Fan Owned Club

The only reason it won’t work is because of the negativity of fans as has just been demonstrated here. You get the club you deserve.

Quoted from Ipswin

This 'fan owned' shite comes up every six months or so or more frequently when we are more crap than usual.

Even if somehow a fans consortium could raise the cash to buy the club and pay Fenty off how on earth are they going to have the funds to run it and buy the players we need ?

STs and match receipts might keep the club running on a day to day basis but to attract players better than those seen on Ploggers every weekend you have to a) buy them and b) pay them

A fans ownership couldn't run it any better than the current regime and wouldn't be able to invest financially either so there wou;d be no change

And how much have the current owners put in over the last half a dozen years?

Quoted from moosey_club

Did they have to buy the club from a man who has held absolute control for 15 yrs, is owed around £2m, seems adamant he is getting his money back before he relinquishes control and even then would want whoever takes over to have more money at their disposal than he would have put in himself ?

Sure they didn’t have to pay off an existing owner. But they had equally big hurdles to overcome. First of all they had no ground. They had to start at village level football. So the only income was what they got through the turnstiles, and sponsorship (Combined Counties level isn’t a great draw for advertisers), less what they paid in rent.

After a season or so they got the money together to buy the lease on the ground they were sub-letting from Kingstonian. That cost more than what it would cost to buy Fenty out. Then raised the money to invest in upgrading the ground to League standard.

Then they went and built a completely new stadium.

All the naysayers are effectively saying Grimsby folk haven’t got what it takes.

Fan owned clubs work, there’s evidence of that.

GTFC don’t need to be fan owner though, they just need a new owner. I’m sure plenty will leap to the defence of Fenty and chums but anyone that wants the club to move forward both on and off the pitch knows that we need fresh blood and fresh ideas. Some ideas would be nice.

The stumbling block is always Fenty, he is adamant he wants his loans back which is fine but there always seems to be a caveat. Like last time, wanting to remain in control for a prolonged handover then when he suits he walks away. Does he honestly want to sell? He can say he does but if he’s as desperate as he claims he’s have moved us on by now.

People defend him, people bash him but whenever the club starts to do its usual and seemingly become a chaotic mess this discussion returns, that should tell people something.

It is possible to support the club/team and recognise that the leadership is woeful.

Why are people dismissing this out of hand??

There must be some brains out there who could get together and look at this idea??

If its a non starter then fair enough but I think the vast majority think that something needs to be done to try and change the downward trajectory of the club.

Our club needs saving by whatever means so everything possible should be looked at and just not dismissed.

Quoted from pontoonlew

Aye, tell that to Wimbledon.

The ‘it’ll never work’ attitude just sums us up as a club, absolutely no ambition whatsoever and stuck right where we deserve to be based on that.

How many millions or even thousands have you got to invest?

Quoted from KingstonMariner

And how much have the current owners put in over the last half a dozen years?

Nothing I thought that's what you were moaning about A fan owned club would be just the same Your average fan hasn't got the necessary funds needed

Quoted from KingstonMariner

Sure they didn’t have to pay off an existing owner. But they had equally big hurdles to overcome. First of all they had no ground. They had to start at village level football. So the only income was what they got through the turnstiles, and sponsorship (Combined Counties level isn’t a great draw for advertisers), less what they paid in rent.

After a season or so they got the money together to buy the lease on the ground they were sub-letting from Kingstonian. That cost more than what it would cost to buy Fenty out. Then raised the money to invest in upgrading the ground to League standard.

Then they went and built a completely new stadium.

All the naysayers are effectively saying Grimsby folk haven’t got what it takes.

Clearly Wimbledon is a great success story but as mad as it sounds didn’t starting at such a low level allow them to grow organically and at a pace that was right for them?

I don’t know the full story but it would be good to understand how they enabled their new ground as we could learn something from that regardless of our model.

I think it’s also worth noting that in terms of location, density of population and economies that part of Greater London is a very different place to NE Lincs and I suggest provides more opportunity to garner investment.

Though the principle is great the reality is that it’s two different scenarios. Finding the money to buy out JF and then under write and sustain a model that isn’t very successful in footballing terms but is relatively safe financially would in reality be a massive challenge if not impossible.

People would surely cough up their own £10s, £20s, £100s and we’ve raising 1000s is doable millions though is a completely different ball game.

The overall view is yes the club is under funded to meet our expectations, aspirations and hopes but let’s not lose sight of the fact we are covering the salaries of around 30 pros, could we have got through the first part of this season with more quality than quantity? Some of our current issues on the pitch are not solely the fault of those off it.

Quoted from Ipswin

How many millions or even thousands have you got to invest?

Tell you what, if I had the chance to do it I’d run it a damn sight better than these lot. A few months ago our social media guy went on holiday and the club went to flipping pot, Fenty and Day can’t even get the very basics right and fail to see the value in the small things that’d make a huge difference.

I did get an emailed response from Dave Roberts(who’s response was fantastic) today, the figures quoted are flipping eye watering and it’s absolutely no wonder nobody has taken us on, Fenty’s stranglehold is way worse than I thought.

As a fan base with good fund raising and innovation we could come up with it, that or raise enough attention for people that do have the money to do it. However this thread has demonstrated our fan base are just as willing to accept dross as our major shareholder is willing to deal it out in bucket loads.

It’s beginning to become obvious why our club and our town are in such a mess, it’s the inward looking people in it that are the issue.

Quoted from pontoonlew

As a fan base with good fund raising and innovation we could come raise enough attention for people that do have the money to do it. .

But that's a completely different matter, for a start it wouldn't be a club run by the fans then would it.

Problem is there is every chance that the attention of someone who does not have GTFC  at heart like the fans and a Bury or Charlton type owner moves in