Callum Potter

Quoted from Poojah

Not far down the road Scunny did a brilliant job of this for years, constantly signing players for little to nothing and then selling them on for millions.

Billy Sharp, Gary Hooper, Martin Paterson, Andy Keogh and Conor Townsend alone netted them over £10m in transfer fees having cost them a combined total of £150k (£100k for Sharp and £50k for Keogh). That’s not an accident, and it’s that kind of approach that organically funded their promotions to the Championship before Peter Swann got his grubby hands on the club and fúcked it all up.

We were possibly a tad unlucky in that, Bogle aside, Liam Hearn was probably our most saleable asset in recent years and he got badly injured, but our failure to produce and attract players with a sizeable resale value is just one of the reasons we’ve fallen behind as a club.

It makes it all the more galling that, uncertainty over the Dembele deal aside, we’ve probably had our most profitable season in many years and not a penny has made it back into the transfer kitty.

They paid fees for Hooper and Paterson too, I think Hooper was about 200k. Townsend was definitely a Swann era signing too, but I'm just nitpicking as you're totally right they played several blinders in the transfer market. I think Dagnall was another one. Strikers we couldn't dream of having at that time, I'm thankful those days are gone! They even made a decent profit on Martyn Woolford, I seem to remember?

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.

Agree wholeheartedly with this.

Someone made a point about the need to be back in the EFL for attraction purposes and not becoming part of the furniture of the NL. I don't think that is necessarily a blocker to advancement. The last time we were here we spent 5 years of this and although only marginally, we improved year on year generally speaking. We certainly didn't fluctuate as Wrexham have done since they came down, or nosedive like York and Stockport have/had done.

When we did get promoted that trend continued and we found ourselves inside the play-offs when PH left for Shrewsbury. I know opinion will be divided on this but I don't think it's coincidence that the longevity we gave PH the first time around and the stability he brought was the major factor in that progression into L2 being successful until he left. From there we've ripped up those foundations time and time again and suffered as a consequence (amongst other things).

Management is largely about providing resources for the staff to conduct their job. The owners don't fiddle with team selection or training, their role is to give PH and his staff the tools to deliver on the pitch. Budget is one aspect to it but the environment where they conduct their daily work also has to be of a suitable standard too.

If our off-field facilities provide the management team all they need to achieve success then they can then be truly judged on their abilities. Given our turnover in managers over the years, is the problem that good managers aren't given the right tools? Is this why JS and AP won't be quick to dismiss PH because they recognise their office isn't up to standard?

I'm firmly of the opinion that in the modern age of football, we have to take a temporary relaxation of expectation on league standing (within reason) and allow the new owners to 'do-up' the house so that there are minimal excuses and we're equipped as best possible to push not just for a promotion to L2 but further. It's daft to be thinking of the Championship right now but Luton were where we are 5 years ago... Get your house in order and try align all the things required for success and any club has the capability to go beyond the expectation. Yeovil, Scunthorpe and Wycombe are other great examples of that dream, however short lived in two of the examples.