Go John. Enough is enough.

I've never hidden behind my fishy username and I won't hide behind political half truths either.

Facts are facts.

John Fenty was chairman when this great club were almost relegated from the football league if not for Luton's 30 point deduction.

The following season, Grimsby Town were the 91st of 92 and were relegated out of the football league!

5 years on, we are an established non league Conference outfit.

Hull City lie a universe away, they've got their act together so no issues there. I think they'll go down this year, hope so but they'll be looking at Championship football.

But Scunthorpe, who have been at least a division, mostly two, sometimes THREE divisions above us, I can't abide. It embarrasses me, humiliates our club.

I don't doubt JF had done his best but when is your best not good enough?

I've heared what's happened with Azza and his flat by the way.

And the other options are ???

Quoted from KK_DOG

And the other options are ???

A Wolves legend has just passed away. How much did he sell the club he 'loved' after investing £30 million.

3000 fans £400 a year each as long as Fenty foregoes his loans.

Quoted from KK_DOG

And the other options are ???

If John would publically state what he's let this massively financially valuable club go for (to the nearest million), then maybe we'd find out?

Perhaps making the exact meaning of his 'benign' loans which according to latest accounts now exceed £3m would help?

Let it go for £0 JF. You've done enough damage, put it right by putting excrement loads of money in or don't and go.

Quoted from Civvy at last

A Wolves legend has just passed away. How much did he sell the club he 'loved' after investing £30 million.

Jack Hayward I guess you mean. He sold the club for a tenner in return for a guarantee the new owner would invest £30m in the club/team. I've no idea how much he spent himself on the club while he was chairman but it was a hell of a lot.

Pathetic argument
Yeah, I don't want the £3m back which I;ve pumped into the club...and by the way I've really appreciated the dog's abuse I've had on here on many occasions.

Fenty goes...asks for his loans back...club can't pay them..no-on else prepared to put any cash in...club goes into admin...wound up in High Court

Hello, Hereford, Darlington, Rushden

I'm not Fenty's puppy, just someone who does nolt see a viable (or has ever heard of) Plan B and, despite our current position, I'd much rather have a team to support

Quoted from CambsMariner

3000 fans £400 a year each as long as Fenty foregoes his loans.

I think 6000 @ £200 is doable.

Only problem would be the elected board and what happens IF things don't work out? Not being negative at all mate. And am in no way or form suggesting I know the problem (though it's euro millions tonight!) or any beneficiaries that the club could turn to. Am sure there are money men around that could possibly gamble on the club and taking it forward. But, as mentioned by bpv, there are certain things standing in their way

He hadn't had dogs abuse, honestly I think he has got off lightly. You are talking about a chairman / owner that had taken Grimsby Town OUT of the football league! After a fortuitous reprieve the season before. He has had FIVE years to take this club out of the wilderness. We just get weaker and weaker and more reliant on him. Walk away, the club surely had no value? It loses money every week according to the PLC accounts?

It has no value? I'd like him to state his price for his benign loans, am alone in hearing people will not work with him? Mike Parker has a large holding, never heard a word from him which worries me more that JF's embarrassing and unprofessional rants.

Quoted from Stevie Saunders

Pathetic argument
Yeah, I don't want the £3m back which I;ve pumped into the club...and by the way I've really appreciated the dog's abuse I've had on here on many occasions.

Fenty goes...asks for his loans back...club can't pay them..no-on else prepared to put any cash in...club goes into admin...wound up in High Court

Hello, Hereford, Darlington, Rushden

I'm not Fenty's puppy, just someone who does nolt see a viable (or has ever heard of) Plan B and, despite our current position, I'd much rather have a team to support

Does it have to be one extreme or the other though?

Cannot a compromise be reached,something that the fans can buy into (not financially) and see a light at the end of a long dark tunnell?

I think what BPV is getting at is that we cannot go on with Fenty in charge forever, whilst making no progress at all.

Surely a restructure of some kind, an olive branch to other big investors and a willingness to put his big ego aside for the good of the club would help?

Or go the other way, and make serious investment in all areas of the club, especially on the playing/managerial front to force our way back into the league.This is the big issue for me - he seems happy to pay an awful lot of money for not a lot, whereas with some serious investment he could get the fans onside, give us a proper chance of promotion.

In any event, this situation cannot go on like this indefinately. Fans need hope, heroes on the pitch, and a feeling that we are heading in the right direction regardless of short term results.

This is ridiculous, as Stevie Saunders said, he walks and we have no club.
Yeh, that's really sensible that is.

UTM

What happened with Aswad's flat?

Quoted from 75

I'll be at the next forum, if allowed in the ground and Monday to Wednesday.

I've never hidden behind my fishy username and I won't hide behind political half truths either.

Facts are facts.

John Fenty was chairman when this great club were almost relegated from the football league if not for Luton's 30 point deduction.

The following season, Grimsby Town were the 91st of 92 and were relegated out of the league!

5 years on, we are an established non league Conference outfit.

Hull City lie a universe away, they've got their act together so no issues there. I think they'll go down this year, hope so but they'll be looking at Championship football.

But Scunthorpe, who have been at least a division, mostly two, sometimes THREE divisions above us, I can't abide. It embarrasses me, humiliates our club.

I don't doubt JF had done his best but when is your best not good enough?

I've heared what's happened with Azza and his flat by the way.

Ive got no idea how shooting ones self in the foot would solve anything, agreed things are not as we would like them but 4th in the league is better surely than admin FFS

The only people in the way are John Fenty and possibly the banks. There is definitely an air of discontentment around Blundell Park from top to bottom. Something is bound to give in a big way very shortly and if somebody doesn't act quickly the club we love will spiral downwards at a rate we may not be able to stop.

It's true that JF's reign has coincided with our fall from grace, and it's debatable whether he has been a contributing cause, or the primary cause of the situation, or if he is - in context - the club's saviour.  I always felt that the new ground project is a huge decade-long distraction from getting the team properly fixed, and that his passion about GTFC is often dissipated by poor PR skills.

But - he puts his money where his mouth is, and abusive rants about the guy who, along with we supporters, is keeping the club afloat is a self-defeating thing.

Come up with a credible alternative plan and everyone will listen.  Until you have something constructive to say, this kind of lazy commentary doesn't help anyone.


UTM
--------------------------------------
‎You're a big man, but you're out of shape. Me? I do this for a living. Now behave yourself

Quoted from CambsMariner

The only people in the way are John Fenty and possibly the banks. There is definitely an air of discontentment around Blundell Park from top to bottom. Something is bound to give in a big way very shortly and if somebody doesn't act quickly the club we love will spiral downwards at a rate we may not be able to stop.

Anyone else willing to roll the dice?

I don't think too many people with cash are willing to work with JF? I've heared that from many sources, though self made millionaires are probably buggers to get into partnerships with.

I'll be clear, the few times I d met John, he's been a gent. I've no problems with the bloke on a personal level but to get my facts right, he was the chairman when we so nearly went out of the football league at Bournemouth, to not learn from that and to be relegated from the football league was and is calamitous. We are not Accrington Stanley (no disrespect). But 5 years later, we are still non league, under his leadership (he speaks for the board, not sure what the CEO Ian Fleming does) and yes had more than a fair crack. He's failed so massively we are two leagues below Scunthorpe.

Alfreton are our local rivals now.

Quoted from 75

He hadn't had dogs abuse, honestly I think he has got off lightly. You are talking about a chairman / owner that had taken Grimsby Town OUT of the football league! After a fortuitous reprieve the season before. He has had FIVE years to take this club out of the wilderness. We just get weaker and weaker and more reliant on him. Walk away, the club surely had no value? It loses money every week according to the PLC accounts?

It has no value? I'd like him to state his price for his benign loans, am alone in hearing people will not work with him?

Something has to be done I love this club but can't stand this slow agonizing death much longer. No one has come forward because the club has not been put on the market , you don't sell a car or house before you decide to sell. Mr Fenty or anyone else need to be big enough to admit when they are beaten and look at the bigger picture and do what's right for the club, fans and town. Mr Fenty is not the only one running our club there are other directors and their silence is deafening.

I've heard several stories about people not wanting to work for or with him. I've heard lots of reasons (in interviews) why he doesn't command respect etc. I've nothing personal against him and I'm sure that he has tried his best, but, as BPV says, there needs to be an exit strategy because he's had his time and his best has not been good enough.

The bottom line is the £3million benign loan. I've posted too many times on here about what he means by benign. What's the bottom line? What is the price tag for GTFC?

When you sit in the hot seat at any club in the land you get smoke blown up your rear end when things are great and abuse when it isn't.

Is JF to blame for relegation out of the

Championship, no
League 1, debatable
League 2, most definitely
Failure to make us a force in the conference, most definitely.

Frustrations seem to be spilling over, people may claim he has saved the club and in some respects he did.  Others have just the right claim that he has suffocated the life out of the club the way it is at the minute.

I laugh my balderdash off when people cry but who will come in with money, it was claimed at the time that MP joined the board that he was worth 3 times what JF was.  Look at the investment by both when they were both involved at the same time and look at the time line of the train crash that was the shares issue.

Regardless of what people want or demand, the state of the club is in Fenty's hands, it's his legacy.

It is well known that people have tried to invest in GTFC, but won't, or can't if Fenty remains involved.  He has dragged this club as low as he could and absolutely needs to walk away before the good times can return.  Any business that had performed as we have over the last 10 years would, without doubt demand a change of control.  Time to get the Fenty Out signs dusted down, he might go round snapping them though!
  Scunny's new ground plan is moving fast, as someone else said, they have a dynamic chairman who it seems is respected by the local council.  We have a stubborn & childish chairman, who with his politics, is not helping the club get its support from the council and never will whilst he is involved.

Quoted from mariner91

What happened with Aswad's flat?

Fenty has earmarked it as an enabling development.

Quoted from jonnyboy82

Fenty has earmarked it as an enabling development.

If that was a joke you missed the smiley.

Quoted from kingster72

It is well known that people have tried to invest in GTFC, but won't, or can't if Fenty remains involved.  He has dragged this club as low as he could and absolutely needs to walk away before the good times can return.  Any business that had performed as we have over the last 10 years would, without doubt demand a change of control.  Time to get the Fenty Out signs dusted down, he might go round snapping them though!
  Scunny's new ground plan is moving fast, as someone else said, they have a dynamic chairman who it seems is respected by the local council.  We have a stubborn & childish chairman, who with his politics, is not helping the club get its support from the council and never will whilst he is involved.

I repeat what I said yesterday...Everything you read suggests that this time the NELC are fully behind the scheme. Politics have little or nothing to do with it. Mind you I don't know how many Socialist millionaires there are financially backing football clubs.....

Quoted from Marinerz93

If that was a joke you missed the smiley.

I was serious  

Quoted from barralad

I repeat what I said yesterday...Everything you read suggests that this time the NELC are fully behind the scheme. Politics have little or nothing to do with it. Mind you I don't know how many Socialist millionaires there are financially backing football clubs.....

Abramovich? He's quite rich.

Quoted from barralad

I repeat what I said yesterday...Everything you read suggests that this time the NELC are fully behind the scheme. Politics have little or nothing to do with it. Mind you I don't know how many Socialist millionaires there are financially backing football clubs.....

Don't know about now but Robert Maxwell did!

I'm not sure if Fenty has been a club saviour or villain. Until recently, i only cared about what happened on the pitch and never thought much about the financial running of the club. None of us have the benefit of hindsight and under a different owner/chairman/CEO whatever, we may have been better off and we may have been worse off, who knows?

I do know that i have never been more disillusioned with my club and football in general than i am right now. Something aint been right for a long time and more and more supporters are getting past the stage of caring. Is that the Chairmans fault, the managers fault, the players, the fans, the economic climate, our location, the Prem hoovering all the talent and money........................ the list is endless.

Perhaps the way forward is more fan ownership or full fan ownership ala Wrexham. At least it would bring the fans back closer to the club, if nothing else. Expanding the role of the trust may be the way to go?

I would be prepared to throw in a few hundred quid if it was invested wisely by people with more knowledge than myself. Would a share drive do any good?

Just throwing out ideas. I'm self employed but i'm no businessman and i'm sure someone will be along shortly to take a big dump on my post.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Don't know about now but Robert Maxwell did!

Oh aye..former Labour M.P. for the Socialist stronghold of Buckingham...how did he do it!

Quoted from KK_DOG

And the other options are ???

Far too practical a suggestion. Nobody ever has a Plan B other than some vague pipe dream that the glory days will come back in we are suddenly plunged into poverty.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Abramovich? He's quite rich.

I suspect, but I may be entirely wrong, that he isn't a Socialist despite coming from the cradle of Communism...

Fenty and Hurst out- you get my vote
enough is enough lets get a new heiracy
Doug

Surely the team that turns out wearing Town shirts have to shoulder some of their responsibilities as well as JF - time to man up and show some spirit so us fans can get behind them instead of venting our frustrations because of the constant inept performances

The way I see it first mistake was never forging ahead with a new stadium any of the times we've been over acheiving in the championship, I know there's always been plans but there was definately an opportunity there and so many clubs have either built new stadiums or expanded since the 1980s, and the ones that haven't, many who previously excelled in 10.000 seaters or less, now languish at lower levels, while there's previously nowhere clubs who have risen and now challenge for trophies or European places in the premiership at times.

But as for our demise to this level, fenty might be the saviour of our club financially on paper, but years of instability and shoestring budgets and hoping for the best, lead to frequent squad rebuildings and a final two year splurge of constant panic signings before we went out of the football league. Now we've FINALLY Learnt those lessons, but we might not be backing the right manager, without having tried the method of employing a lower league promotion specialist, and the transfer policy has improved but the budgets are at their limit now whereas it was CLEAR under alan Buckley that he was given pocket changs, not saying employing him for a third spell was a great idea but I'd have backed him given a reasonable budget to build a good base for a league 2 club and provided stability and something to build from, instead after reaching a cup final and going to Wembley, despite there being a few things clearly lacking in the squad, we provided him with a 33 year old who didn't want to be here. For someone who made his millions by being an ambitious chancer looking for opportunities to build, town under fenty have seemed very unambitious and financially niave, always making cuts and only thinking about today rather than the future. Anyway sorry for the massive rant, don't blAme anyone for not reading

Quoted from WHYWONTYOULETMESIGNUP

The way I see it first mistake was never forging ahead with a new stadium any of the times we've been over acheiving in the championship, I know there's always been plans but there was definately an opportunity there and so many clubs have either built new stadiums or expanded since the 1980s, and the ones that haven't, many who previously excelled in 10.000 seaters or less, now languish at lower levels, while there's previously nowhere clubs who have risen and now challenge for trophies or European places in the premiership at times.

But as for our demise to this level, fenty might be the saviour of our club financially on paper, but years of instability and shoestring budgets and hoping for the best, lead to frequent squad rebuildings and a final two year splurge of constant panic signings before we went out of the football league. Now we've FINALLY Learnt those lessons, but we might not be backing the right manager, without having tried the method of employing a lower league promotion specialist, and the transfer policy has improved but the budgets are at their limit now whereas it was CLEAR under alan Buckley that he was given pocket changs, not saying employing him for a third spell was a great idea but I'd have backed him given a reasonable budget to build a good base for a league 2 club and provided stability and something to build from, instead after reaching a cup final and going to Wembley, despite there being a few things clearly lacking in the squad, we provided him with a 33 year old who didn't want to be here. For someone who made his millions by being an ambitious chancer looking for opportunities to build, town under fenty have seemed very unambitious and financially niave, always making cuts and only thinking about today rather than the future. Anyway sorry for the massive rant, don't blAme anyone for not reading

It is rather a long post

Quoted from WHYWONTYOULETMESIGNUP

The way I see it first mistake was never forging ahead with a new stadium any of the times we've been over acheiving in the championship, I know there's always been plans but there was definately an opportunity there and so many clubs have either built new stadiums or expanded since the 1980s, and the ones that haven't, many who previously excelled in 10.000 seaters or less, now languish at lower levels, while there's previously nowhere clubs who have risen and now challenge for trophies or European places in the premiership at times.

But as for our demise to this level, fenty might be the saviour of our club financially on paper, but years of instability and shoestring budgets and hoping for the best, lead to frequent squad rebuildings and a final two year splurge of constant panic signings before we went out of the football league. Now we've FINALLY Learnt those lessons, but we might not be backing the right manager, without having tried the method of employing a lower league promotion specialist, and the transfer policy has improved but the budgets are at their limit now whereas it was CLEAR under alan Buckley that he was given pocket changs, not saying employing him for a third spell was a great idea but I'd have backed him given a reasonable budget to build a good base for a league 2 club and provided stability and something to build from, instead after reaching a cup final and going to Wembley, despite there being a few things clearly lacking in the squad, we provided him with a 33 year old who didn't want to be here. For someone who made his millions by being an ambitious chancer looking for opportunities to build, town under fenty have seemed very unambitious and financially niave, always making cuts and only thinking about today rather than the future. Anyway sorry for the massive rant, don't blAme anyone for not reading

It may have been a rant, but it was a good one, and raises an important point about Buckleys third spell.

I think Alan was partly at fault for believing his own hype that he could turn any set of players into a formidable machine, but in reality as your post acknowledges, we needed to spend some money to give him a squad to work with.

Had we done that, I am sure everything would be different now.

I mean, where else could we have possibly got a manager as good as Alan Buckley? A legend in football and so well respected and we gave him Boshell, Clarke and North et al. A disgrace.

And he still managed to get us to Wembley against league opposition - none of this non league rubbish!

Quoted from Stevie Saunders

Pathetic argument
Yeah, I don't want the £3m back which I;ve pumped into the club...and by the way I've really appreciated the dog's abuse I've had on here on many occasions.

Fenty goes...asks for his loans back...club can't pay them..no-on else prepared to put any cash in...club goes into admin...wound up in High Court

Hello, Hereford, Darlington, Rushden

I'm not Fenty's puppy, just someone who does nolt see a viable (or has ever heard of) Plan B and, despite our current position, I'd much rather have a team to support

Woof Woof!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Olive branch to which investors?
Who are they? where are they?

if they exist fine...lets' get something organised but I genuinely think GTFC is a totally unattractive investment possibility for anyone who has a bit of cash

And I genuinely feel JF has suffered massive abuse on here from many different posters over a long period of time

Quoted from nickmariners

It's true that JF's reign has coincided with our fall from grace, and it's debatable whether he has been a contributing cause, or the primary cause of the situation, or if he is - in context - the club's saviour.  I always felt that the new ground project is a huge decade-long distraction from getting the team properly fixed, and that his passion about GTFC is often dissipated by poor PR skills.

But - he puts his money where his mouth is, and abusive rants about the guy who, along with we supporters, is keeping the club afloat is a self-defeating thing.

Come up with a credible alternative plan and everyone will listen.  Until you have something constructive to say, this kind of lazy commentary doesn't help anyone.


UTM
--------------------------------------
‎You're a big man, but you're out of shape. Me? I do this for a living. Now behave yourself

" it's debatable whether he has been a contributing cause"--No its not. He has well a truly copulated up our football club

The only way to come up with a 'credible alternative' is for Fenty to put Town up for sale officially with the books opened to any person/persons interested in buying the club.
Fenty apologists are always saying there is no one out there to take the club on but we will never know unless he puts it on the open market.  

Didn't JF take on a club devastated by ITV Digital onits way to disaster .Ive never met the guy but cannot understand the excrement he gets in here after all he's pumped a lot of cash into the club when no one else was willing to step up to the plate. For people thinking Abramovich is waiting in the wings get real , quit moaning like spoilt female dogs and keep the faith as good times will eventually come our way.

Quoted from WHYWONTYOULETMESIGNUP

The way I see it first mistake was never forging ahead with a new stadium any of the times we've been over acheiving in the championship, I know there's always been plans but there was definately an opportunity there and so many clubs have either built new stadiums or expanded since the 1980s, and the ones that haven't, many who previously excelled in 10.000 seaters or less, now languish at lower levels, while there's previously nowhere clubs who have risen and now challenge for trophies or European places in the premiership at times.

But as for our demise to this level, fenty might be the saviour of our club financially on paper, but years of instability and shoestring budgets and hoping for the best, lead to frequent squad rebuildings and a final two year splurge of constant panic signings before we went out of the football league. Now we've FINALLY Learnt those lessons, but we might not be backing the right manager, without having tried the method of employing a lower league promotion specialist, and the transfer policy has improved but the budgets are at their limit now whereas it was CLEAR under alan Buckley that he was given pocket changs, not saying employing him for a third spell was a great idea but I'd have backed him given a reasonable budget to build a good base for a league 2 club and provided stability and something to build from, instead after reaching a cup final and going to Wembley, despite there being a few things clearly lacking in the squad, we provided him with a 33 year old who didn't want to be here. For someone who made his millions by being an ambitious chancer looking for opportunities to build, town under fenty have seemed very unambitious and financially niave, always making cuts and only thinking about today rather than the future. Anyway sorry for the massive rant, don't blAme anyone for not reading

Obviously a big difference in running a fish business and an entertainment business.

Another boring thread about getting rid of Fenty.

This Board needs an enema

Quoted from Grim up north

Didn't JF take on a club devastated by ITV Digital onits way to disaster .Ive never met the guy but cannot understand the excrement he gets in here after all he's pumped a lot of cash into the club when no one else was willing to step up to the plate. For people thinking Abramovich is waiting in the wings get real , quit moaning like spoilt female dogs and keep the faith as good times will eventually come our way.

Oh FFS ITV again bla bla bla. Who put a gun to his head??? He put his money in with his eyes open.
How do you know there was no one else willing 'to step up to the plate'????
How do you know there's no one out there willing to put money into the club??? Like I have said if the club goes on the open market then we would know.  

Good idea.

Lose John, no one else will invest, we will have no money, and follow Hereford

Quoted from Jarmo.Is.God

Good idea.

Lose John, no one else will invest, we will have no money, and follow Hereford

So how do you know there is no one out there to invest there money in Town?????

Quoted from Jarmo.Is.God

Good idea.

Lose John, no one else will invest, we will have no money, and follow Hereford

Or Lose john, someone will invest, we will have money , and we will not follow Hereford.

no one knows what would happen and I wouldn't want john just to leave but maybe more in the way of inviting investment or go looking for it, the thing is we had someone willing to do that in mike parker but I doubt we will ever get the true story of whatever happened there.

Quoted from TAGG

Oh FFS ITV again bla bla bla. Who put a gun to his head??? He put his money in with his eyes open.
How do you know there was no one else willing 'to step up to the plate'????
How do you know there's no one out there willing to put money into the club??? Like I have said if the club goes on the open market then we would know.  

Out of interest what exactly does the "open market" mean.

FWIW I agree with you about ITV Digital being old hat but from memory there wasn't anybody other than JF who did step up to the plate in the wake of that particular crisis-including the board at the time who'd definitely got us into the mess we were in. I wasn't involved at the time but wasn't that when the initial meetings for The Trust came about because a significant number of fans were very worried about the future.

Quoted from barralad

Out of interest what exactly does the "open market" mean.

FWIW I agree with you about ITV Digital being old hat but from memory there wasn't anybody other than JF who did step up to the plate in the wake of that particular crisis-including the board at the time who'd definitely got us into the mess we were in. I wasn't involved at the time but wasn't that when the initial meetings for The Trust came about because a significant number of fans were very worried about the future.

I thought JF was on the board when ITV Digital failed to honour their financial commitment?  Was there any actual appeal by the club for people to come in and help fund that deficit because I can't remember one.  As far as I can remember JF decided to fund that deficit rather than there being some kind of appeal to come up with the funding from 'external' sources.

I genuinely don't think we would have heard anything from the club re the 700k if the club had remained in League One that season.  Peter Furneaux came out in the GET a couple of days later bemoaning the fact that the club had lost 500k in revenue - had the club remained in League One for the following season I doubt we'd have heard much about ITV Digital.

And, without making excuses for the Huxford board, they'd have been hounded if we'd failed to spend that money that was coming from ITV Digital like all the other clubs at the time.  IMO the Football League should have considerable blame laid at their door for failing to come up with a water-tight contract that would have meant ITV had to pay that money out.

Quoted from Quagmire

I thought JF was on the board when ITV Digital failed to honour their financial commitment?  Was there any actual appeal by the club for people to come in and help fund that deficit because I can't remember one.  As far as I can remember JF decided to fund that deficit rather than there being some kind of appeal to come up with the funding from 'external' sources.

I genuinely don't think we would have heard anything from the club re the 700k if the club had remained in League One that season.  Peter Furneaux came out in the GET a couple of days later bemoaning the fact that the club had lost 500k in revenue - had the club remained in League One for the following season I doubt we'd have heard much about ITV Digital.

And, without making excuses for the Huxford board, they'd have been hounded if we'd failed to spend that money that was coming from ITV Digital like all the other clubs at the time.  IMO the Football League should have considerable blame laid at their door for failing to come up with a water-tight contract that would have meant ITV had to pay that money out.

Ta for the memory jogger. You may well be right about the lack of any appeal for funding. The broadsheet papers in particular were full of the effects of the loss of money from ITV digital on the Football League clubs at the time. At the time I bought the Telegraph (Daily) and I'm sure (although I cannot find it now their archives only go back to 2006) we were at the top of the clubs worst affected with something like 2/3 of our income coming from that source. The £500K Furneaux was moaning about must have been a substantial part of our budget...
The collapse actually came about in March 2002 which was the season where we came back from the dead to stay up in what is now The Championship. That close season saw the effect of the collapse in its clearest possible terms. Players that were on longish contracts were, in a lot of cases moved on. The club weren't in the position to offer new contracts to the likes of Butterfield and Jevons, who allegedly we couldn't afford to play for fear of triggering a further payment to Everton went on loan to Hull for the full season! I clearly remember Darren Barnard signing for us a week or so before the season started from Barnsley-another club badly affected. I'd argue that the club didn't need to bang on about the £700K the effects were all around.

i believe we currently have no chairman.

if there was some mad man out there willing to invest, he would of done this by now...

Quoted from Jarmo.Is.God

i believe we currently have no chairman.

if there was some mad man out there willing to invest, he would of done this by now...

He did and didn't like what he saw.

Quoted from 2114 [b

Surely the team that turns out wearing Town shirts have to shoulder some of their responsibilities as well as JF - time to man up and show some spirit so us fans can get behind them instead of venting our frustrations because of the constant inept performances

Of course they should but then you have to accept who brought in those players because over the past 6 or 7 years we have had some right shite ones, and then you have to ask who brought in the managers.

I understand that JF did not have the deciding vote on Neil Woods but not to give NW his P45 at 5.00pm on that fateful day at Burton was a shocking decision if not well before that day.

And if my memory serves me correctly Newell, Edinburgh, Cooper and Shorty and Shouty never actually applied for the job of manager, we approached them, not sure if Woods ever applied for the position of manager.

In all the job applications we had received at the various times after AB was sacked there must have been someone who really wanted the job and who could possibly have either kept us up or even got us back up.

Quoted from Jarmo.Is.God

i believe we currently have no chairman.

if there was some mad man out there willing to invest, he would of done this by now...

You need stronger glasses, MP invested £1 million and how was he treated, what was the aftermath.

How about asking Sacha Baron Cohen to buy into his adopted club?

Quoted from jock dock tower

How about asking Sacha Baron Cohen to buy into his adopted club?

Am sure there are people that would sit down and talk about by the sleeping giant (?) that is grimsby town. There are lesser clubs touted with big cash investment so why not us.

Quoted from barralad

Out of interest what exactly does the "open market" mean.

FWIW I agree with you about ITV Digital being old hat but from memory there wasn't anybody other than JF who did step up to the plate in the wake of that particular crisis-including the board at the time who'd definitely got us into the mess we were in. I wasn't involved at the time but wasn't that when the initial meetings for The Trust came about because a significant number of fans were very worried about the future.

As in FOOTBALL CLUB FOR SALE

Those jumping to the defence of Fenty and stating ITV digital is the reason for our demise, yes it affected us at the time, but it cost other clubs financially too and they are not out of the league!  Only one person can be blamed for the state our club and its non-league status and that is John Fenty and his silent board.  Even the trust members on the board appear to have been gagged, rather than providing a voice for the fans, they appear shackled by controlling Lord Fenty.

Did we ever get anyone willing to pump in millions when we was in the Championship at any given time, when we had players worth millions or hundreds of thousands, when we wasn't make big losses every season?

Don't think we did, so whose going to come in and take over when we are losing 200K+ per season with the competitive budget we have now?

New stadium will probally make the club more desirable than at present, if it can at least break even with a competitive budget.

I have a lot of sympathy for John Fenty. When the Keep the Mariners Afloat campaign was launched the response was underwhelming. The predominant opinion on the old Fishy (it may even have been the Electronic Fishcake) was "why should we stick our hands in our pockets when we have a multi-millionaire on the board and multi-millionaire lottery winners in the town". This was before the big economic crash so things were not as bad as they are now. John continued to put money into the club as the only significant "investor" for years until Mike Parker came along.

When the Trust was first launched, and for several years, no one gave a monkey's cuss, until Mike Parker donated 500,000 shares and subsequent deals put the Trust within touching distance of the Board.

So really we got the person running the club we deserved. John was right the other week. it is all the fans' fault*.


* slightly tongue in cheek  

Having said all that.....despite the concern about not having a competitive budget if John ceases to support the club financially, I'd be prepared to take the risk.

Now that sounds like a very promising offer K.M.

Quoted from TAGG

So how do you know there is no one out there to invest there money in Town?????

So how do you know there is SOMEONE?

Looks like Carlisle fans are fedup, a petition on going with 1,400 signtures so far to put the club up for sale, currently 1 point above the drop to the cesspit league.

Link >> [url=https://www.change.org/p/carlisle-united-fc-board-of-directors-resign-and-place-the-club-up-for-sale]https://www.change.org/p/carlisle-united-fc-board-of-directors-resign-and-place-the-club-up-for-sale[/url]

Am not saying it should happen. But I like the villa fans stand on objecting to randy learner (great name btw). A section are planning to only enter the ground after the 8th. A one minute protest for each year he's been in charge

Quoted from WOZOFGRIMSBY

Am not saying it should happen. But I like the villa fans stand on objecting to randy learner (great name btw). A section are planning to only enter the ground after the 8th. A one minute protest for each year he's been in charge

Would anyone notice if fans did this at BP?

Quoted from LongEatonMariner

So how do you know there is SOMEONE?

Well it's like this. If I offered you a house that was worth £1,000,000 for £4,000,000, would you buy it?

Quoted from Nelly GTFC

Looks like Carlisle fans are fedup, a petition on going with 1,400 signtures so far to put the club up for sale, currently 1 point above the drop to the cesspit league.

Link >> [url=https://www.change.org/p/carlisle-united-fc-board-of-directors-resign-and-place-the-club-up-for-sale]https://www.change.org/p/carlisle-united-fc-board-of-directors-resign-and-place-the-club-up-for-sale[/url]

Although if Carlisle did come down they do have experience of getting back in to the league..similar to Barnet maybe in that respect

He's done his best, but he hasn't delivered a new ground while others have. He's been part, a big part of a board that failed to sack Neil Woods, appointed Neil Woods in the first place, failed to retain Russel Slade, failed to reappoint Russell a Slade, appointed Graham Rodger, appointed Mike Newell when nobody in football would touch him, banned Radio Humberside, got us relegated from the football league, half a decade later we're still humiliating ourselves, continues to value the FA Trophy, made goading comments on the unofficial website, proper amateur style, thinks the fans are responsible and thinks 4th in the conference and 15 points behind flipping Barnet is good.

Any more?

Quoted from LongEatonMariner

So how do you know there is SOMEONE?

SOMEONE did but Fentys ego was deflated so look where that got us. Fenty did ok out of it though.
We will never find anyone to put money into the club whilst Fenty is in charge getting Town more and more in debt year on year.
This is why Fenty should find a company's that specialise in selling sports clubs and put Town on the market nationally and internationally there may be foreign investors who would love to get there foot in the door of English football but we will never know one way or the other until you try.    

Quoted from LongEatonMariner

So how do you know there is SOMEONE?

And you know there isn't because ....

Quoted from 75

He's done his best, but he hasn't delivered a new ground while others have. He's been part, a big part of a board that failed to sack Neil Woods, appointed Neil Woods in the first place, failed to retain Russel Slade, failed to reappoint Russell a Slade, appointed Graham Rodger, appointed Mike Newell when nobody in football would touch him, banned Radio Humberside, got us relegated from the football league, half a decade later we're still humiliating ourselves, continues to value the FA Trophy, made goading comments on the unofficial website, proper amateur style, thinks the fans are responsible and thinks 4th in the conference and 15 points behind flipping Barnet is good.

Any more?

You couldn't write a football story like that without it sounding absolutely flipping insane.  Makes you wonder what goes through the mind of a board that has failed at every turn.  Fenty has the finance, the trust have paid the price but what have Elsom and Chapman done, and what do they bring to the table to deserve their places.

Quoted from Marinerz93

You couldn't write a football story like that without it sounding absolutely flipping insane.  Makes you wonder what goes through the mind of a board that has failed at every turn.  Fenty has the finance, the trust have paid the price but what have Elsom and Chapman done, and what do they bring to the table to deserve their places.

They stumped up some cash when the club where in desperate need of funds,  no one else offered to.

Quoted from 75

He's done his best, but he hasn't delivered a new ground while others have. He's been part, a big part of a board that failed to sack Neil Woods, appointed Neil Woods in the first place, failed to retain Russel Slade, failed to reappoint Russell a Slade, appointed Graham Rodger, appointed Mike Newell when nobody in football would touch him, banned Radio Humberside, got us relegated from the football league, half a decade later we're still humiliating ourselves, continues to value the FA Trophy, made goading comments on the unofficial website, proper amateur style, thinks the fans are responsible and thinks 4th in the conference and 15 points behind flipping Barnet is good.

Any more?

Yep, flags, flasks and a tournament in Devon.

Quoted from 75

He's done his best, but he hasn't delivered a new ground while others have. He's been part, a big part of a board that failed to sack Neil Woods, appointed Neil Woods in the first place, failed to retain Russel Slade, failed to reappoint Russell a Slade, appointed Graham Rodger, appointed Mike Newell when nobody in football would touch him, banned Radio Humberside, got us relegated from the football league, half a decade later we're still humiliating ourselves, continues to value the FA Trophy, made goading comments on the unofficial website, proper amateur style, thinks the fans are responsible and thinks 4th in the conference and 15 points behind flipping Barnet is good.

Any more?

I think that will do for now, Vicar.

What riles me is that so much of this sorry list does NOT involve money - the one thing people are afraid of losing.

Surely we could have done so much better with a bit less money and a lot more nous? Fair enough that he was willing to put money in when we most needed it, but you have got to ask at what overall cost to the club? How have we got to the point where one individual, whose financial input years ago was helpful, has ruined the club and has such a stranglehold over it? Most of the money he has put in subsequently has been wasted by not appearing to have a strategy other than the failed new stadium idea, and even that has suffered setback after setback.

Just take one example from Vicars list. As a fan I was thrilled when we got Mike Newell in. At last a "name" who said yes. Trouble was, everyone in football knew of his alleged problems except us. How could that possibly be allowed to happen? Unless he did know but chose to take a risk anyway.

To give Woods the job after so many games as a caretaker with not a single victory was bordering on the insane - it makes you think that we don't have proper communication channels to the rest of football if that was the best option we could come up with (as a manager, but Woods was a great servant and a very good player).

Players / coaches / managers talk to each other of course and I am sure word got round a long time ago that the club is not well run, has no real ambition or plan, and is one to avoid till our fortunes turn.    

Quoted from Marinerz93

You couldn't write a football story like that without it sounding absolutely flipping insane.  Makes you wonder what goes through the mind of a board that has failed at every turn.  Fenty has the finance, the trust have paid the price but what have Elsom and Chapman done, and what do they bring to the table to deserve their places.

John Elsom left the board 18 months ago

http://www.grimsby-townfc.co.uk/club/ownership

Is there just 1 director now then? I do not see any reference to any other directors on GTFC's website.

Quoted from Teestogreen

http://www.grimsby-townfc.co.uk/club/ownership

Is there just 1 director now then? I do not see any reference to any other directors on GTFC's website.

Directors are Messrs; Chapman, Day, Fenty, Roberts and Wood

http://www.grimsby-townfc.co.uk/club/whos_who/

Cheers Big Chris - saw the heading Back Room Staff - but didn't think the board of directors would be in it. They should be elevated to Front Room Staff i.m.o.   - so we all know who they are - and I believe we should. The directors may collectively benefit from opportunity to relate to their customers and their feedback.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Yep, flags, flasks and a tournament in Devon.

wooaahhh...the tournament in Devon was a great trip...



apart from a ruined tent due to a heavy storm and the team not bothering to turn up to the final leaving fans stranded and not knowing what was going on....it was great.

Quoted from BIGChris

John Elsom left the board 18 months ago

Really, I missed that, was it publicised and will his contribution be missed, genuine question.   Reason I asked is because I have never heard of anything they had done to make the club better.

Quoted from BIGChris

Directors are Messrs; Chapman, Day, Fenty, Roberts and Wood

http://www.grimsby-townfc.co.uk/club/whos_who/

Roberts & Wood, are they the trust members?

Quoted from BIGChris

Directors are Messrs; Chapman, Day, Fenty, Roberts and Wood

http://www.grimsby-townfc.co.uk/club/whos_who/

And the other 4 have how many shares?

Quoted from cleethorpes_mariner

They stumped up some cash when the club where in desperate need of funds,  no one else offered to.

You mean more than the £500 worth of shares and £50k they are obliged to put forward to have a seat on the board? genuine question

Who is going to give JF money, look what happened with MP.

Quoted from Marinerz93

You mean more than the £500 worth of shares and £50k they are obliged to put forward to have a seat on the board? genuine question

Who is going to give JF money, look what happened with MP.

MP did not leave the club because of JF but for other reasons he explained on tv and the paper and yes they where willing to put in 50k when no one else would,  

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Well it's like this. If I offered you a house that was worth £1,000,000 for £4,000,000, would you buy it?

So there isn't anyone.

Quoted from Quagmire

And you know there isn't because ....

I don't know. I am just waiting for one of these mystery men / women to show themselves. Mike Parker a few years ago does not prove a line of others are waiting in the wings with suitcases full of cash, or indeed no suitcases but an interest.

Quoted from cleethorpes_mariner

They stumped up some cash when the club where in desperate need of funds,  no one else offered to.

The fact that they are potentially key decision makers still, illustrates the dearth of potential investors. Don't get me wrong I'd welcome anyone, the present administration have made loads of mistakes but I can't see any other option.

Quoted from cleethorpes_mariner

MP did not leave the club because of JF but for other reasons he explained on tv and the paper and yes they where willing to put in 50k when no one else would,  

In my comments were did I say that MP left the club because of JF.

What I was taking about when I said look at how MP was treated was over the shares issue after he left the board and what happened with the shares he gave to the trust.  That's why no new money is coming forward, a major investor treated in that manner would put the majority of investors off.

The directors had to put up the £50k because that's part and parcel of being a director, they didn't do it out of the goodness of their heart.

Quoted from cleethorpes_mariner

MP did not leave the club because of JF but for other reasons he explained on tv and the paper and yes they where willing to put in 50k when no one else would,  

MP tells a different story away from the media however that is largely irrelevant now as it is today and the future which is vital not the past

Quoted from BIGChris

MP tells a different story away from the media however that is largely irrelevant now as it is today and the future which is vital not the past

Except it's what's happened in the past that's put us in the mess we are today.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Except it's what's happened in the past that's put us in the mess we are today.

Might well be but I live my life with the concept that I can't change the past therefore I don't concern myself with it, focus on the now and future because you can possibly influence that

Quoted from BIGChris

Might well be but I live my life with the concept that I can't change the past therefore I don't concern myself with it, focus on the now and future because you can possibly influence that

No one can change the past Chris but you can repair damage done by admission and putting things right, not manipulating timelines and giving ultimatums.