He's got to go

Shutes didn’t disappear, he agreed a price, he was willing to move forward and purchase the club but didn’t want to play the games the board were so he walked away.

I only know that as I worked alongside a couple of his business partners, purely by accident not so long ago.

This obsession lower league fans have with either players/managers living locally and owners being fans of the club isn’t always healthy either. Being a fan often means you lack the ability to be objective or think clearly, especially when times are hard. Surely, like any role, the right person for the job is the best approach and it’s clear now that Fenty is not that.

I’d imagine that he has exercised his power of disagreeing with a vote of suggestions several times. He’s assembled a board that is practically his chums, none of which seem to contribute in any way.

The simple fact is, when people say Fenty has to go, what they really mean is the board needs a reshuffle. They’re all as complicit in the allowing the club to stagnate, they’re all part of the problem.

Quoted from mimma

mFenty himself has said that if there is an interested party, so long as they are genuine, he will step aside.

For what it’s worth, we have now been approached by (at least) two separate parties with a view to buying the club, and Fenty is still here. Not quite the actions of a man keen to gracefully step aside.

The first was a group of American investors, and Fenty wouldn’t step aside as they didn’t want fan representation on the board  - apparently. This was according to Marley at a fans’ forum or an AGM. I’m led to believe that this is the group who have taken over at Wycombe.

Then we had Grimsby-born Shutes fronting a group of wealthy, well-connected town fans who had a vision for the club as part of the whole community regeneration. After showing they had the cash to buy the club outright, suddenly they were expected to arbitrarily show how they’d fund the club for 3-years “in the event of a downturn”. Meanwhile, we are currently going through the worst downturn in the history of the club and the current board’s response has been “get the begging bowl out & let the fans fill it up again”. If only Shutes had thought of that!

And these are just the stories that the board have told us! Christ knows what the other parties’ version of events would be. These are not the actions of a man serious about leaving the club in any way, shape or form.

Call Fenty a fan all you like, it counts for nothing. I honestly don’t think our worst enemy could’ve done a better job in killing the club. We are stuck in a terminal decline, spent more than half a decade in non-league, are 20-odd years into a relocation project that is no further forward than it was on day one, have been left in the dust by all our neighbours and are becoming cut adrift from even League 1 which seems a million miles away now.

A fish rots from the head down.

Quoted from ska face

For what it’s worth, we have now been approached by (at least) two separate parties with a view to buying the club, and Fenty is still here. Not quite the actions of a man keen to gracefully step aside.

The first was a group of American investors, and Fenty wouldn’t step aside as they didn’t want fan representation on the board  - apparently. This was according to Marley at a fans’ forum or an AGM. I’m led to believe that this is the group who have taken over at Wycombe.

Then we had Grimsby-born Shutes fronting a group of wealthy, well-connected town fans who had a vision for the club as part of the whole community regeneration. After showing they had the cash to buy the club outright, suddenly they were expected to arbitrarily show how they’d fund the club for 3-years “in the event of a downturn”. Meanwhile, we are currently going through the worst downturn in the history of the club and the current board’s response has been “get the begging bowl out & let the fans fill it up again”. If only Shutes had thought of that!

And these are just the stories that the board have told us! Christ knows what the other parties’ version of events would be. These are not the actions of a man serious about leaving the club in any way, shape or form.

Call Fenty a fan all you like, it counts for nothing. I honestly don’t think our worst enemy could’ve done a better job in killing the club. We are stuck in a terminal decline, spent more than half a decade in non-league, are 20-odd years into a relocation project that is no further forward than it was on day one, have been left in the dust by all our neighbours and are becoming cut adrift from even League 1 which seems a million miles away now.

A fish rots from the head down.

Echo all of that. And for those who say be careful what you wish for, a. it couldn’t be much worse and b. we won’t know unless we try.

At least we're slowly coming away from the train of thought that we need Fenty's money to keep us going.  


That's progress.


Maybe in another 20 years we'll feel confident enough that we could be fan run.  Here's hoping...

Just to add, I completely agree on any moves to get new owners/board in place.  That's with no malice towards John Fenty or anyone else involved in the running of the club, simply put we need to be run better.

But no-one in the board room can be held responsible for some of the shoddy performances that were dished out on Saturday or those that have come before.  That was just unacceptable all round.  As with Holloway, he's taking a lot of stick at the minute for various things.  In truth I think a lot of that criticism is fair, he's messed up on a few key things in the last 6 months, things you would expect better from an experienced manager.  But once those players cross that white line it's all down to them.

Quoted from ska face

For what it’s worth, we have now been approached by (at least) two separate parties with a view to buying the club, and Fenty is still here. Not quite the actions of a man keen to gracefully step aside.

The first was a group of American investors, and Fenty wouldn’t step aside as they didn’t want fan representation on the board  - apparently. This was according to Marley at a fans’ forum or an AGM. I’m led to believe that this is the group who have taken over at Wycombe.

Then we had Grimsby-born Shutes fronting a group of wealthy, well-connected town fans who had a vision for the club as part of the whole community regeneration. After showing they had the cash to buy the club outright, suddenly they were expected to arbitrarily show how they’d fund the club for 3-years “in the event of a downturn”. Meanwhile, we are currently going through the worst downturn in the history of the club and the current board’s response has been “get the begging bowl out & let the fans fill it up again”. If only Shutes had thought of that!

And these are just the stories that the board have told us! Christ knows what the other parties’ version of events would be. These are not the actions of a man serious about leaving the club in any way, shape or form.

Call Fenty a fan all you like, it counts for nothing. I honestly don’t think our worst enemy could’ve done a better job in killing the club. We are stuck in a terminal decline, spent more than half a decade in non-league, are 20-odd years into a relocation project that is no further forward than it was on day one, have been left in the dust by all our neighbours and are becoming cut adrift from even League 1 which seems a million miles away now.

A fish rots from the head down.

The American buyers wanted us to be a feeder team to a Scottish team that they were also buying, which didn't happen. The trust also vetoed that move because they didn't want fans involved.

Shutes agreed to provide proof of funds and didn't. Like it or not, the board want the incoming party to be able to provide the cash if the club is unable to pay its debts, in the same way Fenty has previously done. The trust agree with this, and Shutes didn't do it.

Trouble is too many people who post on here are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

Quoted from diehardmariner

Just to add, I completely agree on any moves to get new owners/board in place.  That's with no malice towards John Fenty or anyone else involved in the running of the club, simply put we need to be run better.

But no-one in the board room can be held responsible for some of the shoddy performances that were dished out on Saturday or those that have come before.  That was just unacceptable all round.  As with Holloway, he's taking a lot of stick at the minute for various things.  In truth I think a lot of that criticism is fair, he's messed up on a few key things in the last 6 months, things you would expect better from an experienced manager.  But once those players cross that white line it's all down to them.

The board are not responsible for the players performing on a Saturday, you're right. But they are accountable, for consistently failing in their job of not giving the manager the required funding to get in the tools required to do his job properly.
This will never cha.ge whilst the current incumbents are in place, who is going to take over and move is forward? copulated if you or i know...

I agree.  It's becoming more and more evident that our prudent approach to this year was and is a major risk.  I hope it doesn't be one that comes back to bite us come the end of the season.  In no way am I defending any running of the club.

But regardless of how cheap we've gone, half-arsed performances from professionals is unacceptable at any level.

Quoted from pen penfras

The American buyers wanted us to be a feeder team to a Scottish team that they were also buying, which didn't happen. The trust also vetoed that move because they didn't want fans involved.

Shutes agreed to provide proof of funds and didn't. Like it or not, the board want the incoming party to be able to provide the cash if the club is unable to pay its debts, in the same way Fenty has previously done. The trust agree with this, and Shutes didn't do it.

Like I said, one side of the story.