New Direction?

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"yes kids.............I AM THE MESSIAH"

Quoted from promotion plaice

Good article by Cod Almighty...

http://www.codalmighty.com/site/ca.php?article=7832

This is a very good article and sums up towns' plight with regard to ITV Digital, blamed by Fenty for the start of towns downward spiral. However, Town would have not been the only club caught up in this.

This quote from wiki claims 14 clubs, some unnamed, had problems:-

" ITV Digital's collapse had a large effect on many football clubs. Bradford City F.C. was one of the affected, and its debt forced it into administration in May 2002.[60][61]

Barnsley F.C. also entered administration in October 2002, despite the club making a profit for the twelve years prior to the collapse of ITV Digital.[62][63] Barnsley had budgeted on the basis that the money from the ITV Digital deal would be received, leaving a £2.5 million shortfall in their accounts when the broadcaster collapsed.[63]

Clubs were forced to slash staff, and some players were forced to be sold as they were unable to pay them. Some clubs increased ticket prices for fans to offset the losses.[64]

The rights to show Football League matches were resold to Sky Sports for £95 million for the next four years compared to £315 million over three years from ITV Digital, leading to a reduction from £2 million per season to £700,000 in broadcasting revenue for First Division clubs."


None of them fell from the grace of the EFL like Town did under Fenty into the NL. He managed the balance sheet and mismanaged everything else at the club.

A new era is dawning, let's hope that Stockwood and Pettit can restore Town to its former glories.

Quoted from pen penfras

My comments are based on reality, not some phantom ideology that people turn up because of a community image. None of those clubs poojah mentioned had fans turn up before success, except AFC Wimbledon which was a different situation entirely, and comparing them as being smaller historically is living in a past that has completely changed, and would have done regardless of who was in charge because they are all from areas with greater populations that have been turning towards football.

I completely agree that we need investment and new thinking and it is a start and will in the short term create excitement and bums on seats. But not a single bit of that will matter if we don't get results. And to think it's as simple as a little investment will lead to success is hugely underestimating the situation. If it was that simple, then every club would do it. Every single club out there is trying to improve one way or another and not everybody can get it right. We have to hope that

And there you go again. Completely missing the point.

I did not say results don’t count. And neither did any one else. Let me repeat this in simple terms.

When people are treated with respect and their needs and wishes are taken into consideration, they are more likely to keep going to the games even when results are poor. A closer identification with the club will help.

It might not put huge numbers on the gate, but even 5% will make a big difference on the budget. I’m sure you can appreciate that 5% extra for little outlay means a big difference in profit.

I don’t think anyone is silly enough to ignore the fact that results naturally impact attendance and success on the pitch is something every fan wants.

As a club we’ve existed, simple as that, and the rhetoric from within the club has promoted that as a success, a lot of fans have swallowed the nonsense and some still seem to listen to Fenty. It’s clear he isn’t the saviour and the continued blooming of everything but himself/themselves is tiresome and pathetic.

Moving forward it isn’t just about results, investment isn’t always about cash either. The fans of this club have dipped their hands in their pockets numerous times, they’ve supported the club through some horrific times and in reality, the non non chairman has gotten away with murder in comparison to other clubs. However, he, being the arrogant girl private that he is has failed to realise that, instead choosing to present a woe is me type attitude. He’s belittled and alienated fans. He belittled a previous manager, one of only a few that’s had success with this club.

I’d like a club that doesn’t exploit its fan base; one that invests genuinely in the community and one that promotes a positive culture. Not the flipping archaic Sunday league nonsense we have now.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

And there you go again. Completely missing the point.

I did not say results don’t count. And neither did any one else. Let me repeat this in simple terms.

When people are treated with respect and their needs and wishes are taken into consideration, they are more likely to keep going to the games even when results are poor. A closer identification with the club will help.

It might not put huge numbers on the gate, but even 5% will make a big difference on the budget. I’m sure you can appreciate that 5% extra for little outlay means a big difference in profit.

I think almost everybody is completely missing my point and saying I'm trying to defend Fenty, I'm not talking one single bit about him, just the future and how it will go. I'm actually saying the exact same thing as a lot of you, that a change in image and investment in facilities WILL make a big difference. Initially. Success has to follow, or else we will be back where we are now, or at least last season. I'm well aware that since December the outlook has changed and there's no going back for Fenty. I'm also well aware that there hasn't been enough investment in the club since the 80's, long before Fenty was on the scene.

There are lots of clubs that have had a boost from things that are being talked about, but when results turned, so did the fans. One of the prime examples I can think of is Middlesbrough, they used to chant the chairman's name at almost every game for what he did for them. But when improvement stagnated, attendances slightly dropped and when they regressed they dropped by 50% of the peak and only go up when they're winning.

I believe when ITV digital went belly up Crewe and Grimsby were the worst affected, losing just over 60% of their income. One of them came out of it reasonably

Quoted from buckstown

I believe when ITV digital went belly up Crewe and Grimsby were the worst affected, losing just over 60% of their income. One of them came out of it reasonably

Crewe were in the middle of a purple patch in terms of selling products of their youth team; players like Dele Adebola, Danny Murphy, Seth Johnson, Rob Hulse and Dean Ashton - the best part of £10m in transfer fees right there over 7 or 8 years. Of course, the fact they were able to produce those players was no fluke, though for obvious and very dark reasons the Crewe academy is no longer revered like it once was.

It's not unfair to suggest that Town were the hardest hit by the ITV Digital collapse, and you can credit it as a major contributing factor in out double relegation from the second to the fourth tier. That said, any business is at risk when it is too reliant on a single income stream, no matter how safe it seems - our failure to produce any saleable talent at the time since 1997 exacerbated the impact.

As I've said many times before, John Fenty's loans did get us out of a hole, and it should be possible to isolate that act from his subsequent actions and give him due credit for it. We can have the debate as to whether we should have gone into admin, however I don't think that was as straightforward as it sounds since out major creditor was HMRC.

However, no way can ITV Digital be held culpable for what has happened over the course of the past decade or so - it's relevance doesn't stretch that far. In 2005/6 we had a relatively successful season as one of the better teams in League Two with a squad full of talented players for that level. We've failed to get anywhere near that level since, not because of ITV Digital but because of gross mismanagement throughout the entire club.

It's a football club, and of course we all want to see the team doing well, winning games.

But I do also want the club to be something that I am proud of. I want to wear my scarf as a badge of honor, with real pride.

In recent years the club has been in a vicious circle of decay, mismanagement, lack of ambition, and failure. This last year we have been a laughing stock due to incompetence and just when we though it could not get any worse, disgraced by the stain of possible corruption.

I remember when being a Grimsby fan allowed you to walk with a spring in your step. Under Buckley we had a reputation for playing football the right way, and were widely respected as a well run club. We punched above our weight not by cheating, conning refs, playing the long ball game, or kicking opponents off the park, but by playing an attractive passing game. Proper football. So we could be proud even when we lost.

It was easy to love the club then. Recently it has become something to be ashamed of.

But change is coming. I believe the whole ethos and outlook will improve and we will once again be proud of our club. Our club. Because whoever owns it from time to time, it is always our club.


        

I'm not offering ITV digital as a defence for Fenty, quite the opposite in fact. A well managed club could have been reasonably successful after a period of resetting the finances. Crewe are the example having started from the same financial impact

Direction?

Their words said Championship in 5 years. Their actions equal non league...again.

It doesn't just happen because you say it, or you think it, or you would like it to be. The words have to be backed with action. They never are.

We can only hope that the new owners don't promise us outlandish progress, but that what they do offer, they actually strive to achieve. That'll do for me.