John Fenty - The worst chairman in EFL history?

Just for some midweek fun and in slight hope he still can't resist coming on here to read about himself, I've asked myself the question, could he statistically be the worst football league chairman of all time, obviously there will have been chairmen who've driven clubs deep into the none league abyss, but I'm just talking statistically in the EFL specifically.

I've done him a favour and only started from when he had a full season in charge so the 2005/06 season. In 9 and a half seasons of EFL football we've finished outside the bottom half of the bottom division just once, and been in the 3rd round of the FA Cup just once too.
With a seriously impressive 185 defeats, a win ratio of 33% and a goal difference of -113, and our average place in all of the football league being 85th, I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone at any of the current league clubs beating that, and any chairman that stayed half as long beating that either. I included this season as if it had finished 2 games ago for your information.

So I hope if he reads this he can feel like he's acheived something other than the second promotion spot in the lowest division we've ever been in, cheers Fenty all the best

I feel we are terrible, I cant face it being statistically true as well

You'd need a lot of spare time and go and prove this definitively, but certainly if correct a win ratio of 33% and a negative goal difference of 113 is pretty shambolic, not least because six seasons of his tenure were massaged by the fact that we had found ourselves as a big fish in the non-league pond. That he will seemingly leave with us again facing such a fate is also a telling indictment.

I've always tempered my criticism of Fenty on the basis that there have been far more ill-meaning characters to have had control of football clubs. What the likes of Bill Archer and David Bellotti did to Brighton & Hove Albion in the 90s was utterly abhorrent, so how can you discuss someone like John Fenty in the same breath? Well, the fact that we were on the cusp of allowing the club into the grubby hands of a professional liar and serially convicted criminal, with a newfound interest in property development makes you wonder whether we could have suffered similar consequences. Rendered homeless. Exiled from our own town (putting to one side that we haven't played home games in Grimsby for over a century). On the brink of extinction.

Brighton are also a shining example of what a resilient fanbase and more importantly sound ownership can achieve. Few fans have shown more resilience than ours in recent years, so perhaps it's now our turn to experience the benefits of competent leadership.

"Worst chairman in EFL history" is a bold statement, and always open to subjectivity. I think the likely answer is that he probably isn't, but the fact he's sat at the top table with some truly unpleasant characters is more than enough to be ashamed of in itself.

I think that point about how bad others are has always protected Fenty a little.

Rightly or wrongly the line of defence has always gone on the lines of 'Well he's not as bad as the Oyston's...'

But as soon as he got into bed with May he pulled that little security blanket away.  Not only have we been absolutely bloody horrendous on the pitch, even worse off it but now we've got that link with a convicted criminal (of course, a crime that no-one was affected by, eh Philip?).   Yeah, he's definitely up there on the wrong 'un list.

Honestly, this is getting a tad boring...

He's made us go backwards, there's no doubt about that.
The recent stories of players etc with contracts is criminal, and we are struggling again, due to this man.

But this isn't achieving anything.
he's agreed to sell, let him go, and lets start making post's about the future of the club instead, and try get some positivity around the fans when we need it most!

I think there’s been a lot worse than him. Ask the supporters of Darlington for a start

Quoted from WHYWONTYOULETMESIGNUP

Just for some midweek fun and in slight hope he still can't resist coming on here to read about himself, I've asked myself the question, could he statistically be the worst football league chairman of all time, obviously there will have been chairmen who've driven clubs deep into the none league abyss, but I'm just talking statistically in the EFL specifically.

I've done him a favour and only started from when he had a full season in charge so the 2005/06 season. In 9 and a half seasons of EFL football we've finished outside the bottom half of the bottom division just once, and been in the 3rd round of the FA Cup just once too.
With a seriously impressive 185 defeats, a win ratio of 33% and a goal difference of -113, and our average place in all of the football league being 85th, I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone at any of the current league clubs beating that, and any chairman that stayed half as long beating that either. I included this season as if it had finished 2 games ago for your information.

So I hope if he reads this he can feel like he's acheived something other than the second promotion spot in the lowest division we've ever been in, cheers Fenty all the best

Funnily enough I agree with that analysis.  

The thing is though, however dire those stats are, it only tells a fraction of the terrible Fenty years.

He has gone through the club like a one-man wrecking ball, destroying the club's reputation on and off the pitch to such a degree it will take a total transformation to rebuild the club from top to bottom.

When you look at our Twitter timeline " On this day in...20, 30 and more years ago" you can see the respect the footballing world had for the name of Grimsby Town and what it stood for.

This bloke has destroyed that and we are now seen as perennial bottom feeders who continually struggle to keep its place in the Football league, and nobody in the football family would raise an eyebrow if we went to non-league again.

We the fans put up with it far too long, as we longed for better days and kept giving him our ticket money to waste whilst he was happy to be the big fish and lord it over us all.

In all these years, despite him having full and total control of the football club, we have achieved absolutely nothing, on or off the pitch.

He has been a nightmare for GTFC; luckily if all goes to plan we will be shot of him soon and I for one am looking forward to seeing the restoration of the good name of Grimsby Town.

It is getting a bit boring but apart from the already mentioned George Reynolds at Darlington I give you the chairman of Doncaster Rovers who signed a Sunday League goalkeeper and put him straight in the first team.  (Yeah I know managers SHOULD pick the team). When that didn't cause Donny to implode quickly enough he tried burning down the Belle Vue stadium in order to get his hands on the valuable development land.

Quoted from Jarmo.Is.God

Honestly, this is getting a tad boring...

He's made us go backwards, there's no doubt about that.
The recent stories of players etc with contracts is criminal, and we are struggling again, due to this man.

But this isn't achieving anything.
he's agreed to sell, let him go, and lets start making post's about the future of the club instead, and try get some positivity around the fans when we need it most!

Sorry, but this man is responsible for the demise of a once proud football club over a period of nearly 20 years.  He's taking us to depths we have never sunk to before. He's sat smug at the top of the table as we wallowed in misery, he sat there reminding us that he drives a £80,000 car.  

He's insulted and upset countless fans with his attitude.  He's turned many fan away from the club they loved.  He's also going to walk away from the club with money that he doesn't deserve, despite the fact that the fans have put in so much more than him and at no point have ever asked for it back.  He's now dragged the good name of the club through the mud for his own grubby dealings.

His hands are soaked in the blood of this football clubs demise.

Sorry, if you want to just let bygones be bygones with this man.  But I don't.  The post title was a good indication as to the contents.

The man has trampled over the fans of our club so many times, it's crazy.

Fundamentally, he used GTFC as an ego trip. After that didn't work out, he tried to build a stadium as his legacy and, towards the end, he gave himself that many titles that weren't Chairman in order to make it look like he wasn't pulling the strings.

The appointment of Philip Day being the last attempt to deflect attention away, and, to be fair, the Day months have been so bad as to be Fentyesque.

Quoted from diehardmariner

Sorry, but this man is responsible for the demise of a once proud football club over a period of nearly 20 years.  He's taking us to depths we have never sunk to before. He's sat smug at the top of the table as we wallowed in misery, he sat there reminding us that he drives a £80,000 car.  

He's insulted and upset countless fans with his attitude.  He's turned many fan away from the club they loved.  He's also going to walk away from the club with money that he doesn't deserve, despite the fact that the fans have put in so much more than him and at no point have ever asked for it back.  He's now dragged the good name of the club through the mud for his own grubby dealings.

His hands are soaked in the blood of this football clubs demise.

Sorry, if you want to just let bygones be bygones with this man.  But I don't.  The post title was a good indication as to the contents.

I never praised the guy at all...

I'm just bored of seeing thread after thread of people moaning about him, it achieves nothing and just fuels negativity around the club

The thing for me is, and always has been, the amount of times this club have shot themselves in the foot. If it wasn't so ruddy frustrating it would be laughable. Instead of building on promotion last time round and investing in the club and brand - what do we do instead spend the money on firefighting our way through - probably spending the same sort of money.
It is incompetence on a grand scale. Thank the Lord (fingers well and truly crossed) we have new and ambitious owners. Its the only thing keeping me going.
He may not be the worse - but his legacy will be one of abject failure on many fronts.

Quoted from ex-merseymariner

https://www.change.org/p/north-east-lincolnshire-council-a-full-investigation-in-to-councillor-fenty

Our new troll will be along in a minute to triumphantly exclaim that only a few people have signed the petition so everything is all ok, and there is nothing to see here.

Everyone involved with the Fenty clan seems to lack any humility or self-awareness.

I am surprised at Philip Day though I must say. Allowing himself to be dragged through all this and ruining his erstwhile decent reputation. If he had stepped away as soon as he became aware of Mr May he could have salvaged something.

He has Been the worse chairman ( non chairman ) of Grimsby Town that's for sure.

With Holloway as the worse manager he has appointed and he has appointed a few.

Jesus.....here we go again.

here's a link to a rogue's gallery of others, we are not unique

https://www.theguardian.com/fo.....-clubs-leyton-orient

Quoted from grimsby pete

He has Been the worse chairman ( non chairman ) of Grimsby Town that's for sure.

With Holloway as the worse manager he has appointed and he has appointed a few.

most of whom (Slade aside) were welcomed by the fans at the time

Quoted from Boris Johnson

most of whom (Slade aside) were welcomed by the fans at the time

Mostly on the basis of 'they can't be as bad as the last one'!

Over such a period of time, quite possibly, but at least he has kept us from declaring ourselves bankrupt like other teams. Surely those Chairmen over the last 20 years or so who have let their clubs go bankrupt purposefully are worse than our barmpot

Quoted from WayneBurnettsJockstrap

Over such a period of time, quite possibly, but at least he has kept us from declaring ourselves bankrupt like other teams. Surely those Chairmen over the last 20 years or so who have let their clubs go bankrupt purposefully are worse than our barmpot

Don’t need to go over all of this again but the loans, as opposed to share purchases, hamstrung the club over a longer period of time. You can also look at other clubs who took the decision to go into administration, and how much better they came out the other side.

Quoted from Jarmo.Is.God

I never praised the guy at all...

I'm just bored of seeing thread after thread of people moaning about him, it achieves nothing and just fuels negativity around the club

I don't think anyone has suggested you praised him.

But asking people to just let it be with Fenty is quite frankly like pissing into a gale with everything he's done.

Even this lunchtime we get the news that the club have absolutely shat on everyone once again by disregarding social distance rules and in turn have picked up a fine, even more expensive legal and investigation costs and then associated costs for the 3 clubs affected. From Matt Dean's report we're £18,000 down before we pick up the costs.    To put that into perspective, that's a big chunk of someone's salary in the GTFC office.  That's staff who were put on furlough and told they HAD to take a pay cut.  

Nah, I'll moan about him as long as I want.  The guy is a flipping stain on this football club and it pisses me off that he's going to walk away smelling of roses.  The thread title was a give away as to what the content would be, just don't open it if you're bored of it surely?

I won’t make any more comments about my views about Fenty...I’ve said plenty in other posts....but as far as other clubs despicable chairman then the bloke Oyston at Blackpool not only did massive damage to the club but was an absolutely dispicable person in his business as well. Think he would certainly be high on the list. His son wasn’t much better in recent times either.

He has to be top 3 and I refuse to believe otherwise

Quoted from ex-merseymariner

https://www.change.org/p/north-east-lincolnshire-council-a-full-investigation-in-to-councillor-fenty

F.F.S.  give it a rest

Quoted from diehardmariner

I don't think anyone has suggested you praised him.

But asking people to just let it be with Fenty is quite frankly like pissing into a gale with everything he's done.

Even this lunchtime we get the news that the club have absolutely shat on everyone once again by disregarding social distance rules and in turn have picked up a fine, even more expensive legal and investigation costs and then associated costs for the 3 clubs affected. From Matt Dean's report we're £18,000 down before we pick up the costs.    To put that into perspective, that's a big chunk of someone's salary in the GTFC office.  That's staff who were put on furlough and told they HAD to take a pay cut.  

Nah, I'll moan about him as long as I want.  The guy is a flipping stain on this football club and it pisses me off that he's going to walk away smelling of roses.  The thread title was a give away as to what the content would be, just don't open it if you're bored of it surely?

agree its a shambnles. but shouidnt players take some sort of responsibilty?

I would like to think he is the worst, but the club survives.....just.  I think any chairman that has overseen the club completely wiped out must be the worst. My earliest recollection is Bradford Park Avenue and there have been quite a few since

Stephen Dale @ bury has to rank as one of the worst club owners ever, absolute moron of a human being

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

Stephen Dale @ bury has to rank as one of the worst club owners ever, absolute moron of a human being

I’m sure he is but he hasn’t had 16 years practice.

I always think of JF as the reluctant Chairman. I think he sort of inherited it by default as the last man standing and never really threw his heart and soul into it. Chose to run it as he would a business, which is ok from a financial point of view, but doesn't really get the blood pumping round the veins.

I think he tried his best, and there's no doubt he's a fan, but he never truly invested in the playing and coaching staff enough to make us anything more than functional. Was too old school and didn't embrace the changing game to any great degree. The ledgers instead of computerisation, the lack of belief in fitness coaches and analysts. His penny pinching on contracts to key players was fatal and he never endeared himself to the fans in any way.

I think he was just too prosaic and treated players as employees, just like the rest of the staff. There was never any great bond between the club and the fans, and there was just too much emphasis on the bottom line, which leads to a joyless and uninspiring time for all concerned.

Ultimately, entertainment was forgotten in pursuit of financial stability, and where's the romance in that?

Vaughan at Chester would take some beating. that was a horror show and they've never really recovered

Quoted from Boris Johnson

Jesus.....here we go again.

here's a link to a rogue's gallery of others, we are not unique

https://www.theguardian.com/fo.....-clubs-leyton-orient

You could add to that list the rsole who led Macclesfield into extinction.

Quoted from diehardmariner

I don't think anyone has suggested you praised him.

But asking people to just let it be with Fenty is quite frankly like pissing into a gale with everything he's done.

Even this lunchtime we get the news that the club have absolutely shat on everyone once again by disregarding social distance rules and in turn have picked up a fine, even more expensive legal and investigation costs and then associated costs for the 3 clubs affected. From Matt Dean's report we're £18,000 down before we pick up the costs.    To put that into perspective, that's a big chunk of someone's salary in the GTFC office.  That's staff who were put on furlough and told they HAD to take a pay cut.

Nah, I'll moan about him as long as I want.  The guy is a flipping stain on this football club and it pisses me off that he's going to walk away smelling of roses.  The thread title was a give away as to what the content would be, just don't open it if you're bored of it surely?

Hear hear.

That's what makes my blood boil.

But in answer to the OP, no I don't think he's the worst ever.

Though if he didn't get caught out doing deals with May who knows where it would have ended up. Something like the Brighton scenario probably. So maybe Fenty got lucky getting found out before it was too late.

I’d be inclined to agree that whilst my hatred of Fenty runs deep, and it’s extended beyond GTFC now, I don’t believe he’s the worst owner in football league history.

That said, all those people who used ‘it could be worse, we could be bury’ defence of John and his incompetent puppets should hang their heads. In reality, had that secret deal with May, which let’s face it, would’ve been done in secret else the club would’ve been honest and open about, secrecy supporting the theory that it was always going to be a bad idea but they would’ve made some cash so who cares, would’ve been an unmitigated disaster and seen us probably go the way of Bury, Darlington etc...

Thankfully we haven’t but it proves that defence as futile. People swallowed the bullahit for years, people thought he was the saviour, some blindly still do but in truth, that minority that have wanted to see the back of him for nigh on 15 years has grown in size and the May deal did the one thing Fenty has always been scared of; brought the fans together and he didn’t have his get out of jail free card of sacking a manager. This time his manager was part of the problem on and off the field but like all good rats, he jumped ship...

The thing is, we'll probably (and thankfully) never know how bad it would have got under Fenty/May.

Fenty has been a disaster of a chairman, but as many have pointed out he quite clearly isn't as bad as the likes of Dale at Bury.  I've always, to a degree, defended Fenty on the point that he is a Town fan and wouldn't put the club in danger. Unfortunately his dealings with May in recent months/years have made me doubt that assessment.

In its most simplistic terms, I think I've gone beyond the fact that Fenty has sat on his proverbial and literal throne whilst the club has burnt below.  It's more now about his actions as a human being.  People forced to take pay cuts, people told to get second jobs, myths and lies spread about to tarnish reputations, public slanging matches of respected folk...and that's all before we get into the point of potentially getting into bed with a convicted fraudster, both from the perspective of this football club and the local authority.  

He might not be as bad as Dale, or Oyston, or any other absolute scumbag who's ruled over a football club before.  But that doesn't make his actions any less significant.  Apathy is always dangerous and I personally feel the more we use the line of 'oh, well he's not that bad', he'll always get away with it.

I'm hopeful and quietly confident that we'll usher in a new regime very shortly that will see a completely different approach to how we're run both on and off the field.  Perhaps that will help heal the pain that Fenty has endured on this club, but for now he longer he remains it's like pouring alcohol on those open wounds.

John Fenty wasn't the best chairman for you and didn't always cover himself in glory during his tenure for Grimsby, but ultimately he still ensured bills were paid on the time alongside the players every month. He didn't throw you into administration when the going got too tough.

He is absolutely not a chance the worst chairman in EFL history.

We've been royally bent over and f*cked by 3 chairman in the last 15/20 years who absolutely destroyed us as a club, our reputation and legacy.

Then you've got to look at the others:
Bury have had the heart of their club ripped open by recent chairman and had to start again.
Blackpool had 20 odd years of absolute shoddy ownership from the Oystons.
Wimbledon were f*cked over by that twit at MK Mongs, I mean MK Dons.
What about that nutcase Charlton had in charge not so long ago and fans protested against him every week.
Hull had the Allam family who were absolutely ludicrous.
Coventry still have their issues with the SISU owners.

Hopefully with the new owners coming in for you, it'll be a brand new start for you and the only way will be upwards. Give them your support, show them you're willing to let them show you what they can do.

I'll be watching from a distance and hoping it goes well - I'll be back at Town games when I am down that way on a weekend as usual.

Keep the faith lads. #UTM

Quoted from AndyDarloFC

John Fenty wasn't the best chairman for you and didn't always cover himself in glory during his tenure for Grimsby, but ultimately he still ensured bills were paid on the time alongside the players every month. He didn't throw you into administration when the going got too tough.

He is absolutely not a chance the worst chairman in EFL history.

We've been royally bent over and f*cked by 3 chairman in the last 15/20 years who absolutely destroyed us as a club, our reputation and legacy.

Then you've got to look at the others:
Bury have had the heart of their club ripped open by recent chairman and had to start again.
Blackpool had 20 odd years of absolute shoddy ownership from the Oystons.
Wimbledon were f*cked over by that twit at MK Mongs, I mean MK Dons.
What about that nutcase Charlton had in charge not so long ago and fans protested against him every week.
Hull had the Allam family who were absolutely ludicrous.
Coventry still have their issues with the SISU owners.

Hopefully with the new owners coming in for you, it'll be a brand new start for you and the only way will be upwards. Give them your support, show them you're willing to let them show you what they can do.

I'll be watching from a distance and hoping it goes well - I'll be back at Town games when I am down that way on a weekend as usual.

Keep the faith lads. #UTM

I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I’m fully aware of the true end-to-end narrative of Darlo’s demise. I know it began with Reynolds and the construction of the cracking (no pun intended) but totally inappropriate arena, and I understand the running costs that came with that were understandably problematic.

But then I seem to recall there were years after that when you were at the top end of league two and in the play-offs with a decent squad - David Stockdale, Pawel Abbott, Ndumbu Nsungu et al.

What was it that properly screwed you over, or was it more a case of death by a thousand cuts?

Quoted from AndyDarloFC

John Fenty wasn't the best chairman for you and didn't always cover himself in glory during his tenure for Grimsby, but ultimately he still ensured bills were paid on the time alongside the players every month. He didn't throw you into administration when the going got too tough.

He is absolutely not a chance the worst chairman in EFL history.

We've been royally bent over and f*cked by 3 chairman in the last 15/20 years who absolutely destroyed us as a club, our reputation and legacy.

Then you've got to look at the others:
Bury have had the heart of their club ripped open by recent chairman and had to start again.
Blackpool had 20 odd years of absolute shoddy ownership from the Oystons.
Wimbledon were f*cked over by that twit at MK Mongs, I mean MK Dons.
What about that nutcase Charlton had in charge not so long ago and fans protested against him every week.
Hull had the Allam family who were absolutely ludicrous.
Coventry still have their issues with the SISU owners.

Hopefully with the new owners coming in for you, it'll be a brand new start for you and the only way will be upwards. Give them your support, show them you're willing to let them show you what they can do.

I'll be watching from a distance and hoping it goes well - I'll be back at Town games when I am down that way on a weekend as usual.

Keep the faith lads. #UTM

That's not really true. The fans paid the clubs way with gate receipts, together with other forms of income and Fenty spent it as he saw fit, wisely he would say.

He hasn't invested money in the club for years, nor has been able to find any other investment that did not end in acrimony shortly after.

He was our insurance policy in case the fans money was not enough, which is fair enough. He might not technically be the worst owner ever, it just feels like it.

Fenty is the footballing equivalent of Donald Trump  

Quoted from TAGG

Fenty is the footballing equivalent of Donald Trump  

When Shutes, Stkwd and Pettit (can we call them “SSP”) get the keys post takeover, Fenty’s fanatical fans will probably storm the Pontoon

Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

When Shutes, Stkwd and Pettit (can we call them “SSP”) get the keys post takeover, Fenty’s fanatical fans will probably storm the Pontoon

They’d struggle to fill a phone box...if they could find one 🤩

Forza knows stuff - Stephen Vaughan Snr brought Chester to it's knees even naming a stand after himself  & ensuring his two sons were part of the first team apparently leading to the resignation of ex England international Mark Wright as manager.
Prior to this he had been responsible for the demise of Barrow & Widnes RLC.
He was the first person to be deemed as not a fit proper/person to be an owner of an EFL club.
Stephen Vaughan junior has subsequently overseen the eviction of Bangor City  from the Welsh Premier League following irregularities.

Quoted from Heswall Mariner

Forza knows stuff - Stephen Vaughan Snr brought Chester to it's knees even naming a stand after himself  & ensuring his two sons were part of the first team apparently leading to the resignation of ex England international Mark Wright as manager.
Prior to this he had been responsible for the demise of Barrow & Widnes RLC.
He was the first person to be deemed as not a fit proper/person to be an owner of an EFL club.
Stephen Vaughan junior has subsequently overseen the eviction of Bangor City  from the Welsh Premier League following irregularities.

kind of you a) for the mention and B) not mentioning Vaughan's criminality and his connections with the Scouse underworld

if there isn't a book on Vaughan and Chester City, there should be

Quoted from forza ivano

kind of you a) for the mention and B) not mentioning Vaughan's criminality and his connections with the Scouse underworld

if there isn't a book on Vaughan and Chester City, there should be

Is that why the roof of the stand is made from car hub caps?

Quoted from KingstonMariner

Is that why the roof of the stand is made from car hub caps?

far more serious than that Kingston. The minutes silence for a convicted scouse gangster at a Chester match is almost unbelievable

Sounds like Sicily.

Quoted from TAGG

Fenty is the footballing equivalent of Donald Trump  

If so we know who our version of Rudi Guiliani is then.......

Quoted from RonMariner

If so we know who our version of Rudi Guiliani is then.......

I actually think Fenty shares far more parallels with Giuliani than Trump, if I’m honest. Widely respected for his actions and conduct in the face of disaster in the early noughties, and an utterly discredited and unpopular figure of ridicule come the end of 2020.

Sad thing is, it didn’t have to be that way for either of them. But then you are the product of your behaviour.