After tonight's results even the most optimistic must now realise we are down.

So what went wrong?

JF's penny pinching the main culprit for me, Covid clauses etc.

Fenty for me

There's only one John Fenty

Without getting personal, I don’t see how any of John’s most ardent supporters could possibly say it isn’t anyone’s fault other than JSF.

I wouldn’t mind knowing why we only played one pre season game and got rid of some half decent players and replaced them with players from the depths of the pyramid. Something fishy about all that. 🤔

Fenty has been at fault all along...we've been struggling to stay in the league the moment he cut the cloth and Hurst walked last time around.
This relegation has been on the cards for 5 years, we've had our stats of execution and finally the axe has fallen.

Not doing a ‘Barrow’ and sticking with a manager not achieving what he was brought in to do.

I’ve said fenty but a old runaway as a lot to answer for

Think we all know the  3 main causes   . fenty  hollow head and covid .But we have all been over this many times . i think we all need to go away , clear our heads and regroup ready for next season and hope that lessons have been learned.  I for one am hoping that  a summer away fishing and relaxing will bring back the spark that has been driven out of me  :'(

Fenty's constant penny pinching to pay off bits of his 'benign' loan has cost us ever since promotion. This year has been a different level.

Releasing Davis and Vernam, signing 30 young players that Holloway’s mates had recommended to him, but who he couldn’t be bothered to watch himself.

Fenty, only had 1 plan and that was to make a f**k load of money out of the stadium (that never happened) deal.

He was probably a good fish merchant but knows f**k all about moving a football club forward.

There’ll be an Adam Curtis documentary made about us starting with a scene of Fenty being carried on fans’ shoulders at Bournemouth.

Quoted from ska face

There’ll be an Adam Curtis documentary made about us starting with a scene of Fenty being carried on fans’ shoulders at Bournemouth.

That would be ace.

Hyper Relegation.

Quoted from Quagmire

Not doing a ‘Barrow’ and sticking with a manager not achieving what he was brought in to do.

i agree, Holloway should've gone at least a month earlier


ps less than 3 months till the first pre season friendly

not building on the momentum that was built when we left the NL

Quoted from ska face

There’ll be an Adam Curtis documentary made about us starting with a scene of Fenty being carried on fans’ shoulders at Bournemouth.

The (alleged) Fenty and Newell ‘Rumble in the Car Park’ would definitely be like this...

[url]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_fYBGQuSG94[/url]

All started right back in 2016 when we dismantled the side that got us promotion in the first place. We should have built on that side and PH left only a few games in. I suspect he'd have stayed had we been more ambitious. Bignot was then a disastrous appointment as someone who wanted to change the world just when we needed stability. Since then we have been playing catch-up and it was inevitable we'd spiral back down into the bottom two at some stage. Holloway was the final nail in the coffin.

Quoted from forza ivano

i agree, Holloway should've gone at least a month earlier


ps less than 3 months till the first pre season friendly

and only ?  ;)

From Championship to NL, again, via L2 is the achievement of the Fenty years. Failed to invest in the team, failed to invest in the stadium, and failed to have decent training facilities.

His only success is to get all his money back plus the extra £200K of trust shares. What a reward for the failure of Grimsby Town and his lack of care for the club and fans. A load of sh!t.

It's all there on lots of previous threads. Total mess, many to blame, most seemingly gone now. Not sure it is good for our mental health to keep reflecting and saying the same things anymore. Let's just look forward, yes excrement league but:
- New owners
- Actually going to the matches
- Enhanced match day experience
- proper preseason and a chance for Hurst to build his team for one season to sort it

UTM

Quoted from sapper mariner

not building on the momentum that was built when we left the NL

Totally agree..it was like we have done the hard work now bask in the glory

Morecombe were struggling and have been flirting with relegation for a number of years along with us but they got their act together and did something about it...  
Fenty did not invest in the failing team and the rest is history....   and without investment on the pitch the club will not recover....  So please take note new owners....  Investment on the pitch is vital or it will be a long long time before we see Town back in the Football league again...

Fenty definitely. 20 years of mismanagement. Technically 3 relegations to the conference. COVID contracts together with constant penny pinching but as he says we are solvent ffs. Business is about calculated risks but this man has just protected his own pocket even after the fans funded operation promotion. What a disaster this man has been for this club

Quoted from GrimRob

All started right back in 2016 when we dismantled the side that got us promotion in the first place. We should have built on that side and PH left only a few games in. I suspect he'd have stayed had we been more ambitious. Bignot was then a disastrous appointment as someone who wanted to change the world just when we needed stability. Since then we have been playing catch-up and it was inevitable we'd spiral back down into the bottom two at some stage. Holloway was the final nail in the coffin.

I had no issue with dismantling the side that won/scraped promotion (although obviously it would've been nice to keep the good players) - we were doing well until PH left and he left because of JF.

Fenty ..

70% Holloway for the bizarrely inexperienced and unbalanced squad he built plus the complete lack of preparation pre-season and his endless chopping and changing. A few lucky wins disguise just how poor his team really was. Also 30% Hurst for failing to turn things around quickly enough. I thought he'd get them organised enough to grind out the results to keep us up, but he wasn't able to do anything with the squad he inherited and the players he signed weren't nearly fit enough to make a quick impact. That's the problem with signings in the January transfer window - you generally only get players that other teams already don't want and any you do sign aren't fit in any case because they haven't been playing! Payne the killer blow - an utter disaster of a player for us on a par with Green (and Hanson hasn't been much better over the past couple of seasons).

A bit of luck over the past couple of months would have seen us win a good few more points, but if you're relying on luck, you aren't good enough.

Of course, we have to create an extra 100% of blame to put on Fenty for being quintessentially Fentyish in his ability to pick ineffective managers, pinch the pennies so that decent players don't want to join us and just generally behave appallingly as we've heard from various sources in recent months. I began the season thinking he had always been well-meaning but too egotistical and simply terribly crap at running a football club. His actions during the season mean that I no-longer think he is at all well-meaning.

Letting certain players go at the end of last season, retaining the wrong players at the end of last season, penny pinching at the start of this season, being the only club that edged its bets on the season being cancelled, waiting too long to sack a manger again.

One big lump of fenty with a generous dollop of insane Ian for me.

Quoted from promotion plaice

After tonight's results even the most optimistic must now realise we are down.

So what went wrong?

JF's penny pinching the main culprit for me, Covid clauses etc.

Covid.
Yes we can blame JF, penny pinching , etc etc ...and i would love to ...........but look back to end of the previous season, Holloway had a hard working side, playing some neat football and the games were pretty enjoyable. Things were looking brighter.

Covid struck, the board/ club gambled on the season not starting and certainly not finishing and set course for the cheapest route through it.  So we signed cheap, poor players and dissinterested players with attitude/ application issues, so many loanees you couldnt play them all. Holloway definately lost the plot mentally as well.

More wrong decisions by the board regards investors and Holloway fled when the game was rumbled.

Hurst probably acted too swiftly in axing most of the Holloway squad creating too much disruption but he will have his reasons, he could have walked into a right shambles at the training ground when he took over and decided most of them didnt have the desire or dedication he would demand.

Fenty hollocunt. Spineless board

Fentys pathetic clingers on who still back him

I'll give you another reason why the club has been relegated...
Fenty has been supported by too many people for a number of years and actually thought he was doing OK... and it's those people who supported Fenty who have contributed in Towns fall into non league.... They just couldn't admit they were wrong and the club has now got to suffer for their mistakes...

Quoted from aussiej

I'll give you another reason why the club has been relegated...
Fenty has been supported by too many people for a number of years and actually thought he was doing OK... and it's those people who supported Fenty who have contributed in Towns fall into non league.... They just couldn't admit they were wrong and the club has now got to suffer for their mistakes...

Looking at the majority of posts in this thread and corelating a certain theme against the red x's there appear to be three of these Fenty appeasers still active 🤔😥

Quoted from Swansea_Mariner

Looking at the majority of posts in this thread and corelating a certain theme against the red x's there appear to be three of these Fenty appeasers still active 🤔😥

I'd picked up on that too, obviously cannot see the damage he's done and still foolishly believe he's the great Messiah who saved the club...

Quoted from Abdul19

I had no issue with dismantling the side that won/scraped promotion (although obviously it would've been nice to keep the good players) - we were doing well until PH left and he left because of JF.

The team was very reliant on Bogle though; I agree it goes right back to the summer of 2016. We lost two quality players to a club with smaller crowds - I was puzzled at the time but what has come out since explains it. Letting Arnold go didn't make sense either - not perhaps a regular starter but a good option to have on the bench for later in the game. Our style of play was better suited to League 2 than the Conference - well drilled part-time teams like Braintree frustrated us by parking the bus. If you look at the playing stats for that season we were the most dominant team in the league in terms of possession. I thought at the time that PH was too conservative and didn't try and change things when we came up against the likes of Braintree. But with a good couple of players in -  to replace Nolan and Robertson, I think the same squad would have continued to make progress.

I'd like to know more about what went on last summer - did Runaway really think the season wouldn't finish - or was he told to say that?

Quoted from GrimRob

All started right back in 2016 when we dismantled the side that got us promotion in the first place. We should have built on that side and PH left only a few games in. I suspect he'd have stayed had we been more ambitious. Bignot was then a disastrous appointment as someone who wanted to change the world just when we needed stability. Since then we have been playing catch-up and it was inevitable we'd spiral back down into the bottom two at some stage. Holloway was the final nail in the coffin.

Funnily enough, hasn't Bignot got the best win percentage out of all the managers since we got promoted? Certainly played the most entertaining football at times with some talented footballers with him in charge. But no, he wasn't the answer neither. We need vision and investment for infrastructure to begin to rebuild our shattered reputation.

Where did it go wrong?

Historically, having a man with a complete lack of football intelligence in charge of the club, a board with the same lack of talent, all conducive in beleving the bottom line is everything and not a clue how to navigate the club forward with a balanced risk and reward strategy. Not sure whether the die was cast in Cardiff or Bournemouth, but that's how far it stretches back, and man, have the fans and the club's respect suffered so much for one man's personal vanity project..

Current season is easy to assess. Penny pinching not keeping our best players from last season. Where was the money for a downturn in fortunes? Already tucked away back in JF's bank account. Galling really because he'd cost the club millions by dropping out of the Football League and a series of poor management decisions. A portakabin instead of a new training complex, lack of investment in club infrastructure including key personnel, then the salary cap and Covid clauses meaning no decent player in their right mind would sign for us, only the desperate, the knackered and the hopeful. We couldn't even buy our way out of trouble in January if we wanted to. The club banked on other clubs going out of business to stay up rather than planning for the season reasonably like twenty odd other teams did in our league. And then there's Holloway's over confidence in his own ability to turn rough or old knackered diamonds into a reasonable team. Second chance with Hurst. No new manager bounce because he slagged the existing squad off weeks before the transfer window opened. Already on the back foot and then barring Menayese, Matete and Coke does barely a better job than Holloway did in the summer. Old crocks and non-leaguers. Added zero pace up front so we've had to play anti-football to glean the odd point or two, how many goals have Hanson, LJL and Payne scored by the way? And stuck with Waterfall for months too long before the penny dropped. Holloway had a shocking record and Hurst has too. As managers go, I feel they're both as culpable. We need to clear out the playing squad, try and sign the best four or five if we can, pay the rest off that need paying off and start afresh with a new manager. Even though he's done it before, I really don't think Hurst can get us back quickly enough or if at all. I really don't. Nice bloke, but I really haven't got the patience for or belief in him and I think he's on the slide, and he was in charge of the budget and just as culpable in breaking up that promotion side too let's not forget.. Vernon for Amond for god's sake.. But ulimately the buck always stops with the man at the very top.. John "Five Relegations" Fenty..

No baggage, new owners and a completely fresh start to re-energise.

20 years of a man that underfunded a hotbed of football with the added climax of a mad fool who spoke gibberish from Dec 19 until his departure in Dec 20 with all the wheels for the team bus under his arm

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

The team was very reliant on Bogle though; I agree it goes right back to the summer of 2016. We lost two quality players to a club with smaller crowds - I was puzzled at the time but what has come out since explains it. Letting Arnold go didn't make sense either - not perhaps a regular starter but a good option to have on the bench for later in the game. Our style of play was better suited to League 2 than the Conference - well drilled part-time teams like Braintree frustrated us by parking the bus. If you look at the playing stats for that season we were the most dominant team in the league in terms of possession. I thought at the time that PH was too conservative and didn't try and change things when we came up against the likes of Braintree. But with a good couple of players in -  to replace Nolan and Robertson, I think the same squad would have continued to make progress.

I'd like to know more about what went on last summer - did Runaway really think the season wouldn't finish - or was he told to say that?

Yeah that's a fair one, and Bogle flourished in League 2, although if it'd been PH (and additional new staff!) who'd been allowed to spend his sale money instead of Bignot, we probably wouldn't have ended up with Slade returning.

Meh.

Quoted from aussiej

Morecombe were struggling and have been flirting with relegation for a number of years along with us but they got their act together and did something about it...  
Fenty did not invest in the failing team and the rest is history....   and without investment on the pitch the club will not recover....  So please take note new owners....  Investment on the pitch is vital or it will be a long long time before we see Town back in the Football league again...

I wouldn't imagine the new owners need to take note,they are astute businessmen and would know that investment is needed in all aspects of the club. Not like some owners that treat a club as an ego boosting plaything.

John Fenty and the people who allowed him to disembowel the ‘punching above our weight’ mentality that had built through the efforts of Alan Buckley, Dave Booth, George Kerr and Laurie Mac before that.
We’ve been stripped of our history by a chair/custodian who wanted it to be about him not what happened on the pitch. Screwed by the ego that is John Fenty.

Yep, that's it now.

Poor management in the boardroom and selling our best players to save a few pennies. No vision, no ambition, just stupidity.

The loyal fans of this great club have had years of suffering. My nerves are shredded.

Quoted from Swansea_Mariner

Looking at the majority of posts in this thread and corelating a certain theme against the red x's there appear to be three of these Fenty appeasers still active 🤔😥

Love to see them have the guts to explain why they still support him, they are either family members who have not got the backbone to come out and explain why they still support him.

Responsible?

1. Fenty
2. Fenty
3. Fenty

In that order.

Holloway comes in at number 4.

We are talking about a relegation in one season here. Nothing whatsoever to do with past history in connection with John Fenty. The history is of no consequence of what has happened in one season.

The blame for this lays wholly at the door of Ian Holloway.

Holloway was:-

1. The man that championed building in Covid clauses into contracts last summer. Stood there on camera telling the world that other clubs were mad not to adopt Covid clauses. Which ultimately cost us key players who were not prepared to risk the implications of Covid clauses.

2. The man that then set about signing a huge squad of seriously inadequate players. Mostly on the recommendation of his so-called football friends.

3. The man who stood there on camera telling us that he refused to implement a series of pre-season friendlies, and only organised 1 local game at Clee Town. All because he feared Covid. Ironic that he then committed serious breaches of Covid protocols at the training ground, including the now infamous darts match. All of this refusal to get much needed practice matches, whilst other teams completed a serious pre-season fixture campaign.

4. The man that used Covid as an excuse at every rubbish result, whilst also trying to throw in bits of his embarrassingly poor Holloway comedy act, referencing pointless crap from his mum and dad to Donald Trump.

5. The man who then embarrassingly quit when the going got tough, citing the takeover as the reason, because he didn’t want our new owners.

6. The man who, on the day he left, told a member of his staff, that he got it seriously wrong and totally underestimated the level of league 2.

7. The man who let’s face it, was only hear because he thought he was going to make a lot of money out of subsequent developments based around the club, and quit once JF agreed to sell, meaning there was no longer any scope for him to make any money.

8. The man that everyone thought or hoped would be a great appointment, and would have made that same appointment. Who wouldn’t have given Holloway a whirl because he’s had some success at a higher level, and was very popular with a huge amount of football contacts.

When all is said and done, this club started this season in the hands of Holloway. We started it with no real indication that he would take us into a relegation battle.  No reason at all. Stable club with stable finances and a popular leader in Holloway. He played a massive part in the policies around Covid and championed them as a solid and sensible way forward. He was instrumental in it.

For me it is Holloway that is responsible for this mess this season, and for that, I shall never ever forgive him

Quoted from aussiej

I'll give you another reason why the club has been relegated...
Fenty has been supported by too many people for a number of years and actually thought he was doing OK... and it's those people who supported Fenty who have contributed in Towns fall into non league.... They just couldn't admit they were wrong and the club has now got to suffer for their mistakes...

So a few Fenty fans  posting on a message board prevented JSF selling the club/penny pinching ta\king us down etc.etc. Its nothing to do with them its purely Fenty having full control (no one could have stopped that)

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

We are talking about a relegation in one season here. Nothing whatsoever to do with past history in connection with John Fenty. The history is of no consequence of what has happened in one season.

The blame for this lays wholly at the door of Ian Holloway.

Holloway was:-

1. The man that championed building in Covid clauses into contracts last summer. Stood there on camera telling the world that other clubs were mad not to adopt Covid clauses. Which ultimately cost us key players who were not prepared to risk the implications of Covid clauses.

2. The man that then set about signing a huge squad of seriously inadequate players. Mostly on the recommendation of his so-called football friends.

3. The man who stood there on camera telling us that he refused to implement a series of pre-season friendlies, and only organised 1 local game at Clee Town. All because he feared Covid. Ironic that he then committed serious breaches of Covid protocols at the training ground, including the now infamous darts match. All of this refusal to get much needed practice matches, whilst other teams completed a serious pre-season fixture campaign.

4. The man that used Covid as an excuse at every rubbish result, whilst also trying to throw in bits of his embarrassingly poor Holloway comedy act, referencing pointless crap from his mum and dad to Donald Trump.

5. The man who then embarrassingly quit when the going got tough, citing the takeover as the reason, because he didn’t want our new owners.

6. The man who, on the day he left, told a member of his staff, that he got it seriously wrong and totally underestimated the level of league 2.

7. The man who let’s face it, was only hear because he thought he was going to make a lot of money out of subsequent developments based around the club, and quit once JF agreed to sell, meaning there was no longer any scope for him to make any money.

8. The man that everyone thought or hoped would be a great appointment, and would have made that same appointment. Who wouldn’t have given Holloway a whirl because he’s had some success at a higher level, and was very popular with a huge amount of football contacts.

When all is said and done, this club started this season in the hands of Holloway. We started it with no real indication that he would take us into a relegation battle.  No reason at all. Stable club with stable finances and a popular leader in Holloway. He played a massive part in the policies around Covid and championed them as a solid and sensible way forward. He was instrumental in it.

For me it is Holloway that is responsible for this mess this season, and for that, I shall never ever forgive him

Everyone is allowed an opinion. But you are a flipping idiot. Sorry its rude but its true

John Fenty. The ego, the greed, the mismanagement, the penny pinching, the benign loans, the embarrasing moment, the fans forum, the covid clauses, the Alex May saga

intercourse off. You and John. Just intercourse off

Fenty and Hollowword's arrogant assumption that this season wouldn't get finished and hence the calibre of player brought in/not retained. That's the crux of it for me.

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

We are talking about a relegation in one season here. Nothing whatsoever to do with past history in connection with John Fenty. The history is of no consequence of what has happened in one season.

The blame for this lays wholly at the door of Ian Holloway.

Holloway was:-

1. The man that championed building in Covid clauses into contracts last summer. Stood there on camera telling the world that other clubs were mad not to adopt Covid clauses. Which ultimately cost us key players who were not prepared to risk the implications of Covid clauses.

2. The man that then set about signing a huge squad of seriously inadequate players. Mostly on the recommendation of his so-called football friends.

3. The man who stood there on camera telling us that he refused to implement a series of pre-season friendlies, and only organised 1 local game at Clee Town. All because he feared Covid. Ironic that he then committed serious breaches of Covid protocols at the training ground, including the now infamous darts match. All of this refusal to get much needed practice matches, whilst other teams completed a serious pre-season fixture campaign.

4. The man that used Covid as an excuse at every rubbish result, whilst also trying to throw in bits of his embarrassingly poor Holloway comedy act, referencing pointless crap from his mum and dad to Donald Trump.

5. The man who then embarrassingly quit when the going got tough, citing the takeover as the reason, because he didn’t want our new owners.

6. The man who, on the day he left, told a member of his staff, that he got it seriously wrong and totally underestimated the level of league 2.

7. The man who let’s face it, was only hear because he thought he was going to make a lot of money out of subsequent developments based around the club, and quit once JF agreed to sell, meaning there was no longer any scope for him to make any money.

8. The man that everyone thought or hoped would be a great appointment, and would have made that same appointment. Who wouldn’t have given Holloway a whirl because he’s had some success at a higher level, and was very popular with a huge amount of football contacts.

When all is said and done, this club started this season in the hands of Holloway. We started it with no real indication that he would take us into a relegation battle.  No reason at all. Stable club with stable finances and a popular leader in Holloway. He played a massive part in the policies around Covid and championed them as a solid and sensible way forward. He was instrumental in it.

For me it is Holloway that is responsible for this mess this season, and for that, I shall never ever forgive him

So your bum boy Fenty takes no responsibility at all? When Holloway was on about the Covid clauses clearly Fenty and Day would have agreed with this? Otherwise it wouldn't have happened...

Oh no sorry that doesn't fit in with your Fenty is blameless for everything narrative

Quoted from Hagrid

Everyone is allowed an opinion. But you are a flipping idiot. Sorry its rude but its true

John Fenty. The ego, the greed, the mismanagement, the penny pinching, the benign loans, the embarrasing moment, the fans forum, the covid clauses, the Alex May saga

intercourse off. You and John. Just intercourse off

Shocking and comical reply

Shocking because you have just been highly offensive and directed foul insults at me.

Comical because in your list of reasons why you hate John Fenty, you have the temerity to express dismay that he gave us interest free benign loans. That takes the biscuit

I’d thank you take your insulting and offensive behaviour elsewhere please. I haven’t been foul and abusing towards  you  in my opinion

The reasons are well enough known.
How will we sell season tickets next season. I have been Hurst a fan but without some great signings absolutely zero chance will i commit to a season ticket.
His record is poor, I appreciate plenty of mitigating factors but I have certainly lost some faith in him.
In fact none of my lot are looking to renew. I will go to some games but my lowest point as a town fan and the prospect of the national league is so grim that it will be a struggle to watch that again.
I feel sorry for Stockwood as this is such a hard product to sell.

Quoted from Hagrid

Everyone is allowed an opinion. But you are a flipping idiot. Sorry its rude but its true

John Fenty. The ego, the greed, the mismanagement, the penny pinching, the benign loans, the embarrasing moment, the fans forum, the covid clauses, the Alex May saga

intercourse off. You and John. Just intercourse off

Well said.

Only one man to blame

Principal Funder

He made a fortune with fish but with us,  everything about him was always just cheap skate  :(

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

We are talking about a relegation in one season here. Nothing whatsoever to do with past history in connection with John Fenty. The history is of no consequence of what has happened in one season.

The blame for this lays wholly at the door of Ian Holloway.

Holloway was:-

1. The man that championed building in Covid clauses into contracts last summer. Stood there on camera telling the world that other clubs were mad not to adopt Covid clauses. Which ultimately cost us key players who were not prepared to risk the implications of Covid clauses.

2. The man that then set about signing a huge squad of seriously inadequate players. Mostly on the recommendation of his so-called football friends.

3. The man who stood there on camera telling us that he refused to implement a series of pre-season friendlies, and only organised 1 local game at Clee Town. All because he feared Covid. Ironic that he then committed serious breaches of Covid protocols at the training ground, including the now infamous darts match. All of this refusal to get much needed practice matches, whilst other teams completed a serious pre-season fixture campaign.

4. The man that used Covid as an excuse at every rubbish result, whilst also trying to throw in bits of his embarrassingly poor Holloway comedy act, referencing pointless crap from his mum and dad to Donald Trump.

5. The man who then embarrassingly quit when the going got tough, citing the takeover as the reason, because he didn’t want our new owners.

6. The man who, on the day he left, told a member of his staff, that he got it seriously wrong and totally underestimated the level of league 2.

7. The man who let’s face it, was only hear because he thought he was going to make a lot of money out of subsequent developments based around the club, and quit once JF agreed to sell, meaning there was no longer any scope for him to make any money.

8. The man that everyone thought or hoped would be a great appointment, and would have made that same appointment. Who wouldn’t have given Holloway a whirl because he’s had some success at a higher level, and was very popular with a huge amount of football contacts.

When all is said and done, this club started this season in the hands of Holloway. We started it with no real indication that he would take us into a relegation battle.  No reason at all. Stable club with stable finances and a popular leader in Holloway. He played a massive part in the policies around Covid and championed them as a solid and sensible way forward. He was instrumental in it.

For me it is Holloway that is responsible for this mess this season, and for that, I shall never ever forgive him

The person who brought Holloway to the club was no other than John Fenty. He alone was responsible for employing Holloway and failed to sack him when Holloway showed his true inept management style.

In fact, Fenty never sacked Holloway as he jumped ship while John boy was negotiating how to get his money back.

Fenty could have given Hurst an open cheque book to use to save the club from relegation, he didn't.

There is one person and one person only responsible for Towns relegation to the NL and that is John Fenty; the reason being he still owns the club. The club under his stewardship will be relegated and playing in the NL next year, while he like Holloway will disappear to count his money.

Holloway was the straw that broke the camels back this season The person who kept adding to the weight is John Sheldon Fenty. The man is a narcissistic egotist who thought because he got a few quid from selling a fish factory could run a football club. How wrong you were John. Over your tenure you have ruined many people's enjoyment of watching there beloved club. I hope you are suffering from your failures. Yes you are getting your money back but you have lost all respect and you will go down in the annals of history as the biggest failure at Grimsby Town Football Club. I hope you are happy with yourself.

Dear All,

The original poster on this thread asked for views and opinions. I contributed with my opinion.

Following my post of my opinion, certain individuals felt it necessary to become highly rude and offensive, writing insults of a foul nature. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE & IS, AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED, IS CONTRARY TO THE RULES IF THIS FORUM. But I am sure that moderators and admins will confirm this.

I would also point out that in the case of Hagrid, that apologising in advance of being rude and offensive, and then going on to still be rude and offensive, does not in any way make such offensive and insulting behaviour acceptable. On the contrary, if you apologise in advance of such behaviour, it actually makes the said behaviour even worse.

I hope that admin will deal with this type of behaviour appropriately

Felipe

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

We are talking about a relegation in one season here. Nothing whatsoever to do with past history in connection with John Fenty. The history is of no consequence of what has happened in one season.

The blame for this lays wholly at the door of Ian Holloway.

Holloway was:-

1. The man that championed building in Covid clauses into contracts last summer. Stood there on camera telling the world that other clubs were mad not to adopt Covid clauses. Which ultimately cost us key players who were not prepared to risk the implications of Covid clauses.

2. The man that then set about signing a huge squad of seriously inadequate players. Mostly on the recommendation of his so-called football friends.

3. The man who stood there on camera telling us that he refused to implement a series of pre-season friendlies, and only organised 1 local game at Clee Town. All because he feared Covid. Ironic that he then committed serious breaches of Covid protocols at the training ground, including the now infamous darts match. All of this refusal to get much needed practice matches, whilst other teams completed a serious pre-season fixture campaign.

4. The man that used Covid as an excuse at every rubbish result, whilst also trying to throw in bits of his embarrassingly poor Holloway comedy act, referencing pointless crap from his mum and dad to Donald Trump.

5. The man who then embarrassingly quit when the going got tough, citing the takeover as the reason, because he didn’t want our new owners.

6. The man who, on the day he left, told a member of his staff, that he got it seriously wrong and totally underestimated the level of league 2.

7. The man who let’s face it, was only hear because he thought he was going to make a lot of money out of subsequent developments based around the club, and quit once JF agreed to sell, meaning there was no longer any scope for him to make any money.

8. The man that everyone thought or hoped would be a great appointment, and would have made that same appointment. Who wouldn’t have given Holloway a whirl because he’s had some success at a higher level, and was very popular with a huge amount of football contacts.

When all is said and done, this club started this season in the hands of Holloway. We started it with no real indication that he would take us into a relegation battle.  No reason at all. Stable club with stable finances and a popular leader in Holloway. He played a massive part in the policies around Covid and championed them as a solid and sensible way forward. He was instrumental in it.

For me it is Holloway that is responsible for this mess this season, and for that, I shall never ever forgive him

And the previous 16 years before Holloway........?

How many relegations? How many near misses?

We've been reaching this point since we got back into the league. They say you learn from your mistakes...

Fenty is to blame he should of been chased out the club last relegation but all the happy clappers supported him.

Hurst has to take some blame he’s performance has been woeful.

It’s going to be a hard sell to get fans back in the conference.

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

Shocking and comical reply

Shocking because you have just been highly offensive and directed foul insults at me.

Comical because in your list of reasons why you hate John Fenty, you have the temerity to express dismay that he gave us interest free benign loans. That takes the biscuit

I’d thank you take your insulting and offensive behaviour elsewhere please. I haven’t been foul and abusing towards  you  in my opinion

You are entitled to put your opinions on here like anybody else. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the others don't appear to agree with you. Have you ever wondered why!

The tragic thing is that this relegation was so easily preventable, even In January.

Yes, Holloway was an disaster. His team were crap. But anyone with a brain cell would have realised that we had to spend the dosh and bring in some quality players.

I said at the time that we must not rely on kids, has beens and non league players. But that is exactly what we got. Why? Because we would not invest in good players.

Before anyone trots out the ‘oh it’s difficult to sign players in January’ excuse, go back and look at where Bradford were, who they signed, and where they are now. Same with Barrow.

We are going down because we tried to do it on the cheap, not once but twice in the same friggin season!

FFS. It is so criminals inept that it seems deliberate. Couldn’t do a worse job if you wanted to be relegated.

Disgusting.

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

We are talking about a relegation in one season here. Nothing whatsoever to do with past history in connection with John Fenty. The history is of no consequence of what has happened in one season.

The blame for this lays wholly at the door of Ian Holloway.

Holloway was:-

1. The man that championed building in Covid clauses into contracts last summer. Stood there on camera telling the world that other clubs were mad not to adopt Covid clauses. Which ultimately cost us key players who were not prepared to risk the implications of Covid clauses.

2. The man that then set about signing a huge squad of seriously inadequate players. Mostly on the recommendation of his so-called football friends.

3. The man who stood there on camera telling us that he refused to implement a series of pre-season friendlies, and only organised 1 local game at Clee Town. All because he feared Covid. Ironic that he then committed serious breaches of Covid protocols at the training ground, including the now infamous darts match. All of this refusal to get much needed practice matches, whilst other teams completed a serious pre-season fixture campaign.

4. The man that used Covid as an excuse at every rubbish result, whilst also trying to throw in bits of his embarrassingly poor Holloway comedy act, referencing pointless crap from his mum and dad to Donald Trump.

5. The man who then embarrassingly quit when the going got tough, citing the takeover as the reason, because he didn’t want our new owners.

6. The man who, on the day he left, told a member of his staff, that he got it seriously wrong and totally underestimated the level of league 2.

7. The man who let’s face it, was only hear because he thought he was going to make a lot of money out of subsequent developments based around the club, and quit once JF agreed to sell, meaning there was no longer any scope for him to make any money.

8. The man that everyone thought or hoped would be a great appointment, and would have made that same appointment. Who wouldn’t have given Holloway a whirl because he’s had some success at a higher level, and was very popular with a huge amount of football contacts.

When all is said and done, this club started this season in the hands of Holloway. We started it with no real indication that he would take us into a relegation battle.  No reason at all. Stable club with stable finances and a popular leader in Holloway. He played a massive part in the policies around Covid and championed them as a solid and sensible way forward. He was instrumental in it.

For me it is Holloway that is responsible for this mess this season, and for that, I shall never ever forgive him

Some of your posts have been sensible but I am now of the opinion that you talk nonsense.
This is not a one season relegation , we try to get relegated each season, look at the statistics.
Who employed Holloway?
Who sanctioned so many odd looking signings?
As he became more and more mental why was he not sacked?
Why did we not prepare for the season properly?
Why were better players released?
The board have to be culpable here as well as does Hurst who has done a very poor job since being appointed
The issues are deeper than Holloway and so your reasoning is blinkered and illogical
Try to present a more balanced and logical view or don't bother
Your nonsense makes posters bite and then you feel sorry for yourself. If you lead with your chin expect to get hit

Quoted from DB

You are entitled to put your opinions on here like anybody else. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the others don't appear to agree with you. Have you ever wondered why!

Disagree all they want. I’m comfortable with that. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I do not begrudge anyone having an opinion

But being rude, foul and offensive is not acceptable. There is no need to resort to that sort of behaviour or action

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

Disagree all they want. I’m comfortable with that. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I do not begrudge anyone having an opinion

But being rude, foul and offensive is not acceptable. There is no need to resort to that sort of behaviour or action

Yes there is. My club has been relegated to non league football again

Because of you, and your pathetic little friend John Fenty

Nosher is a troll. And not a very good one. He gets off on it. All this ‘Dear all’ nonsense, and anguished hurt at ‘foul insults’ from people not agreeing with him. It’s all desperate self-aggrandising crap from an inadequate and lonely man. Ignore him.

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

Disagree all they want. I’m comfortable with that. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I do not begrudge anyone having an opinion

But being rude, foul and offensive is not acceptable. There is no need to resort to that sort of behaviour or action

Men will be men

and

boys will be ???????

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

Dear All,

The original poster on this thread asked for views and opinions. I contributed with my opinion.

Following my post of my opinion, certain individuals felt it necessary to become highly rude and offensive, writing insults of a foul nature. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE & IS, AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED, IS CONTRARY TO THE RULES IF THIS FORUM. But I am sure that moderators and admins will confirm this.

I would also point out that in the case of Hagrid, that apologising in advance of being rude and offensive, and then going on to still be rude and offensive, does not in any way make such offensive and insulting behaviour acceptable. On the contrary, if you apologise in advance of such behaviour, it actually makes the said behaviour even worse.

I hope that admin will deal with this type of behaviour appropriately

Felipe

In case you have missed it, John Fenty has overseen two relegations to non league and has spunked away the positivity post Wembley 2016. His ice bucket challenge, the flag snapping, chucking juice over a manager and Willy wagging chairing around Dean Court are only small but significant symptoms of his tenure.

Quite simply, John Fenty has dragged Grimsby Town from a heritage to be proud of to being a football laughing stock. The positive is that things can only get better. They certainly can’t get worse.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

In case you have missed it, John Fenty has overseen two relegations to non league and has spunked away the positivity post Wembley 2016. His ice bucket challenge, the flag snapping, chucking juice over a manager and Willy wagging chairing around Dean Court are only small but significant symptoms of his tenure.

Quite simply, John Fenty has dragged Grimsby Town from a heritage to be proud of to being a football laughing stock. The positive is that things can only get better. They certainly can’t get worse.

Let’s not forget the setting up of a company with a convicted fraudster.

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

Dear All,

The original poster on this thread asked for views and opinions. I contributed with my opinion.

Following my post of my opinion, certain individuals felt it necessary to become highly rude and offensive, writing insults of a foul nature. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE & IS, AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED, IS CONTRARY TO THE RULES IF THIS FORUM. But I am sure that moderators and admins will confirm this.

I would also point out that in the case of Hagrid, that apologising in advance of being rude and offensive, and then going on to still be rude and offensive, does not in any way make such offensive and insulting behaviour acceptable. On the contrary, if you apologise in advance of such behaviour, it actually makes the said behaviour even worse.

I hope that admin will deal with this type of behaviour appropriately

Felipe

Give it a rest Felipe. You write well, but it's all passive aggressive nonsense followed by your usual outrage and victimhood. If you dish it out, be prepared to take it. You don't have the moral high ground here, you've written far worse than Hagrid. Good luck with the admins you muppet..

Thanks to Fenty we have all endured a friggin nightmare for years and years.

Can’t wait to see the back of him.

Quoted from Zmariner

This is not a one season relegation ,

I’m sorry but it is.

We have not been relegated prior to this season, following our return to the EFL.

We haven’t been promoted either, but we certainly haven’t been relegated, and our club has operated on what has been far from being the 24th worst budget in EFL2. So managers have been financially supported in a manner that would not suggest a relegation was on the cards.

The managers have chosen how to utilise that budget. In this instance, our budget was largely spent by Ian Holloway, with his approach and policies for the season.

Ian Holloway is to blame for spending the majority of the budget on a team void of quality and experience, and for miss-managing the entire Covid situation.

It very definitely has been a one season relegation

People can have opinions of the historyonics of things prior to that, and that’s okay. But it doesn’t change the fact that, even though we don’t have the biggest budget in terms of promotion chasing, neither are we anywhere near the 24th worst budget. Our manager was supported financially and Holloway messed up massively

That’s my opinion

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

We are talking about a relegation in one season here. Nothing whatsoever to do with past history in connection with John Fenty. The history is of no consequence of what has happened in one season.

The blame for this lays wholly at the door of Ian Holloway.

Holloway was:-

1. The man that championed building in Covid clauses into contracts last summer. Stood there on camera telling the world that other clubs were mad not to adopt Covid clauses. Which ultimately cost us key players who were not prepared to risk the implications of Covid clauses.

2. The man that then set about signing a huge squad of seriously inadequate players. Mostly on the recommendation of his so-called football friends.

3. The man who stood there on camera telling us that he refused to implement a series of pre-season friendlies, and only organised 1 local game at Clee Town. All because he feared Covid. Ironic that he then committed serious breaches of Covid protocols at the training ground, including the now infamous darts match. All of this refusal to get much needed practice matches, whilst other teams completed a serious pre-season fixture campaign.

4. The man that used Covid as an excuse at every rubbish result, whilst also trying to throw in bits of his embarrassingly poor Holloway comedy act, referencing pointless crap from his mum and dad to Donald Trump.

5. The man who then embarrassingly quit when the going got tough, citing the takeover as the reason, because he didn’t want our new owners.

6. The man who, on the day he left, told a member of his staff, that he got it seriously wrong and totally underestimated the level of league 2.

7. The man who let’s face it, was only hear because he thought he was going to make a lot of money out of subsequent developments based around the club, and quit once JF agreed to sell, meaning there was no longer any scope for him to make any money.

8. The man that everyone thought or hoped would be a great appointment, and would have made that same appointment. Who wouldn’t have given Holloway a whirl because he’s had some success at a higher level, and was very popular with a huge amount of football contacts.

When all is said and done, this club started this season in the hands of Holloway. We started it with no real indication that he would take us into a relegation battle.  No reason at all. Stable club with stable finances and a popular leader in Holloway. He played a massive part in the policies around Covid and championed them as a solid and sensible way forward. He was instrumental in it.

For me it is Holloway that is responsible for this mess this season, and for that, I shall never ever forgive him

I read one sentence of this and that’s it. What a load of Bollox , take hold of Fenty’s hand and dance off into the sunset.

JSF dismantled the club until it was no longer a danger.

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

I’m sorry but it is.

We have not been relegated prior to this season, following our return to the EFL.

We haven’t been promoted either, but we certainly haven’t been relegated, and our club has operated on what has been far from being the 24th worst budget in EFL2. So managers have been financially supported in a manner that would not suggest a relegation was on the cards.

The managers have chosen how to utilise that budget. In this instance, our budget was largely spent by Ian Holloway, with his approach and policies for the season.

Ian Holloway is to blame for spending the majority of the budget on a team void of quality and experience, and for miss-managing the entire Covid situation.

It very definitely has been a one season relegation

People can have opinions of the historyonics of things prior to that, and that’s okay. But it doesn’t change the fact that, even though we don’t have the biggest budget in terms of promotion chasing, neither are we anywhere near the 24th worst budget. Our manager was supported financially and Holloway messed up massively

That’s my opinion

Louis Boyd must have cost a fortune in transfer fees, agent fees, and compensation to Healing School.

Quoted from DB

Louis Boyd must have cost a fortune in transfer fees, agent fees, and compensation to Healing School.

I’m not sure what your point is.

Boyd was a moment of desperation, a straw clutch, a lucky roll of a dice. Holloway trying to make a Covid statement if you like.

A kid that did well in a moment of the game, receiving a ball well, moving it well and then hitting a well struck shot. Does that make him a star of the future. Does it hell. Hope the kid does make a career for himself, but that one moment doesn’t make him a sustainable success.

I’m really not sure what your point is.

Many would argue, why was he putting a 15 year old kid on the bench when he signed a huge squad of players of his own choice. What does that say about his ability to identify players and sign them ?

Quoted from Bristol Mariner

I read one sentence of this and that’s it. What a load of Bollox , take hold of Fenty’s hand and dance off into the sunset.

I managed 3 and felt ripped off.

Is Philip Nonce still posting??

Could’ve sworn he’s left this forum 20 times in the last 3 months.

Hagrid has you summed up bang on.

If you had anything decent to say it wouldn’t be so bad..but you don’t. Just the same old boring drivel. Your support of your pal has more holes in it than a cullender.

He’s going..apparently..17 years too late btw..I suggest if you’re that fascinated by him you go follow him to whatever he’s doing next and live happily ever after.

Hope you’re happy together.

Whilst you do that this club will get back in its feet, will take time to recover from the monumental intercourse up that it’s been - but with decent people at the helm, and those around, and a fan base that will get behind said people - in time your mates  tenure will be only seen in the clubs history as what it is and has been

A complete failure.

Good riddance.

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

I’m not sure what your point is.




I’m really not sure what your point is.

You said :-

"The managers have chosen how to utilise that budget. In this instance, our budget was largely spent by Ian Holloway, with his approach and policies for the season.

Ian Holloway is to blame for spending the majority of the budget on a team void of quality and experience, "

Your blaming Holloway for spending which would have to have been authorized by the board. Everything including recruitment was done on the cheeeeeeeeap. Boyd was just an example.

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

I’m sorry but it is.

We have not been relegated prior to this season, following our return to the EFL.

We haven’t been promoted either, but we certainly haven’t been relegated, and our club has operated on what has been far from being the 24th worst budget in EFL2. So managers have been financially supported in a manner that would not suggest a relegation was on the cards.

The managers have chosen how to utilise that budget. In this instance, our budget was largely spent by Ian Holloway, with his approach and policies for the season.

Ian Holloway is to blame for spending the majority of the budget on a team void of quality and experience, and for miss-managing the entire Covid situation.

It very definitely has been a one season relegation

People can have opinions of the historyonics of things prior to that, and that’s okay. But it doesn’t change the fact that, even though we don’t have the biggest budget in terms of promotion chasing, neither are we anywhere near the 24th worst budget. Our manager was supported financially and Holloway messed up massively

That’s my opinion

Holloway was completely responsible for mismanaging Covid - all on his own. Do you really believe that, there was no guidance at all...........who would have known that he was TOTALLY responsible. Smart reply
All relegations are one season if we are being pedantic but we have been knocking on the door. How do you not see that.
In my opinion you are blinkered and unable to present a balanced argument. You are one dimensional, any idiot can see that as bad as Holloway was there is more to it.
Your opinion is absolutely unbalanced and drivel- that is my opinion and I suspect that of the rest on here. You are the only one with your opinion , do you not question your logic. Are you so smart and we are so stupid. Plenty of smart guys on here but only one has your opinion and that is you.
I conclude, you are either unable to take off your blinkers or possibly have been hypnotised. My teenagers can present a more coherent argument than you

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

I’m sorry but it is.

We have not been relegated prior to this season, following our return to the EFL.

We haven’t been promoted either, but we certainly haven’t been relegated.

Welcome back Jane Austen.

I’ve put your opinion into Google translate and it’s converted it from Jane Austen back into English. It looks like some of your best work.

“In 2018 no one died. In 2019 no one died. In 2020...no one died. In 2021...someone died”.

[url]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zUoT5AxFpRs[/url]

opprobrious is the primary one responsible for our demise to non league again under his leadership, obviously. One of the most breathtakingly bad chairmen in EFL history i would imagine, and that's up against some pretty stiff competition!

Hollowhead has a share of the responsibility, but much of what he did (no pre season, inflated size squad of little quality, signing players he had never seen etc was signed off by the board (opprobrious). The opprobrious penny pinching has caught up with us repeatedly, we are constantly circling the plug hole under him, and it was just one time too many. He even penny pinched second time around in January as has been pointed out, when it was so plain we were doomed unless we forked out for proper players all over the pitch.

The site is randomly changing c-u-n-t-y to opprobrious

Quoted from DB

From Championship to NL, again, via L2 is the achievement of the Fenty years. Failed to invest in the team, failed to invest in the stadium, and failed to have decent training facilities.

His only success is to get all his money back plus the extra £200K of trust shares. What a reward for the failure of Grimsby Town and his lack of care for the club and fans. A load of sh!t.

And he’s got the nerve to call himself a fan

One word answer Fenty.

He’s getting every penny back. And more. Shameless.

“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time


Fenty. And Fenty again if we don’t come up next season due to him taking his ball with him. I wish him nothing but failure in both his professional and personal life.

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

I’m sorry but it is.

We have not been relegated prior to this season, following our return to the EFL.

We haven’t been promoted either, but we certainly haven’t been relegated, and our club has operated on what has been far from being the 24th worst budget in EFL2. So managers have been financially supported in a manner that would not suggest a relegation was on the cards.

The managers have chosen how to utilise that budget. In this instance, our budget was largely spent by Ian Holloway, with his approach and policies for the season.

Ian Holloway is to blame for spending the majority of the budget on a team void of quality and experience, and for miss-managing the entire Covid situation.

It very definitely has been a one season relegation

People can have opinions of the historyonics of things prior to that, and that’s okay. But it doesn’t change the fact that, even though we don’t have the biggest budget in terms of promotion chasing, neither are we anywhere near the 24th worst budget. Our manager was supported financially and Holloway messed up massively

That’s my opinion

Are you thick or deliberately disregarding your pal's tenure? It's been more than one relegation out of the football league (let alone the near misses and the previous relegations down to the 4th division).

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

Shocking and comical reply

Shocking because you have just been highly offensive and directed foul insults at me.

Comical because in your list of reasons why you hate John Fenty, you have the temerity to express dismay that he gave us interest free benign loans. That takes the biscuit

I’d thank you take your insulting and offensive behaviour elsewhere please. I haven’t been foul and abusing towards  you  in my opinion

His insults are born of frustration. People just cannot get through to you. You point blank ignore the evidence, and most of the time when asked a question you completely ignore it and answer a question you haven't been asked. Whilst you haven't used abusive language, your behaviour has been very rude and dismissive and you display a superior attitude. Bad manners all round. If you want to be treated civilly, act civilly. If you can't act civilly, expect to reap what you sow. If you don't like that you can log off and do something else.

Didn't they teach you any real manners at your grammar school?

Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

Welcome back Jane Austen.

I’ve put your opinion into Google translate and it’s converted it from Jane Austen back into English. It looks like some of your best work.

“In 2018 no one died. In 2019 no one died. In 2020...no one died. In 2021...someone died”.

[url]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zUoT5AxFpRs[/url]

Lol that's the funniest thing I've ever read on here 😂

Without doubt the blame for this clubs Long demise should be laid squarely at Fentys feet , but ......
A mentally unstable Holloway should also be blamed for Kamikaze football in our six yard box , failing to recruit a side until September and continuing to add a player of lesser quality every week after then pissing off just before the transfer window .
Hurst coming in January and telling the players they’re all on their way out from the club and demoralising an already excrement team , recruiting unfit players that needed two months to find match fitness.
The  board ( including trust members ) for not questioning why we’d had no preseason or assembled a squad before the first match of the season .
Finally us the fans for continuing to accept this dross season after season , give him ten games , wait until Christmas , they’ll be alright when players come back from injury , or when players get match fit , we’re not championship anymore ect ect .

It looks like Hurst will take charge again  next season , if I was the chairman or on the board I’d let it be clear that if we’re not in the top 3 after ten games then he’s gone.

Fenty...no need for debate. In most other countries he’s have been hounded out years ago. He wasn’t. People swallowed his bullshit and those who challenged and spoke out were shot down, sometimes publicly by the very man who’s caused all this.

Holloway to some extent but it’s not fair to bully or call out the mentally ill...

I think it's fairly obvious who's to blame here... For those who aren't quite sure he has done the following:

- Joined the board in the late 1990s
- Fetched embarrassment onto the club for various reasons, from snapping a fellow fans flag, to inviting convicted fraudsters to the club for a money making scheme.
- Allowing our top scorer for 30+ years leave on a free transfer for giving him a worse contract than he was offered just six months previously.
- Effectively forcing the Mariners Trust to hand him shares, only to make money on those shares around 10 years later when selling the business.
- The "poaching" of Scott/Hurst from Boston, ending up costing nearly 4x the original asking fee.
- Voting for B teams
- That fans forum...
- Calling Stockwood/Shutes/Pettit tyre kickers, whilst behind their back making a business with a convicted fraudster. Nearly 2 years later, Stockwood and Pettit are hopefully going to take over...
- Appointing, in my opinion, various wrong managers, and bringing managers back because they seem to be his "mates"..

And then after that, we have the man who talked a lot of gibberish at times, blamed covid for everything, whilst playing darts and breaking the rules. Are Netflix wanting to make a documentary on it all yet, as it could be an interesting watch?

The only hope we have now is the new takeover does go through, albeit a division below where we had hoped, give them a clean slate, rally behind them like I'm sure we will, and give the town something we can be proud in!

Now I'm a bit less angry and a bit more reflective we came back into the EFL in 2016 with no real plan to move the club forward on and off the pitch other than the pipedream of the mystical new stadium.

We didn't retain a couple of key players from the promotion side and allowed a decent manager who had the loyalty of his players if not all the fans to leave as there was no plan.  

Other than covering the cost of a massive squad under Bignot I'm not sure where the Bogle money went, it wasn't a massive amount in football terms but used wisely it would have been better utilised.

Slade was a poor appointment as it compounded the folly and Jolley despite a positive start was exposed pretty quickly.

Then came Holloway, recruited in a fanfare but then allowed to practice his lunacy in an environment where the exec of the club had lost sight of the clubs actual purpose.

What was allowed to happen in terms of bizarre recruitment decisions was criminal and if the board of any non football business had have operated like that they would have been fired.

Ironically it was the blindness and arrogance of John Fenty who was so remote from reality that he didn't understand the impact of the engagement if Alex May which all being well will be the catalyst for his long overdue exit from the club.

So in short,

- An owner who didn't have a growth mindset.
- Poor control and recruitment.
- Total lack of understanding what the club is actually there for and what it means to so many.

All being well May 5th will go by as we all hope and there will be brighter times ahead despite the club paying the price for years of "the custodians of the club" not actually doing right by it's stake holders at every level.
            

At the end of the day leaders are accountable for the results of a business. We don't have leaders, we have one leader and a couple of ineffective puppets who nod at the appropriate time. This is my personal opinion but I'd be happy to listen if Philip Day wanted to list his top 5 achievements while involved at out club
The catalogue of ineptitude over the last 16 years has been detailed on this thread, and many times before, but the biggest failure is not engaging the community and putting this once great football club at the heart of the town. You can blame individual managers but none of them were ever going to fulfil their potential in a culture of such failure.
The whole episode is summed up with a look at Blundell Park. Old,  dilapidated and a joke. And how much closer are we to a new stadium than we were 16 years ago? Not even close, just like our team.
Hope you're proud John

Fenty and Holloway.

Fenty needs no explanation.

Holloway looked a fantastic addition last season and we could all have been forgiven for expecting to strongly challenge for promotion this season. Instead, he ripped apart the side and thought he was smart enough to unearth the next Vardy and we ended up with a team full of rubbish from the likes of Aberystwyth and Taunton. We will never know whether these decisions were forced on him due to budgets etc but Holloway has never said (to the best of my knowledge) that he never had the money to bring in better so he can take that portion of blame.

I just want to forget this whole sorry mess now and start again.

First we need to get this deal signed off for the club then look at what’s left in the squad and start rebuilding. Hopefully we can offload the majority of rubbish we have accumulated but I feel like it might be difficult so it could be a couple of seasons down there at the very least, but at least we will be rid of Fenty and have an honest manager if nothing else. Can’t wait to get back to my seat next season with a fresh start.

It’s like a new fishy forum this for years I’ve read on here that fenty as saved us , without fentys money we wouldn’t have a club blah blah ...

Yes all the clappers are as much to blame as Fenty for propping him up and saying he saved the club.

As i’ve said before he should of been chased out of the club last relegation, but some thought he was doing a good job.

1.Hurst
2. Fenty
3. Holloway

Quoted from Humbercod

1.Hurst
2. Fenty
3. Holloway

You have got to be joking

Quoted from dapperz fun pub

It’s like a new fishy forum this for years I’ve read on here that fenty as saved us , without fentys money we wouldn’t have a club blah blah ...

tbf Dapperz the scales dropped from an awful lot of people's eyes after the May saga was uncovered.
Prior to that they had also seen Macclesfield and Bury being scandalously run out of business, so i think you can forgive people for not being totally anti fenty (& the fact still remains that initially he did save the club from administration)
Many will have also heard and read about Stockwood's approach, which is so refreshing after all these years of antagonism, so they may have realised that there is another way rather than the Fenty way

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

Dear All,

The original poster on this thread asked for views and opinions. I contributed with my opinion.

Following my post of my opinion, certain individuals felt it necessary to become highly rude and offensive, writing insults of a foul nature. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE & IS, AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED, IS CONTRARY TO THE RULES IF THIS FORUM. But I am sure that moderators and admins will confirm this.

I would also point out that in the case of Hagrid, that apologising in advance of being rude and offensive, and then going on to still be rude and offensive, does not in any way make such offensive and insulting behaviour acceptable. On the contrary, if you apologise in advance of such behaviour, it actually makes the said behaviour even worse.

I hope that admin will deal with this type of behaviour



Felipe

Poor old Felipe the eternal victim,as I said earlier classic passive aggressive.

Quoted from forza ivano

tbf Dapperz the scales dropped from an awful lot of people's eyes after the May saga was uncovered.
Prior to that they had also seen Macclesfield and Bury being scandalously run out of business, so i think you can forgive people for not being totally anti fenty (& the fact still remains that initially he did save the club from administration)
Many will have also heard and read about Stockwood's approach, which is so refreshing after all these years of antagonism, so they may have realised that there is another way rather than the Fenty way

We aren’t bury or macc we are a massive club compared to those 2 we’ve just been poorly run for years hence why massive clubs like morecombe comfortably beat us . 2 decades of pure shite is hard to defend but plenty did along the way plenty ... for me they almost guaranteed the mess. The new guys have got some bollox taking on someone else’s mess but fair play to them I’ll fully support them 100%

Let's face it, this club has been on a downward trajectory since John Fenty got involved with the club.  

Yeah, we can argue ITV Digital hit us hard but it Rotherham, Barnsley, were at a similar level and standing to us around that point and they haven't fallen like we have.

But 2016 should have been our reset...so since then:

Failure to build on the momentum of 2016 - Two Wembley finals in the space of 8 days.   Even the uninteresting and hungover FA Trophy Final attracted 10,000 Town fans.  That's about 6,000 more than our average home gate that season who travelled down to London at great expense and inconvenience.  At the very minimum we had 6,000 new customers to go at.  Optimism was the highest it had been for years.  Crying out for a bit of promotion and engagement to add an extra 1,000 + season ticket sales into the summer coffers.    

Instead we were late getting our season tickets on sale, because the printers didn't know what league logo to put on the books....virtually no marketing work to attract new season ticket holders.  We ended up selling a similar season ticket figure to the previous season.  

For context, Lincoln had a waiting list for season tickets after their promotion from the Conference 12 months later.

Failing to invest in infrastructure post 2016 -   I can't have been the only one who was a bit embarrassed in the Conference when part-time teams rocked up to Blundell Park with more staff than would fit in the dugout.  Part-time players with GPS vests on, an analyst in the managers ear with an iPad informing him that the left back had spent the last 8 minutes in Zone 4 Heart Rate and he would need an energy gel in the next five minutes.  We, the supposed big fish in the little pond, had Paul Hurst with his A6 notebook making notes as Dave Moore lobbed bottles of Aldi Lucozade at the players, any science behind it?  Nope. Seen the Premier League clubs doing it though.  How many kilometres has Carl Magnay run today?  We've got three games in 8 days coming up, do we need to protect him now and do we factor this into his training?   Not a clue.  Let's just guess.

It was no surprise it took us so long to get out the Conference.  We weren't a sleeping giant in there, we were a dozing buffoon.  Someone living on former glories thinking we didn't need to adapt.  The one-eyed old bloke in the pub who has spent 45 years pissing his pants in the corner, but still convinced he's the hardest bloke in there because he won the Army Middleweight Boxing Belt in 1962.

We got out the Conference because Hurst had an eye for talent, he persuaded some good players to come here and he built a good spirit.  To top it off in that final season we had a goal machine in Amond, someone backing him up in Bogle and then to finish it off we had Jon Nolan who at the retrospective level was one of the best players we've had in terms of how much better he was than everyone else.  We went up in spite of the fact we had the infrastructure of Brigg Town.  

Hurst quite rightly wanted to move us into the modern age, hell moving into 2003 would have been progress.  He wanted a sports scientists, he wanted an analyst, he wanted a proper strength and conditioning coach.    He knew he wouldn't get it all.  But he deserved better than an extra flipping portakabin.  Promotion back to the league and we got a big shed to store the nets and cones.  

We went from looking out dated in a league with part-time clubs to looking bloody ancient in League Two.


Failure to build on the team in 2016 - I still maintain that at the time, that side wasn't good enough to push the club on in 2016.  It fell over the line in the end. Tait and Nolan were never going to stay.  One wanted to go back to Scotland, the other went to League One.  Toto was another but he wasn't go to stay for whatever reason....but the point is those 3 were going regardless.  Be it we stayed in the Conference or got promoted, they weren't going to be here.  You can't do anything about that.

Then the rest are largely players who haven't really gone onto prove that point wrong.  Craig Clay has had a decent career dipping between the Conference and League Two.  But it's hardly kicking on and going to the next level which we wanted.  Nathan Arnold, who I loved here, didn't prove himself at League Two.  Jon-Paul Pittman, fell back into the Conference.

There's nothing there to suggest that those players would have led us through League Two like a lot of teams have done since winning promotion from the Conference.  This wasn't a Bristol Rovers or a Tranmere side, this was a side that needed strengthening big time.

But we didn't.  Somehow we managed to downgrade on those players.  Ashley Chambers for Arnold. James Berrett for Clay. Shaun bloody Tuton for Pittman.
With the exception of Danny Andrew coming in, we weakened ourselves.  How much of that is down to Hurst and how much of that is down to the budget I'll let you figure out yourself.  I think Hurst got his recruitment wrong that summer but I also think he was hampered by a tight budget.  Three of his summer signings that year came from a club relegated out the league (Chambers, Berrett and Luke Summerfield).

Then of course there was the Amond factor.  The player himself has come out in the last six months to basically say the fault was with Fenty and not Hurst on this one.  No-one in their right mind would let a guy who not only scored just shy of 40-goals for you, but also led your front line superbly, just walk away....then there's John Fenty.

The Bignot Debacle - Hurst left and in hindsight, who can blame him?  But football moves on and Fenty went out to appoint Marcus Bignot.  Again, we now know that it was based on how impressed he was with him during the Bogle transfer.  Which is fair enough, we all get those initial feelings about people and Fenty is clearly no different than us.  Do you appoint a football manager on the back of it? Probably not.  But it's ok, because you do a bit of due diligence, right?  Nope.  

Bignot came in with a remit to build something, build a legacy.  He was told he had time to do it.  At this point I was quite happy with this.  You could see the work he had done at Solihull and he clearly liked a project.  He seemed quite modern with his approach and initially got a tune out the players.  But the step-up was huge.  He quite clearly needed a little bit of help and an older head to just guide him through those 12 months.  Bignot clearly had an ego on him and rather than reaching out for that mentor, he brought his mates in to help him.  It's almost a parallel, you surround yourself with Yes Men and you're never doing wrong.  

Having refused to give Hurst any infrastructure, Bignot got what he wanted.  We had unleashed a greedy kid into the sweet shop.  Striker?  Yeah, have another one mate.  We've got that Bogle money.  Spend it as you see fit.  Build a big squad.

At this point we just lost control.  Bignot signed some good players...but we let them travel from Birmingham on a daily basis.  That was never going to work.  If it was a loan signing at the end of the season or a Garry Birtles type figure who can be trusted to train on his own for 3 days a week then fine, but these were lads in their mid 20's.    Should Bignot have allowed that? Absolutely not.  Should Fenty have stepped in?  Most certainly.  He didn't want to step in then because he was happy having his ego stroked.  We'd had a bit of footballing fortune with the Bogle sale and he was too smug bragging about the depth of our squad to everyone who would listen.

Eventually when he came round to realising that a 45 man squad was too much, especially with a lot of high earners and a dressing room split because half the team lived miles and miles away, he acted.  He hung out Bignot to dry for the two things he backed him on: 1) Building a big squad and 2) rebuilding something.

The knee jerk reaction - Having wasted the Bogle money, Fenty realised that we needed to cut the cloth accordingly.  I mean, benign loans aren't going to get repaid if you've got an expensive team are they?  So in came his old mate Russell Slade.  

I listened to the Paul Bolland podcast last week and was interesting to hear him say how Slade built such a good spirit in the dressing room in his first spell.  I liked Slade in that spell.  So his second spell was really disappointing.  More so because he failed to recognise the value of the dressing room.  Already fragmented, he made the cardinal sin of breaking the heart of it up.  

Craig Disley was coming to the end of his career, he wasn't the player he was and it was the right time.  But his loss in the dressing room was going to be absolutely huge.  A big void to fill.  Fortunately we still had a few stalwarts left from 12 months before who would ensure that the spirit remained.  But Slade got rid.  He got rid of the leader of the dressing room in Shaun Pearson.  Now, you can argue all you want about Pearson's ability at this level and fair enough he has been in the Conference ever since.  But as a leader of the dressing room, we've not yet replaced him in my eyes.  Slade claimed it was a matter of circumstance and that he just had too many defenders on the books.   He then went onto sign Nathan Clarke and Karleigh Osborne (remember him?  I don't blame you if you dont').   Clarke was a disaster.  Osborne was largely injured but poor and sluggish when he played.

Further penny pinching ensued.  Sam Jones is a player who history will say wasted his potential.  But Slade didn't really do much to get it out of him. High earner...off you go.  It's ok though, Slade had already brought in the prolific JJ Hooper so we were all good!

The football was turgid.  Results were dire and the anger built up towards Fenty.   Protests started to happen with the main one in the car park before the Cambridge game.  Would Fenty fall on his sword?  Nah, he just threw his mate onto it instead.  Slade was a disaster but to say he was doing anything but acting on Fenty's mandate would be simply daft.  

Around this time Fenty also thought it would be a good idea to mysteriously get in the back of someone's car who was recording him.  Because I often just get in the back of a car with a stranger and start spilling secrets left, right and centre....Within this he insulted former and current players as well as former managers.  Classy.

Oh and then of course there was the 'You lost trust, Matt' sabotage.  The fans forum where Fenty and his acolytes blindsided a local journalist and Town fan for doing his job.  Because Matt Dean had the audacity to report on Curtis Woodhouse joining in the training set-up....a report that was later proven to be accurate I believe, just that the club backtracked on it.  

Fenty was so arrogant that he didn't think the bloody camera in front of him would catch him winking to his cronies at the point they ambushed Dean.  It was also the same forum where Marley told fans to 'shut up'.  

Classy, again.


Jolley

In hindsight.  Jolley's tenure was arguably the most uneventful period since coming back into the league.  I don't care how it went afterwards.  The guy performed a bloody miracle in 2018 to keep us up, especially with that team.   There were fleeting moments where I felt he would build something special here and I think he actually wanted to.  

All said it didn't work out.  Again penny pinching at play, he got frustrated and we as fans grew tired of his negative style.  No complaints when he was sacked.  Mystery over who recorded the rant that actually no-one, even the guy who it was aimed at, really cared that much about.  Everyone just put it down to a hissy fit which we're all prone too.  



Holloway - Hands up.  I got drawn in.  I wasn't particularly keen on his appointment as I've always felt he was a rent-a-quote type.  But he got the area buzzing, he worked his audience well and I came away from that Fans Forum last January thinking we were going to win the Champions League within 6 years.  He brought in better players than we had and we ended the curtailed season looking half decent.  We weren't quite there for a play-off push but definitely a lot of hope for this season.

Yet then it all went wrong...

A dogshit budget.  
Not activating a clause in the contract of your most valuable asset at the time.
Not having a budget to keep your better players (Clarke, Hessenthaler...)
Telling young players to get a second job rather than get a payrise.
Having such a dogshit budget that you're signing the dregs that no-one else will want.
Insisting on a Covid-clause that no-one else has done so players turn you down.
Thinking you would get away with one pre-season game.
Building your team on raw loanees and lads from well down the pyramid.

Players who no-one was particularly disappointed to see go would have walked into this team.  Akheem Rose, Harry Davis, Harry Cardwell....that's how poor our recruitment was last summer.

Some of this is Holloway, some of this is Fenty.  Between them someone should have realised that everything they were cutting back on would have an impact.

Added to it all the absolute farce over Anthony Limbrick.  A really good, respected and liked coach.  As caretaker manager his work was quite clear to see.  Post-Jolley we were a shambles, it became clear that there was no direction and no guidance.  Results weren't great under Limbrick but game by game you could see the improvements and the structure he was giving us.  Without that foundation, Holloway wouldn't have been able kick on in January and February like he did.  What we were left with in the coaching set-up was a very raw and inexperienced Ben Davies and Holloway (who by all accounts did nothing on the training ground anyway).  

Also under Holloway we had the Covid situation.  Dunno if he mentioned it but it affected the club more than anyone else.  To the point that we were affected so badly we didn't have to adhere to the rules of it.  Did our failure to socially distance players really have an impact on our league position, probably not....but it just gives a taste of the shoddy way the club is run.

Tyre-kickers and Alex May

Bubbling away in the background for the last two years was Fenty's arrogant belief that no-one else could run this football club.  Anyone who legitimately expressed an interest was labelled a tyre-kicker.  No real substance behind it other than Fenty didn't want to sell.

A year ago it was stated that any prospective new owners would need to find funds to run the club should it fall upon hard-times.  As if by magic, a few months later the club does fall on hard times and rather than backing up his own set-standard, Fenty gets the begging bowl out and tells fans to cough up even more.  

He then continues an attempted character assassination on legitimate businessmen with a background that makes his look laughable to say the least.   This wasn't even embarrassing, it was shameful.  You've got guys who are involved in big corporations on a day-to-day basis and then you've got the guy who climbs a floodlight to save a few quid saying they're not the real deal.  

When one of the party pulled out of the consortium, which had no impact at all on the outcome of the deal, he couldn't wait to put the boot in.  

So happy to put the boot in on things like that, yet he's still not apologised for trying to bring in a convicted conman into the fold of the club.  He still thinks he's done nothing wrong and got his teaboy to go on the radio telling everyone that May's crimes were victimless.

Further example of class.

Hurst

I feel for the guy.  He had a poisoned chalice and he hasn't turned it round.  He's made us competitive again and in some respects gave us a side we could be proud of.  But it was a step too far.  Last night we were done for.  We looked exhausted and flat.  To say we were down to the bare bones doesn't even cut it.  

But ultimately he took too long to make us solid and the main failing is that he took a punt on one playing scoring the goals to fire us to safety in Stefan Payne.  He was the one bit of quality we needed and he left us (and Hurst down).  Doesn't matter how you look at it, that money could and should have been spent better elsewhere.  Had it been so, I think we might be looking at the table in a very different light today.

I don't blame him for our relegation but ultimately football is a results business and under Hurst we haven't got enough points on the board.


So since 2016 there's a constant theme running through our spell back in the Football League.  Many errors along the way, no lessons that we've learned and lots of examples of bad management.  I'll leave it down to you to decide what the common denominator in all of this is....

Absolutely spot on

thats a superb post

Excellent post

As ever DHM - cracking post, spot on and eloquently said.

A fish rots from the head first.

Just look at the number of seasons /times we have been relegated to NL,  saved by points deductions for others, survived by the skin of our teeth, flirted with relegation or survived by minuscule amount of points.

There are reasons for the above failures, or near failures.  The buck stops with John Fenty.  

He is the main decision-maker in appointing managers.   Holloway being the worst.   Where was due diligence?  Holloway was bonkers and ruined the team.  Relegation duly resulted.  Fenty is culpable.

Quoted from Swansea_Mariner

There's only one John Fenty

Which was one of the chants at Bournemouth  :o

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

We are talking about a relegation in one season here. Nothing whatsoever to do with past history in connection with John Fenty. The history is of no consequence of what has happened in one season.

The blame for this lays wholly at the door of Ian Holloway.

Holloway was:-

1. The man that championed building in Covid clauses into contracts last summer. Stood there on camera telling the world that other clubs were mad not to adopt Covid clauses. Which ultimately cost us key players who were not prepared to risk the implications of Covid clauses.

2. The man that then set about signing a huge squad of seriously inadequate players. Mostly on the recommendation of his so-called football friends.

3. The man who stood there on camera telling us that he refused to implement a series of pre-season friendlies, and only organised 1 local game at Clee Town. All because he feared Covid. Ironic that he then committed serious breaches of Covid protocols at the training ground, including the now infamous darts match. All of this refusal to get much needed practice matches, whilst other teams completed a serious pre-season fixture campaign.

4. The man that used Covid as an excuse at every rubbish result, whilst also trying to throw in bits of his embarrassingly poor Holloway comedy act, referencing pointless crap from his mum and dad to Donald Trump.

5. The man who then embarrassingly quit when the going got tough, citing the takeover as the reason, because he didn’t want our new owners.

6. The man who, on the day he left, told a member of his staff, that he got it seriously wrong and totally underestimated the level of league 2.

7. The man who let’s face it, was only hear because he thought he was going to make a lot of money out of subsequent developments based around the club, and quit once JF agreed to sell, meaning there was no longer any scope for him to make any money.

8. The man that everyone thought or hoped would be a great appointment, and would have made that same appointment. Who wouldn’t have given Holloway a whirl because he’s had some success at a higher level, and was very popular with a huge amount of football contacts.

When all is said and done, this club started this season in the hands of Holloway. We started it with no real indication that he would take us into a relegation battle.  No reason at all. Stable club with stable finances and a popular leader in Holloway. He played a massive part in the policies around Covid and championed them as a solid and sensible way forward. He was instrumental in it.

For me it is Holloway that is responsible for this mess this season, and for that, I shall never ever forgive him

Who brought that clown in on the likelyhood there may be some cash to be made by getting into bed with a convicted fraudster?

For me it's Fenty, the rest of the shower on the board, Holloway, the players and yes some may not like it but Hurst who has got a worse record this season than that clown Holloway achieved.

They can all intercourse off.

Quoted from diehardmariner

Let's face it, this club has been on a downward trajectory since John Fenty got involved with the club.  

Yeah, we can argue ITV Digital hit us hard but it Rotherham, Barnsley, were at a similar level and standing to us around that point and they haven't fallen like we have.

But 2016 should have been our reset...so since then:

Failure to build on the momentum of 2016 - Two Wembley finals in the space of 8 days.   Even the uninteresting and hungover FA Trophy Final attracted 10,000 Town fans.  That's about 6,000 more than our average home gate that season who travelled down to London at great expense and inconvenience.  At the very minimum we had 6,000 new customers to go at.  Optimism was the highest it had been for years.  Crying out for a bit of promotion and engagement to add an extra 1,000 + season ticket sales into the summer coffers.    

Instead we were late getting our season tickets on sale, because the printers didn't know what league logo to put on the books....virtually no marketing work to attract new season ticket holders.  We ended up selling a similar season ticket figure to the previous season.  

For context, Lincoln had a waiting list for season tickets after their promotion from the Conference 12 months later.

Failing to invest in infrastructure post 2016 -   I can't have been the only one who was a bit embarrassed in the Conference when part-time teams rocked up to Blundell Park with more staff than would fit in the dugout.  Part-time players with GPS vests on, an analyst in the managers ear with an iPad informing him that the left back had spent the last 8 minutes in Zone 4 Heart Rate and he would need an energy gel in the next five minutes.  We, the supposed big fish in the little pond, had Paul Hurst with his A6 notebook making notes as Dave Moore lobbed bottles of Aldi Lucozade at the players, any science behind it?  Nope. Seen the Premier League clubs doing it though.  How many kilometres has Carl Magnay run today?  We've got three games in 8 days coming up, do we need to protect him now and do we factor this into his training?   Not a clue.  Let's just guess.

It was no surprise it took us so long to get out the Conference.  We weren't a sleeping giant in there, we were a dozing buffoon.  Someone living on former glories thinking we didn't need to adapt.  The one-eyed old bloke in the pub who has spent 45 years pissing his pants in the corner, but still convinced he's the hardest bloke in there because he won the Army Middleweight Boxing Belt in 1962.

We got out the Conference because Hurst had an eye for talent, he persuaded some good players to come here and he built a good spirit.  To top it off in that final season we had a goal machine in Amond, someone backing him up in Bogle and then to finish it off we had Jon Nolan who at the retrospective level was one of the best players we've had in terms of how much better he was than everyone else.  We went up in spite of the fact we had the infrastructure of Brigg Town.  

Hurst quite rightly wanted to move us into the modern age, hell moving into 2003 would have been progress.  He wanted a sports scientists, he wanted an analyst, he wanted a proper strength and conditioning coach.    He knew he wouldn't get it all.  But he deserved better than an extra flipping portakabin.  Promotion back to the league and we got a big shed to store the nets and cones.  

We went from looking out dated in a league with part-time clubs to looking bloody ancient in League Two.


Failure to build on the team in 2016 - I still maintain that at the time, that side wasn't good enough to push the club on in 2016.  It fell over the line in the end. Tait and Nolan were never going to stay.  One wanted to go back to Scotland, the other went to League One.  Toto was another but he wasn't go to stay for whatever reason....but the point is those 3 were going regardless.  Be it we stayed in the Conference or got promoted, they weren't going to be here.  You can't do anything about that.

Then the rest are largely players who haven't really gone onto prove that point wrong.  Craig Clay has had a decent career dipping between the Conference and League Two.  But it's hardly kicking on and going to the next level which we wanted.  Nathan Arnold, who I loved here, didn't prove himself at League Two.  Jon-Paul Pittman, fell back into the Conference.

There's nothing there to suggest that those players would have led us through League Two like a lot of teams have done since winning promotion from the Conference.  This wasn't a Bristol Rovers or a Tranmere side, this was a side that needed strengthening big time.

But we didn't.  Somehow we managed to downgrade on those players.  Ashley Chambers for Arnold. James Berrett for Clay. Shaun bloody Tuton for Pittman.
With the exception of Danny Andrew coming in, we weakened ourselves.  How much of that is down to Hurst and how much of that is down to the budget I'll let you figure out yourself.  I think Hurst got his recruitment wrong that summer but I also think he was hampered by a tight budget.  Three of his summer signings that year came from a club relegated out the league (Chambers, Berrett and Luke Summerfield).

Then of course there was the Amond factor.  The player himself has come out in the last six months to basically say the fault was with Fenty and not Hurst on this one.  No-one in their right mind would let a guy who not only scored just shy of 40-goals for you, but also led your front line superbly, just walk away....then there's John Fenty.

The Bignot Debacle - Hurst left and in hindsight, who can blame him?  But football moves on and Fenty went out to appoint Marcus Bignot.  Again, we now know that it was based on how impressed he was with him during the Bogle transfer.  Which is fair enough, we all get those initial feelings about people and Fenty is clearly no different than us.  Do you appoint a football manager on the back of it? Probably not.  But it's ok, because you do a bit of due diligence, right?  Nope.  

Bignot came in with a remit to build something, build a legacy.  He was told he had time to do it.  At this point I was quite happy with this.  You could see the work he had done at Solihull and he clearly liked a project.  He seemed quite modern with his approach and initially got a tune out the players.  But the step-up was huge.  He quite clearly needed a little bit of help and an older head to just guide him through those 12 months.  Bignot clearly had an ego on him and rather than reaching out for that mentor, he brought his mates in to help him.  It's almost a parallel, you surround yourself with Yes Men and you're never doing wrong.  

Having refused to give Hurst any infrastructure, Bignot got what he wanted.  We had unleashed a greedy kid into the sweet shop.  Striker?  Yeah, have another one mate.  We've got that Bogle money.  Spend it as you see fit.  Build a big squad.

At this point we just lost control.  Bignot signed some good players...but we let them travel from Birmingham on a daily basis.  That was never going to work.  If it was a loan signing at the end of the season or a Garry Birtles type figure who can be trusted to train on his own for 3 days a week then fine, but these were lads in their mid 20's.    Should Bignot have allowed that? Absolutely not.  Should Fenty have stepped in?  Most certainly.  He didn't want to step in then because he was happy having his ego stroked.  We'd had a bit of footballing fortune with the Bogle sale and he was too smug bragging about the depth of our squad to everyone who would listen.

Eventually when he came round to realising that a 45 man squad was too much, especially with a lot of high earners and a dressing room split because half the team lived miles and miles away, he acted.  He hung out Bignot to dry for the two things he backed him on: 1) Building a big squad and 2) rebuilding something.

The knee jerk reaction - Having wasted the Bogle money, Fenty realised that we needed to cut the cloth accordingly.  I mean, benign loans aren't going to get repaid if you've got an expensive team are they?  So in came his old mate Russell Slade.  

I listened to the Paul Bolland podcast last week and was interesting to hear him say how Slade built such a good spirit in the dressing room in his first spell.  I liked Slade in that spell.  So his second spell was really disappointing.  More so because he failed to recognise the value of the dressing room.  Already fragmented, he made the cardinal sin of breaking the heart of it up.  

Craig Disley was coming to the end of his career, he wasn't the player he was and it was the right time.  But his loss in the dressing room was going to be absolutely huge.  A big void to fill.  Fortunately we still had a few stalwarts left from 12 months before who would ensure that the spirit remained.  But Slade got rid.  He got rid of the leader of the dressing room in Shaun Pearson.  Now, you can argue all you want about Pearson's ability at this level and fair enough he has been in the Conference ever since.  But as a leader of the dressing room, we've not yet replaced him in my eyes.  Slade claimed it was a matter of circumstance and that he just had too many defenders on the books.   He then went onto sign Nathan Clarke and Karleigh Osborne (remember him?  I don't blame you if you dont').   Clarke was a disaster.  Osborne was largely injured but poor and sluggish when he played.

Further penny pinching ensued.  Sam Jones is a player who history will say wasted his potential.  But Slade didn't really do much to get it out of him. High earner...off you go.  It's ok though, Slade had already brought in the prolific JJ Hooper so we were all good!

The football was turgid.  Results were dire and the anger built up towards Fenty.   Protests started to happen with the main one in the car park before the Cambridge game.  Would Fenty fall on his sword?  Nah, he just threw his mate onto it instead.  Slade was a disaster but to say he was doing anything but acting on Fenty's mandate would be simply daft.  

Around this time Fenty also thought it would be a good idea to mysteriously get in the back of someone's car who was recording him.  Because I often just get in the back of a car with a stranger and start spilling secrets left, right and centre....Within this he insulted former and current players as well as former managers.  Classy.

Oh and then of course there was the 'You lost trust, Matt' sabotage.  The fans forum where Fenty and his acolytes blindsided a local journalist and Town fan for doing his job.  Because Matt Dean had the audacity to report on Curtis Woodhouse joining in the training set-up....a report that was later proven to be accurate I believe, just that the club backtracked on it.  

Fenty was so arrogant that he didn't think the bloody camera in front of him would catch him winking to his cronies at the point they ambushed Dean.  It was also the same forum where Marley told fans to 'shut up'.  

Classy, again.


Jolley

In hindsight.  Jolley's tenure was arguably the most uneventful period since coming back into the league.  I don't care how it went afterwards.  The guy performed a bloody miracle in 2018 to keep us up, especially with that team.   There were fleeting moments where I felt he would build something special here and I think he actually wanted to.  

All said it didn't work out.  Again penny pinching at play, he got frustrated and we as fans grew tired of his negative style.  No complaints when he was sacked.  Mystery over who recorded the rant that actually no-one, even the guy who it was aimed at, really cared that much about.  Everyone just put it down to a hissy fit which we're all prone too.  



Holloway - Hands up.  I got drawn in.  I wasn't particularly keen on his appointment as I've always felt he was a rent-a-quote type.  But he got the area buzzing, he worked his audience well and I came away from that Fans Forum last January thinking we were going to win the Champions League within 6 years.  He brought in better players than we had and we ended the curtailed season looking half decent.  We weren't quite there for a play-off push but definitely a lot of hope for this season.

Yet then it all went wrong...

A dogshit budget.  
Not activating a clause in the contract of your most valuable asset at the time.
Not having a budget to keep your better players (Clarke, Hessenthaler...)
Telling young players to get a second job rather than get a payrise.
Having such a dogshit budget that you're signing the dregs that no-one else will want.
Insisting on a Covid-clause that no-one else has done so players turn you down.
Thinking you would get away with one pre-season game.
Building your team on raw loanees and lads from well down the pyramid.

Players who no-one was particularly disappointed to see go would have walked into this team.  Akheem Rose, Harry Davis, Harry Cardwell....that's how poor our recruitment was last summer.

Some of this is Holloway, some of this is Fenty.  Between them someone should have realised that everything they were cutting back on would have an impact.

Added to it all the absolute farce over Anthony Limbrick.  A really good, respected and liked coach.  As caretaker manager his work was quite clear to see.  Post-Jolley we were a shambles, it became clear that there was no direction and no guidance.  Results weren't great under Limbrick but game by game you could see the improvements and the structure he was giving us.  Without that foundation, Holloway wouldn't have been able kick on in January and February like he did.  What we were left with in the coaching set-up was a very raw and inexperienced Ben Davies and Holloway (who by all accounts did nothing on the training ground anyway).  

Also under Holloway we had the Covid situation.  Dunno if he mentioned it but it affected the club more than anyone else.  To the point that we were affected so badly we didn't have to adhere to the rules of it.  Did our failure to socially distance players really have an impact on our league position, probably not....but it just gives a taste of the shoddy way the club is run.

Tyre-kickers and Alex May

Bubbling away in the background for the last two years was Fenty's arrogant belief that no-one else could run this football club.  Anyone who legitimately expressed an interest was labelled a tyre-kicker.  No real substance behind it other than Fenty didn't want to sell.

A year ago it was stated that any prospective new owners would need to find funds to run the club should it fall upon hard-times.  As if by magic, a few months later the club does fall on hard times and rather than backing up his own set-standard, Fenty gets the begging bowl out and tells fans to cough up even more.  

He then continues an attempted character assassination on legitimate businessmen with a background that makes his look laughable to say the least.   This wasn't even embarrassing, it was shameful.  You've got guys who are involved in big corporations on a day-to-day basis and then you've got the guy who climbs a floodlight to save a few quid saying they're not the real deal.  

When one of the party pulled out of the consortium, which had no impact at all on the outcome of the deal, he couldn't wait to put the boot in.  

So happy to put the boot in on things like that, yet he's still not apologised for trying to bring in a convicted conman into the fold of the club.  He still thinks he's done nothing wrong and got his teaboy to go on the radio telling everyone that May's crimes were victimless.

Further example of class.

Hurst

I feel for the guy.  He had a poisoned chalice and he hasn't turned it round.  He's made us competitive again and in some respects gave us a side we could be proud of.  But it was a step too far.  Last night we were done for.  We looked exhausted and flat.  To say we were down to the bare bones doesn't even cut it.  

But ultimately he took too long to make us solid and the main failing is that he took a punt on one playing scoring the goals to fire us to safety in Stefan Payne.  He was the one bit of quality we needed and he left us (and Hurst down).  Doesn't matter how you look at it, that money could and should have been spent better elsewhere.  Had it been so, I think we might be looking at the table in a very different light today.

I don't blame him for our relegation but ultimately football is a results business and under Hurst we haven't got enough points on the board.


So since 2016 there's a constant theme running through our spell back in the Football League.  Many errors along the way, no lessons that we've learned and lots of examples of bad management.  I'll leave it down to you to decide what the common denominator in all of this is....

What an excellent post. Sums up the Fenty years of lack of investment in the team and stadium. A chairman who in his own eyes is faultless and couldn't/didn't want to see the downward spiral the club was in. He even delayed selling the club until it was practically unattainable to keep it in the league.

Thank goodness we can move on to pastures new and put all of the Fenty years behind us.

Quoted Text

Added to it all the absolute farce over Anthony Limbrick.  A really good, respected and liked coach.  As caretaker manager, his work was quite clear to see.  Post-Jolley we were a shambles, it became clear that there was no direction and no guidance.  Results weren't great under Limbrick but game by game you could see the improvements and the structure he was giving us.  Without that foundation, Holloway wouldn't have been able kick on in January and February like he did.  What we were left with in the coaching set-up was a very raw and inexperienced Ben Davies and Holloway (who by all accounts did nothing on the training ground anyway).  

An important point in a really good post by DHM. In the Scunny game which we lost, unluckily, 1-0 we played pretty well and there were green shoots showing, Holloway came in, added some players and a couple of good loanees and we looked a decent side making progress. The Holloway name probably helped get the quality in that we did in Jan 20. I just wonder how this season might have been if AL had been working with even a weakened squad in a proper close-season prep - maybe that is the really key bit of penny-pinching that has helped bring about this disaster - and was it anything to do with IH?

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

An important point in a really good post by DHM. In the Scunny game which we lost, unluckily, 1-0 we played pretty well and there were green shoots showing, Holloway came in, added some players and a couple of good loanees and we looked a decent side making progress. The Holloway name probably helped get the quality in that we did in Jan 20. I just wonder how this season might have been if AL had been working with even a weakened squad in a proper close-season prep - maybe that is the really key bit of penny-pinching that has helped bring about this disaster - and was it anything to do with IH?

Holloway was glad to see the back of AL.

Quoted from arryarryarry

Holloway was glad to see the back of AL.

Really? I appreciate they're hardly two peas in a pod, but what have you heard?

I'm guessing he was a smart bloke and asked too many questions. Or could see through bullshit. Probably both.  

Quoted from marinerdazza

Really? I appreciate they're hardly two peas in a pod, but what have you heard?

I'm guessing he was a smart bloke and asked too many questions. Or could see through bullshit. Probably both.  

I heard him having a right moan about AL.

Quoted from arryarryarry

I heard him having a right moan about AL.

Really? Saying what?

Holloways a tosser

Quoted from Mandy Dunnit vs Hettie

Really? Saying what?

I can't remember exactly what he said, it is some time ago but not very complimentary about him not taking a pay cut and just having a right moan.  

Quoted from arryarryarry

I can't remember exactly what he said, it is some time ago but not very complimentary about him not taking a pay cut and just having a right moan.  

Firing bullets made by someone else perhaps...?

DHM’s post should be the last word on this.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

DHM’s post should be the last word on this.

Agree. It was one of the finest posts I have read on here.

One of the best and most interesting posts ever DHM
Wish it was full of opposites!! stuff we had done well since 2016
Hull,  Posh,  Donny and Gimps all pushing for the championship
Teams like Cambridge and Cheatenham at the top of our league
Town at the very very bottom and going back to the hell hole of Non League
We have absolutely ballsed it up since we came back
I hope we get another chance sooner rather than later
Bounce back 1st season - Probably not
More than 6 seasons - Hope not
Relegation to NLN - Surely not
Not been any pleasure in supporting town for way too long now..

Well done DHM, excellent  :)

I guess all we can hope is that our latest rapid decline this season has been the catalyst for change?, and if so we can only hope the pain of relegation is one small step back before a big leap forward.

Just “surviving” as a mid / lower half Lg2 team was getting monotonous and soul destroying anyway  :-/

What went wrong? We didn’t score goals.

Just half a dozen at the right times since January and we would be safe as houses, sitting here having a good moan about Holloway.

Quoted from lee65

Well done DHM, excellent  :)

I guess all we can hope is that our latest rapid decline this season has been the catalyst for change?, and if so we can only hope the pain of relegation is one small step back before a big leap forward.

Just “surviving” as a mid / lower half Lg2 team was getting monotonous and soul destroying anyway  :-/

Very good point Lee. Under Fenty bottom third of L2 would be the best we could hope for, and the worst, well we are seeing that now.

With Fenty gone we will be able to look forward to success again. There is no reason why we can’t do what Scunts and Lincoln have done recently, ie compete for promotion to the Championship. It is we’ll within the scope of this club if properly run.

It is Fenty that had held us back and taken us down.

Good riddance to him. Hope he never has the nerve to visit BP ever again.

Brilliant post DHM

Quoted from diehardmariner

Let's face it, this club has been on a downward trajectory since John Fenty got involved with the club.  

Yeah, we can argue ITV Digital hit us hard but it Rotherham, Barnsley, were at a similar level and standing to us around that point and they haven't fallen like we have.

But 2016 should have been our reset...so since then:

Failure to build on the momentum of 2016 - Two Wembley finals in the space of 8 days.   Even the uninteresting and hungover FA Trophy Final attracted 10,000 Town fans.  That's about 6,000 more than our average home gate that season who travelled down to London at great expense and inconvenience.  At the very minimum we had 6,000 new customers to go at.  Optimism was the highest it had been for years.  Crying out for a bit of promotion and engagement to add an extra 1,000 + season ticket sales into the summer coffers.    

Instead we were late getting our season tickets on sale, because the printers didn't know what league logo to put on the books....virtually no marketing work to attract new season ticket holders.  We ended up selling a similar season ticket figure to the previous season.  

For context, Lincoln had a waiting list for season tickets after their promotion from the Conference 12 months later.

Failing to invest in infrastructure post 2016 -   I can't have been the only one who was a bit embarrassed in the Conference when part-time teams rocked up to Blundell Park with more staff than would fit in the dugout.  Part-time players with GPS vests on, an analyst in the managers ear with an iPad informing him that the left back had spent the last 8 minutes in Zone 4 Heart Rate and he would need an energy gel in the next five minutes.  We, the supposed big fish in the little pond, had Paul Hurst with his A6 notebook making notes as Dave Moore lobbed bottles of Aldi Lucozade at the players, any science behind it?  Nope. Seen the Premier League clubs doing it though.  How many kilometres has Carl Magnay run today?  We've got three games in 8 days coming up, do we need to protect him now and do we factor this into his training?   Not a clue.  Let's just guess.

It was no surprise it took us so long to get out the Conference.  We weren't a sleeping giant in there, we were a dozing buffoon.  Someone living on former glories thinking we didn't need to adapt.  The one-eyed old bloke in the pub who has spent 45 years pissing his pants in the corner, but still convinced he's the hardest bloke in there because he won the Army Middleweight Boxing Belt in 1962.

We got out the Conference because Hurst had an eye for talent, he persuaded some good players to come here and he built a good spirit.  To top it off in that final season we had a goal machine in Amond, someone backing him up in Bogle and then to finish it off we had Jon Nolan who at the retrospective level was one of the best players we've had in terms of how much better he was than everyone else.  We went up in spite of the fact we had the infrastructure of Brigg Town.  

Hurst quite rightly wanted to move us into the modern age, hell moving into 2003 would have been progress.  He wanted a sports scientists, he wanted an analyst, he wanted a proper strength and conditioning coach.    He knew he wouldn't get it all.  But he deserved better than an extra flipping portakabin.  Promotion back to the league and we got a big shed to store the nets and cones.  

We went from looking out dated in a league with part-time clubs to looking bloody ancient in League Two.


Failure to build on the team in 2016 - I still maintain that at the time, that side wasn't good enough to push the club on in 2016.  It fell over the line in the end. Tait and Nolan were never going to stay.  One wanted to go back to Scotland, the other went to League One.  Toto was another but he wasn't go to stay for whatever reason....but the point is those 3 were going regardless.  Be it we stayed in the Conference or got promoted, they weren't going to be here.  You can't do anything about that.

Then the rest are largely players who haven't really gone onto prove that point wrong.  Craig Clay has had a decent career dipping between the Conference and League Two.  But it's hardly kicking on and going to the next level which we wanted.  Nathan Arnold, who I loved here, didn't prove himself at League Two.  Jon-Paul Pittman, fell back into the Conference.

There's nothing there to suggest that those players would have led us through League Two like a lot of teams have done since winning promotion from the Conference.  This wasn't a Bristol Rovers or a Tranmere side, this was a side that needed strengthening big time.

But we didn't.  Somehow we managed to downgrade on those players.  Ashley Chambers for Arnold. James Berrett for Clay. Shaun bloody Tuton for Pittman.
With the exception of Danny Andrew coming in, we weakened ourselves.  How much of that is down to Hurst and how much of that is down to the budget I'll let you figure out yourself.  I think Hurst got his recruitment wrong that summer but I also think he was hampered by a tight budget.  Three of his summer signings that year came from a club relegated out the league (Chambers, Berrett and Luke Summerfield).

Then of course there was the Amond factor.  The player himself has come out in the last six months to basically say the fault was with Fenty and not Hurst on this one.  No-one in their right mind would let a guy who not only scored just shy of 40-goals for you, but also led your front line superbly, just walk away....then there's John Fenty.

The Bignot Debacle - Hurst left and in hindsight, who can blame him?  But football moves on and Fenty went out to appoint Marcus Bignot.  Again, we now know that it was based on how impressed he was with him during the Bogle transfer.  Which is fair enough, we all get those initial feelings about people and Fenty is clearly no different than us.  Do you appoint a football manager on the back of it? Probably not.  But it's ok, because you do a bit of due diligence, right?  Nope.  

Bignot came in with a remit to build something, build a legacy.  He was told he had time to do it.  At this point I was quite happy with this.  You could see the work he had done at Solihull and he clearly liked a project.  He seemed quite modern with his approach and initially got a tune out the players.  But the step-up was huge.  He quite clearly needed a little bit of help and an older head to just guide him through those 12 months.  Bignot clearly had an ego on him and rather than reaching out for that mentor, he brought his mates in to help him.  It's almost a parallel, you surround yourself with Yes Men and you're never doing wrong.  

Having refused to give Hurst any infrastructure, Bignot got what he wanted.  We had unleashed a greedy kid into the sweet shop.  Striker?  Yeah, have another one mate.  We've got that Bogle money.  Spend it as you see fit.  Build a big squad.

At this point we just lost control.  Bignot signed some good players...but we let them travel from Birmingham on a daily basis.  That was never going to work.  If it was a loan signing at the end of the season or a Garry Birtles type figure who can be trusted to train on his own for 3 days a week then fine, but these were lads in their mid 20's.    Should Bignot have allowed that? Absolutely not.  Should Fenty have stepped in?  Most certainly.  He didn't want to step in then because he was happy having his ego stroked.  We'd had a bit of footballing fortune with the Bogle sale and he was too smug bragging about the depth of our squad to everyone who would listen.

Eventually when he came round to realising that a 45 man squad was too much, especially with a lot of high earners and a dressing room split because half the team lived miles and miles away, he acted.  He hung out Bignot to dry for the two things he backed him on: 1) Building a big squad and 2) rebuilding something.

The knee jerk reaction - Having wasted the Bogle money, Fenty realised that we needed to cut the cloth accordingly.  I mean, benign loans aren't going to get repaid if you've got an expensive team are they?  So in came his old mate Russell Slade.  

I listened to the Paul Bolland podcast last week and was interesting to hear him say how Slade built such a good spirit in the dressing room in his first spell.  I liked Slade in that spell.  So his second spell was really disappointing.  More so because he failed to recognise the value of the dressing room.  Already fragmented, he made the cardinal sin of breaking the heart of it up.  

Craig Disley was coming to the end of his career, he wasn't the player he was and it was the right time.  But his loss in the dressing room was going to be absolutely huge.  A big void to fill.  Fortunately we still had a few stalwarts left from 12 months before who would ensure that the spirit remained.  But Slade got rid.  He got rid of the leader of the dressing room in Shaun Pearson.  Now, you can argue all you want about Pearson's ability at this level and fair enough he has been in the Conference ever since.  But as a leader of the dressing room, we've not yet replaced him in my eyes.  Slade claimed it was a matter of circumstance and that he just had too many defenders on the books.   He then went onto sign Nathan Clarke and Karleigh Osborne (remember him?  I don't blame you if you dont').   Clarke was a disaster.  Osborne was largely injured but poor and sluggish when he played.

Further penny pinching ensued.  Sam Jones is a player who history will say wasted his potential.  But Slade didn't really do much to get it out of him. High earner...off you go.  It's ok though, Slade had already brought in the prolific JJ Hooper so we were all good!

The football was turgid.  Results were dire and the anger built up towards Fenty.   Protests started to happen with the main one in the car park before the Cambridge game.  Would Fenty fall on his sword?  Nah, he just threw his mate onto it instead.  Slade was a disaster but to say he was doing anything but acting on Fenty's mandate would be simply daft.  

Around this time Fenty also thought it would be a good idea to mysteriously get in the back of someone's car who was recording him.  Because I often just get in the back of a car with a stranger and start spilling secrets left, right and centre....Within this he insulted former and current players as well as former managers.  Classy.

Oh and then of course there was the 'You lost trust, Matt' sabotage.  The fans forum where Fenty and his acolytes blindsided a local journalist and Town fan for doing his job.  Because Matt Dean had the audacity to report on Curtis Woodhouse joining in the training set-up....a report that was later proven to be accurate I believe, just that the club backtracked on it.  

Fenty was so arrogant that he didn't think the bloody camera in front of him would catch him winking to his cronies at the point they ambushed Dean.  It was also the same forum where Marley told fans to 'shut up'.  

Classy, again.


Jolley

In hindsight.  Jolley's tenure was arguably the most uneventful period since coming back into the league.  I don't care how it went afterwards.  The guy performed a bloody miracle in 2018 to keep us up, especially with that team.   There were fleeting moments where I felt he would build something special here and I think he actually wanted to.  

All said it didn't work out.  Again penny pinching at play, he got frustrated and we as fans grew tired of his negative style.  No complaints when he was sacked.  Mystery over who recorded the rant that actually no-one, even the guy who it was aimed at, really cared that much about.  Everyone just put it down to a hissy fit which we're all prone too.  



Holloway - Hands up.  I got drawn in.  I wasn't particularly keen on his appointment as I've always felt he was a rent-a-quote type.  But he got the area buzzing, he worked his audience well and I came away from that Fans Forum last January thinking we were going to win the Champions League within 6 years.  He brought in better players than we had and we ended the curtailed season looking half decent.  We weren't quite there for a play-off push but definitely a lot of hope for this season.

Yet then it all went wrong...

A dogshit budget.  
Not activating a clause in the contract of your most valuable asset at the time.
Not having a budget to keep your better players (Clarke, Hessenthaler...)
Telling young players to get a second job rather than get a payrise.
Having such a dogshit budget that you're signing the dregs that no-one else will want.
Insisting on a Covid-clause that no-one else has done so players turn you down.
Thinking you would get away with one pre-season game.
Building your team on raw loanees and lads from well down the pyramid.

Players who no-one was particularly disappointed to see go would have walked into this team.  Akheem Rose, Harry Davis, Harry Cardwell....that's how poor our recruitment was last summer.

Some of this is Holloway, some of this is Fenty.  Between them someone should have realised that everything they were cutting back on would have an impact.

Added to it all the absolute farce over Anthony Limbrick.  A really good, respected and liked coach.  As caretaker manager his work was quite clear to see.  Post-Jolley we were a shambles, it became clear that there was no direction and no guidance.  Results weren't great under Limbrick but game by game you could see the improvements and the structure he was giving us.  Without that foundation, Holloway wouldn't have been able kick on in January and February like he did.  What we were left with in the coaching set-up was a very raw and inexperienced Ben Davies and Holloway (who by all accounts did nothing on the training ground anyway).  

Also under Holloway we had the Covid situation.  Dunno if he mentioned it but it affected the club more than anyone else.  To the point that we were affected so badly we didn't have to adhere to the rules of it.  Did our failure to socially distance players really have an impact on our league position, probably not....but it just gives a taste of the shoddy way the club is run.

Tyre-kickers and Alex May

Bubbling away in the background for the last two years was Fenty's arrogant belief that no-one else could run this football club.  Anyone who legitimately expressed an interest was labelled a tyre-kicker.  No real substance behind it other than Fenty didn't want to sell.

A year ago it was stated that any prospective new owners would need to find funds to run the club should it fall upon hard-times.  As if by magic, a few months later the club does fall on hard times and rather than backing up his own set-standard, Fenty gets the begging bowl out and tells fans to cough up even more.  

He then continues an attempted character assassination on legitimate businessmen with a background that makes his look laughable to say the least.   This wasn't even embarrassing, it was shameful.  You've got guys who are involved in big corporations on a day-to-day basis and then you've got the guy who climbs a floodlight to save a few quid saying they're not the real deal.  

When one of the party pulled out of the consortium, which had no impact at all on the outcome of the deal, he couldn't wait to put the boot in.  

So happy to put the boot in on things like that, yet he's still not apologised for trying to bring in a convicted conman into the fold of the club.  He still thinks he's done nothing wrong and got his teaboy to go on the radio telling everyone that May's crimes were victimless.

Further example of class.

Hurst

I feel for the guy.  He had a poisoned chalice and he hasn't turned it round.  He's made us competitive again and in some respects gave us a side we could be proud of.  But it was a step too far.  Last night we were done for.  We looked exhausted and flat.  To say we were down to the bare bones doesn't even cut it.  

But ultimately he took too long to make us solid and the main failing is that he took a punt on one playing scoring the goals to fire us to safety in Stefan Payne.  He was the one bit of quality we needed and he left us (and Hurst down).  Doesn't matter how you look at it, that money could and should have been spent better elsewhere.  Had it been so, I think we might be looking at the table in a very different light today.

I don't blame him for our relegation but ultimately football is a results business and under Hurst we haven't got enough points on the board.


So since 2016 there's a constant theme running through our spell back in the Football League.  Many errors along the way, no lessons that we've learned and lots of examples of bad management.  I'll leave it down to you to decide what the common denominator in all of this is....

I wonder what Fenty would say if he read this. How he would defend his actions?

Quoted from RexFannies

I wonder what Fenty would say if he read this. How he would defend his actions?

i'm sure Filipe & Pen penfras will give it a good shot......

Think you got the wrong vowel in that last word Forza

Quoted from RexFannies

I wonder what Fenty would say if he read this. How he would defend his actions?

'Poppycock' 😉

Plenty of blame to spread around.

Holloway....talked a good game...well at least he talked a lot. But didnt do much.

Hurst. Inherited a bag of shite but had half a season to turn it around......and didnt.

The Board ( And by that I of course mean Fenty)

Ultimate responsibility lies at the door of Fenty. A man who's stewardship of the club has been poor to say the least. If someone he employed to control his business with this track record he would have binned them off long ago. Not one but two relegations into the abyss of non-league football. Some legacy.

Fenty lacked the finances and ambition to take this club forward...but his ego delayed and hindered attracting further investment. Since we finally regained our league status we have just muddled along hoping to avoid relegation. This year hasnt been a one off it has been coming for a few seasons now. We narrowly escaped when Jolley came in and saved us at the last. The lessons were not learned. Even last year when Holloway came in we were flirting with relegation again.

Holloway gets a lot of flack....a lot of it justified. But I wonder how much the budget restraints imposed by Fenty affected his original plans. Covid gave the club excuse to say goodbye to players out of contract..no attempt top keep any. Others took pay cuts , other staff furloughed. The club clearly didnt want to start the season without fans ......by the time they got their bottom in gear it was in the main (with one or two exceptions) cheap players ....young academy players with no league experience and part timers plucked from non league. Again how much was Holloways real plan or dictated by money (and lack of)

Hurst came in with plenty of games to get us out of it. Let some go brought almost a whole new team in. But lets be honest it is difficult to make that many changes in mid season and attract players who actaully make an impact in the winter transfer window.

The result we didnt improve quick enough and soon found ourselves rock bottom. To be fair i think most will agree that for the most part the last 10 games or so have seen some fight, some improvement. But not enough and too late. Ultimately a lack of quality.....particularly in attacking positions has killed us. Dont score enough goals and lack anyone who could be described as a finisher. It is not hard to imagine Town have the opportunities to turn some of those draws into wins. Another 6 or 7 pts would have kept us very much in the fight.

The only positive has been the catalyst for change...Fenty finally acknowledging his position was untenable and accepting he is a lead weight around the neck of this club. Hopefully the new owners will be officially signed and sealed soon and the dawn of a new era begins.

National League.....we know all to well what thats about.

While no doubt Hurst's stock has dropped over the past 2 years the last 2 months or so have shown me he may be capable of creating a promotion challenging team with some backing. His previous success perhaps gives him the benefit of the doubt. No doubt many on here will want him gone asap but without any viable alternatives being muted I think I am ok with Hurst still in charge.

Most have criticised Hurst in the January transfer window but the quote from the Exeter manager Matt Taylor puts a light on the situation.

"In terms of the market it will look a lot different. We tried so hard to strengthen this team in January in attacking areas, we knew what a big miss Nicky Law would be, so we tried our hardest to strengthen this team in January, but like every other manager the players just weren't out there."

I'm not saying Taylor and Hurst were after the same targets but it does sum up what the problem may have been for Hurst.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56845997

Agree - I think Town will romp the National League next season. PH is the best manager (if backed by the board), which I think he will be - to get us the ‘team’ required.
Just got the next 4 matches to endure and the pain will be over.
UTM

Quoted from DB

Most have criticised Hurst in the January transfer window but the quote from the Exeter manager Matt Taylor puts a light on the situation.

"In terms of the market it will look a lot different. We tried so hard to strengthen this team in January in attacking areas, we knew what a big miss Nicky Law would be, so we tried our hardest to strengthen this team in January, but like every other manager the players just weren't out there."



I'm not saying Taylor and Hurst were after the same targets but it does sum up what the problem may have been for Hurst.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56845997

Not easy, but both Bradford and Barrow managed to bring in new faces and turn their season around in the January window,

It all comes down to how much we were willing to spend, and we know his that goes under Fenty.

Quite apart from the failings on the pitch is the incredibly inept failure to move to a new stadium. 17 years to organise a relocation? Unbelievable.

Mind you, we did get a new portacabin on the training ground to be fair. So the last 17 years have not been entirely without some progress. Who knows, in another 17 years we might have seen a new portaloo.

Surprised we haven't heard from the non chairman, sat snooker table-side

Quoted from RonMariner

Mind you, we did get a new portacabin on the training ground to be fair. So the last 17 years have not been entirely without some progress. Who knows, in another 17 years we might have seen a new portaloo.

Don't forged the humps have gone and there's less rust on the floodlights   ;)

Quoted from promotion plaice

Don't forged the humps have gone and there's less rust on the floodlights   ;)

Yes, and at least one new bulb in the floodlights too.

Quoted from Teestogreen

Agree - I think Town will romp the National League next season. PH is the best manager (if backed by the board), which I think he will be - to get us the ‘team’ required.
Just got the next 4 matches to endure and the pain will be over.
UTM

In 4 years with PH in charge we never "romped" the National League.

Quoted from promotion plaice

Don't forged the humps have gone and there's less rust on the floodlights   ;)

😆

There’s less floodlights on the floodlights.

Also don't forget the sink for the lady referees

I’m not sure just the odd player Barrow brought in was the difference, sacking Jolley helped.

The fact we’re back to mocking the absolute cretin that has been ruining our club for 20 years disguised as a fan/owner suggests we’ve had the inquest.

In lay mans terms we just weren’t good enough. Many a reason for that. We pay the ultimate price, sadly one wins 2.5m from it...

Quoted from arryarryarry

In 4 years with PH in charge we never "romped" the National League.

  Stockwood backs hurst on Twitter but will he be allowed to bring in the standard of player needed for our non league visit to be a short one ?

Quoted from dapperz fun pub

  Stockwood backs hurst on Twitter but will he be allowed to bring in the standard of player needed for our non league visit to be a short one ?

I can't believe you're knocking the new owners before they take charge. For crying out loud give them a chance to say what they'll do once they own the club.

Complain if they want to add a new portacabin, ground improvements in 17 years' time, and looking at Cleethorpes Town and Grimsby Borough for new players.

Quoted from dapperz fun pub

  Stockwood backs hurst on Twitter but will he be allowed to bring in the standard of player needed for our non league visit to be a short one ?

They will have to dig deep to cover probably higher wages for better quality players as well as the guaranteed shortfall for not being in the EFL.

Quoted from RonMariner

Quite apart from the failings on the pitch is the incredibly inept failure to move to a new stadium. 17 years to organise a relocation? Unbelievable.

Has it ever been disclosed just how much the relocation "strategy" cost?

I guess it's hidden away in past accounts but it makes you wonder how much has been "invested" ( and I use that term very loosely ) in moving us on from BP

I'm guessing it's in the hundreds of thousands and what do we have to show for it.... I guess some folk still have their caps from 2002  :-/

Quoted from DB

I can't believe you're knocking the new owners before they take charge. For crying out loud give them a chance to say what they'll do once they own the club.

Complain if they want to add a new portacabin, ground improvements in 17 years' time, and looking at Cleethorpes Town and Grimsby Borough for new players.

I’m not knocking anyone

Quoted from arryarryarry

They will have to dig deep to cover probably higher wages for better quality players as well as the guaranteed shortfall for not being in the EFL.

Very deep if were going to be fighting for top spot

Deeper than the ocean if reports are true that stockport paying likes of paddy madden 3 grand a week & still not top , hate been pessimistic but got a feeling could be longer than expected

Quoted from dapperz fun pub

I’m not knocking anyone

"Stockwood backs hurst on Twitter but will he be allowed to bring in the standard of player needed for our non league visit to be a short one ?"

That's not the way I read it; apologies if I misunderstood.

Quoted from FishOutOfWater

Has it ever been disclosed just how much the relocation "strategy" cost?

I guess it's hidden away in past accounts but it makes you wonder how much has been "invested" ( and I use that term very loosely ) in moving us on from BP

I'm guessing it's in the hundreds of thousands and what do we have to show for it.... I guess some folk still have their caps from 2002  :-/

Hundreds of thousands were written off if I remember correctly. When Fenty finally accepted Great Coates was never going to happen years too late. I’ll try to dig out the details when I can be arsed. They weren’t hidden in the accounts. They were in plain sight.

Those at the top of the club never deserved the fanbase that our club has or had and it's been embarrassing over years, with comments from certain members who make the decisions.

I've been floating around youtube looking at some videos and we've had some very impressive followings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i_7DUAvpqw&ab_channel=OfficialGTFC

One of many examples that shows how the fans have kept the club as relevant as possible, what a shame it was never reflected by those at the top.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

Hundreds of thousands were written off if I remember correctly. When Fenty finally accepted Great Coates was never going to happen years too late. I’ll try to dig out the details when I can be arsed. They weren’t hidden in the accounts. They were in plain sight.

In my head ,  squirrelled away, unfortunately for me
... ....I am sure I can recall JF saying £1m ....almost sure he said "of his own money" .
Could be wrong though.
.

£800k was the figure I had in my head.

Actually it was £573,796 in the 2007 accounts.

Not a million or even 800k, but a tidy sum nonetheless. Spent on achieving nothing.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

Actually it was £573,796 in the 2007 accounts.

Not a million or even 800k, but a tidy sum nonetheless. Spent on achieving nothing.

Selling false hope to everyone who dared to dream that we'd have a new ground and a bright(er) future

Like donkeys following carrots we never even came close  :-/

We don’t my know what pursuing Peaks Parkway cost us. Apart from time and a distraction of effort by the leadership.

I don’t think the PP scheme was ever viable. You could never build enough houses, and the stadium on there, let alone any other commercial enabling development to fund the stadium enough to make it affordable. Which is why those skateboarders tried to find other sites which could be built on. A friendly surveyor could have worked that one out pretty quickly.

I don’t believe they’ve ever put any figures on the other revenue streams Fenty kept saying we’re missing out on.

Quoted from FishOutOfWater

Selling false hope to everyone who dared to dream that we'd have a new ground and a bright(er) future

Like donkeys following carrots we never even came close  :-/

Not everyone believed what they were being spun , plenty realised the principal funder didn’t have the wealth or contacts to make the new stadium happen.

Many of us didn’t believe a word that ever came out of Fenty’s mouth but sadly, too many did and bizarrely some still do...

Quoted from dapperz fun pub

Not everyone believed what they were being spun , plenty realised the principal funder didn’t have the wealth or contacts to make the new stadium happen.

But plenty did believe St John and shot down anyone who had the temerity to criticise him.

Quoted from friskneymariner

But plenty did believe St John and shot down anyone who had the temerity to criticise him.

I think a lot of people just love the club that much the fear of losing it was to much and therefore were happy to take in what was being fed to them.

Quoted from moosey_club

In my head ,  squirrelled away, unfortunately for me
... ....I am sure I can recall JF saying £1m ....almost sure he said "of his own money" .
Could be wrong though.
.

Is that part of his 'own money' he's getting back or some other 'own money' he put into the club. 🤔

The clubs a shambles ain't it, I wonder if a league table was published this season based on fan donations to the club would we be top of the league yet still placed 24th?

Anyone know

Quoted from Swansea_Mariner

Is that part of his 'own money' he's getting back or some other 'own money' he put into the club. 🤔

The clubs a shambles ain't it, I wonder if a league table was published this season based on fan donations to the club would we be top of the league yet still placed 24th?

Anyone know

I think we'd definitely be somewhere close to the top of the table

That's what is so galling.... we expend time, emotions, money aplenty and what do we get in return except disdain from on high, well from the Upper

Thankfully his tenure is coming to an end and we will hopefully have new owners who know that if they work WITH the fans and not against them like JSF, there could be / should be no stopping us

UTM ATAW