Groves To Hold Crunch Talks With Players Today!

By: Bill Osborne
Date: 23/05/2002

PAUL Groves will meet with the Grimsby Town players today after holding what was described as 'positive' talks with chairman Peter Furneaux. The manager, and Graham Rodger, want to speak to every player to discuss the club's situation.

Chairman Furneaux told the Grimsby Telegraph after the talks, there could be some positive news on the club's financial position next week. Furneaux said: "I've put a plan to Paul and we've agreed we'll say nothing about it until he's talked to the relevant parties.

"The talks were positive and so was the approach of the management team. I was very pleased with their attitude to the situation and we think there is a way forward.

"There will be more news after a board meeting next week."

The Telegraph said Groves is set to fly out on holiday in the next few days and is locked in negotiations with the board over how the club can emerge from their current financial plight.

Furneaux has already pointed out that the club will be forced into administration unless the 14 under-contract players take a huge pay cut - expected to be as much as 50 per cent in some cases with the club are in contact with the PFA over the best way ahead.

But the feeling at Blundell Park is that the majority of players would be unwilling to take a cut and, under the terms of their contracts, they do not have to renegotiate their salaries.

The loss of the £2.5-million from ITV Digital has left the club in dire straits, but a cash injection of £1.5-million could save them.

Will the board be willing to keep them afloat after losing a million last season in loans that they know could not be repaid, at least in the short term? That question may well be answered next week.

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