Cod Almighty | Diary
Tired of singing trouble
8 August 2013
It's not quite right to say the supporters of Grimsby Town Football Club have never been represented in the boardroom until now. Many of the Mariners' directors, over the years, have been fans of the club. But it's different now that Dave Roberts and Jon Wood have joined the board to represent the Mariners Trust. Let's just hope and trust that they'll do us all proud – and help to make a decisive break with the past. After all, you won't need your original/regular Diary to remind you that one other Town fan who has already made a huge impact on the club from a place in the boardroom is Councillor John Shelton Fenty.
Fenty's surprise decision to offer places on the board to two representatives of the trust – when only one was expected to join – appears to signify a genuine commitment to supporters' involvement in the running of the club. Indeed, with the withdrawal from the board of John Elsom (who assumes the presumably honorary title of club president), the directors now comprise trust reps and traditional suits in equal number.
It's all the sadder, then, that the announcement of Dave and Jon joining the board was handled with the ineptitude that has been characteristic of the club for the past decade.
Press embargoes are used where there's some kind of political or personal sensitivity around the content you're disclosing to the media. Or if you're running a PR or marketing campaign and you want to time your coverage in the media to maximise its impact. GTFC called a press conference for 6pm yesterday and apparently then told reporters that its content was embargoed until midnight (or 7am, as some suggest).
If there was any purpose to this, it escapes me. If they wanted the announcement to go out today, they could have called an early morning press conference and briefed journalists privately beforehand. Going by the reaction on social media yesterday evening, the dysfunctional amateurism of the working culture at Blundell Park has alienated supporters again – overshadowing what should have been unambiguously positive and uniting news.
If we can't be optimistic in the run-up to the first match of the season, when can we? But Town's rotten decision-making and communications have also hit the ticket office this week.
As of now – and without, as far as I can see, any proactive official announcement at all – GTFC are applying a 50p surcharge to fans who buy advance tickets by phone. When questioned on Twitter, the club seemed to be at cross-purposes with itself as to the rationale for the charge:
Grimsby Town Football Club were then asked by other fans on Twitter to explain the discrepancy in the logic here – and whether the surcharge would also apply to online sales, where 'admin costs' are surely even less than buying in person at the ticket office. The club's response? There wasn't one. These fans were simply ignored.
Again, this is a shame because fans who buy on the phone (or online) are likely to be those who travel to home games from outside the Grimsby area. These are supporters who already show greater than average commitment to their club – their journey 'back home' to BP taking more time and costing more money than those of locally based supporters. You'd have thought these dedicated fans might be the ones Town would least like to alienate.
But what do I know? Hey, maybe I'll take it up with Dave Roberts and Jon Wood. Town really don't make it easy for us – but let's try and be optimistic. Today there's all the more reason to join the Mariners Trust – so if you're a GTFC fan and you're not already a member, get in now.