Club Statement.. Fenty stepping back / down!

Quoted from Bigdog

I'm honest enough to say it, I have hated pretty much every minute of his reign. No grey areas just black and white. Where has it got us on or off the pitch? Nowhere, just a total dumbing down of the club I love whille being chastised for not thinking he's some kind of saviour.. At some point in the future he'll have put net zero pounds into the club kitty. For all the heartache and anger myself and thousands of others have had to go through, anyone with half a brain has got to ask what was it all for? 20 seasons of failure and decay can't be airbrushed from history can it? Especially when that certain someone even this week remains unapologetic and unrepentant..

Me too. It is not the start of his reign that I object to as he had to make some difficult decisions and we can only judge that in hindsight.

It is the unremitting dross that has followed, and the complete inability to take any advice, get any help or change anything for the better. The countless occasions of falling out with the media, fellow investors and fans alike and above all for me, the complete lack of self awareness to recognise that he is nowhere near as capable as he thinks he is. No investment (apart from superficial stuff) in BP, and of course no new stadium.

Here we are again in the  week of yet another club statement that seemed so positive unravelling before the week is out. I don't know what to make of it - one minute I think we are going forward and his reign is coming to an end, and yet there he is at the fans forum a day or two later. Why not give that a miss and set the mood for a different future he had promised only a day or two previously?

Nothing ever seems to pan out as any club statement suggests.

I just hope Ollie can make it work despite everything. There must be some light at the end of the tunnel soon.  

I'm just glad that unlike Leicester GTFC can look all the local businesses in the eye and say they've been paid.

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

And when someone shows me that administration would have worked for us I'll shut me trap...90% of that list are clubs in areas that have had major regeneration or are close to areas of influence and success....yes, Fenty has enjoyed his power trip but at the time when we needed saving from the grasp of the HMRC there was hardly a queue of money men knocking down the door at BP....so yes, I'll say it again....I'm glad we're not a sad sack case a la Bury...give me Fenty and his bunch of yes men over Mr Dale every day of the week.  
BTW....I'm not all Pro Fenty, he has his faults and has made f@ck ups along the way, but haven't we all!!..

That’s most of England you’re talking about there. NE, NW, SE, SW, Yorks.

I agree he stepped in and saved the club in the aftermath of ITV Digital. The problem with that is his help has proved to be a millstone.  He was capable of saving it but incapable of running it. As Ska points out, he turned a debt of 2 thirds of a million into one of £3 million.

That increase in debt has not come as a result of buying on field success but has come with on field failure. Year after year. So failure on both counts.

People say ‘we’ve all made mistakes’. True. But he doesn’t show any sign of recognising them let alone learning from them. Even now after all this time, in ‘stepping back’, he talks about going to Wembley in non-League finals as success. It’s this lack of realisation or acceptance that make me dubious that things are going to change. If the guy said ‘I saved the club years ago but I’ve left it in more debt and worse off in football terms’ I’d believe the leopard had changed its spots.

Accept responsibility? Zero chance of that happening. The fact he sees non league as a success and visiting Wembley in a cup competition none of us ever wanted to play in also says a lot...makes me question whether he is or has ever been a fan really.

HIs ineptitude in running the club is there for all to see, his stranglehold is there for all to see, Christ, even people away from Grimsby can see that (this is my major reservation regarding IH but everyone has their own view).

I genuinely believe he thinks he’s been a success because he simply, people have said, dealt with HMRC...meanwhile increasing the debt long term to ensure his complete control of the club. Stepping down as chairman all those moons ago cemented his place, this is much the same.

We don’t have to worry about whether we did it the moral way or if we can hold our head up high because that actually means intercourse all...and as mentioned, our debt was to HMRC, not local businesses, so unlike clubs like Bournemouth who seemingly didn’t care about anyone but themselves and continued on their upward trajectory, Fenty negotiated a deal with HMRC which ensured he imposed austerity on the club and quickly watched us disappear in to the abyss. Some may argue it was a good deal but again, it’s questionable. The clubs track record of negotiating deals is hardly great, just look at the Ryan Bennett fiasco, the Bogle farce and so on.

It’s great to be principled and moral but I bet Bournemouth fans couldn’t give a excrement when they got to go away to Old Trafford or anfield. Yes I understand FFP may catch up with them but nevertheless, people get the point.

Penny pinching in Slade’s first season led to him and the players walking away, we never recovered and so began the big decline...this has continued, be it on or off then pitch. Meanwhile, the people, including John that have been involved for donkeys years, the yes people, the chums of John remain in a position to ‘make a decision’, decisions that have zero impact on the club positively because they either simply aren’t able to or they can’t see the wider picture.

Dale’s statement
The inability to ban a racist for life
Slagging off OP
Fans being told to shut up
Breakdown of relationships with pretty much everyone
The car tapes
Women smuggling smoke bombs like tampons
Doing the ice bucket challenge for no other reason than to have a pop at Defraitus
Breaking a kids flag
Offering embarrassing contracts to good players
Alienating every single town fan by using the price of his car to seemingly inflate the story of a mere scratch (unfounded that it was ever done maliciously)
Publicly calling prospective buyers tyre kickers

The list goes on.

So forgive me for thinking he and the board are clueless, forgive me for being concerned that these folk are seemingly going to project manage the biggest development in the club/towns history for 50 years...

We all have a view, some are much more realistic, some are much more cynical, and some are seemingly more positive and selective...each to their own but I’ll continue to want them all gone and the club sold...

I challenge anyone to name a club where the owner is universally liked by the supporters. It just doesn’t happen. There’s no magic formula for running a football well.

Quoted from aldi_01

Accept responsibility? Zero chance of that happening. The fact he sees non league as a success and visiting Wembley in a cup competition none of us ever wanted to play in also says a lot...makes me question whether he is or has ever been a fan really.

HIs ineptitude in running the club is there for all to see, his stranglehold is there for all to see, Christ, even people away from Grimsby can see that (this is my major reservation regarding IH but everyone has their own view).

I genuinely believe he thinks he’s been a success because he simply, people have said, dealt with HMRC...meanwhile increasing the debt long term to ensure his complete control of the club. Stepping down as chairman all those moons ago cemented his place, this is much the same.

We don’t have to worry about whether we did it the moral way or if we can hold our head up high because that actually means intercourse all...and as mentioned, our debt was to HMRC, not local businesses, so unlike clubs like Bournemouth who seemingly didn’t care about anyone but themselves and continued on their upward trajectory, Fenty negotiated a deal with HMRC which ensured he imposed austerity on the club and quickly watched us disappear in to the abyss. Some may argue it was a good deal but again, it’s questionable. The clubs track record of negotiating deals is hardly great, just look at the Ryan Bennett fiasco, the Bogle farce and so on.

It’s great to be principled and moral but I bet Bournemouth fans couldn’t give a excrement when they got to go away to Old Trafford or anfield. Yes I understand FFP may catch up with them but nevertheless, people get the point.

Penny pinching in Slade’s first season led to him and the players walking away, we never recovered and so began the big decline...this has continued, be it on or off then pitch. Meanwhile, the people, including John that have been involved for donkeys years, the yes people, the chums of John remain in a position to ‘make a decision’, decisions that have zero impact on the club positively because they either simply aren’t able to or they can’t see the wider picture.

Dale’s statement
The inability to ban a racist for life
Slagging off OP
Fans being told to shut up
Breakdown of relationships with pretty much everyone
The car tapes
Women smuggling smoke bombs like tampons
Doing the ice bucket challenge for no other reason than to have a pop at Defraitus
Breaking a kids flag
Offering embarrassing contracts to good players
Alienating every single town fan by using the price of his car to seemingly inflate the story of a mere scratch (unfounded that it was ever done maliciously)
Publicly calling prospective buyers tyre kickers

The list goes on.

So forgive me for thinking he and the board are clueless, forgive me for being concerned that these folk are seemingly going to project manage the biggest development in the club/towns history for 50 years...

We all have a view, some are much more realistic, some are much more cynical, and some are seemingly more positive and selective...each to their own but I’ll continue to want them all gone and the club sold...

I am sorry but that is just a load of old cobblers.

He did the ice bucket challenge to show everyone he had been working out.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

I am sorry but that is just a load of old cobblers.

He did the ice bucket challenge to show everyone he had been working out.

Haha...

Removing the non league teams, and comparing how they were before vs how they are now, hardly any of those teams have done better, most significantly worse than their potential. Most of them are bigger clubs than us, so the recovery should be easier (more money).

21 out of the 39 list below are bigger clubs than us, so saying they're in a higher league position isn't really objective, they always have been (or at least had more potential). I'd say only Hull and Bournemouth have improve since, and Leicester were always about that level anyway but I'll count them since they won the premier league.

It's hardly showing that administration would have been beneficial. The reality is that financial problems negatively effect most clubs, and the recovery is faster for the better supported teams.

Quoted from Les Brechin

Hull City      7 February 2001 4 years later they did well
Queens Park Rangers      2 April 2001 were a regular top flight team for 25 years before this, haven't been since
Halifax Town      9 April 2002 definitely no success since
Bradford City      16 May 2002 much bigger club than us and at the same level
Notts County      June 2002 now in non league
Barnsley      3 October 2002 bigger club than us, were a mid table championship team before, now between bottom end and top of league 1
Leicester City      21 October 2002 Definitely been successful since
Port Vale      16 December 2002 Not been above mid table of league 1 since
York City      18 December 2002 barely been in the football league since
Derby County      20 October 2003 former regular top flight team, only one terrible season since.
Ipswich Town      10 February 2003 much bigger club than us,  not been near the premier league since. Currently in league 1
Wimbledon      5 June 2003 Can't really compare since they don't exist
Darlington      23 December 2003 don't even know where they are anymore
Bradford City      27 February 2004 big club, currently in our league. Been way below potential for a long time
Wrexham      3 December 2004 bigger than us, been worse than us since
Cambridge United      29 April 2005 dropped out of the league for longer than us, not done much different
Rotherham United      13 May 2006 not much changed
Crawley Town      5 June 2006 they've improved since
Boston United      25 April 2007 lower than they were before
Leeds United      4 May 2007 huge club that's way below where they expect
Luton Town      22 November 2007 Worst spell in their history since, bigger than us
Bournemouth      8 February 2008 With the help of a billionaire, they've massively improved
Rotherham United      18 March 2008
Halifax Town      26 March 2008
Darlington      25 February 2009
Southampton      2 April 2009 recovered after a 7 year slump
Stockport County      30 April 2009 dropped way down
Chester City      17 May 2009 dropped way down
Crystal Palace      26 January 2010 didn't seem to make a difference
Portsmouth      26 February 2010 big club, dropped right down, still below potential
Plymouth Argyle      4 March 2011 not much difference
Rushden and Diamonds      7 July 2011 vanity project, vanished
Darlington      3 January 2012
Portsmouth      17 February 2012
Port Vale      9 March 2012
Coventry City      21 March 2013 big club, over 30 years in the prem and now they're a regular league 1 club
Aldershot Town      2 May 2013 not been in the football league since
Bolton Wanderers      13 May 2019 big club, too early to tell
Bury      18 July 2019

Agree with most of those verdicts but Wrexham are absolutely not a bigger club than us.