John Fenty

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John Shelton Fenty is currently the chairman of Grimsby Town Football Club.

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.

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 May 2008 Fenty was elected as a Conservative Party councillor for the Humberston and New Waltham ward of North East Lincolnshire Council.[1]

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.