Donny

Sincil Bank is in a better state than BP but has parking issues and consistently gets filled. Or at least it did do when they were riding the crest of a wave, I think attendances are still quite high.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

I don’t mean this as a criticism of our owners but Doncaster (and countless others) are a great example of new stadium crowd increases.

Blundell Park (like Belle Vue was) is a dump and it puts people off attending matches. Doncaster moved to a new stadium with good facilities and no restricted views and crowds skyrocketed.

Stockwood has said a couple of times that they’ll consider a new stadium when BP is consistently full, but that will never happen because it’s a dump where the majority of good seats are already gone to season ticket holders.

Build it and they will come.

And that’s why we’ve fallen behind countless teams that were considered smaller clubs with less potential than us when I started supporting Town in the early 90s. Doncaster fans think being at the bottom of L1 is a catastrophe- a level we can only dream of playing at.

For most of our history we've sat above Donny in the pyramid and in my time two and, for a few years, three leagues above. They and Rotherham are the two starkest comparative examples of our decline.
They did a temporary fix on Belle Vue and then the council plus sponsorship and grants funded the Keepmoat and they rent it. I would hope that this perhaps could be our new owners strategy - stabilise the club, get us back in the League, fill Blundell Park most weeks, then move.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

I don’t mean this as a criticism of our owners but Doncaster (and countless others) are a great example of new stadium crowd increases.

Blundell Park (like Belle Vue was) is a dump and it puts people off attending matches. Doncaster moved to a new stadium with good facilities and no restricted views and crowds skyrocketed.

Stockwood has said a couple of times that they’ll consider a new stadium when BP is consistently full, but that will never happen because it’s a dump where the majority of good seats are already gone to season ticket holders.

Build it and they will come.

And that’s why we’ve fallen behind countless teams that were considered smaller clubs with less potential than us when I started supporting Town in the early 90s. Doncaster fans think being at the bottom of L1 is a catastrophe- a level we can only dream of playing at.

How do Doncaster have less potential than us? Their city is twice the size of NE Lincs. They were rubbish and had a horrible ground, so fans didn't attend. They built a new ground, then fans and success followed, but that potential was always there. Same for countless clubs that have overtaken us, they've unlocked their potential where as we were overachieving.

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

For most of our history we've sat above Donny in the pyramid and in my time two and, for a few years, three leagues above. They and Rotherham are the two starkest comparative examples of our decline.
They did a temporary fix on Belle Vue and then the council plus sponsorship and grants funded the Keepmoat and they rent it. I would hope that this perhaps could be our new owners strategy - stabilise the club, get us back in the League, fill Blundell Park most weeks, then move.

I think we can add Shrewsbury, Peterborough, Wycombe, WIgan & Oxford to that list. And even Fleetwood ****ing Town. And then there are the likes of Reading, Brighton, Swansea & Cardiff too. Clubs we outperformed for years and years and are now miles and miles and miles behind on and off the pitch.

I appreciate Rome wasn't built in a day, but GTFC's true potential will never be realised at Blundell Park. JSF understood that but couldn't make a new stadium viable.

Quoted from pen penfras

How do Doncaster have less potential than us? Their city is twice the size of NE Lincs. They were rubbish and had a horrible ground, so fans didn't attend. They built a new ground, then fans and success followed, but that potential was always there. Same for countless clubs that have overtaken us, they've unlocked their potential where as we were overachieving.

Firstly Doncaster is a town and not a city. And Doncaster's population is 110,000. Grimsby & Cleethorpes have a combined population of 127,000. As a football club they are in close proximity to 2 Sheffield clubs, Rotherham & Barnsley within South Yorkshire. Doncaster is also a Rugby League town albeit not to the same level as Bradford, Hull & Huddersfield. We don't have any local big clubs or other sports to compete with.

Quoted from pen penfras

How do Doncaster have less potential than us? Their city is twice the size of NE Lincs. They were rubbish and had a horrible ground, so fans didn't attend. They built a new ground, then fans and success followed, but that potential was always there. Same for countless clubs that have overtaken us, they've unlocked their potential where as we were overachieving.

The thing that’s often overlooked is that we are almost uniquely distanced from other top clubs. Putting Hull to one side, who’ve had their success but aren’t historically fashionable enough to draw support from distance, our nearest ‘big’ club is Leeds, the best part of an hour and a half away.

I can only think of Plymouth and Torquay who have more favourable situations in that sense. Yes, there are disadvantages to not being close to a major city but, equally, how difficult must it be for the likes of Oldham, Stockport and ffs Boreham Wood to attract fans given the stature of clubs on their doorstep. Eastleigh is not much smaller than NE Lincs, but they are merely Southampton’s Grimsby Borough.

We are playing in a league of suburbs and broken clubs, of which we are sadly one. Let’s not kid ourselves into a narrative that this is okay or that we’ve found our level. That is simply not true. Yes, times change, but the fact that our average league finish over almost 150 years of football (even accounting for the shambolic last 20) is in the top 45 of the league system, is because that’s what this town is capable of.

We must not let two decades of appalling club management to cloud our collective perception of what this club is about and what it can be. We are better than this. Much, much better.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

I don’t mean this as a criticism of our owners but Doncaster (and countless others) are a great example of new stadium crowd increases.

Blundell Park (like Belle Vue was) is a dump and it puts people off attending matches. Doncaster moved to a new stadium with good facilities and no restricted views and crowds skyrocketed.

Stockwood has said a couple of times that they’ll consider a new stadium when BP is consistently full, but that will never happen because it’s a dump where the majority of good seats are already gone to season ticket holders.

Build it and they will come.

And that’s why we’ve fallen behind countless teams that were considered smaller clubs with less potential than us when I started supporting Town in the early 90s. Doncaster fans think being at the bottom of L1 is a catastrophe- a level we can only dream of playing at.

And have we missed the Gov money train with the two and a half years of the consortium destabilising relocation. Hope not but being none committal is not a great signal to the council if there is any money left.  

Quoted from GibMariner

And have we missed the Gov money train with the two and a half years of the consortium destabilising relocation. Hope not but being none committal is not a great signal to the council if there is any money left.  

Say what you like about John Fenty, but aside from the two relegations to non-league, his legacy will be one of unrivalled failure to get anywhere close to delivering a new ground. This despite thousands upon thousands of pounds being paid out to private sector consultants and tinpot developers for feasibility studies.

The bloke was handed a fúckoff piece of land in a prime location, for effectively nothing, and spent more time with online petitions than any actual development work. A spectacular failure and one that would be hard to repeat even if you tried.

Honest John stated publicly that the club were pressing ahead with relocation because Shutes couldn’t get his ducks in a row, and then did what? Courted a convicted fraudster who was supposedly only interested in funding a training ground?

Just staggering ineptitude, the bloke couldn’t deliver a newspaper let alone a multi-million pound redevelopment project despite his bullshít & bluster. Utter failure. The new owners can’t be blamed for the many, many failings of the old custodians.

Quoted from ska face

Say what you like about John Fenty, but aside from the two relegations to non-league, his legacy will be one of unrivalled failure to get anywhere close to delivering a new ground. This despite thousands upon thousands of pounds being paid out to private sector consultants and tinpot developers for feasibility studies.

The bloke was handed a fúckoff piece of land in a prime location, for effectively nothing, and spent more time with online petitions than any actual development work. A spectacular failure and one that would be hard to repeat even if you tried.

Honest John stated publicly that the club were pressing ahead with relocation because Shutes couldn’t get his ducks in a row, and then did what? Courted a convicted fraudster who was supposedly only interested in funding a training ground?

Just staggering ineptitude, the bloke couldn’t deliver a newspaper let alone a multi-million pound redevelopment project despite his bullshít & bluster. Utter failure. The new owners can’t be blamed for the many, many failings of the old custodians.

It is frustrating that we have gone from an owner who understood the need for a new stadium but couldn't get even close to delivering it to owners who have all the expertise required to deliver it, but (publicly at least) refuse to admit that it's needed in the long term.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

It is frustrating that we have gone from an owner who understood the need for a new stadium but couldn't get even close to delivering it to owners who have all the expertise required to deliver it, but (publicly at least) refuse to admit that it's needed in the long term.

I'm not sure that having a real estate background is the expertise required to deliver it any more than building a fish factory is. The problem is and always has been money. Until somebody is willing to put forward the cash then we're always going to be chasing whatever moving carrot is dangled in front of us.