Alec King Resigns!

By: Bill Osborne
Date: 26/07/2002

ALEX King resigned from the Board of Grimsby Town Football Club today in a letter to Chief Executive Ian Fleming. Alec has been a friend and supporter of Dudley Ramsden but says his decision is not because of the recent board disagreement.

Dear Ian,

It is with sadness I have to ask you to accept my resignation from the Board.

This is an action I have been considering for some time, as I am conscious of the fact that my continued commitments and residence in the Durham Dales has resulted in my non-attendance at Board meetings and my input being conducted through long distance and international communications.

My decision to join the Board was simply because I thought that sixteen years of experience at Sunderland Football Club and Newcastle United Football Club would benefit the Club's ambitious plans to move to a new stadium.

My involvement in detailed planning and marketing strategies for the Stadium of Light and the new St. James' Park could have been of some assistance.

Recent developments have led me to think that the new stadium is unfortunately a pipe dream and all of the work and dreams of the superb management and staff at the Club, as well as the Board, will not be fulfilled.

I must admit that I was carried away with the potential of a new site and the opportunities it would offer to extend the Club's role in the community, with 365 days usage, fantastic facilities for school rooms, function suites, seminars, young people, the socially excluded and the elderly. In addition to this it would have created the comfort and facilities demanded by fans.

I do realise that the key to a successful Club is the football team. But I am also a realist and have to be honest in expressing my view, which is that at the present time the paramount issue is to ensure that the Grimsby and Cleethorpes area have a Club that survives, which is the Boards' responsibility as custodians at this time.

I have not discussed this course of action or this week's developments with Dudley Ramsden but I am not going to hide the fact that I support him in his decision to stop the Club from spending money they just do not have.

How on earth is it proper to slash a top Manager's salary with no negotiations and no arbitration by 10%, in order to save money.

How is it morally correct to reduce an office worker's salary, someone who is earning less than £10,000 a year, by £40 per month, and then insist that the Manager brings in three more players on salaries which could exceed £100,000 per year.

This could not be right and although the Club's present position is completely due to the disgraceful behaviour of ITV Digital, the facts are that Grimsby Town is one of the worst effected by a reduction of £2.7 million, simply because it is close to 50% of its potential earnings. But this is a fact of life and the Club has no option other than to review its spending policy in a sensible manner.

Two members of the Board have placed substantial loans in the Club, and I applaud them for that because there are not too many people in that area who would consider doing this. But these two people could not be expected to support everyone's ambitions alone and it is of some comfort to learn that Mr Rouse may be in a position to support the Club financially.

The Club has two choices, operating a sensible, business like environment, or going down the path of administration and eventually liquidation.

I believe that these are Dudley Ramsden's fears and that his priorities are to control the Club's spending in order to ensure that Grimsby Town Football Club survives. I support this philosophy and due to this have consequently reached my decision to resign.

I do admire and thank the Board for their kindness to me personally and although I do not agree with their ethos, I respect them as people who feel for the Club and its unique supporters.

Yours sincerely,

Alec King

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