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12 December 2017

Your Devon Diary was as surprised as you no doubt were when the PR gurus at Town announced late on Monday that they are delighted to announce the appointment of Adie Merrikin to the role of Grimsby Town supporters' liaison officer.

This is in no way meant to be a criticism of Adie. He's a decent chap and does good work for the Town already as the club's equality, diversity and inclusion officer. No, I was surprised to find that we even needed a new SLO as our current one, Kris Green, was doing such incredible work, which was recognised quite recently by the Football Supporters' Federation (FSF) as Kris was shortlisted for an SLO of the year award.

Kris, you'll remember, helped to defuse a potentially volatile situation at Stevenage last year when she persuaded the club to open more turnstiles to speed up entry to the ground for Town fans. She smoothed the way for Operation Mariachi, making sure it was a party enjoyed by all (as long as they didn't watch the football). This season already she has been indefatigable in persuading police to retract slanders against Town fans at Chesterfield and in getting to the bottom of the Stevenage fan abuse scandal.

The position of supporters' liaison officer, you would have thought, was the one role at the club that everyone could agree was being fulfilled in exemplary fashion.  

Except. You can read the article, of course, but basically the club has moved to make the appointment "following feedback at the recent Fans' Forum". No, me neither. I wasn't at the forum but I've watched it all, through my fingers, and although I found myself shouting: "You bunch of smug, arrogant arseholes" at several moments, never was this directed at our SLO.

The same forum feedback also made the club act quickly, apparently. Acting quickly can be a good thing, I guess. But acting so quickly that you don't advertise the role, nor inform the person already fulfilling it? Nah, I'm sorry, that's inexcusable.

Maybe club officials realise that that they are acting in an ever-so-slightly dodgy way as they try to fob us off by saying that Kris is in fact the "Mariners Trust' Supporters Liaison Officer."

Here's a suggestion, Town. If you're going to name others then at least clear it with them first! The Mariners Trust didn't realise that Kris was the trust SLO; in fact, the trust doesn't have a SLO role. We understand that both Kris and the trust first heard about this when they read the club's article.

Yes Kris has said (and whether her arm was being twisted behind her when she said it we don't know) that she is looking forward to working with Adie. We hope they will be able to form an effective partnership, but surely there would have been more chance of that if Kris had been consulted beforehand.

Also clearly confused by this are the FSF and Football League, who both list Kris as the club's SLO. Maybe they got that from this article – published by, er, Town. Yep, that's right. Kris Green has been the club's SLO, not the trust's, since July 2016.

Nor does the club's contacts web page t suggest she's been working in a Mariners Trust role.

 

Who might sort this problem with communications? Well, "Adie has specifically been asked to liaise with the Mariners Trust and improve communication between our supporters and the club." You're going to be busy, mate.

Kris was the club's SLO. We knew that. The trust knew that. The club and pretty much every agency which works with the club on matchdays knew that. Our League Two peers knew that, as did many other clubs we've met over the last 18 months, not to mention the various supporters' groups at which Kris has represented the club. Everyone knew about Kris's work for the club – because as well as carrying it out so well, she made sure to tell us all what she was doing!

What about the appointment itself? I'll repeat that this is in no way a critcicism of Adie Merrikin, but how was the appointment made? I can't find any mention of the club advertising the role; and as I understand it, Kris didn't know it was happening either. But surely any reasonable employer would have told the current postholder what they were doing?

Did the club ever properly document the responsibilities in the form of a contract? We don't know, but after 18 months of performing the role as decribed by the FSF and Football League, and performing it well, one could argue that the club has acted in a really quite shoddy way by not even offering Kris Green the opportunity to apply for the role. Her role.

What does all of this mean? Why would the club seemingly sideline one of the few people who present it in a good light? I wouldn't want to speculate, but you are more than welcome to post your comments, or email us. Don't hold back. The club clearly doesn't give a shit what you think anyway.

The older, more cynical among you will remember Sir John McDermott, Mighty Mariner and many others being shafted by the club and shrug, but isn't it about time this sort of shitty behaviour stopped? Do you remember at the fans' forum when Matt Dean was pilloried by a member of the Town board for upsetting Slades by suggesting that another coach might be employed by Town? I'd argue that this is far, far worse. 

In other news the stiffs' game is off because of the snow or something. Elsewhere, the trust has agreed to keep running the bars for the club.

Meh. Up the Mariners, I suppose.