Callum Potter

Quoted from jamesgtfc

Have faith. £500k of transfer income plus another £500k of the boards money has gone straight into Fentys' bank. Anything due from the Dembele move to Bournemouth is going to him as well. Jason and Andrew have spent £1.5m of their own personal cash to buy Fentys' shares plus a few more and then chucked £1m in to improve our club; which was starved of investment and round footballs.

It takes time but the evidence is above that money is being spent or diverted elsewhere for now. We are building and I'm sure as we get players tied down for next season, our summer recruitment will be a bit different this year.

Some double counting going on there.

Quoted from HerveJosse

Some double counting going on there.

Are you intimating that the £500k loan repayment on 31st December was part of the £1.125m Jason referred to in the statement on Monday? I don't think John Shelton Fenty counts as infrastructure or the playing side of the club.

“Andrew and I intend to continue to invest in the infrastructure and playing side of the Club and since the financial year end 1878 Partners has invested a further £1.125m into the business to support these initiatives."

Quoted from jamesgtfc

Have faith. £500k of transfer income plus another £500k of the boards money has gone straight into Fentys' bank. Anything due from the Dembele move to Bournemouth is going to him as well. Jason and Andrew have spent £1.5m of their own personal cash to buy Fentys' shares plus a few more and then chucked £1m in to improve our club; which was starved of investment and round footballs.

It takes time but the evidence is above that money is being spent or diverted elsewhere for now. We are building and I'm sure as we get players tied down for next season, our summer recruitment will be a bit different this year.

Are those figures of the new owner’s payments true? In that case I have to ask, are they mental?!

Quoted from jamesgtfc

On your last point, I don't think they would have been popular as they siphoned £1.5m of attendance money and transfer income back into their bank accounts. Even if they are both worth £75m (simple maths) then £750k each is still a sizeable amount of cash to have liquid. Whatever they are worth, I would hazard most of it is tied up in investments.

It's always easy to spend someone elses money but I think they were right not to pay the loan off immediately for a number of reasons.

I was rather thinking they could have explained to us that they were paying him off to get rid of him but would recoup the money as our fortunes improved over time - I am sure we would have understood that.

However I know absolutely nothing about finance on that scale and speak more from the heart so I am sure your analysis holds more weight.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

I was rather thinking they could have explained to us that they were paying him off to get rid of him but would recoup the money as our fortunes improved over time - I am sure we would have understood that.

However I know absolutely nothing about finance on that scale and speak more from the heart so I am sure your analysis holds more weight.

It's a good idea in theory but we've seen how people have behaved recently. Everyone was fine with the improvements when we were top of the league but once we hit a bad run of form people were debating how many players we should have bought instead of the sprinklers and glass barrier.

Based on the experience above, can you imagine how crazy people would be going as it transpired we failed to get promoted yet still managed to pay the directors £250k for example?

Quoted from jamesgtfc

Are you intimating that the £500k loan repayment on 31st December was part of the £1.125m Jason referred to in the statement on Monday? I don't think John Shelton Fenty counts as infrastructure or the playing side of the club.

“Andrew and I intend to continue to invest in the infrastructure and playing side of the Club and since the financial year end 1878 Partners has invested a further £1.125m into the business to support these initiatives."

Carefully worded I would suggest

Quoted from jamesgtfc

It's a good idea in theory but we've seen how people have behaved recently. Everyone was fine with the improvements when we were top of the league but once we hit a bad run of form people were debating how many players we should have bought instead of the sprinklers and glass barrier.

Based on the experience above, can you imagine how crazy people would be going as it transpired we failed to get promoted yet still managed to pay the directors £250k for example?

I was thinking more of a £100 monthly standing order once we had reached the Championship. That would be £100 EACH.

I know it's a source of frustration for some but we should absolutely be investing in the infrastructure first.

To sign good players you've got to want them to come. Show them their 'office' - a nice training facility, all the gym equipment they need, all the technology and (dare I say) data to help them improve.

Show them that they'll be looked after. Let them hear through the grapevine that Grimsby is a place where you're properly looked after.

For many years we've signed players of decent calibre and then wondered why they haven't performed with us. Well, perhaps they simply weren't inspired by what they saw and experienced here. A rubbish training pitch. A portakabin. Non-spherical footballs.

You get the idea.

We've been plastering over the cracks for decades now. Investing in our training facilities and equipment means we now have something with actual value to sell to players when we're trying to entice them to join us.

Once everything has been brought up to the standards Hurst, Doig and 1878 feel is right, and once we owe nothing more to Fenty, then maybe we might see some of our profits spent on talent.

Let's also not forget that, in spite of the crap condition of the club, we've been able to make money from selling young players. Neil Woods and staff continue to do a phenomenal job there. This shouldn't stop but only get better.

Quoted from RichMariner

We've been plastering over the cracks for decades now. Investing in our training facilities and equipment means we now have something with actual value to sell to players when we're trying to entice them to join us.

Good points.  This above is the key sticking point though.

Because we've stagnated and even regressed over the last few decades we're now in a position that makes us completely unappealable on so many levels.

You're absolutely right, the infrastructure needs to be sorted.  That not only attracts people to the place but it keeps them. But aspiration and ambition attracts people as well, with it money.

On a simplistic level, if Town sign better players now they've got a better chance of promotion.  If they get promotion they can then attract better players again because a) players are naturally ambitious and would rather play in League Two than Non-League and b) you can pay better wages.

The ideal is that balance, you can invest in your infrastructure on an ongoing basis to make sure it always improves, but you can also invest in the best that you can in terms of actual players.  1878 are absolutely right to sort the infrastructure because it will have a legacy.  But the longer we stay down at this level, the harder it becomes to get out of it.  Saying that, I think next season the Conference becomes easier.  It's not unlikely to think that two of Halifax, Stockport, Chesterfield and Wrexham will be the ones to go up, replaced by Scunny and Oldham (neither of whom are likely to be a threat).  But you get a reputation as a Conference side, not a side who've dropped down with a view to bouncing back, but a genuine fifth tier outfit.  That's got to be an impact on players signing for you.

It's chicken and egg.  You can spunk everything on decent players to get you out and then try to build the infrastructure or do what we're doing.  Either way you're going to have a shortfall and run the risk of a period of rebuilding, with that there's potential consequences.

Frustrating and I don't think there's a right or wrong answer to it.

Quoted from RichMariner

I know it's a source of frustration for some but we should absolutely be investing in the infrastructure first.

To sign good players you've got to want them to come. Show them their 'office' - a nice training facility, all the gym equipment they need, all the technology and (dare I say) data to help them improve.

Show them that they'll be looked after. Let them hear through the grapevine that Grimsby is a place where you're properly looked after.

For many years we've signed players of decent calibre and then wondered why they haven't performed with us. Well, perhaps they simply weren't inspired by what they saw and experienced here. A rubbish training pitch. A portakabin. Non-spherical footballs.

You get the idea.

We've been plastering over the cracks for decades now. Investing in our training facilities and equipment means we now have something with actual value to sell to players when we're trying to entice them to join us.

Once everything has been brought up to the standards Hurst, Doig and 1878 feel is right, and once we owe nothing more to Fenty, then maybe we might see some of our profits spent on talent.

Let's also not forget that, in spite of the crap condition of the club, we've been able to make money from selling young players. Neil Woods and staff continue to do a phenomenal job there. This shouldn't stop but only get better.

Over the years we have signed some really class players who didn't mind coming to poor old Grimsby.

The longer we stay out of the Football League the worse our finances will be due to the lack of income from the EFL plus the likelihood of gates dropping the longer we stay here.

We should be making our first objective to get back in the EFL.