Fenty denies cashing-in claims

CHAIRMAN John Fenty has rubbished claims that Grimsby Town sold skipper Ryan Bennett to cash-in on the 19-year-old defender.

Mr Fenty has disclosed that the deal between the Mariners and Peterborough United is worth £½-million to the club – though not as a lump sum payment if, as expected, the move becomes permanent in January when the transfer window reopens.

But he denies the reason the move came about out of the blue last week was in order to raise funds for Town's next manager.

He stressed that any new appointment will be supported as much as Mike Newell was and Mr Fenty revealed that backing for the former boss went right up until his final match in charge when a deal to bring Northern Ireland international striker Warren Feeney fell down at the last minute ahead of the Rochdale encounter.

Mr Fenty told the Telegraph: "Whichever manager has been here – in the past or whoever is here in the future – only has to ask and we have always reasonably supported our managers.

"It's not a case of whatever we get for Ryan influences what we give the manager – the two are not related because we always provide help for our managers.

"Financial support will be there for the new manager whether Ryan left or not.

"An example of this came 10 days ago when, before the Rochdale match, I'd agreed a deal with Peter Ridsdale (Cardiff chairman) for Warren Feeney to come to our club.

"That was all in process – it had been agreed and Mike Newell had communicated with the player. It looked like it was on and sorted.

"But on his return from international duty with Northern Ireland, circumstances at Cardiff had changed and he found himself in the starting line-up which, of course, was his preferred place to be.

"When all said and done, it fell at the final hurdle but it's a deal that reaffirms our support for management and our

aims and objectives.

"In the summer, the deal for Ryan was put on the table over a certain amount of years and frankly the time scale was too long from our view.

"It didn't give us a fighting fund or help us in any way, shape or form in terms of strengthening our current squad.

"This time it's set out over a lesser period.

"It's a £½-million deal roughly over two thirds of the previously mentioned time scale."

Mr Fenty spoke out at the weekend to go on record stating that the club didn't resurrect Bennett's departure.

And he stands by that statement despite rumours to the contrary.

He also says that the sacking of Newell had nothing to do with the England under-18 international's exit.

He added: "The facts are that Barry Fry called me on Wednesday night and said his chairman insisted the deal went through so Ryan could be at training at 9.30am on Thursday.

"I said that the player knew nothing about it and that it was impossible to make that happen.

"Barry told me that Ryan did in fact know about it – the agent who had acted with Ryan before had communicated with him that the interest was still there.

"I listened to what Peterborough had to say and then we worked up a deal between the two clubs and left it down to Ryan.

"If he didn't want to go, he didn't have to – we weren't pushing him out.

"We think an awful lot of Ryan – we wouldn't have given him a four-year contract if that wasn't the case.

"But there's no point in keeping a player that has had his head turned.

"I won't say Ryan initiated it 100 per cent but the facts are that his head had been turned.

From that point of view, the club's hands were tied.

"Ryan leaving is absolutely nothing to do with Mike Newell's departure.

"What I will say, though, is that I have since found out that Mike bumped into Barry Fry at a game around two weeks ago and they talked about this.

"I've only learned this in hindsight, but it does seem like something was bubbling without me realising it."