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Like has been previously stated , who is there to step up to the plate ? JF has consistently said that he will consider all reasonable offers to buy him out but none have been forthcoming. That situation could easily change if we get promoted and/or the new ground gets the go-ahead. His loans are benign and he only wants them back when the club can afford to pay him. I don't know what the total is but the figure of £3 million springs to mind. If somebody was to offer him this then I don't think that would be excessive considering the potential there is for a successful football club in Grimsby.

Quoted from Yoda

If we do not get promotion this season should this be Fenty's last season as chairman, should he step down and let some else take over to try and get us promoted.

Just so you're aware, John Fenty stepped down as chairman nearly 4 years ago >> [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/14979772]http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/14979772[/url]

JF has publicly said he would walk away if someone offered to fund the club going forward for a reasonable time period and only expect his loans to be paid back if the club had football fortune and could afford to repay them. He has said he would not put the club in financial trouble by handing it over to someone who could not prove the funding but if they could he would be happy to pass the rains on.

I believe no one has took him up on the offer yet.

How would Fenty survive without pretending he's the clubs saviour?

So Mr Fenty once again engineers a super budget, one that surpasses our expectations for the attendances that we get. The result of which is that the majority of a super squad, most of whom could have left, are signing new contracts. Also with new players of the same calibre on the way.

But some numpty is questioning if this should be Mr Fenty's last season.

Get a grip for Christ's sake

Waste of space thread. John Fenty to walk away at the end of the season ..... because we have so many other investors and millionaires lining up to take over..

Next

Message from the dark side springs to mind. LOL!
UTM!

It's Fenty's legacy so he alone will decide when to call it a day. If I fudge things up, I do my best to put things right and sometimes different time scales mean that either happens sooner or later. We almost did it last season, lets see where this season takes us before the knives come out.

The club can not survive in non league, look at Lincoln, I know they are a smaller club than us but can you ever see them ever getting promoted. Lets keep pulling in the same direction, a sure way to court success.

Quoted from 120790

So Mr Fenty once again engineers a super budget, one that surpasses our expectations for the attendances that we get. The result of which is that the majority of a super squad, most of whom could have left, are signing new contracts. Also with new players of the same calibre on the way.

But some numpty is questioning if this should be Mr Fenty's last season.

Get a grip for Christ's sake

What you on Ascend? Mediocre budget, mediocre squad who if we are lucky will go elsewhere, clueless manager who has to sign a dozen players to get one decent one.

I think you are the numpty if you can't see that.

A dozen players to get one decent one!

I would actually say that PH has a good record for spotting players who look very comfortable at our level

Pro-Fenty or anti-Fenty, he doesn't give us a 'super-budget'. I don't think he should put more in necessarily, it's his club and if he doesn't want to put more in then it's up to him, but a 'super-budget' or an idea that we're spending more than we could? Just a lie.

Quoted from realist

What you on Ascend? Mediocre budget, mediocre squad who if we are lucky will go elsewhere, clueless manager who has to sign a dozen players to get one decent one.

I think you are the numpty if you can't see that.

For all I'm not his biggest fan, PH has certainly got an eye for a player.

Quoted from Yoda

If we do not get promotion this season should this be Fenty's last season as chairman, should he step down and let some else take over to try and get us promoted.Lets be honest if it wasn't for the lottery winners putting in £50 000 pounds to buy Palmer i think we would have struggled to make the play offs.

My god ive put some crap on here in the past but Yoda takes it to another level !!! Wise he is not ........ daft he is

He's worse than you! ;)

Quoted from WetFlannel

Pro-Fenty or anti-Fenty, he doesn't give us a 'super-budget'. I don't think he should put more in necessarily, it's his club and if he doesn't want to put more in then it's up to him, but a 'super-budget' or an idea that we're spending more than we could? Just a lie.

The truth hurts

If this football club was John's sole business, he would be bankrupt and on the streets.
Fortunately, he is a successful business man in other ventures and due to his passion for
GTFC he has stood to the challenge of a resurrection to the football league, lets hope it will be next season.
He has been man enough to admit his mistakes and thrown down 'the Gauntlet' for perspective buyers to
come forward, not many takers there..
For the first time in many years there seems to be a togetherness and belief amongst the fans and players.
He is a massive Town fan, get behind him.

...no, I am not John!

UTM!

Fenty is our own version of Sepp Blatter, an idiot obsessed by power & deluded by the harm he has done. Fenty has taken us from the Championship to being in the conference for at least 6 seasons and there have been several people who have tried to invest, or buy him out, but will not work with him and he will not let go. He should have handed the job over when we got relegated to this sorry level and anyone who thinks GTFC would not exist if not for his investment is as deluded as Fenty himself. He has done absolutely nothing whilst on the board, but drag the club down and embarrass it with mistake after mistake. The club will hopefully succeed in 2015/16, but with no thanks to Lord Fenty who is wholly responsible for the lowest times in the clubs history. Yes absolutely, it should be his last chance to get us up, it should have happened by now!

Quoted from dapperz fun pub

If he goes who steps in ? I think the vibe regarding fenty and hurst as changed but we need to get off the blocks quick to keep it all going

Iam quite positive this will happen. The nucleus of the squad from last season has been kept and big respect for Hurst for this so Iam certainly hopeful.

Quoted from kingster72

Fenty is our own version of Sepp Blatter, an idiot obsessed by power & deluded by the harm he has done. Fenty has taken us from the Championship to being in the conference for at least 6 seasons and there have been several people who have tried to invest, or buy him out, but will not work with him and he will not let go. He should have handed the job over when we got relegated to this sorry level and anyone who thinks GTFC would not exist if not for his investment is as deluded as Fenty himself. He has done absolutely nothing whilst on the board, but drag the club down and embarrass it with mistake after mistake. The club will hopefully succeed in 2015/16, but with no thanks to Lord Fenty who is wholly responsible for the lowest times in the clubs history. Yes absolutely, it should be his last chance to get us up, it should have happened by now!

That's the spirit stay positive, I'm sure your takeover is imminent!

Quoted from kingster72

Fenty is our own version of Sepp Blatter, an idiot obsessed by power & deluded by the harm he has done. Fenty has taken us from the Championship to being in the conference for at least 6 seasons and there have been several people who have tried to invest, or buy him out, but will not work with him and he will not let go. He should have handed the job over when we got relegated to this sorry level and anyone who thinks GTFC would not exist if not for his investment is as deluded as Fenty himself. He has done absolutely nothing whilst on the board, but drag the club down and embarrass it with mistake after mistake. The club will hopefully succeed in 2015/16, but with no thanks to Lord Fenty who is wholly responsible for the lowest times in the clubs history. Yes absolutely, it should be his last chance to get us up, it should have happened by now!

How do you spell nob without it getting changed to something else?

Quoted from kingster72

Fenty is our own version of Sepp Blatter, an idiot obsessed by power & deluded by the harm he has done. Fenty has taken us from the Championship to being in the conference for at least 6 seasons and there have been several people who have tried to invest, or buy him out, but will not work with him and he will not let go. He should have handed the job over when we got relegated to this sorry level and anyone who thinks GTFC would not exist if not for his investment is as deluded as Fenty himself. He has done absolutely nothing whilst on the board, but drag the club down and embarrass it with mistake after mistake. The club will hopefully succeed in 2015/16, but with no thanks to Lord Fenty who is wholly responsible for the lowest times in the clubs history. Yes absolutely, it should be his last chance to get us up, it should have happened by now!

Hmmm, he's not the only deluded one.

Quoted from kingster72

Fenty is our own version of Sepp Blatter, an idiot obsessed by power & deluded by the harm he has done. Fenty has taken us from the Championship to being in the conference for at least 6 seasons and there have been several people who have tried to invest, or buy him out, but will not work with him and he will not let go. He should have handed the job over when we got relegated to this sorry level and anyone who thinks GTFC would not exist if not for his investment is as deluded as Fenty himself. He has done absolutely nothing whilst on the board, but drag the club down and embarrass it with mistake after mistake. The club will hopefully succeed in 2015/16, but with no thanks to Lord Fenty who is wholly responsible for the lowest times in the clubs history. Yes absolutely, it should be his last chance to get us up, it should have happened by now!

I'm prepared to accept I might have missed it but could you name names of any of the "several" who have tried to buy him out?

FFS do some people have nothing better to do than moan the last 48-72 hours have been amazing to be a town fan yet some tw@ts still want to moan about something. Get a Grip and back the club

Quoted from kingster72

Fenty is our own version of Sepp Blatter, an idiot obsessed by power & deluded by the harm he has done. Fenty has taken us from the Championship to being in the conference for at least 6 seasons and there have been several people who have tried to invest, or buy him out, but will not work with him and he will not let go. He should have handed the job over when we got relegated to this sorry level and anyone who thinks GTFC would not exist if not for his investment is as deluded as Fenty himself. He has done absolutely nothing whilst on the board, but drag the club down and embarrass it with mistake after mistake. The club will hopefully succeed in 2015/16, but with no thanks to Lord Fenty who is wholly responsible for the lowest times in the clubs history. Yes absolutely, it should be his last chance to get us up, it should have happened by now!

"Idiot" "deluded" you've described yourself very well!

Quoted from rancido

Like has been previously stated , who is there to step up to the plate ? JF has consistently said that he will consider all reasonable offers to buy him out but none have been forthcoming. That situation could easily change if we get promoted and/or the new ground gets the go-ahead. His loans are benign and he only wants them back when the club can afford to pay him. I don't know what the total is but the figure of £3 million springs to mind. If somebody was to offer him this then I don't think that would be excessive considering the potential there is for a successful football club in Grimsby.

Now I'm not sure this is a healthy thing to debate now as the playing side of the club is the most positive it has been in years but how could anyone be expected to pay 3 million for the club? It is club in the conference that operates at a large loss. The state it is in if someone with money to put in wants to take it over it should go for a token fee and the loans be written off to allow the club to progress.

The club is currently in a position were it is loaned money to operate each season, sadly the budget has not quite been big enough to get us up over the last few seasons. Since we have been in this league we have seen clubs with ambitious budgets generally promoted, I'm thinking of Fleetwood, Crawley and Mansfield, it may be cautiousness, lack of ambition or funds but we haven't really had a big go at the title since we've been in this league.
If the loans are to be paid back when the club is successful surely this must be as a league club? And surely the best way to do that is with a more ambitious budget?

Personally I was pleased with the squad last year and thought it would see us into the play offs, but I genuinely think that the benign loans remove the chance of anyone taking the club on. Nobody is going to pay 3 million for the club and then have to pump the funds in to make it right.

Quoted from headingly_mariner

Now I'm not sure this is a healthy thing to debate now as the playing side of the club is the most positive it has been in years but how could anyone be expected to pay 3 million for the club? It is club in the conference that operates at a large loss. The state it is in if someone with money to put in wants to take it over it should go for a token fee and the loans be written off to allow the club to progress.

The club is currently in a position were it is loaned money to operate each season, sadly the budget has not quite been big enough to get us up over the last few seasons. Since we have been in this league we have seen clubs with ambitious budgets generally promoted, I'm thinking of Fleetwood, Crawley and Mansfield, it may be cautiousness, lack of ambition or funds but we haven't really had a big go at the title since we've been in this league.
If the loans are to be paid back when the club is successful surely this must be as a league club? And surely the best way to do that is with a more ambitious budget?

Personally I was pleased with the squad last year and thought it would see us into the play offs, but I genuinely think that the benign loans remove the chance of anyone taking the club on. Nobody is going to pay 3 million for the club and then have to pump the funds in to make it right.

Spot on Headingley.

The problem is that it COULD still be a long time before we get back in the league and get the new stadium. I totally agree with the 'let's have a real go' approach too. I understand why others back Mr Fenty but I still have this issue that people believe that there is no interest - maybe that's true but would you buy something if you believed that you need 3 million before you could do anything positive?

Just a final point - people saying we shouldn't be debating this now. Why not? It is the close season and much better now than in the middle of a promotion campaign.

Its all right lets saying we must have a go budget but someone has to guarantee the money when our books show we would be setting a business plan to lose money, then the League financial fair play comes into it, income to expenditure although pretty sure that is easily side stepped with buying some advertising or sponsorship for millions if required.
Not entirely defending JF here but our directors arent all multi millionaires with bottomless pockets are they? and Multi millionaires even at this level arent exactly enough are they?
If you won the lottery next week, 1.2m say, you couldnt even run the club for a year with that could you? Never mind mastermind a 3-4 yr plan to get up and stay up.
10's of Millions are required, to pay off any debtors and run the club for a 3 yr period at current level i would estimate at a minimum 6-7m, thats without pushing for it with an ambitious budget. 6-7m for a club with about 1m worth of assets...that loses money every season....and to really progress you need a new stadium...20-30 m...

Ridiculous for what is a non league set up.

Pretty much all professional clubs run at a loss though don't they.

Quoted from moosey_club

Its all right lets saying we must have a go budget but someone has to guarantee the money when our books show we would be setting a business plan to lose money, then the League financial fair play comes into it, income to expenditure although pretty sure that is easily side stepped with buying some advertising or sponsorship for millions if required.
Not entirely defending JF here but our directors arent all multi millionaires with bottomless pockets are they? and Multi millionaires even at this level arent exactly enough are they?
If you won the lottery next week, 1.2m say, you couldnt even run the club for a year with that could you? Never mind mastermind a 3-4 yr plan to get up and stay up.
10's of Millions are required, to pay off any debtors and run the club for a 3 yr period at current level i would estimate at a minimum 6-7m, thats without pushing for it with an ambitious budget. 6-7m for a club with about 1m worth of assets...that loses money every season....and to really progress you need a new stadium...20-30 m...

Ridiculous for what is a non league set up.

But this is the point. Let's say operation promotion (the Trust initiative) raises £100,000 (1000 x £100) and improved season ticket sales raise another £60,000, that sort of increase in budget pays a decent salary to 4 extra players. Having re-signed the majority of the squad that came so close, we are giving ourselves a real fighting chance without costing the board (Fenty) a penny. That said, there's also the prospect of increased gate money if we start well - extra 300 per home game is worth approx £5k a game.

Quoted from chaos33

He's worse than you! ;)

Back handed compliment but ill take it ....... :P

Quoted from headingly_mariner

Now I'm not sure this is a healthy thing to debate now as the playing side of the club is the most positive it has been in years but how could anyone be expected to pay 3 million for the club? It is club in the conference that operates at a large loss. The state it is in if someone with money to put in wants to take it over it should go for a token fee and the loans be written off to allow the club to progress.

The club is currently in a position were it is loaned money to operate each season, sadly the budget has not quite been big enough to get us up over the last few seasons. Since we have been in this league we have seen clubs with ambitious budgets generally promoted, I'm thinking of Fleetwood, Crawley and Mansfield, it may be cautiousness, lack of ambition or funds but we haven't really had a big go at the title since we've been in this league.
If the loans are to be paid back when the club is successful surely this must be as a league club? And surely the best way to do that is with a more ambitious budget?

Personally I was pleased with the squad last year and thought it would see us into the play offs, but I genuinely think that the benign loans remove the chance of anyone taking the club on. Nobody is going to pay 3 million for the club and then have to pump the funds in to make it right.

There have been many instances where businesses have been sold for a nominal amount but the buyer takes on the debts. I was living in Torbay in the late 70's and one of the biggest hotels in Torquay was sold for £1 but the buyer took on debts of £1 million pounds. JF has come in for a lot of criticism on how he has run the club ( some justified but also some with no basis whatsoever ). Surely then it follows that somebody with a better business mind or a fresh input could make the club successful again. On that basis then a club with the " potential " to get back into the league and with a realistic fanbase of 4,000 to 5,000 could be a good prospect to take on for approx. £3 million.

Quoted from rancido

There have been many instances where businesses have been sold for a nominal amount but the buyer takes on the debts. I was living in Torbay in the late 70's and one of the biggest hotels in Torquay was sold for £1 but the buyer took on debts of £1 million pounds. JF has come in for a lot of criticism on how he has run the club ( some justified but also some with no basis whatsoever ). Surely then it follows that somebody with a better business mind or a fresh input could make the club successful again. On that basis then a club with the " potential " to get back into the league and with a realistic fanbase of 4,000 to 5,000 could be a good prospect to take on for approx. £3 million.

We really need to stop going over how JF has run this club, the nominal amount of money will always be debateable. The stumbling block from what I was told many moons ago was apart from a grossly inflated sale price, JF and PF at the time to become life long directors. So as you see, it's not just about the money, it could also be about level of involvement.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

But this is the point. Let's say operation promotion (the Trust initiative) raises £100,000 (1000 x £100) and improved season ticket sales raise another £60,000, that sort of increase in budget pays a decent salary to 4 extra players. Having re-signed the majority of the squad that came so close, we are giving ourselves a real fighting chance without costing the board (Fenty) a penny. That said, there's also the prospect of increased gate money if we start well - extra 300 per home game is worth approx £5k a game.

Off the extra (season) ticket sales you'd have to take 1/6 in VAT and possibly also off the Op.Promo money, depending on how the money ends up in the club's coffers. Then you've got employer's costs such as NI and pension contributions. That £160k could soon drop to not much more than £100k. Judging by the sums being bandied around what FGR are paying that won't be much more than one good striker.

Worth having, but it won't affect the size of the squad much.

Quoted from rancido

There have been many instances where businesses have been sold for a nominal amount but the buyer takes on the debts. I was living in Torbay in the late 70's and one of the biggest hotels in Torquay was sold for £1 but the buyer took on debts of £1 million pounds. JF has come in for a lot of criticism on how he has run the club ( some justified but also some with no basis whatsoever ). Surely then it follows that somebody with a better business mind or a fresh input could make the club successful again. On that basis then a club with the " potential " to get back into the league and with a realistic fanbase of 4,000 to 5,000 could be a good prospect to take on for approx. £3 million.

GTFC is not a hotel. Getting back into the football league was said to be worth a 1million, the added costs of being in the league make it unlikely that the £3 million would be recouped without great success.
The club is not a good prospect outside of the football league, I'm not even sure it would be a good prospect in the league.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

Off the extra (season) ticket sales you'd have to take 1/6 in VAT and possibly also off the Op.Promo money, depending on how the money ends up in the club's coffers. Then you've got employer's costs such as NI and pension contributions. That £160k could soon drop to not much more than £100k. Judging by the sums being bandied around what FGR are paying that won't be much more than one good striker.

Worth having, but it won't affect the size of the squad much.

Isn't VAT 20% (rhetorical question-I've just sorted out the latest Trust VAT liability). I'm not sure why VAT would come into Operation Promotion though :-/

Incidentally if I was an FGR fan I'd be getting a bit worried. We talk about John Fenty's (financial) commitment but they must be living on a knife edge of him deciding he's had enough-there or thereabouts for a couple of years, less than 1000 home gates...

Quoted from headingly_mariner

GTFC is not a hotel. Getting back into the football league was said to be worth a 1million, the added costs of being in the league make it unlikely that the £3 million would be recouped without great success.
The club is not a good prospect outside of the football league, I'm not even sure it would be a good prospect in the league.

I feel as though I ought to know the answer to this but I don't...Do we owe any other sizeable sums of money other than J.Fs £3m?

Quoted from barralad

Isn't VAT 20% (rhetorical question-I've just sorted out the latest Trust VAT liability). I'm not sure why VAT would come into Operation Promotion though :-/

Incidentally if I was an FGR fan I'd be getting a bit worried. We talk about John Fenty's (financial) commitment but they must be living on a knife edge of him deciding he's had enough-there or thereabouts for a couple of years, less than 1000 home gates...

It is 20%. So if a ticket is £12 inc VAT then it's £10 excluding VAT, 20% of which is £2. i.e. 1/6 of the total price. Presumably the same applies to any extra revenue, not just tickets.

Are there no financial fair play rules in the Conference?

Quoted from barralad

I feel as though I ought to know the answer to this but I don't...Do we owe any other sizeable sums of money other than J.Fs £3m?

I don't believe the club owes anyone else any substantial amounts.
I suppose it can be a blessing and a curse, I blessing in that the only person the club owes enough to put the club in trouble is the one person that would lose the most. A curse because it stops anyone else taking the club on or putting any money in.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

It is 20%. So if a ticket is £12 inc VAT then it's £10 excluding VAT, 20% of which is £2. i.e. 1/6 of the total price. Presumably the same applies to any extra revenue, not just tickets.

Are there no financial fair play rules in the Conference?

Oh yeah...(It's very late!!)

For VAT to be added I'm pretty sure you have to be selling something which with the Operation Promotion thing we won't be! (Disclaimer:- VAT is weird so I could be way off the mark)

Dunno about FFP but they seem to be spending a lot of money on not very large resources i.e. gate monies etc.

I THINK with FGR the money Vince puts in is via Sponsorship and donations opposed to loans. It's probably to reduce the tax liability on Ecocity or whatever his company is called?
I therefore think that despite FGR paying out huge wages I'd be surprised if they have any debt

The above is purely guesswork

And Ecotricity only makes money due to the green energy subsidies received from the government. Fundamentally, the taxpayer is funding FGR!

(All other forms of energy production receive subsidies from the government as well, however).

Quoted from headingly_mariner

GTFC is not a hotel. Getting back into the football league was said to be worth a 1million, the added costs of being in the league make it unlikely that the £3 million would be recouped without great success.
The club is not a good prospect outside of the football league, I'm not even sure it would be a good prospect in the league.

I know GTFC isn't a hotel but it is a business and if run as such with a sound business plan then there is no reason why it can't be successful. I used the hotel as an example but there have been many cases of other businesses being sold for very small amounts but carrying the debts on to the new owner.
The analogy with a hotel isn't as ridiculous as you imply. Both depend on customers coming through the door and trying to ensure they keep coming. Overheads can be extremely large and you have to compete with other similar establishments. Once a hotel loses it's trade and gets a bad name then it is extremely difficult to entice the customers back ( sound familiar ? )

Quoted from rancido

I know GTFC isn't a hotel but it is a business and if run as such with a sound business plan then there is no reason why it can't be successful. I used the hotel as an example but there have been many cases of other businesses being sold for very small amounts but carrying the debts on to the new owner.
The analogy with a hotel isn't as ridiculous as you imply. Both depend on customers coming through the door and trying to ensure they keep coming. Overheads can be extremely large and you have to compete with other similar establishments. Once a hotel loses it's trade and gets a bad name then it is extremely difficult to entice the customers back ( sound familiar ? )

Without wanting to get bogged down in this when things are very positive, if it was as easy as you make it sound then how have we ended up in the Conference with £3m debts? How long realistically do you think it might take for somebody to make £3m from owning GTFC? Unless it is a very wealthy benefactor then who on earth would take on that level of debt to own the club?

re: does GTFC have any other debt than JF's £2m? yes there's a small amount borrowed from the bank but nothing to worry about I don't think. £338,000 still remaining at the end of 2014 acounts that we're repaying £50,000 each year. We've also finished contributing to JF's pension pot.

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

Without wanting to get bogged down in this when things are very positive, if it was as easy as you make it sound then how have we ended up in the Conference with £3m debts? How long realistically do you think it might take for somebody to make £3m from owning GTFC? Unless it is a very wealthy benefactor then who on earth would take on that level of debt to own the club?

I'm not saying it is easy. If you follow all my comments then you will notice that I suggested that £3 million for a football club with the potential we could have is not such a large amount in the business world.

Quoted from rancido

I'm not saying it is easy. If you follow all my comments then you will notice that I suggested that £3 million for a football club with the potential we could have is not such a large amount in the business world.

I think it's an absolutely huge amount for a 'business' who have been making loss after loss in an industry where all but a few do exactly the same. Throw into the mix that we have very few assets and we are desperately in need of new 'premises' which it has been impossible to secure for more than 20 years and it doesn't sound that great a proposition to me.

The most Mr Fenty will ever get for the club is 1 pound and the new owner taking over the debts.

I think Fenty is hanging on for the new stadium to be built there could be some opportunity to make some money off surrounding developments with his construction company.

Quoted from wembley_double98

If this football club was John's sole business, he would be bankrupt and on the streets.
Fortunately, he is a successful business man in other ventures and due to his passion for
GTFC he has stood to the challenge of a resurrection to the football league, lets hope it will be next season.
He has been man enough to admit his mistakes and thrown down 'the Gauntlet' for perspective buyers to
come forward, not many takers there..
For the first time in many years there seems to be a togetherness and belief amongst the fans and players.
He is a massive Town fan, get behind him.

...no, I am not John!

UTM!

Well John you turned Town from a very good league club into a 6 season non league team with your ineptitude at running this club.
You should stick your hand in your pocket (the club have no money because of the debt that's built up under your watch) and give the manager by far the best budget in this excrement league to give Town the best chance of promotion.