Anomaly - The Matt Dean thing

Quoted from friskneymariner

Not a Fenty fan,but you poke him with a stick and then moans when he responds.

Cet animal est tres mechant.Quand onl'attaque il se defend.

Spot on ! He said he was" tired of being a punch bag" ( G.E.T.) and I can understand that. Nearly every thread on The Fishy inevitably ends up containing posts having a go at him. Then as soon as he tries to defend himself these same posters shout " foul " and are so indignant  because he has dared to reply.
I wish he could find somebody to buy him out and then the same clique would have somebody else to assail.

Quoted from rancido

Spot on ! He said he was" tired of being a punch bag" ( G.E.T.) and I can understand that. Nearly every thread on The Fishy inevitably ends up containing posts having a go at him. Then as soon as he tries to defend himself these same posters shout " foul " and are so indignant  because he has dared to reply.
I wish he could find somebody to buy him out and then the same clique would have somebody else to assail.

Gonna be a bit sterile on here in future. No-one is allowed an opinion that dares to differ from the party line. Have you been in some kind of time warp that takes you back 15 years?

Quoted from rancido

Spot on ! He said he was" tired of being a punch bag" ( G.E.T.) and I can understand that. Nearly every thread on The Fishy inevitably ends up containing posts having a go at him. Then as soon as he tries to defend himself these same posters shout " foul " and are so indignant  because he has dared to reply.
I wish he could find somebody to buy him out and then the same clique would have somebody else to assail.

No one minds him defending himself. The problem people have is the way he does it. He seems to see things in binary terms. My way or you're against me. He seems to miss the point. He flares up.

The classic example on everyone's mind is Deangate (or should it be Woodhousegate?). People agreed with him that the story should be rebutted but he seems incapable or unwilling to recognise he handled it badly. He simply did not listen to the bloke who stood up last Tuesday and pointed out what people were criticising him for.

Oh, and then we have the 'vile' posters remark. Yeah, Pete and Swin can be irritating. Swin seems to be permanently negative. A bit acerbic at times. But that's a world removed from being vile. So by all means respond to them, but stooping to words like 'vile' is a step too far IMO.

Quoted from rancido

Spot on ! He said he was" tired of being a punch bag" ( G.E.T.) and I can understand that. Nearly every thread on The Fishy inevitably ends up containing posts having a go at him. Then as soon as he tries to defend himself these same posters shout " foul " and are so indignant  because he has dared to reply.
I wish he could find somebody to buy him out and then the same clique would have somebody else to assail.

Well you can go back to your Slade grudge can't you. You'll be alright.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Gonna be a bit sterile on here in future. No-one is allowed an opinion that dares to differ from the party line. Have you been in some kind of time warp that takes you back 15 years?

It's nothing to do with party line or voicing an opinion. It's the insults and snide digs that are constantly aimed at him that IMO is uncalled for. I have seen him referred to as The Fuhrer on here , which I think is uncalled for. One poster used to use the expression John Fenty ( Con) which again seemed to drag politics into a football based debate.
As far as a time warp is concerned , why would you say that. I have followed GTFC for a long time ( late 1960's ) and seen many developments at the club both on and off the pitch. The period we are going through is no different from many others in that time. Poor teams, poor managers and unpopular chairmen. JF comes in for a lot of stick , like many other directors, in towns history. The one thing he has done , which most others haven't , is lend the money club to get them through a difficult time. There are some that will say he caused the difficult time, which is a fair comment. But at least he has tried to do something to keep the club going. He says the loans he has made to the club are benign and we can only take him at his word to the validity of that statement. I defy anybody to name one Chairman or Director , prior to JF's involvement in the club, who has been prepared to help the club with his own wealth to the extent that he has.
I am no great fan of JF ( as I have said on many occasions on here ) but at least he tries to keep GTFC going. Maybe I do play " Devils Advocate " on this subject but until someone comes along prepared to buy him out then he his our majority shareholder.

Quoted from rancido

It's nothing to do with party line or voicing an opinion. It's the insults and snide digs that are constantly aimed at him that IMO is uncalled for. I have seen him referred to as The Fuhrer on here , which I think is uncalled for. One poster used to use the expression John Fenty ( Con) which again seemed to drag politics into a football based debate.
As far as a time warp is concerned , why would you say that. I have followed GTFC for a long time ( late 1960's ) and seen many developments at the club both on and off the pitch. The period we are going through is no different from many others in that time. Poor teams, poor managers and unpopular chairmen. JF comes in for a lot of stick , like many other directors, in towns history. The one thing he has done , which most others haven't , is lend the money club to get them through a difficult time. There are some that will say he caused the difficult time, which is a fair comment. But at least he has tried to do something to keep the club going. He says the loans he has made to the club are benign and we can only take him at his word to the validity of that statement. I defy anybody to name one Chairman or Director , prior to JF's involvement in the club, who has been prepared to help the club with his own wealth to the extent that he has.
I am no great fan of JF ( as I have said on many occasions on here ) but at least he tries to keep GTFC going. Maybe I do play " Devils Advocate " on this subject but until someone comes along prepared to buy him out then he his our majority shareholder.

That's not Devils Advocate it's just another moan about people moaning about things that you disagree with. There's a handful of posters on here who bang on about Fenty and seem ready to have a pop but the majority who have taken exception to the recent events are fair minded posters whose views I always respect, and they are simply responding. Responses are part of a discussion baord and outbursts like these can't go un-discussed.

The last 2-3 weeks have been nightmare-ish for any fan who is concerned for their club, starting with that quite ridiculous and aggressive post, then with a ghastly lack of humility and reason from him and the board at the Radio Humbs forum with a follow up interview from his home in which he started adding on details that didn't ring true and really should have been mentioned in the original forum. All sandwiching an embarrassing attack on Matt Dean which has lost them even more credibility.

Three occasions in barely three weeks, awful stuff and God knows what the situation would be like if some fans didn't try to point out that he's doing it wrong. That's MY gripe with him and the board, please don't lump me in with any revolutionists who maybe just have a long standing grudge or people who want administration by tomorrow.

If you look back at JF`s tenure he is getting more stick now than at any time previous that  I can recall which is odd given our relegation amongst other things? That would suggest to me a lot of posters who never normally get involved in Fenty bashing or happy clapping have also taken to thumping the keyboards of late. I hope it goes away and we can get on with football which is far more important and the reason we all ever set foot in BP in the first place. In the event it doesn`t I will continue to thump away furiously at my keyboard in apoleptic rage when things Town related annoy me.That could be down to anything from not hitting the central target in the urinals when I pish in the dark main stand toilets to John Fenty not forking out for Messi`s toenail and some superglue to put on Vernon`s foot. The MD thing handled badly by all parties massive load of hot air about nothing.

I think personal attacks and insults are uncalled for, but the majority of the criticism thrown his way is pretty fair in my view.

I think there's a lot he can do to be warmer to the fans. There's a lot he can do to improve the way he deals with certain subjects. There's a hell of a lot he can do to improve the club's PR and his own image.

What needs to happen first - and this is the bit that is the biggest sticking point of all - is for him to accept that he hasn't always got everything right. It'll show he's human. We all make mistakes, so we can identify with that.

Devil's advocate here, but he's been running the club for the last 16 years - and maybe, just maybe, the reason we're still £2m in debt, to his benign loans, is simply a result of his poor decisions.

So yes, credit to him for chucking money into the club to keep it alive. But maybe he's chucking money to save his own mistakes? He's overseen three relegations in that time, and I'm pretty certain you can't attribute all of them to the ITV Digital deal going belly up.

So that's what I mean about him not getting everything right. No one is perfect and most football clubs have faced similar issues and been mismanaged in similar ways.

But we've fallen further than most since Fenty took charge. Which teams are now below us that weren't in 2001? Not many. Stockport and Tranmere at a push. That's it. Everyone else has overtaken us.

When your football club goes through what we've been through over the last 16 years, of course you're going to want answers. Of course you're going to hold the majority shareholder/non-chairman to account.

Of course you're going to wonder, when he makes his next big, crucial decision, whether you can trust it.

Quoted from RichMariner

I think personal attacks and insults are uncalled for, but the majority of the criticism thrown his way is pretty fair in my view.

I think there's a lot he can do to be warmer to the fans. There's a lot he can do to improve the way he deals with certain subjects. There's a hell of a lot he can do to improve the club's PR and his own image.

What needs to happen first - and this is the bit that is the biggest sticking point of all - is for him to accept that he hasn't always got everything right. It'll show he's human. We all make mistakes, so we can identify with that.

Devil's advocate here, but he's been running the club for the last 16 years - and maybe, just maybe, the reason we're still £2m in debt, to his benign loans, is simply a result of his poor decisions.

So yes, credit to him for chucking money into the club to keep it alive. But maybe he's chucking money to save his own mistakes? He's overseen three relegations in that time, and I'm pretty certain you can't attribute all of them to the ITV Digital deal going belly up.

So that's what I mean about him not getting everything right. No one is perfect and most football clubs have faced similar issues and been mismanaged in similar ways.

But we've fallen further than most since Fenty took charge. Which teams are now below us that weren't in 2001? Not many. Stockport and Tranmere at a push. That's it. Everyone else has overtaken us.

When your football club goes through what we've been through over the last 16 years, of course you're going to want answers. Of course you're going to hold the majority shareholder/non-chairman to account.

Of course you're going to wonder, when he makes his next big, crucial decision, whether you can trust it.

The bit in bold is the crux of the matter. All I want to see is some humility, a 'yes, I/we got it wrong'. We all make mistakes, it's not a sign of weakness to hold your hands up and apologise, it's often a sign of strength. I mentioned on Sunday that the boss of Ryanair had done an interview accepting the blame for recent problems - I like that, it's out of his system now. No more excuses have to be made, he cocked up and he's moving on.

Quoted from 1mickylyons

If you look back at JF`s tenure he is getting more stick now than at any time previous that  I can recall which is odd given our relegation amongst other things? That would suggest to me a lot of posters who never normally get involved in Fenty bashing or happy clapping have also taken to thumping the keyboards of late. I hope it goes away and we can get on with football which is far more important and the reason we all ever set foot in BP in the first place. In the event it doesn`t I will continue to thump away furiously at my keyboard in apoleptic rage when things Town related annoy me.That could be down to anything from not hitting the central target in the urinals when I pish in the dark main stand toilets to John Fenty not forking out for Messi`s toenail and some superglue to put on Vernon`s foot. The MD thing handled badly by all parties massive load of hot air about nothing.

I disagree about this bit. It's not about nothing, it's massive. It's about competence, delivery and the club being in a safe pair of hands. It was also on the back of a deathly silence about Stevenage which still hasn't had an adequate or coherent answer from the club even well after the event and the bullying claim over the Checkatrade attendance versus Sunderland. Fans are worried about the future direction and governance of the club and I guess many like myself haven't got the stomach for another fifteen years similar to those fifteen years that have just passed. We did have some news regarding the board looking for outside investment but they've exhausted their efforts and the end result is that they've failed. Although honest about his 70% prediction as to whether the new stadium will ever get built, it's hardly a ringing endorsement of confidence from JF after all these years. The board have said that they have gone through their contacts and nothing is forthcoming regarding outside investment and if you couple that with the 30% chance the new stadium never gets built, then for the club to survive, it's got to be 1000% adept at PR to keep its paying public onside and interested. A PR machine that works as effectively when the chips are down on the pitch to bolster support and one that maximises every ounce of goodwill when the playing side is going well. If that does not happen and there's no new stadium or new large benefactor on the horizon, these episodes like Bragate, bullying and Deangate can never happen again. The reiteration of the board regarding blaming the fanbase for pretty much all of the board's shortcomings can never happen again. JF said since the Fan's Forum that there was a lot of positives that he gained from that night as it was an opportunity to get things off his chest and set the record straight. My question is, at what cost to the club? Has the bond between board and fans been brought closer together by blaming the fans for just about everything and still backing up the bullying claim? Has the bond between media outlets and the club been brought closer together with the public treatment of Matt Dean by members of the board and GTFC staff? Seven hundred messages of support for Matt Dean on Twitter, that's real damage, yet no public apology, whether heartfelt or strategic.

I think it's a massive act of goodwill that even after getting absolutely nothing from the club at the Fan's Forum including the two fingers regarding the Operation Promotion money, that fans on here want to brush everything aside and move on. Who in their right mind would practically tell the fans that after raising so much money that it didn't really change things at all? It may be chronologically correct that the money didn't go towards the Bogle signing and more than likely went on the Robinson, Tomlinson and Straker wage costs, but why would anyone think it's a worthwhile and mutually beneficial point to be made? Just for the sake of a bit of personal point scoring to win an argument at that one point in time. What positive impact does that leave on the supporters that put their hands in their pockets and invested their hard earned all for a great cause, a cause that was seemingly never going to be achieved without that help. I doubt that sort of effort will be entertained ever again after being so, at best, grudgingly received. So what does the club gain by that statement?

We've been told that there's no forthcoming investment, the bullish claims about the new stadium are being reigned in, that we're the root cause of all the ills at the club, had to face a ham-fisted attempt by the board of giving us a straightener and then they go merrily about their business as if nothing has happened by stating that their best effort at PR is what happens on the pitch. Hats off to all of you diehards that are sticking with it, You're real fans and have big hearts to suck all of this up and go again. I worry about all of those disappearing floating fans and wonder if the recent Fan's Forum has been the final nail in the head for them not to continue to turn up at Blundell Park in the future. I wonder what the physical cost will be in hard cash for future playing budgets if our new average gate will be considerably less than 4k rather than 5k plus. If that's the case, then the club will need to be particularly adept in attracting the fans back because a receding playing budget certainly won't.

Deangate was so much more than just a lot of hot air and I still think we'll suffer longer term consequences from it, not just what happened that night but by the stance of JF and his board members in the following hours and days after the event. It was retrievable, but that point has now passed. It'll not be just a PR cost, but it will also be able to be measured in pounds, shillings and pence way distant into the future when you calculate the ticket price of lost fans times the number of games they'll be no longer attracted into going to. A bond was there to be mended and it got ripped apart even further and any attempt at short term galvanisation by loyal fans may be broken more easily as recent events won't easily be forgotten as nothing has been fixed..