MP responds to criticism and gives update on Government response to Town’s plight
Following on from James Findlater’s opinion piece on the ongoing crisis in football and the situation facing clubs such as Grimsby Town, Cleethorpes MP Martin Vickers wrote a letter in response to the points raised in the article. Mr Vickers has asked for his letter to be published – here is his reply in full… DEAR James, Politicians are fair game for criticism, indeed it’s an important part of democratic mocratic accountability and it’s ’s perfectly understandable that constituents, when they hear or read something they disagree with, leap to o their keyboards and fire off an email. It’s also perfectly reasonable that the local newspaper should uld express a view, but surely that should be e an informed opinion based on the facts? You are perfectly entitled to regard the picture of me and my Grimsby neighbour Lia Nici as an inane stunt but I would have thought that, at the very least, you would have asked me for a comment. It seems odd that only a few weeks ago the Telegraph was quite happy to fill pages of the Prime Minister wearing a GTFC bobble hat; it was, after all, a good ‘silly season’ story but when Lia and I present the PM with a shirt, get another shirt signed so that it can be auctioned to raise money for a local charity, and take the opportunity of expressing our concerns about the challenges facing the club it is regarded as a stunt. But, of course, you didn’t know about the charity shirt or whether we had the opportunity to discuss any issues because you hadn’t gathered the facts. Moving on to the challenges facing the Mariners and all lower league clubs. This is something that has been raised a number of times in Parliament and I raised it during Monday’s debate on the Covid pandemic. Negotiations are taking place between th the EFL, the Premier League and the Government and w we must hope they bea bear fruit.
As the Town ch chairman Philip Day h has pointed out, and we can all see, there is an enormous amount o of money in the P Premier League, just loo look at what is being spe spent during the trans transfer window. Some of that wea wealth must pass down to the lower leagues and I suspect that the Government are making that plain during the negotiations.
Just a mention about getting spectators back into Blundell Park and the other grounds. It’s easy to think this is straightforward but it’s not just a matter of socially-distanced seating but maintaining distancing through the turnstiles, in the passageways and providing toilet facilities as well as ensuring the safety of the stewards and other staff.
I’ve been in correspondence with the Sports Minister raising issues that Philip Day and John Fenty brought to my attention when we met recently and will be following through when I receive a reply.
Anyway James, I won’t hold it against you, after all you don’t go into politics if you can’t take the criticism, whether justified or not.
I should of course declare an interest since I’ve been a regular at Blundell Park since the 1960/61 season and a season ticket holder for many years.
Regards, Martin.