Ian Holloway resigns as Grimsby manager after 12 months in charge

Ian Holloway has resigned as manager of League Two club Grimsby after a year in charge, the fall out has appeared to put the club's takeover in doubt.

The 57-year-old made the announcement on his Twitter feed, citing his "strained" relationship with the possible new owners at Blundell Park as the reason for his decision.

Holloway wrote: "To all the fans; it is with a heavy heart that I am announcing my resignation as manager of Grimsby Town Football Club. New wannabe owners are hovering over GTFC and John (Fenty, majority shareholder) has told me he is selling his stake in the club, so it's time for a fresh start across the board for this great club.

"The relationship between the incoming new owners, board and manager is so, so important. It needs to be strong for a club to succeed, and we got off on the wrong footing. Therefore, that relationship will be strained from the off, which is bad for the club.

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"This is a club that, if everybody has its best interests at heart, can progress onwards and upwards. That is their challenge. That is their honour. I sincerely wish them all the best going forward and I implore them to communicate regularly and openly with the fans.

"For a myriad of reasons, on and off the pitch, it feels like we didn't get a fair crack together, and I take my share of the blame too. I hoped for this to be a long, serious relationship but it hasn't worked out that way, and that saddens me.

"I wish you every bit of success. The fans deserve it. God bless."

Holloway leaves Grimsby 20th in League Two - six points above the relegation zone - following their 2-1 defeat at home to Bradford on Tuesday night.

The Mariners expressed their "sadness" at Holloway's decision to walk away in a statement on their website, and thanked him for his work at the club.

It read: "It is with great sadness and disappointment that Ian Holloway has made his intentions absolutely clear that, with John Fenty agreeing to sell his shares, he does not want to remain at the club without progressing with the people that he came here to work with.

"The board and 'Ollie' had a joint vision, first to improve the league position, secondly to deliver top-class training facilities and finally by relocation to a new community stadium.

"It has been a difficult year for obvious reasons which invariably affected all clubs, some worse than others.

"The club, albeit prematurely, will prepare to move on to a new chapter and would like to put on record its thanks to Ian and Kim (Holloway) for committing themselves to our vision and wish them both all the very best for the future."

Grimsby takeover appears off

Grimsby's prospective takeover appears to have collapsed on a turbulent day.

Tuesday's defeat to Bradford left Town 20th in League Two but Holloway blamed his resignation on the "inappropriate" actions of the club's prospective new owners, led by Tom Shutes, stating they contacted him directly on several occasions.

Shutes and his associates Jason Stockwood and Andrew Pettit denied that but club chairman Philip Day then stated that representatives of the group had called Holloway three times.

In a statement reported by the Grimsby Telegraph, Shutes, Stockwood and Pettit wrote: "Like many fans, we reacted with surprise and disappointment when we heard of Ian Holloway's resignation earlier this morning through social media.

"We would like to clarify to all concerned that none of us have ever had any contact with Mr Holloway. Several weeks ago, we did make it clear through a mutual friend that we were very supportive of Ian and that if we were to take over as custodians of the club we wanted to build a legacy with him in place (which we also communicated to Philip Day in our discussions over the last week).

"While we have acted at all times in the best interests of the club, we have to step away from further negotiations and give Philip Day the space and time he clearly needs to navigate the Mariners through this turbulent period in the club's history."

Day responded in a statement on the club's website.

It read: "Ian Holloway received two telephone calls from Mr Mark Palmer who stated that he was speaking on behalf of Mr Shutes.

"We are aware that Mr Palmer acted for Tom Shutes in previous negotiations and due diligence. Ian recorded one of those conversations and it has been heard by the board.

"Further, Ian Holloway recently received another call, this time from Mr Dean Holdsworth, who had been asked to speak to him on behalf of Messrs Shutes, Stockwood and Pettit.

"As well as a director, Ian Holloway was an employee of the club and did not consider it appropriate behaviour to go behind the board and approach an employee direct."

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