Grimsby fans plan to boycott their club and vow not to give anymore cash

The reason why Grimsby Town fans plan to boycott their club has been revealed this week following the departure of Ian Holloway.

He departed the club four days ago, via a statement on social media amid talks of a potential takeover, before the Mariners published their own onto their website.

It came after his side were defeated against Bradford City, making it Grimsby’s 10th defeat of the season.

An overhead kick from Lee Novak put Bradford City in front at Blundell Park before Levi Sutton got a second on the verge of half time.

Harry Clifton hit back for the Mariners, but couldn’t provide his side enough spark to get a comeback.

Grimsby were quickest to settle and went close after 10 minutes when Luke Spokes sliced wide on the volley, while Montel Gibson also headed over.

The Mariners drop a place to 20th while Bradford climb to 18th in the League Two table, a point ahead of Grimsby and seven above the bottom two.

Since then, the club’s fans have been left frustrated at the failure of owner John Fenty to agree on terms with the consortium led by Tom Shutes to take over the club.

Supporters are vowing not to give anymore cash to the club while Fenty remains at the helm. Fans have been paying £10 a game to watch on the IFollow platform this season as they can’t attend games, but now many are no longer willing to pay for online match coverage.

Instead, those who want to watch the game would rather give their money to the opposing team.

In a post, on social media, long term Town fan Black_and_White_Bear said: “I also have watched every match, home and away on iFollow, but from tomorrow I will be watching every game I can on the away streams, ok so they benefit from my cash, but Fenty doesn’t and I get to watch the games. I’m happy with that regardless of what other people may think. #FENTY OUT UTM”.

#GTFC | Tom Shutes, Jason Stockwood and Andrew Pettit have this evening made an offer for the takeover of Grimsby Townhttps://t.co/xQoYr8uUOt

— Grimsby Town News (@grimsbytownlive) December 26, 2020

thefishy.co.uk wrote: “In a messy takeover battle partly played out over Twitter and Facebook, both sides have pointed fingers at one another. Currently, the impasse is that the consortium wants to pay John Fenty the £1.5m sum agreed over three years, but with payments contingent upon the club staying in the Football League.

“Fenty, in turn, claims this gives the new owners an incentive to get relegated and wants the money in front. It’s not known whether talks have progressed beyond this impasse, as both sides may be negotiating away from the public eye. Fenty unilaterally imposed a deadline of 4pm on 24th before his regime started looking for a new manager. Shutes’ consortium earlier had said they were withdrawing from talks because Fenty has refused their offer.

“Supporters refusing to give any money to the club are trying to force John Fenty into relinquishing his control to the best offer on the table. The long-term director has long been a controversial figure, especially in latter years, and hundreds of supporters have vowed never to attend games again while he remains in charge.”

Grim Rob says: It’s in everyone’s interest to sort this issue out for once and for all. John Fenty’s position is untenable and the situation at the moment is akin to civil war. The Tom Shutes consortium, if they are serious about taking over the club, need to renegotiate and find an arrangement which both parties can accept. Failure to do so could relegate the club, or it ends up in administration, and we could end up with no team at all for fans to support.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Ian Holloway (@ian_holloway_official)

IAN HOLLOWAY’S STATEMENT:

“To all the fans, It is with a heavy heart that I am announcing my resignation as manager of Grimsby Town Football Club.

“New wannabe owners are hovering over GTFC and John has told me he is selling his stake in the club. So it’s time for a fresh start across the board for this great club.

“As I said recently, I intend to be fully honest with you, the supporters. Contact was made by the new owners to me on several occasions before the takeover, which I felt was inappropriate, and told them as such. This is the key factor in my decision.

“Why? The relationship between the incoming new owners, board and manager is so so important. It needs to be strong for a club to succeed, and we got off on the wrong footing. Therefore, that relationship will be strained from the off, which is bad for the club.

“This is a club that, if everybody has its best interests at heart, can progress onwards and upwards. That is their challenge. That is their honour. I sincerely wish them all the best going forward and I implore them to communicate regularly and openly with the fans.

“For a myriad of reasons, on and off the pitch, it feels like we didn’t get a fair crack together, and I take me share of the blame too. I hoped for this to be a long, serious relationship but it hasn’t worked out that way, and that saddens me.

“I wish you every bit of success. The fans deserve it. God bless.”

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