Chairman Moving To Cut The Costs At BP!

By: Bill Osborne
Date: 02/01/2002

GRIMSBY TOWN chairman Peter Furneaux stated today that the club are to embark on a cost-cutting exercise in a bid to provide funds for new manager Paul Groves.

The Grimsby Telegraph revealed that the club are losing £45,000-a-week and stand on the brink of financial ruin if they drop into the second division.

Injuries restricted new manager Groves' options for the Portsmouth game to 13 fit players, but Furneaux stressed that cuts would be needed in every department if Town were to stay afloat in Division One.

Asked if any money would be available to Groves for new players the chairman said "I have said that we will support him and we will.

"We will be reviewing the complete operation of the football club. That will include every aspect because we have been overspending for some considerable time.

"Its imperative that we put everything into the first team whatever happens elsewhere. We may have to sacrifice long term plans to stay in the first division"

"We haven't sold a player for 18 months and for somebody to come in and take some of these players would be something we haven't experienced for some time."

"...We have £14,000-a-week worth of talent in the treatment room..."

But Furneaux dropped the broadest hint that the players would be playing for their future when he said "I'm sure if the manager does not get the commitment that he deserves then he will be making recommendations to the board."

"But those sort of decisions will be managerial. We have £14,000-a-week worth of talent in the treatment room."

After the removal of Lennie Lawrence's £150,000-a-year wages from the payroll, the club were now starting to look elsewhere in order to make savings.

Furneaux refused to be drawn on who was facing the boot as part of the cuts but it is thought that the club's youth structure could be downgraded in order to save costs.

And the chairman revealed that steps were being taken to increase the money being pumped into the club "It's so important to everybody in Grimsby, not just the football club, that we stay up," he said.

"...An announcement will be made shortly..."

"There have been extensive investigations into how we can increase the money coming in, and an announcement will be made shortly. We need to attract more finance into the club."

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