Much to the utter disappointment to some you....FF will be happening. Even if we go out of the league.
I love the way the council have been able to mug off every shrimper for years, in the safe knowledge most of them will blame Ron.
Uncle Vic tried to call their bluff back in the 80's but the fans let him down. Back then many councillors actively wanted the club to go bust. A Football club was the last thing they wanted to have in "their" town and they had a lot of support from residents. Not only that, even many footballing residents didn't support it because its popular to sneer and dismiss SUFC as you head of up to London to watch your team.
Even in recent times Sainsbury's laughed at us all, planning and extending the town centre shop whilst telling you all the deal was still on.....Safe in the knowledge most would blame Ron....Which they did and still do.
Then our council steal the cinema idea and rush it through for the Seaway. Now they are changing the plans as it was rushed through. Lets just say yes and then we will deal with any issues later. No looking for ancient artefacts and buried kings when its their project......Again safe in the knowledge that when Ron has to change his plans most fans will blame him.
Then we have fans who love to abuse their own players. One well known former player told me he hated playing at RH. You really need to sit next to some of their families because you suddenly hear the abuse a lot better. The same people will be looking to dig out this Spurs lad when he arrives, even his family if their daft enough to venture on here......Safe in the knowledge that it will be all Ron's fault
Anyway its not all bad for Ron. All the changes and delays will make him more money, he just has to wait. So to all the Ron must go, we need a Hong Kong criminal or that mythical billionaire who wants to waste £5m year.......That is not going to happen.....Not until FF or bust. If we do go bust Ron can still have a good earner so be careful what yo wish for.
For now, Ron is stuck with us and we are stuck with him. Once again I am hearing rumours of a protest. Well if you do protest..... Go and block Sainsbury's or the council offices, like you should have done years ago. We might be living the dream by now, we could be Charlton, Wigan or Reading. If someone turns round and tells the assistant mangers wife to **** off, do like I did and have a word.....Its amazing how quiet they go.
If Ron final gets the hump and we end up with a 3 sided Col U stadium and playing non league.. Its the mugs that will have got us all, what they wished for.......Don't let them win. Its easy to blame Ron and if it wasn't Ron it would be someone else. In the same way if you sack 4 mangers in a year it doesn't actually solve any problems. In fact as we are finding out it makes things a lot worse.
From what I understand Ron won't even tell the board how much of the future FF revenue SUFC will actually benefit from. Given that they can't even get that out of Ron, I would guess that you're right.
Yep can't wait until we get rid of Ron and become the next Bury.
Yep can't wait until we get rid of Ron and become the next Bury.
Possible - equally you might argue that the longer Ron is making the decisions it is as possible SUFC become the next Darlington who went into admin once in League 2 and slipped into the abys of lower leagues but had a lovely big new stadium to look at
Our stadium may well be soulless on many occasions but it’s our home and it’s the reason the club is still going as without the additional income in generates (both match-days and through the rest of the year). It still isn’t clear what income generated from your proposed stadium would get to the club is it?You have the worst stadium in the EFL but it suits your fans needs......Soulless.
Which is why you come on here whenever you think there will be an opportunity to troll some Southend fans......You also have a strange obsession about Ron. In fact you have even accused me of being Ron.
Our other regular, Colchester and proud is here for the right reasons but I cant be the only one who can see straight through you.
For those who doubt read some of the posts over the last year.
I’m a word no. Greedy and not a football fan who is just in it for the £65M he will walk away with if/when the new ground is built.
He’s quick to walk on the pitch and take the plaudits when we have done well, but nowhere to be seen when the ? hits the fan and his dictatorship is failing.
It’s hard to believe that he is worse than Vic Jobson, but he is. The sad thing is, he’s a shrewd businessman who has built up this huge debt via the inflated RH and FF rents, so even if he decides to sell the buyer will have to clear the debts (to him) and then pay the £450K rent every year!!
I’m a word no. Greedy and not a football fan who is just in it for the £65M he will walk away with if/when the new ground is built.
He’s quick to walk on the pitch and take the plaudits when we have done well, but nowhere to be seen when the ? hits the fan and his dictatorship is failing.
It’s hard to believe that he is worse than Vic Jobson, but he is. The sad thing is, he’s a shrewd businessman who has built up this huge debt via the inflated RH and FF rents, so even if he decides to sell the buyer will have to clear the debts (to him) and then pay the £450K rent every year!!
When you are set to gain £65M you do what you have to. You say he’s stumped up all this money. If you look at the accounts, you will see that the club has loans from various other directors, as has been the case in the past, one of whom had to issue a winding up order on the club to get it paid. There are other companies that have fronted money too. If you look at his various companies accounts, you will see that there is only one prosperous company amongst them.Greedy? No. A businessman conducting his affairs to make a profit? Yes. If it was only about the money, and you called him shrewd, he would have ditched the football club and developed RH yonks ago and saved himself a lot of money and grief in the process.
Perhaps you believe the covenant prevents him from doing the dirty. Seriously? The dosh he has stumped up to keep us going is a great deal more than the cost of a good solicitor to get around a covenant. He can appeal against the covenant on grounds it prevents beneficial development. The council would be happy with that to get their housing quota up. In fact it would not surprise me if the council wanted this all along and why they have, many times, thwarted Ron World. I suggest they do not give two hoots about a pro football team in Southend.
People, who call for Ron to be replaced by someone with more money, beware! They may be more ruthless, that's why they have more dough, and wave goodbye to the club and say hello to a lot of new houses.
On the last point, I guess it depends on whether they want a regular income or he lump sum. I would imagine that would a decision his son might have a big say in, as Ron will be pushing up the daisies by the time the annual sum has matched the lump sum value. Also, somebody buys the club and says, we’ll ground share with say Canvey (not a good example!!) until they build a smaller stadium elsewhere?I do agree that he is only in it for his nest egg. I also agree with you around him disappearing when there's difficult questions to answer.
However, IMO he's not worse than Vic, but it's an irrelevant argument! It's akin to saying Hiroshima was worse than Nagasaki!
Your last point is also moot because (hypothetically) should he want to sell then the debt might need to be paid, but the £450p.a. rent might not be if the ground is included in the sale.
Rigby.
In amongst your "it's everyone else's fault except Ron" rant you've spent a lot of ink blaming the Council.
While the Council isn't perfect, it's worth remembering they granted planning permission for FF as far back as 2008 I believe (it might even have been earlier?). It's the Club/RM that have consistently either failed to 1. Secure finance and start building or have constantly changed the plans. All of which have led to several lapses in permissions due to time expiry, fresh plans submitted etc.
The Council administration changed in 2019 and the Conservatives were thrown out, replaced by a coalition. The priority for the new administration is housing, particularly for rent and pressure from central Govt is also for more housing in this area. Hence the current plan for hosing on both RH and FF, much of it for rent which was formulated in conjunction with the Council. The Council have worked very hard with RM and his cohorts (I notice his son is involved as a key figure in one of the other companies involved) to ensure this development goes ahead and has been enormously supportive over the years.
It's not the council's job to fund it, it's disingenuous to somehow point the finger of blame at the Council (or the fans, or anyone else) for RM's failings.
Yep can't wait until we get rid of Ron and become the next Bury.
You're certainly going for Optimist of the Year award with your posts.If Ron Martin can afford to pay players and club employees and HMRC then he should pay them on time if he truly cares about the club.
If Ron Martin cannot afford to pay players and club employees and HMRC then he shoujld sell the club to somebody who can if he truly cares about the club.