Hang on a minute... (rose tinted post alert)

[Richard_Cadette]

The original post on this thread raised some interesting points, and as usual FBM, was very well presented...... However, it seems heavily weighted in one direction, and if what you're saying is true, then RM has been playing Russion Roulette with the finances (and the future) of our club, and as MtS quite rightly pointed out, has had his bluff called... Or to use my analogy, picked the wrong chamber.

The statement Ron issued today, much like the one which was issued last week, said just about everything everyone needed to know. He was preparing everyone for the fact our club will go into administration.

Yes, you maybe right about it not being the end of the world, BUT, what you didn't seem to mention is what the ramifications could be of us going into administration.

What assets do we have? Well only 2 - our playing staff and our management staff - we have nothing else in way of tangible assets, and while we may have an OK squad right now, with a stable, and not to mention, superb management structure, I suspect we will have neither if the inevitable happens. Administrators are ruthless, and will look to cut costs, and redeem as much money as possible any way they can, and the likes of Macca, Barney, Barrett, or anyone who could command a reasonale fee, will be fair game. As would Tilly - who, if not pushed, may well walk of his own accord.

Then, we're broke, not able to sign anyone, bottom of League One with a very weak squad, and an unknown manager in charge - Even, as you put it, rose tinted glasses, would surely fail to see the upside of that? Oh, of course, while this is all happening, our attendances will start to dwindle - perhaps not back to the good old days of Halifax at home in the 80's, but they will dwindle.

Nothing I have read, heard or witnessed will change my opinion that only serious mismanagement of the finances of this club are to blame for this situation. At this present time, the priority is to try as best as possible to resolve them, but once accomplished, questions need answering, and explanations need to be transparent and detailed.

 

[bazzashrimper]

Can't be a***d to check whether this has already been posted ...........but a sympathetic piece in the Mirror

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opi...out-at-clubs-like-Southend-article202539.html

A good piece, but no doubt the contradiction is that it won't be back page news tomorrow - that will go to spitting on the pitch or the Wiley / Fergie debate.

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

but I would rather we had a month than a week.

I assume that is what Ron thought he might get out of them too, a month (e.g. to cover the Nov 20 planning meeting) and then be able to refer HMRC's hounds to Sainsburys legal dept...

 

[fbm]

The original post on this thread raised some interesting points, and as usual FBM, was very well presented...... However, it seems heavily weighted in one direction, and if what you're saying is true, then RM has been playing Russion Roulette with the finances (and the future) of our club, and as MtS quite rightly pointed out, has had his bluff called... Or to use my analogy, picked the wrong chamber.

The statement Ron issued today, much like the one which was issued last week, said just about everything everyone needed to know. He was preparing everyone for the fact our club will go into administration.

Yes, you maybe right about it not being the end of the world, BUT, what you didn't seem to mention is what the ramifications could be of us going into administration.

What assets do we have? Well only 2 - our playing staff and our management staff - we have nothing else in way of tangible assets, and while we may have an OK squad right now, with a stable, and not to mention, superb management structure, I suspect we will have neither if the inevitable happens. Administrators are ruthless, and will look to cut costs, and redeem as much money as possible any way they can, and the likes of Macca, Barney, Barrett, or anyone who could command a reasonale fee, will be fair game. As would Tilly - who, if not pushed, may well walk of his own accord.

Then, we're broke, not able to sign anyone, bottom of League One with a very weak squad, and an unknown manager in charge - Even, as you put it, rose tinted glasses, would surely fail to see the upside of that? Oh, of course, while this is all happening, our attendances will start to dwindle - perhaps not back to the good old days of Halifax at home in the 80's, but they will dwindle.

Nothing I have read, heard or witnessed will change my opinion that only serious mismanagement of the finances of this club are to blame for this situation. At this present time, the priority is to try as best as possible to resolve them, but once accomplished, questions need answering, and explanations need to be transparent and detailed.

We do have one massive thing in our favour... planning permission for a new stadium.

Administration would certainly be a problem for the club but in addition it would be an absolute disaster for RM himself.

He is a property developer and major deals are done in millions and billions. This is almost small change and, as he quoted in his radio interview a few weeks back ahead of the Orient match, an irritant.

The money is out there and the right individual(s) will be able to save the club. What they will want in return will be something which, until now, RM would certainly not have been able to have given. He will almost certainly have to relinquish a significant part of the future profits from the development in order to secure the £1m odd needed to avoid administration (there will be fees on top of the £700K) and will be selling from a point of weakness. The situation has turned full circle in fact... the club had to sell RH from a point of weakness and he thought he would absolutely milk it.

Instead (and this is an important point for those who may doubt his motives) he has had to rescue the club twice and has yet to see a return on his investment. The rent he would have otherwise received has been written off and his sheer involvement at the club has almost certainly been to the detriment of Martin Dawn, who haven't had the benefit of his expertise and have consequently made a £350K loss.

Believe me, from a purely financial point of view, RM personally has most to lose should administration occur. He will be fighting like crazy to get this money from any source he can at the moment, of that you can be certain. I am not sure whether the administration hearing needs to have someone present from SUFC for it to go ahead or whether there are any circumstances available for the defendant for it to be adjourned temporarily. If there is, we'll be looking at that route as well.

My guess is that RM has something somewhere, otherwise we wouldn't be getting a statement ahead of the weekend.

The thing that slightly concerns me is this; under RM I felt fairly safe with the management, and there was a wage structure in place that would not be broken. The stadium would go ahead and the short to medium term future of the club seemed fairly safe.

If we go into administration, we will almost certainly have new owners sooner rather than later as the club has this planning permission and would be a very attractive investment at the administrators sale price. Those new owners may not be local, and may not have the clubs interests at heart. We may be saved next week and hung out to dry in a years time.

That's what we should be worried about. Regardless of what happens next week the club will still exist and play in league one. How we survive long term is more of an issue.

 

[C C Csiders]

I think this one word can sum up everything that has happened today and will happen in the forthcoming week:

BUM

 

[McNasty]

Perhaps someone would like to "go it alone" as a partnership in any business would require profit-sharing and a development the size of RH & FF would set up a person for life.

 

[Richard_Cadette]

We do have one massive thing in our favour... planning permission for a new stadium.

Administration would certainly be a problem for the club but in addition it would be an absolute disaster for RM himself.

He is a property developer and major deals are done in millions and billions. This is almost small change and, as he quoted in his radio interview a few weeks back ahead of the Orient match, an irritant.

The money is out there and the right individual(s) will be able to save the club. What they will want in return will be something which, until now, RM would certainly not have been able to have given. He will almost certainly have to relinquish a significant part of the future profits from the development in order to secure the £1m odd needed to avoid administration (there will be fees on top of the £700K) and will be selling from a point of weakness. The situation has turned full circle in fact... the club had to sell RH from a point of weakness and he thought he would absolutely milk it.

Instead (and this is an important point for those who may doubt his motives) he has had to rescue the club twice and has yet to see a return on his investment. The rent he would have otherwise received has been written off and his sheer involvement at the club has almost certainly been to the detriment of Martin Dawn, who haven't had the benefit of his expertise and have consequently made a £350K loss.

Believe me, from a purely financial point of view, RM personally has most to lose should administration occur. He will be fighting like crazy to get this money from any source he can at the moment, of that you can be certain. I am not sure whether the administration hearing needs to have someone present from SUFC for it to go ahead or whether there are any circumstances available for the defendant for it to be adjourned temporarily. If there is, we'll be looking at that route as well.

My guess is that RM has something somewhere, otherwise we wouldn't be getting a statement ahead of the weekend.

The thing that slightly concerns me is this; under RM I felt fairly safe with the management, and there was a wage structure in place that would not be broken. The stadium would go ahead and the short to medium term future of the club seemed fairly safe.

If we go into administration, we will almost certainly have new owners sooner rather than later as the club has this planning permission and would be a very attractive investment at the administrators sale price. Those new owners may not be local, and may not have the clubs interests at heart. We may be saved next week and hung out to dry in a years time.

That's what we should be worried about. Regardless of what happens next week the club will still exist and play in league one. How we survive long term is more of an issue.

That's a good point - we do indeed have planning permission for a new stadium, which would be a carrot for any potential investor/buyer, especially as the sale price of the club right now would almost certainly be very attractive.

That said, you are assuming a lot when you say that the money will be found, and there are potential investors out there - I wouldn't say that was a given, and even if there are, the short term damage that administration could do to a club like ourselves before then could be irrepairable.

I think another concern in all of this is how and why this has happened? I understand the investment that has gone into the planning stages of the new stadium, but unless the way ni which the club is being run is addressed, then this is only likely to happen again down the road. It would of course be lovely to attract a wealthy investor into the club, who could pump money in on an ad hoc basis to ensure we are competitive both on and off the field, but they are hard to find, and so the club needs to be in a position where it is self supporting.

Ron may well have something up his sleeve as he suggested there will be a further communication this week, but it is all starting to seem a bit cloak and dagger - Not only was his statement yesterday used to pre warn everyone administration was almost inevitable, he spend most of it as an exercise in CV writing - he went to great lengths to point out what a fantastic job he has done for the club so far - hmm, I wonder why?

I think any owner of a football club will do so for their own reasons - In our case, Ron Martin is a property developer, and usually when one of them is involved in the ownership of a football club, alarm bells should start ringing - it was lucky for us that his best interests were served by Southend United having a brand spanking new stadium. I suspect if they were not, then Ron, as any right minded businessman would be, would only be in it for his own purposes - much like any new potential owner - it's the necessary evil of having businessmen run football clubs.

 

[fbm]

That said, you are assuming a lot when you say that the money will be found, and there are potential investors out there - I wouldn't say that was a given, and even if there are, the short term damage that administration could do to a club like ourselves before then could be irrepairable.

No, I'm not assuming it will be found... I'm hoping it will. What I inferred was that the money is there somewhere for the right deal.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

We were always going to be walking a financial tightrope by trying to get the new stadium built, and at the moment we're clinging onto that rope for dear life after the planning committee postponed the final meeting from August until November, from what I can gather if it had happened in August as it had supposed to and been approved then the deal with Sainsbury's would have gone through and we'd have paid the bill already.

On another note, and this seems as good a place as any, last night on BBC Essex they talked to an expert in football finance, who said, in the last decade fifty english clubs had gone into administration but none of them ever went bankrupt. I see no reason why we would become the exception.

These remain tense and nerveracking times but I believe we will emerge from it, maybe stronger and maybe even with a new stadium to show for it.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

That said, you are assuming a lot when you say that the money will be found, and there are potential investors out there - I wouldn't say that was a given, and even if there are, the short term damage that administration could do to a club like ourselves before then could be irrepairable.

Also what I fond interesting from the financial expert they had on BBC Essex was, that once in administration the accountants that come in, besides making cost cutting measures (bye bye Mr King), he said they negotiate with HMRC (or whatever other creditors) to reduce the monies owed so that the creditors get some money rather than none if the club goes bust. Leicester a few years back only had to pay 10p in the £ to HMRC! I'm not assuming we'll get as good a deal as that but we could end up having to pay less than £690k.

I'm just going on what I understood from a brief radio piece so feel free to correct me if you know better.