Grimsby Takeover

[pontoonlew]

After a mental couple of weeks, it’s just been announced that a deal has been struck for a takeover.

Tom Shutes, Jason Stockwood and Alan Petits will assume control. A group of men with fantastic backgrounds and seemingly large amounts of money.

A huge moment in our history and finally rid of John Fenty

 

[BlackHaddock]

Three points this evening would be a nice change too!

Really pleased the deal has been reached, John Fenty is/was not the savour some believed him to be; these new guys seem to be 'top notch', only time will tell.

 

[Luke Imp]

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.

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

A very predictable outcome, as above.

The wage cap doesn't mean they can come in and spend on the pitch because Grimsby should comfortably be able to sustain a £1.5m playing budget anyway so it'll be the off the pitch stuff that will be the difference.

I'm assuming Hurst is interested in the job - he might finally get his fitness coach!

 

[BlackHaddock]

A very predictable outcome, as above.

The wage cap doesn't mean they can come in and spend on the pitch because Grimsby should comfortably be able to sustain a £1.5m playing budget anyway so it'll be the off the pitch stuff that will be the difference.

I'm assuming Hurst is interested in the job - he might finally get his fitness coach!

Hurst's name has been mentioned a few times on various platforms, no idea if any of it is true though. Be an interesting end to the season no matter who is in charge of the team, the next window opens and closes very soon, doubt we'll see any new manager before that's over. Or squad is poor and needs some new blood.

 

[PaulHaddock]

I’m not celebrating until it is fully confirmed - too many false dawns over the last few years. Should this come to fruition though, this is monumental for us. No longer will we be under the stranglehold of one man and his cronies. Obviously the playing budget won’t matter too much as Luke says but we now might finally be allowed a proper backroom staff, improved training facilities and maybe even the slight possibility of a new stadium. Above it all, it’s new hope for many fans, some who have stayed away for years because of the dictatorship of Fenty.

Next steps - not sure Hurst is the perfect fit but we might avoid relegation with him and we might gain some semblance of a balanced, steady team, something that we’ve lacked in nearly 5 seasons.

 

[Guernica]

Congrats, time to kick on.

 

[pontoonlew]

I’d take Hurst now, although wouldn’t be surprised to see if Shutes & co had someone else lined up. There had been rumours that man was actually Hurst but time will tell

 

[GTFCfish]

Fantastic news. Bye bye Fenty you twat.

 

[Chris FGR]

Congrats Mariners. That boycott didn't last long then....

Expect you to be big fish now instead of floundering. I'll get my coat.

 

[shoddycollins]

Couple of questions:

Where does Holloway fit in to all this? Quitting because of something to do with the ownership just a week before a change of ownership.

If the main problem this season was Fenty's insistence that the sensible thing to do was spend nothing, are Grimsby now able to 'go for it'™ this season, or is survival still the main aim?

 

[shoddycollins]

Congrats Fish. That boycott didn't last long then....

It didn't have to... the mere suggestion that GTFCfish was going to boycott was enough to chase Fenty out the door.

 

[BlackHaddock]

Couple of questions:

Where does Holloway fit in to all this? Quitting because of something to do with the ownership just a week before a change of ownership.

If the main problem this season was Fenty's insistence that the sensible thing to do was spend nothing, are Grimsby now able to 'go for it'™ this season, or is survival still the main aim?

Holloway just ran away, he and Fenty conned us.

Survival and no relegation is the best we can hope for this season, unless a new manager comes in straight away and gets some better players in next week.

 

[GTFCfish]

It didn't have to... the mere suggestion that GTFCfish was going to boycott was enough to chase Fenty out the door.

Too right I’m a big celebrity round these parts.

 

[GTFCfish]

Apparently Paul Hurst is at Blundell Park and he’s been there all day.
I know not all fans are that keen but in our current situation I’d happily take him.

 

[pontoonlew]

Couple of questions:

Where does Holloway fit in to all this? Quitting because of something to do with the ownership just a week before a change of ownership.

If the main problem this season was Fenty's insistence that the sensible thing to do was spend nothing, are Grimsby now able to 'go for it'™ this season, or is survival still the main aim?

I think the big difference is how we’re run, Stockwood especially is a ridiculously impressive bloke when you hear his views on the world/business.

In the past we’ve lost good players and let down decent managers through god awful management of the club. Fenty offered Amond a £50 pay rise after scoring 30 goals and refused to give any manager a fitness coach because ‘fitness coaches don’t win football matches’.

We’ll probably not spend much more on players, but we probably won’t have a portacabin as our managers office and we might finally get our new ground.

It’s worked well for Lincoln and I see many similarities between their owners and our own. We’ve got a fantastic fan base who will do anything for the club, we’ve just never had a chairman who was on our page.

 

[Kauto Star]

Well done for getting rid of an hated owner. Your fans deserve much better. I hope Hurst keeps you up, as long as not at our expense!. Always good to see your fans rack up in good numbers at VP

 

[Bottega Don]

Hurst pretty much confirmed at Grimsby then, that's another loss when we play them then

 

[BlackHaddock]

I'll take Paul Hurst again, plus the point we won tonight means if the league was to be stopped before any more games are played means we'd be safe (just), if they use the same system to award points for the remaining games.

 

[chipmunx]

I'll take Paul Hurst again, plus the point we won tonight means if the league was to be stopped before any more games are played means we'd be safe (just), if they use the same system to award points for the remaining games.

whilst we'd be safe too (at present) i'm pretty sure that won't be used with less than 70% of games played - and we're not even at 50% yet.....

 

[BlackHaddock]

whilst we'd be safe too (at present) i'm pretty sure that won't be used with less than 70% of games played - and we're not even at 50% yet.....

The Government may decide today that footie should stop. I can see a break of a month at least being announced.

 

[chipmunx]

The Government may decide today that footie should stop. I can see a break of a month at least being announced.

I think they are unlikely to do so for the Premier League and Championship - but who knows below that? L1 seams to be a basket case with games being off - but there have been very few in L2. They want to keep peoples minds occupied and football does that.

 

[immariner]

I haven't allowed myself to accept it's happening yet, not going to until it officially does. I also couldn't see them chucking money at it, even were there no budget constraints; Shutes, in particular, is not that kind of person and my take of it is that he is purely in this because he sees GTFC relocating as central to the redevelopment plans he and others have for Grimsby, as part of the Town deal Government announces landmark Town Deal for Greater Grimsby

He'll see taking over GTFC as key for co-ordinating the focus towards a new stadium on the docks. Stockwood and Pettit, both big GTFC supporters by all accounts are probably in it with a bit more hope of footballing glories.

 

[Railway Blue]

After a mental couple of weeks, it’s just been announced that a deal has been struck for a takeover.

Tom Shutes, Jason Stockwood and Alan Petits will assume control. A group of men with fantastic backgrounds and seemingly large amounts of money.

A huge moment in our history and finally rid of John Fenty

Pleased for you ~~~ really miss my drives over to Cleethorpes.

May never happen again sadly.

 

[BlackHaddock]

Pleased for you ~~~ really miss my drives over to Cleethorpes.

May never happen again sadly.

You won at Telford the other day, don't be too down. I miss drinking in Chester, but can't stand your ground!

 

[BlackHaddock]

We are currently 22nd, but only 11 points from the Play-Offs. Anything can happen for every team, not even half way through the season yet, the league is very concerntina-ed.

 

[Railway Blue]

You won at Telford the other day, don't be too down. I miss drinking in Chester, but can't stand your ground!

It is a truly awful ground.

Morrison Shand (scum) spent as little as they possibly could on it's construction.

 

[codaplenty]

Too right I’m a big celebrity round these parts.

Well pleased for you GTFCfish, hope it works out as you and all mariners would wish. We need you in league 1 to create a ' local derby of former great fishing ports '. Nathan Pond is on record as saying he had a great time with you lads
Happy New Year mate and all the best for 2021

 

[GTFCfish]

Well pleased for you GTFCfish, hope it works out as you and all mariners would wish. We need you in league 1 to create a ' local derby of former great fishing ports '. Nathan Pond is on record as saying he had a great time with you lads
Happy New Year mate and all the best for 2021

Cheers and to you mate.

 

[masi51]

Well pleased for you GTFCfish, hope it works out as you and all mariners would wish. We need you in league 1 to create a ' local derby of former great fishing ports '. Nathan Pond is on record as saying he had a great time with you lads
Happy New Year mate and all the best for 2021

Nathan Pond with two fishing towns.......you could not make it up

 

[Gladders]

A very predictable outcome, as above.

The wage cap doesn't mean they can come in and spend on the pitch because Grimsby should comfortably be able to sustain a £1.5m playing budget anyway so it'll be the off the pitch stuff that will be the difference.

I'm assuming Hurst is interested in the job - he might finally get his fitness coach!

Someone posted a concise post on budget cap and our squad on the fishy last week. It's only over 21's that are including in the cap. We currently have 18 players over 21 and 10 of them were signed before the cap so will be league average (Currently 1.5m/22 (next season 20) for 52 weeks = £1311 a week, and several of those 10 wouldn't be on that much anyhow). The other 8 were signed after the cap (two of them loans) and let's estimate to be 1k a week average. The other 11 are under 21 (2 of them loans)

So with the 8 signed after say around £440k ish and take the league average for all 10 £670k ish, looking at 1.1m for the year.
So we still have a good 400k before the budget cap and another 4 players over 21 that can be signed.

Hurst said in an interview yesterday he can sign another 4 players over 21 before looking to offload, and we have a squad that is far too big for what he wants so am sure more will leave.

Either way he has some funds for Jan before meeting the cap, based on the above.

As for Fenty himself. Defended him when we non-league for sticking with us and not sending us bust, however since returning to the FL, he has shown that he is not fit to run a football club, with this season showing how much he is out of his depth and the Alex May debacle being the final straw.

So much penny pinching, lack of investment in infrastructure and the background such as coaching etc. Covid clauses, players taking pay cuts, no pre-season etc. We have never been above 14th in lge 2 in the last 15 years which is an amazing stat even with numerous managers and players. Only thing that has remained the same is Fenty.

This season is now all about survival which with over half of it to go, I have full confidence in Hurst to turn it around, he is a top manager and his ex players speak highly of him and the dressing room moral he creates.

After that hopefully the new owners can start to turn us back into a professional outfit, from the training ground, to the backroom staff, to the stadium and perhaps even a new stadium!