GRIMSBY Town's fans will have their say at boardroom level for the first time ever – by the end of next month.
After hitting their target of 750 members and raising the required £30,000, the Mariners Trust have secured a seat on the Blundell Park board.
And chairman of the supporters group Chris Parker, pictured, confirmed that the historic agreement has been rubber-stamped by club director John Fenty.
"Prior to John heading off on holiday, he and I signed the documentation relating to the seat on the board," Parker told the Telegraph.
"It is a momentous occasion and it will enable us to give the fans much more information about their club.
"There will be certain things that we won't be able to put out – like the exact playing budget, which could disadvantage the club – but we will tell the fans as much as we can.
"Personally, I'm not totally convinced that being fully supporter owned – like Wrexham, I believe – is the way to go.
"In their case it was needs must, but I think supporter involvement and partial ownership is the way forward.
"I know he sometimes gets a bad press, but I must compliment John Fenty because he has embraced the concept of supporter involvement.
"If we can get the football club out there in the community then the community responds by generating increased gates, increased merchandising and everything else.
"That brings a feel-good factor as well as making financial sense."
However, the Trust's figurehead Parker insists he won't be joining the board himself.
"It will be another few weeks before the member of the Trust to sit on the board is decided," he added.
"I don't want to put a timescale on that but everything should be in place by the end of June at the very latest.
"What I will say is that it will most definitely not be me.
"That's not because I don't want to do it – it's more about maintaining a degree of independence for the Trust.
"And, as its chairman, I may want to speak out about things at times.
"The board of directors have to speak with one voice, and that's only right, but equally the Trust must have their voice as well.
"We've taken advice and discussed this through with Supporters Direct who 'govern' all the supporters trusts in the UK. They're very much of the view that the candidate on the board should not be the chairman of a fans group."
The Trust will now nominate two candidates for a place on the board, as Parker explained: "The agreement is that we will put two people forward for 'interview' because the directors need to know they can work with that person.
"I'm sure some fans may think 'here they go, dictating who they want,' but that seems pretty sensible to me.
"We agreed at a very early stage, when we first discussed the figures and the trigger amount for members, that we would put two candidates forward.
"We know who those two candidates are but won't be divulging those at the moment."
