted from grimsby pete

Can anybody else tell us why he is a bad chairman, ?

he lost control of the finances and continues to claim that we're in great financial shape

Quoted from Harry Haddock

Hindsight is a wonderful thing

Here's some hindsight for you....

http://www.grimsby-townfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10417~545705,00.html

As a football club, we need to market and shape our operation more effectively......a lot of water has been passed since then but imho not much has changed.

Quoted from moosey_club

Who actually knows ?

Who here actually dealt with JF in his role as Chairman and is privvy, first hand, to the ongoing running of the football club?

To lay blame, pick fault , character assassinate without any kind of actual knowledge is futile.

Manager selection / removal - board decision not one individual
Playing Budget - board decision not one individual

There are hundreds of things that people will aim at JF as its convenient to do so but they or i dont really know the truth behind our individual gripes.

I for one would only raise one thing from what i can assess of the man, and this is hardly a fault as such,  and that is that he is probably is too much of a fan and too accessible to fans which has perhaps got in the way and detracted from the day to day business.

The new ground business seemed to be a personal crusade for him and rightly so for all the economic reasons he has previously quoted but the financial outlay on that and dedicated time, which now appears wasted, (hindsight again), maybe could have gone elsewhere but who could foretell the credit crunch, double dip recession etc that has prevented that going forward. At least he tried to get it unlike every other board and chairman since 1989 when i think it was first muted.

Reflect on this especially following recent dispatches programme regarding ownership;

we know who he is
we know who we owe our debt (benign...if he keeps to his word) to
he is visible
you can e-mail him and he will reply
he climbs ladders to fix tannoys when its blowing a gale (ridiculous but hey, a mark of how much he cares)
he lifted the ban on thermos flasks (just for Icey that one)
in personal dealings with him regards using BP for charity games he has been approachable, extremely generous and helpful

and i dont believe he has made one single decision that he did not think was in the better interests of the clubs overall survival.

I agree too. A fan , made a few errors some of which I would have made too. Put his money where his mouth was which was the acid test. Hope all will be clear soon as MP is mysterious. Why can they not work together for the common good - we all want the same UTM

Quoted from moosey_club

Who actually knows ?

Who here actually dealt with JF in his role as Chairman and is privvy, first hand, to the ongoing running of the football club?

To lay blame, pick fault , character assassinate without any kind of actual knowledge is futile.

Manager selection / removal - board decision not one individual
Playing Budget - board decision not one individual

There are hundreds of things that people will aim at JF as its convenient to do so but they or i dont really know the truth behind our individual gripes.

I for one would only raise one thing from what i can assess of the man, and this is hardly a fault as such,  and that is that he is probably is too much of a fan and too accessible to fans which has perhaps got in the way and detracted from the day to day business.

The new ground business seemed to be a personal crusade for him and rightly so for all the economic reasons he has previously quoted but the financial outlay on that and dedicated time, which now appears wasted, (hindsight again), maybe could have gone elsewhere but who could foretell the credit crunch, double dip recession etc that has prevented that going forward. At least he tried to get it unlike every other board and chairman since 1989 when i think it was first muted.

Reflect on this especially following recent dispatches programme regarding ownership;

we know who he is
we know who we owe our debt (benign...if he keeps to his word) to
he is visible
you can e-mail him and he will reply
he climbs ladders to fix tannoys when its blowing a gale (ridiculous but hey, a mark of how much he cares)
he lifted the ban on thermos flasks (just for Icey that one)
in personal dealings with him regards using BP for charity games he has been approachable, extremely generous and helpful

and i dont believe he has made one single decision that he did not think was in the better interests of the clubs overall survival.

Best post I've read in the last 2 days.

Quoted from upthestripes

Best post I've read in the last 2 days.

cometh the hour cometh the Moose