Does the Trust have the acumen to force Fenty out.

I don't really know what would happen without JF, but we managed without him for over a hundred years, so i've no doubt that this scenario has played out many times over time. What i do know is that in any other part of your life, if you keep investing time, energy and money into something, and getting no reward, you eventually walk away from it. Football clubs are a bit different in that regard, and unless you are a complete mercenary, you are stuck with your club for life, thick and thin. Too many clubs play on this fact, but when they get it wrong, somehow it's the fans fault for complaining about it.

I've got no axe to grind with anyone personally, and i'm not looking to hurt anyone specifically, or the club in general. It's just that sometimes in life you have to make a stand, and sometimes you have to go backwards to move forwards. We keep going year after year, propping up a regime that have clearly shown, time and again, that they are not capable of being custodians of this fine old club, so something has to give. It's moved beyond just poor football now, to off field stuff. They have just gobsmacked me with some of the stuff that has come out of the club this season, and they appear to me to be a very smug and dismissive bunch, when they have absolutely nothing whatsoever to be smug about.

There is no investment in the club financially, so some have stated, so that shows that it can be run as it is on the income streams we have coming into the club. The only stumbling block is the grip that JF has because he wants his ball back. He has backed a horse, the horse has fell at every fence, and now he wants his stake money reimbursing. Some say he shouldn't get it back and i have no argument with that sentiment, but if that is the price to pay, and if some other parties are confident that they can do a better job than him and turn a profit, then give him what he wants, and pay him back as and when the club can afford it. shouldn't be too much of a task if the team can be successful and get more bums on seats.

I have always just turned up and watched the team; took anything that's come our way, good or bad, and not really complained much, apart from some hot air and waffle on here, but the worm has turned now and enough is enough. Our return to the league has been a complete disaster and we are already on our 4th manager and about 60th player, in less than 2 seasons. It can't carry on, so for me, it either changes radically, or many will walk away. How that can be achieved, i have no idea, but someone somewhere will.

I mentioned the club we were going to become a few months back and got shot down a bit, but in a few short weeks we are going to be a mirror image of Blackpool FC.. or much worse than that if we get relegated..

Some excerpts from a newspaper article in 2015.. there's some stark similarities, the details are not the same and not as severe in some cases, but the scenarios bear striking resemblance ..


Blackpool have won seven times in 70 games.

The club have earned 39 points from a possible 210.

In that time the Seasiders averaged 0.55 points a game.

They have conceded more goals (80) than any other Football League team.

51 different players have been used this season.

The man charged with running them, chairman Karl Oyston, is charmless personified, awaiting his fate for labelling one paying customer a 'imbecile' before Christmas. It would be hilariously inept if not so obnoxious and ignorant.

He has little regard for his employees or customers, is stubborn to the extreme and has seen fit to sue supporters for allegedly defamatory comments made on internet messageboards read by a couple of hundred people.

Fans have stopped turning up because of that, and their deep mistrust in Karl (and his father, Owen, who owns the shipwreck).

And so to those texts, the ghastly exchange which could see Oyston banned from football activities for the foreseeable future. Oyston was provoked by fan Stephen Smith, but his responses offer irrefutable evidence of the sort of chairman who runs this club.

Oyston labelled said supporter a 'imbecile'. Told him to 'enjoy your special needs day out'. Banned him from Bloomfield Road because he was a 'p****'. Nobody comes out of that exchange looking particularly clever but serious questions must be asked as to why a chairman who sits on the Football League's board of directors would become embroiled in such a trivial row.

The atmosphere on the Fylde Coast is toxic, even the staunchest Oyston sympathisers have turned against their ownership - most notably, perhaps, is the former chairman of the official supporters' association, who washed his hands of the club last year.

Then there are the antics of Karl Oyston and his children, who have openly mocked their paying customers.

The contempt between the two camps is mutual. It's the only thing they agree on. Incredibly, the Oystons have turned a placid fanbase into a hate mob. Thousands turn up each week to chant, scream and vent. The people who suffer are those who just want to go and watch football with their family and friends.

Blackpool are the Football League's joke, but it is their owners who are laughing loudest.

I can replace every one of the Blackpool scenarios with a similar one of our own at GTFC and add a fair few more too.. We are so close to replacing Blackpool as the Football League's joke club.I know we don't want to think of our club in this way, but we are heading that way fast. Fans at GTFC are hanging on their last shreds of patience, Stay up or not, it's going to be very messy once the season closes in a few weeks time..

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Bit in bold is a sticking point. Whilst they are loans, they are worth what it says, if converted to shares, they become worth what someone is prepared to pay for the shares.

I keep coming back to Newport - their supporters trust took over in October 2015 and, whilst they've been close to relegation, they are now thriving. They have a board of about 10 directors who all bring different skills to the boardroom and give their time for the benefit of the club, which, whilst there's 10 of them, doesn't impinge greatly on their own careers.

Just so we are clear cos at some point JF will read this thread.I appreciate he initially put the money in and I understand why at that time it was put in as a loan rather than shares.Now years later with nothing happening in terms of him getting his money back and with a lot of people fed up with him personally he could convert the loan to shares and sell them at whatever price he likes.I might not want to pay £2 a share but at least I would know exactly what I was getting for my money.

The same Oystons that JF defended on this very forum in a thread? Think he also defended the Allam's and didn't see anything wrong with Shaun Harvey when i discussed the Chicken Tray Trophy with him.

Quoted from 1mickylyons

Just so we are clear cos at some point JF will read this thread.I appreciate he initially put the money in and I understand why at that time it was put in as a loan rather than shares.Now years later with nothing happening in terms of him getting his money back and with a lot of people fed up with him personally he could convert the loan to shares and sell them at whatever price he likes.I might not want to pay £2 a share but at least I would know exactly what I was getting for my money.

I don’t think he can do this without getting into the same pickle that Mike Parker was ‘accidentally’ forced into ie having such a large stake of shares that he would have to make an offer on all of the other club shares, Article 50 I think??

And, as someone pointed out earlier, if the club goes under the shares are pretty much worthless but the loans will still have ‘value’

Quoted from grimsby pete

There are plenty of business people out there who support the club,

They do not want anything to do with it while Fenty is there,

BUT

If he departed and took his benign loans with him,

I am sure a few would step up and take control.

Not wanting to disagree with you but I have yet to hear of any hard evidence of this.

Quoted from ginnywings

I don't really know what would happen without JF, but we managed without him for over a hundred years, so i've no doubt that this scenario has played out many times over time. What i do know is that in any other part of your life, if you keep investing time, energy and money into something, and getting no reward, you eventually walk away from it. Football clubs are a bit different in that regard, and unless you are a complete mercenary, you are stuck with your club for life, thick and thin. Too many clubs play on this fact, but when they get it wrong, somehow it's the fans fault for complaining about it.

I've got no axe to grind with anyone personally, and i'm not looking to hurt anyone specifically, or the club in general. It's just that sometimes in life you have to make a stand, and sometimes you have to go backwards to move forwards. We keep going year after year, propping up a regime that have clearly shown, time and again, that they are not capable of being custodians of this fine old club, so something has to give. It's moved beyond just poor football now, to off field stuff. They have just gobsmacked me with some of the stuff that has come out of the club this season, and they appear to me to be a very smug and dismissive bunch, when they have absolutely nothing whatsoever to be smug about.

There is no investment in the club financially, so some have stated, so that shows that it can be run as it is on the income streams we have coming into the club. The only stumbling block is the grip that JF has because he wants his ball back. He has backed a horse, the horse has fell at every fence, and now he wants his stake money reimbursing. Some say he shouldn't get it back and i have no argument with that sentiment, but if that is the price to pay, and if some other parties are confident that they can do a better job than him and turn a profit, then give him what he wants, and pay him back as and when the club can afford it. shouldn't be too much of a task if the team can be successful and get more bums on seats.

I have always just turned up and watched the team; took anything that's come our way, good or bad, and not really complained much, apart from some hot air and waffle on here, but the worm has turned now and enough is enough. Our return to the league has been a complete disaster and we are already on our 4th manager and about 60th player, in less than 2 seasons. It can't carry on, so for me, it either changes radically, or many will walk away. How that can be achieved, i have no idea, but someone somewhere will.

Probably the best summary of our current situation.

Quoted from ginnywings

There is no investment in the club financially, so some have stated, so that shows that it can be run as it is on the income streams we have coming into the club. The only stumbling block is the grip that JF has because he wants his ball back. He has backed a horse, the horse has fell at every fence, and now he wants his stake money reimbursing. Some say he shouldn't get it back and i have no argument with that sentiment, but if that is the price to pay, and if some other parties are confident that they can do a better job than him and turn a profit, then give him what he wants, and pay him back as and when the club can afford it. shouldn't be too much of a task if the team can be successful and get more bums on seats.

Very good post but disagree on the bit in bold.  If Mr X comes in and reforms the clubs makes it into a well-oiled machine and manages to turn a profit.  Would you want that profit going out of the club to pay for Fenty's mistakes over the past 15 years or putting back into the infrastructure and team?

Quoted from TheRealJohnLewis

Very good post but disagree on the bit in bold.  If Mr X comes in and reforms the clubs makes it into a well-oiled machine and manages to turn a profit.  Would you want that profit going out of the club to pay for Fenty's mistakes over the past 15 years or putting back into the infrastructure and team?

Ruin the past fifteen years and mortgage the future fifteen years doesn't sit well with me either.. hostage to fortune comes to mind..

The club is worth around £1/2m on paper if the loans were quashed. I think a £1m offer for his 925k shareholding is about as fair as it gets if the loans are written off. Only if we stay up mind, if we go down it will be worth less than sod all, so he can go whistle if that happens and sink with it down to the National League North and beyond while waiting for his loans back.

If he doesn't sort something out that's equitable in the very near future, deserved or not, he will be running the risk of going down as one of the most vilified men in the town's history, never mind the football club's.. It's up to him to make something happen to avoid that stigma..

Quoted from Bigdog

Ruin the past fifteen years and mortgage the future fifteen years doesn't sit well with me either.. hostage to fortune comes to mind..

The club is worth around £1/2m on paper if the loans were quashed. I think a £1m offer for his 925k shareholding is about as fair as it gets if the loans are written off. Only if we stay up mind, if we go down it will be worth less than sod all, so he can go whistle if that happens and sink with it down to the National League North and beyond.

If he doesn't sort something out that's equitable in the very near future, deserved or not, he will be running the risk of going down as one of the most vilified men in the town's history, never mind the football club's.. It's up to him to make something happen to avoid that stigma..

Your last paragraph is so true. This is a proud town, a town that deserves a club in the Football League and holding its own; a lot of blood sweat and tears have gone into the 140 years of GTFC  to make it an integral part of the Football league. Great characters, great fans, great players and great times have all been sacrificed on the alter of a non chairman who has almost single handedley destroyed the club. For an amount of money put in 15 years ago he has been allowed free reign to rip up decades of work in making the club part and parcel of the football world and a huge part of peoples lives.

Penny pinching and trying to run it on the least amount of investment possible, together with an over inflated opinion of his abilities has brought GTFC to its knees.