Mr Fenty on Look North

Quoted from horsforthmariner

Fenty needs to frame the stadium in terms of:

Jobs
Economic boost to the town
Tourism
Putting Grimsby on the map
Proving excellent facilities for the next generation

Not his bank balance

Quoted from cleethorpes_mariner

It pisses me off that allot on here are quicker to pull JF down for his efforts than they are to offer their help in getting it right.

Quoted from ska face

This bloke is absolutely killing me, I can't take it anymore.

I don't want to be overly critical, but this post might sound like I am being - so if you're one of those who won't hear a bad word said against him, then just stop reading now.


The problem here, and pretty much throughout this entire process, is that I'm yet to hear a single, quality, succinct statement on how this development will benefit the community. That's coming from someone who is on this board almost daily, follows the club religiously, reads & listens to almost everything that comes out of the club - so how the frig is Joe Bloggs going to know why they should support a new development? I know the club haven't decided on specifics yet, but again we keep hearing this "community" term bandied about without any explanation on how this will benefit the community. It's pretty basic.

The Look North piece was probably the biggest & best opportunity the club had to showcase the benefits of the development to hundreds of thousands of people. What happened? Fenty allowed, and pretty much encouraged, it to become a "discussion" (read "massive whinge") about his funding of the club and the possible negative implications of the development not going ahead. This bloke's supposed to be a politician, is he not? How the intercourse has he allowed that to happen? Now, I don't think anyone's expecting him to have delivered a performance straight from the Alastair Campbell school of spin, but Peter Levy is hardly Jeremy Paxman - would it really have been so difficult to...I dunno.... not let an interview designed to promote a development descend into a argument about how copulated we're going to be if/when everything goes to excrement and he is forced to leave?

The whole campaign is being run from the wrong angle, seemingly. Almost everything I've seen has been Fenty/the club pitting objectors / complainers / NIMBYs / etc. against the club's supporters, in some kind of fire-fighting excercise where people are expected pick through objections point-by-point and argue the case for the club. The YouTube video posted above demonstrates this perfectly. The entire issue is being framed as a problem, and the club are allowing this to continue by engaging objectors on their terms. There is a real need to reframe the issue as a positive for the community (by demonstrating some benefit, as mentioned above) and engage with people through a more positive context. Again, it's fairly basic stuff that anyone who works in PR/Comms would be able to help with & make a positive impact with in a matter of minutes, but we're content in sending out a man whose name is mud even with the people who have the most reason to like him!

There's a popular phrase used throughout politics - "if you're explaining, you're losing". That's what the club doing at the minute, and they're losing badly. You know why De Freitas and others are able to get away with the statements they're putting out in leaflets & promo material? It's because they've been able to build on the strength of (certain) public opinion & tap into the fears and concerns of the local population using a small number of statements and comments that, though not 100% accurate, mean a lot to people. It's all well & good saying that the development will be 850m away from the hospice, or 400m from the crem, but people would be less arsed about that if they had some sort of idea about how the stadium would benefit them directly. Change the general view of the development and you'll not only spend less time fighting a battle in enemy territory, you'll also put more strength behind the statements that you do make when addressing specific issues (such as transporting fans from the station).

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

I do agree with you, but I get the feeling we haven't heard anything positive is because he doesn't really know himself! I think he thought the word "community" should do the trick and then, well nothing. It is obvious to everyone surely that this is the chance for getting his loans back, and the lack of conviction implies that to me.

Quoted from ska face

This bloke is absolutely killing me, I can't take it anymore.

I don't want to be overly critical, but this post might sound like I am being - so if you're one of those who won't hear a bad word said against him, then just stop reading now.


The problem here, and pretty much throughout this entire process, is that I'm yet to hear a single, quality, succinct statement on how this development will benefit the community. That's coming from someone who is on this board almost daily, follows the club religiously, reads & listens to almost everything that comes out of the club - so how the frig is Joe Bloggs going to know why they should support a new development? I know the club haven't decided on specifics yet, but again we keep hearing this "community" term bandied about without any explanation on how this will benefit the community. It's pretty basic.

The Look North piece was probably the biggest & best opportunity the club had to showcase the benefits of the development to hundreds of thousands of people. What happened? Fenty allowed, and pretty much encouraged, it to become a "discussion" (read "massive whinge") about his funding of the club and the possible negative implications of the development not going ahead. This bloke's supposed to be a politician, is he not? How the intercourse has he allowed that to happen? Now, I don't think anyone's expecting him to have delivered a performance straight from the Alastair Campbell school of spin, but Peter Levy is hardly Jeremy Paxman - would it really have been so difficult to...I dunno.... not let an interview designed to promote a development descend into a argument about how copulated we're going to be if/when everything goes to excrement and he is forced to leave?

The whole campaign is being run from the wrong angle, seemingly. Almost everything I've seen has been Fenty/the club pitting objectors / complainers / NIMBYs / etc. against the club's supporters, in some kind of fire-fighting excercise where people are expected pick through objections point-by-point and argue the case for the club. The YouTube video posted above demonstrates this perfectly. The entire issue is being framed as a problem, and the club are allowing this to continue by engaging objectors on their terms. There is a real need to reframe the issue as a positive for the community (by demonstrating some benefit, as mentioned above) and engage with people through a more positive context. Again, it's fairly basic stuff that anyone who works in PR/Comms would be able to help with & make a positive impact with in a matter of minutes, but we're content in sending out a man whose name is mud even with the people who have the most reason to like him!

There's a popular phrase used throughout politics - "if you're explaining, you're losing". That's what the club doing at the minute, and they're losing badly. You know why De Freitas and others are able to get away with the statements they're putting out in leaflets & promo material? It's because they've been able to build on the strength of (certain) public opinion & tap into the fears and concerns of the local population using a small number of statements and comments that, though not 100% accurate, mean a lot to people. It's all well & good saying that the development will be 850m away from the hospice, or 400m from the crem, but people would be less arsed about that if they had some sort of idea about how the stadium would benefit them directly. Change the general view of the development and you'll not only spend less time fighting a battle in enemy territory, you'll also put more strength behind the statements that you do make when addressing specific issues (such as transporting fans from the station).

Quoted from cleethorpes_mariner

This has been done and got us nowhere
De Freitas  says the new ground will have such an impact on both leisure centres, Bradley and King George that they will all go bust.( latest leaflet he is putting out)
I don't disagree we need to shout about all the positives the new COMUNITY stadium will bring but we do also need to say what the impact will be if we don't as well.
It pisses me off that allot on here are quicker to pull JF down for his efforts than they are to offer their help in getting it right.

Quoted from psgmariner

I still don't understand the maths.

We sell Blundell Park and get what £500k or £1 million at best.

The new Rotherham stadium cost £20 million (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Stadium). Surely ours will cost less than this so let's be generous and say £10 million.

How does this result in Fenty getting his money back and GTFC cementing its long term financial future.

Before anyone says it you don't make a million quid a year out of a couple of conference rooms.