John Fenty

Cllr. John S. Fenty
Councillor
In office 2008–2012
Personal details
Born	28 November 1961 Grimsby, Lincolnshire
Nationality	UK
Political party	Conservative
Authority	North East Lincolnshire Council
Ward	Humberston & New Waltham

John Shelton Fenty born (28 November 1961 in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire) is a Conservative councillor for the Humberston and New Waltham ward of North East Lincolnshire Council.

Business

At the age of 18 in 1980 he took over a failed Haulage business that his father had started. Though he made his wealth through his development from scratch, a food processing company called Five Star Fish Ltd’’, a company that achieved market dominance in the food service sector and won many accolades for excellence. By the time the business was sold, it employed over 280 people and was highly respected in the business. It sold in April 2004 for £20 million to the Real Good Food Company. He finally stood down as Chairman at the start of 2007 and finally left the company in August 2007 after 27 years at the helm.

Politics

In May 2008 Fenty was elected as a Conservative Party councillor for the Humberston and New Waltham ward of North East Lincolnshire Council.

Football

In the late 1990s he was co-opted onto the board of Grimsby Town FC after buying a number of shares in the club he had supported since childhood. In 2003 he became chairman after Peter Furneaux stood down after many years in charge, and currently has a controlling interest. During this time the club has suffered serious problems arising from the collapse of ITV Digital in 2001, when at the time Doug Everitt was chairman and a resulting tax bill due to HM Revenue and Customs. This has led to Fenty making considerable funds available to the club to prevent it collapsing. However in January 2006, the club were finally able to submit plans for Grimsby Town's new Conoco Stadium, a project which the chairman has continually promoted.

In October 2008 Fenty expressed his frustration and some took it that he was threatening to sell the club, after he became bewildered at the local council's support in helping the clubs move from Blundell Park to the Conoco Stadium, and also coupled with criticism from the clubs supporters surrounding a search for a new manager following the dismissal of Alan Buckley.

In November 2010 Fenty rejected former manager Russell Slade's application for the vacant Grimsby Town manager's job and gave the job to inexperienced youth team manager Neil Woods instead. Fenty's was vindicated for his decision when Neil Woods led Grimsby Town out of the Football League at the first time of asking and into the Conference National for the first time in the club's history. On 23 February 2011 Fenty sacked Neil Woods. On the 19th of September 2011 Fenty resigned as chairman of Grimsby Town F.C