palexander
Life President
Christ, shrimperzone suicide coming up....
I've begun to take stock of the situation we find ourselves in. Probably because things looked so bleak and I was so angry and frustrated (as are we all no doubt) that i almost gave up completely on the club and in doing so, probably removed the emotion I felt for the club. I had become almost a non fan looking in at any other club.
Anyway during this period a small part of me has begun to come round to 'the dream' again - maybe it was the videos over the weekend (that I criticised but on repeat viewings realised I was criticising because I didn't want to like or believe Martin).
Anyways... In the cold light of day and removing the emotion of the love of the club and (in my case) 25+ years of support, I have begun to wonder if Ron is actually doing much wrong? (dons tin hat...)
1) first and foremost, he is trying to build us a nice new ground. Ambitious yes, too big? Maybe. But I don't think many of us were against it at the start and if it does come off, then how fantastic. Yes, martin stands to make a lot of money at the end, but we all agreed this week that anyone coming in would be in it to make money and not many see that as a bad thing.
2) non payment of wages and bills. On the surface this is terrible of course it is. It probably cost us our league status last season and caused no end of unrest and hurt. But again, take the emotion out of 'he is killing our club' and think about it. Did he have any other choice? He cannot produce money from out of his backside, so there is only so much to go round. Like running the country, there is only a finite amount of resources, it's just where you choose to spend it.
I'm not condoning this (or trying not to anyway!) just seeing it from another view point. Maybe he had no choice but to not pay the bills and players. In face, perhaps he is keeping us alive by doing that very thing. Perhaps he has been very astute and strung enough debtors along for long enough to keep the project alive? Again, if the money isn't there, then the bills cannot be met. Is there any damning evidence that money has gone elsewhere? Serious question as i may have overlooked this?! :D
3) sacking of tilson and brush. It's been hard for me on hearing the news Sunday. I was one of tilsons harshest critics, despite really liking him as a player and acknowledging his early achievements (which I've stated many times were more a combination in my eyes of eastwood, confidence and tilsons ability to keep a happy group), I've called for change many times over the last 3-4 years, so to shed any tears now was to be at best hypocritical. So I finally have what I've wanted - almost exactly what i called for. A more experienced head that could hopefully get more out of a team tactically and with better contacts. In fact as an appointment, its about as good as it can get. Yes, tilson is a legend, but in the cold light of day he was appearing to be a pain to work with from what I saw and heard through the media.
Yes, he was massively handicapped, but it was no surprise as time went on what the situation was at the club and if it was that bad, perhaps steve could have walked. I suppose you admire his loyalty in one way, but if he was offered the Norwich or mk dons job, then i think he would have left us anyway. It would appear Ron has tried to make the best move by taking the downbeat tilson out of the firing line and getting in that someone with a bit more nous and hoping he can deal with both a lack of finance if that happens again, or get more out of the players available by employing tactical changes more effectively.
Not a bad footballing decision in my eyes, but the emotion of it has nulled the effect with most supporters.
4) lies and spin. My biggest bug bear with ron has been the perceived lies and spin and treating us like idiots. Back to the e word, but I always jump in emotionally and rant and rave about it. But whilst reading some of the responses Fbm has made, he makes a hell of a lot of sense on this subject. About how certain events are unavoidable and perhaps some truths have to be bent a bit to protect 3rd parties, or the club. I'd imagine building a new stadium and everything that comes with it is a hugely massively complex series of events, each requiring great attention, negotiation and legal administration. As fans, we want answers NOW and its frustrating having to wait things out - and I'm sure some events don't go the way they are intended and more spin is needed.
Could Ron be more honest? Yes, I'm sure he could or at least we'd like him too. Do we know all the facts and inner workings? No, so how can we possibly pass comment?
5) "Ron Martin is killing our club". If you are still with me (and ill admit I'm bored now :) ) then the final point is, IS Ron martin killing our club, or is he a man with an end goal that in an ideal world will make everyone extremely happy?
As i said above, business dealings must be amazingly complex and i doubt there are many on sz that even know what a lot of what is going on at the highest levels of these deals.
Bollocks, typing this on an ipad and just lost a load of following text, so I'll wind it up...
Basically, I think ron is stuck with us, we are stuck with Ron. Killing the club makes no sense for either party and i genuinely think he is trying to do what he set out to do.
The problem is he has cried wolf so many times that no matter what he says, it gets dismissed, he is on a hiding to nothing now.
All i am saying is in future, i am going to try and be more objective rather than emotional. As i said in the thread about the protests, if a load of money comes in this week, we come out of embargo, sign a load of player and pay off the hmrc, then what is the protest going to be for?
Is ron Martin killing this club, or has he more or less stuck to what he promised (like paying off the hmrc, not going into admin etc), but in doing so, upset the apple cart a few times as is probably a necessity in high level business?
I've begun to take stock of the situation we find ourselves in. Probably because things looked so bleak and I was so angry and frustrated (as are we all no doubt) that i almost gave up completely on the club and in doing so, probably removed the emotion I felt for the club. I had become almost a non fan looking in at any other club.
Anyway during this period a small part of me has begun to come round to 'the dream' again - maybe it was the videos over the weekend (that I criticised but on repeat viewings realised I was criticising because I didn't want to like or believe Martin).
Anyways... In the cold light of day and removing the emotion of the love of the club and (in my case) 25+ years of support, I have begun to wonder if Ron is actually doing much wrong? (dons tin hat...)
1) first and foremost, he is trying to build us a nice new ground. Ambitious yes, too big? Maybe. But I don't think many of us were against it at the start and if it does come off, then how fantastic. Yes, martin stands to make a lot of money at the end, but we all agreed this week that anyone coming in would be in it to make money and not many see that as a bad thing.
2) non payment of wages and bills. On the surface this is terrible of course it is. It probably cost us our league status last season and caused no end of unrest and hurt. But again, take the emotion out of 'he is killing our club' and think about it. Did he have any other choice? He cannot produce money from out of his backside, so there is only so much to go round. Like running the country, there is only a finite amount of resources, it's just where you choose to spend it.
I'm not condoning this (or trying not to anyway!) just seeing it from another view point. Maybe he had no choice but to not pay the bills and players. In face, perhaps he is keeping us alive by doing that very thing. Perhaps he has been very astute and strung enough debtors along for long enough to keep the project alive? Again, if the money isn't there, then the bills cannot be met. Is there any damning evidence that money has gone elsewhere? Serious question as i may have overlooked this?! :D
3) sacking of tilson and brush. It's been hard for me on hearing the news Sunday. I was one of tilsons harshest critics, despite really liking him as a player and acknowledging his early achievements (which I've stated many times were more a combination in my eyes of eastwood, confidence and tilsons ability to keep a happy group), I've called for change many times over the last 3-4 years, so to shed any tears now was to be at best hypocritical. So I finally have what I've wanted - almost exactly what i called for. A more experienced head that could hopefully get more out of a team tactically and with better contacts. In fact as an appointment, its about as good as it can get. Yes, tilson is a legend, but in the cold light of day he was appearing to be a pain to work with from what I saw and heard through the media.
Yes, he was massively handicapped, but it was no surprise as time went on what the situation was at the club and if it was that bad, perhaps steve could have walked. I suppose you admire his loyalty in one way, but if he was offered the Norwich or mk dons job, then i think he would have left us anyway. It would appear Ron has tried to make the best move by taking the downbeat tilson out of the firing line and getting in that someone with a bit more nous and hoping he can deal with both a lack of finance if that happens again, or get more out of the players available by employing tactical changes more effectively.
Not a bad footballing decision in my eyes, but the emotion of it has nulled the effect with most supporters.
4) lies and spin. My biggest bug bear with ron has been the perceived lies and spin and treating us like idiots. Back to the e word, but I always jump in emotionally and rant and rave about it. But whilst reading some of the responses Fbm has made, he makes a hell of a lot of sense on this subject. About how certain events are unavoidable and perhaps some truths have to be bent a bit to protect 3rd parties, or the club. I'd imagine building a new stadium and everything that comes with it is a hugely massively complex series of events, each requiring great attention, negotiation and legal administration. As fans, we want answers NOW and its frustrating having to wait things out - and I'm sure some events don't go the way they are intended and more spin is needed.
Could Ron be more honest? Yes, I'm sure he could or at least we'd like him too. Do we know all the facts and inner workings? No, so how can we possibly pass comment?
5) "Ron Martin is killing our club". If you are still with me (and ill admit I'm bored now :) ) then the final point is, IS Ron martin killing our club, or is he a man with an end goal that in an ideal world will make everyone extremely happy?
As i said above, business dealings must be amazingly complex and i doubt there are many on sz that even know what a lot of what is going on at the highest levels of these deals.
Bollocks, typing this on an ipad and just lost a load of following text, so I'll wind it up...
Basically, I think ron is stuck with us, we are stuck with Ron. Killing the club makes no sense for either party and i genuinely think he is trying to do what he set out to do.
The problem is he has cried wolf so many times that no matter what he says, it gets dismissed, he is on a hiding to nothing now.
All i am saying is in future, i am going to try and be more objective rather than emotional. As i said in the thread about the protests, if a load of money comes in this week, we come out of embargo, sign a load of player and pay off the hmrc, then what is the protest going to be for?
Is ron Martin killing this club, or has he more or less stuck to what he promised (like paying off the hmrc, not going into admin etc), but in doing so, upset the apple cart a few times as is probably a necessity in high level business?
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