Managerial Merry-Go-Round 2020/21

[Indian Dan]

Fucking nutcase, him. You don’t want him rocking up at your place.

 

[Luke Imp]

If what Fenty is saying in his statement is correct, then you can hardly blame him. They're asking him to gamble £1.5m on Grimsby staying up and repayment (£500k/annum) for the next three years is only if they're in L2 or above in the season that a repayment is due.

How many shares does he own? Didn't he get given some years ago when there was some difference about power in the Boardroom amongst the Trust?

 

[PaulHaddock]

If what Fenty is saying in his statement is correct, then you can hardly blame him. They're asking him to gamble £1.5m on Grimsby staying up and repayment (£500k/annum) for the next three years is only if they're in L2 or above in the season that a repayment is due.

How many shares does he own? Didn't he get given some years ago when there was some difference about power in the Boardroom amongst the Trust?

He’s essentially asking for £2.5million in cash by 4pm. What his statement fails to mention is that is going down this season would be down to him and the current board strangling the life out of the club.
He owns 975k in shares and the remaining £1.5million is what we ‘owe’ him - that is the ‘benign loan’ that would never harm the club. Around 200k of all this money he wants is money in shares that he forced the trust to sell to him or else he would sell Liam Hearn (or similar, can’t remember the exact history). The man is a parasite.

 

[Son of Cod]

He’s essentially asking for £2.5million in cash by 4pm. What his statement fails to mention is that is going down this season would be down to him and the current board strangling the life out of the club.
He owns 975k in shares and the remaining £1.5million is what we ‘owe’ him - that is the ‘benign loan’ that would never harm the club. Around 200k of all this money he wants is money in shares that he forced the trust to sell to him or else he would sell Liam Hearn (or similar, can’t remember the exact history). The man is a parasite.

I'll write more later when I've got a bit of time but his statement is a fucking joke.

"With only 19 games played this season, and a transfer window left, I am being asked not only to continue funding the club for someone else, but also to take a risk that if the new regime takes the club down, then my loans would be written off."

Contine funding the club? He hasn't funded the club for almost 5 years.

 

[Son of Cod]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1341684699173928960

Other than the bit about showing you up on the pitch, he's bang on though. Absolutely hilarious that Bradford fans still think their club were the ones acting correctly here.

 

[pontoonlew]

If what Fenty is saying in his statement is correct, then you can hardly blame him. They're asking him to gamble £1.5m on Grimsby staying up and repayment (£500k/annum) for the next three years is only if they're in L2 or above in the season that a repayment is due.

How many shares does he own? Didn't he get given some years ago when there was some difference about power in the Boardroom amongst the Trust?

It’s not reasonable given the fact the loans were to pay for his own terrible errors. On top of that if we went out of the FL it’d be his fault given how he and his board totally failed to prepare for playing football this season.

I believe 200k in shares were gifted to him when he threatened to sell Liam Hearn if the trust didn’t do it.

If he doesn’t leave today we’ll go down and probably never come back up, that’s how dire this situation is. Fans are boycotting now, in huge numbers and won’t return until he’s gone.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

It’s not reasonable given the fact the loans were to pay for his own terrible errors. On top of that if we went out of the FL it’d be his fault given how he and his board totally failed to prepare for playing football this season.

I believe 200k in shares were gifted to him when he threatened to sell Liam Hearn if the trust didn’t do it.

If he doesn’t leave today we’ll go down and probably never come back up, that’s how dire this situation is. Fans are boycotting now, in huge numbers and won’t return until he’s gone.

I really hope you do not go down to the NL. You always bring a fair few noisy supporters down here. I have a lot of respect for Grimsby fans.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Cod Almighty - the Grimsby Town fanzine

Worth a read this is.

 

[immariner]

If what Fenty is saying in his statement is correct, then you can hardly blame him. They're asking him to gamble £1.5m on Grimsby staying up and repayment (£500k/annum) for the next three years is only if they're in L2 or above in the season that a repayment is due.

How many shares does he own? Didn't he get given some years ago when there was some difference about power in the Boardroom amongst the Trust?

Fenty can and absolutely should be blamed. I've written a lot on this elsewhere but I believe GollyGTFC (who I think also posts on here, or did) summarised it almost perfectly on the Fishy:

Fenty's "benign" directors loan

All the latest posts from the Fishy forum topic: Fenty's "benign" directors loan

forum.thefishy.co.uk

Firstly here's a dictionary definition of benign...

benign
adjective
UK /bɪˈnaɪn/ US /bɪˈnaɪn/
benign adjective (PERSON)

pleasant and kind

I'll let each individual decide for themselves if they think Fenty's loans in the club are currently pleasant and kind in regards to stopping the club from being taken over by a progressive consortium of highly successful individuals. Anyway...

John Fenty has been a director continuously since 18th July 2001. Here's a run down of Director's loan at the end of each GTFC financial year (May 31st) since 2004 when Fenty became Chairman...

2004 - £350,000
2005 - £0
2006 - £400,000
2007 - £865,000
2008 - £1,127,500
2009 - £1,790,000
2010 - £2,391,800
2011 - £2,235,700
2012 - £1,984,700
2013 - £1,984,700
2014 - £2,059,700
2015 - £2,244,550
2016 - £2,209,700
2017 - £2,000,000
2018 - £1,800,000
2019 - £1,550,000
2020 - £1,550,000

Fenty argues that club was in a financial mess when he became Chairman in 2004. A look at the club accounts show significant debt as follows...

Bank overdraft - £642,291
Taxation creditor - £768,631
Directors loan - £350,000
TOTAL - £1,760,922

I am not saying this isn't significant, but it is worth noting that this was a time before the HMRC adopted their current policy with football clubs. i.e. Payment on time and in full or they issue court action. And it was also before points deductions were introduced for clubs going into administration. My point is that there was an opportunity at the end of the 2003/04 season to put the club into administration. Fenty chose to plough ahead.

Fast forward 2 years and the club's financial position was better. Slade had done a good job as manager and a good League Cup run (including 2 live Sky Sports matches) and reaching the play-off Final had improved the club's finances by around half a million...

Bank overdraft - £602,565
Taxation creditor - £263,995
Directors loan - £400,000
TOTAL - £1,266,560

But then it all started to fall apart.

2006/07 we posted a loss of £857,513. Including a £573,796 write off on the failed relocation to the site near Great Coates.
2007/08 we made a profit of £114,603 mainly thanks to a Wembley appearance in the JPT Final.
2008/09 we posted a loss of £639,202
2009/10 we posted a loss of £40,264 despite receiving over half a million in player sales (mainly Ryan Bennett).

Add those 4 seasons of mismanagement together and what do you get a combined loss of £1,422,376. And that was on Fenty's watch. His decisions. He sanctioned overspending and a total failure to get good value for money from players and staff.

This is the debt that hangs around the club today. It's not because of ITV digital or an (alleged) inherited Tax debt. It was the club being run poorly by him.

Today his Directors loan stands at £1,550,000. What does he deserve back?

If we are generous we could say we forgive him the Great Coates write-off. But that still leaves a combined loss of £848,580 over his years of mismanagement from 2006-10. I don't think he can expect that money back.

And then there's the £200,000 of Mariners Trust shares that he received for free. Either he gives them back or he writes off £200,000 from his directors loan.

So in my opinion Fenty should be repaid £1,550,000 minus £848,500 (losses he sanctioned) minus £200,000 (shares from Trust). So I think it would be reasonably to repay him £501,500. But how should he receive this money?

I think this would be fair until the debt is repaid...

£10,000 per season if GTFC is in the National League or lower
£50,000 per season in League 2
£100,000 per season in League 1
Full repayment of balance if club get into Championship.

Fenty constantly brings up former directors demanding their loans back in full as a stick to beat those former with directors with. Yet he is not only doing the same, but his loans are considerably higher and we are at a time of great uncertainty because of COVID.

Lincoln's new training ground cost them £1.3m. If Fenty accepts that he isn't entitled to the £1m or so that I highlighted above we could in effect pay for a new, fit for purpose, training ground to be built. That could be his legacy. Become a life president with free access to home matches and the new owners using the money he forgoes to build something which could be seen as a legacy to his efforts over the past 16 years and more.

While I think most Town fans are sick to death of Fenty, I don't think anyone doubts he tried his best and always had the club's interests at heart even when he cocked up. I guess it comes down to whether Fenty wants his legacy to be him being chased out of the club after the May debacle, or doing something to help the club thrive in the future.

The ball is in his court.

 

[Luke Imp]

It’s not reasonable given the fact the loans were to pay for his own terrible errors. On top of that if we went out of the FL it’d be his fault given how he and his board totally failed to prepare for playing football this season.

I believe 200k in shares were gifted to him when he threatened to sell Liam Hearn if the trust didn’t do it.

If he doesn’t leave today we’ll go down and probably never come back up, that’s how dire this situation is. Fans are boycotting now, in huge numbers and won’t return until he’s gone.

All he's done is put the ball back in their court and realistically he'll want meeting half way and get his money back via guaranteed payments. He'll not actually be expecting them to agree a one-off £2.5m by tonight, he's playing the game. Regardless of his performance as an owner/Chairman, he'll not risk or be willing to write-off £1.5m. This is the first time I've heard him put a price on what he'd walk away for.

I don't think it's particularly healthy, as you lot will know anyway, when there are three parties (Fenty, Shutes, Holloway) all trying make the others look the worst.

Obviously the argument from the fans is that he's made the mess and had to put the money in, whereas he'll be saying if he didn't put the money in you'd probably not have a Club (and I'm assuming he'll admit to making mistakes).

They'll be a compromise somewhere if both sides really want to make it happen.

 

[Limerick Mariner]

All he's done is put the ball back in their court and realistically he'll want meeting half way and get his money back via guaranteed payments. He'll not actually be expecting them to agree a one-off £2.5m by tonight, he's playing the game. Regardless of his performance as an owner/Chairman, he'll not risk or be willing to write-off £1.5m. This is the first time I've heard him put a price on what he'd walk away for.

I don't think it's particularly healthy, as you lot will know anyway, when there are three parties (Fenty, Shutes, Holloway) all trying make the others look the worst.

Obviously the argument from the fans is that he's made the mess and had to put the money in, whereas he'll be saying if he didn't put the money in you'd probably not have a Club (and I'm assuming he'll admit to making mistakes).

They'll be a compromise somewhere if both sides really want to make it happen.

Regardless of whether its debt or equity the club is patently not worth £2.5 million and this is the problem. Fenty fed Holloway the line for his resignation statement that he was "selling his shares", he then says via his puppet Chairman that the consortium had agreed to buy the shares at par because that is what price they had been selling for (to fans - £100k of them, to help the club through COVID). That is not the market value of the shares if the debt to Fenty requires a guaranteed repayment. In fact, the deal was never agreed because Fenty hadn't agreed to the consortium terms for the debt he just didn't tell Holloway about that for his statement. Fenty has tried to make the consortium look like the bad guys, pushing Holloway to resign.

If Fenty really is up for selling there will be a compromise via some kind of structured deal, underwritten by a guarantee at a certain level, but no way is the club worth £2.5 million of hard cash - Blundell Park must be a cash black hole (the away end is just a black hole.) parts of it are 120 years old (oldest in country) - new fire regs - Grenfall etc...

 

[GTFCfish]

 

[hellogregory]

Chris Beech has signed a new contract at Carlisle.

Very well deserved.

 

[shoddycollins]

Chris Beech has signed a new contract at Carlisle.

Very well deserved.

Merry Christmas one and all.

Hopefully getting Rhys Bennett signed up is just a formality, him and Beech seem pretty close so I presume so long as we put together an acceptable package, he'll sign.

 

[Kauto Star]

Mark Trueman and and Conor Sellars promoted to interim manager and assistant after guiding Bradford City to 10 points from 4 games since McCall was sacked.

Good news, it also means we can forget the possible underwhelming appointment of bookies favourite Paul Hurst for the job.

Grimsby fans, Mr Hurst is all yours now

 

[LS Bantam]

Despite their unbelievable early success I can’t escape their lack of coaching and or career at the top end of the game. I like the idea of giving them time to prove themselves further as at this rate they’re working wonders. For me Hurst’s CV is still the stand out one of the realistic candidates.

 

[Indian Dan]

I reckon steer clear of the roundabout managers. We’ve got the ultimate lower league journeyman manager.

It ain’t much fun!

 

[masi51]

Despite their unbelievable early success I can’t escape their lack of coaching and or career at the top end of the game. I like the idea of giving them time to prove themselves further as at this rate they’re working wonders. For me Hurst’s CV is still the stand out one of the realistic candidates.

Just dont understand that appointment

 

[shoddycollins]

I reckon steer clear of the roundabout managers. We’ve got the ultimate lower league journeyman manager.

It ain’t much fun!

It was quite fun for us when Sheridan was in charge, in spite of his bubbly personality. Until his head was turned by the allure of a national league relegation battle.

 

[shoddycollins]

Just dont understand that appointment

To be fair, five of the top eight have managers on their first managerial appointment so I can see the attraction.

 

[Chris FGR]

I reckon steer clear of the roundabout managers. We’ve got the ultimate lower league journeyman manager.

It ain’t much fun!

Roundabout managers are usually the best bet imo, they wouldn't keep getting jobs if they weren't any good. Look at Sam Allardyce and Neil Warnock for example, pretty much guaranteed success if you appoint one of them. Would much rather have someone like that then a young unproven coach.

 

[shoddycollins]

Roundabout managers are usually the best bet imo, they wouldn't keep getting jobs if they weren't any good. Look at Sam Allardyce and Neil Warnock for example, pretty much guaranteed success if you appoint one of them. Would much rather have someone like that then a young unproven coach.

Depends on why they keep losing said jobs. It could just be a case of kicking the can down the road, appointing someone who'll keep you up this season but won't progress you.

 

[BlackHaddock]

 

[Chris FGR]

Twice?

So i take it a few Grimsby fans aren't particularly happy with how Fenty's doing atm, and would prefer a change of ownership at some point during the next decade if at all possible?

 

[BlackHaddock]

Twice?

So i take it a few Grimsby fans aren't particularly happy with the job Fenty's doing atm then?

Yip, Photoshopped twice, that's how bad it is!

 

[Chris FGR]

Careful what you wish for, the next lot might be worse....

 

[Indian Dan]

Roundabout managers are usually the best bet imo, they wouldn't keep getting jobs if they weren't any good. Look at Sam Allardyce and Neil Warnock for example, pretty much guaranteed success if you appoint one of them. Would much rather have someone like that then a young unproven coach.

Can’t agree with that. Any time we’ve done we’ll its been with a rookie - Lou Macari, Ossie Ardiles, Glenn Hoddle. You can also throw in the detestable Steve McMahon. Wellens was pretty much a novice, too.

 

[Kauto Star]

To be fair, five of the top eight have managers on their first managerial appointment so I can see the attraction.

Were there any rumours up there about Bradford City targeting Chris Beech before he signed his new contract? Word down here is that we have been targeting current managers and the names of Michael Flynn, Chris Beech and Derek Adams were the ones that were bandied about

 

[shoddycollins]

Were there any rumours up there about Bradford City targeting Chris Beech before he signed his new contract? Word down here is that we have been targeting current managers and the names of Michael Flynn, Chris Beech and Derek Adams were the ones that were bandied about

Nah no rumours that anyone was looking at him though with a number of managerial departures this season I'd imagine he's been looked at.

 

[masi51]

Can’t agree with that. Any time we’ve done we’ll its been with a rookie - Lou Macari, Ossie Ardiles, Glenn Hoddle. You can also throw in the detestable Steve McMahon. Wellens was pretty much a novice, too.

three who have played in the world cup finals and one who played for his country ....Rookies lol