Echo News Southend United chairman Ron Martin explains how club would be boosted by new ground

[NZamba Legend]

Ron's not lying. He basically said there is no retail, no hotel, minimal opportunities for income generation (not his words), no new covenant (okay he didn't say that either but if there was one he would have said so). Bottom line is that Southend United will still rely on someone pumping in money each month as Ron has done for decades to cover the losses. Ron will have achieved his goals, and good luck to him, he has been very patient, but the club will not be in a hugely different position financially after the move to the new stadium, unless I have missed something here. Is there a plan to reduce losses each month, to prevent us moving from one embargo to another? Maybe there is, we need to know.

I imagine Ron will want to sell the club and the new ground fairly quickly, and then the new owner--who will almost certainly be another developer or a front for a developer-- could seek to do exactly the same thing i.e. sell the land of the new stadium to build more homes and move us to a (yet) cheaper site and smaller stadium. So, we could quite feasibly be back on the move again within 10 years. My view is the stadium should be at least partly publicly owned to safeguard against this, but that's not going to happen is it...

This isn't anti-Ron. If anything we are lucky that he does care about the club. He has brought good times as well as the bad, and has performed miracles keeping us afloat financially (but he has only been able to do that because of the developments that the club is tied into). I have my doubts as to whether future owners will be as responsible or as resourceful as Ron has been.

 

[Shrimpet steve]

F...k off!! Ron! Who cares about a poxy stadium at this time of the season! Maybe a striker should have been higher up on your list of priorities!! "Your new stadium is a pipe dream and always has been!! Who's going to want a brand new stadium in the national league? And u wont have enough fans to fill it!

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

Do I find myself party agreeing with Shrimpet, not that I would express it the same way, lol?
We're about to go out of the league unless we can conjure up a minimum five more Harrogates, and we're again talking about a new ground.
This looks alarmingly like smoke on the water, and we're in at the deep end.

 

[borientater]

Would anyone on here who had the opportunity to make millions actually pass up the chance ?

 

[onceknownasrab]

I believe RM is a supporter but when he first arrived he was only a developer and that means he saw the potential value of owning the club outright. He will potentially earn well from this project and SBC will get a boost to its housing quota. He wins and they win. All this on the back of Sid Bloomfield and the fervent Southend supporters.

The covenant, for what it's worth, is being cynically viewed as a like for like arrangement. To have RH you have to replace it elsewhere. For me the covenant was set up to ensure the clubs future and security and this has been disregarded in the extreme.

The chairman and the council have a debt of gratitude to the club for enabling their plans. There should be a percentage of housing sales/rents go to the club. End of.

Legally I expect every t has been crossed and every i has been dotted. Morally we are being buried under a pile of steaming excrement and the taste it leaves has soured any support I have ever given the chairman. Do the right thing Ron and give the club the security you owe it!

 

[Somerset Ex-TTB]

Has anyone asked why under normal times the club was losing £100k a month, when much smaller clubs manage to survive?

I will tell you, waste, poor management, and extremely poor financial decision making.

I am sure the wastage at SUFC would make the NHS wince. Fines, interest, paying late, solicitors fees, management fees, consultants, staff turnover, poor working conditions, treating staff badly. The list could go on and on.

Yes we lived beyond our means with player wages, however so does every club, but only the extremely poorly ones end up in the mess we are currently in.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

See the Chairman's as arrogant as ever :- SOS-" I thought I'd been doing that for the last 22 years".

(Promise to watch the whole thing wnen I've got 2 hours spare).

 

[Supershrimper]

I'd sooner community groups (baby clubs, dance classes etc etc) and weddings, funerals, birthdays than shops that wouldn't get filled or leased out out to companies that can't pay the rent and then go into administration. Least with housing Rons is likely to make his money and then some. You never know, he may well be planning on gifting the stadium and training facilities to Southend United at some point.

Retail would have been an amazing option when Ron put it forward I the mid late 90s, but with the decline in retail shopping (accelerated by Covid-19 and the greater shift to shopping online) I know fear this is the death of the high street, or at least a condensing of if. Towns with big high streets will suffer, and out of town shops may buck the trend for a little longer with free parking etc but would only lesson the blow for a couple of years. Southend may well still have the longest pleasure pier in the world, but the high street is going to have to shrink either to the royals end or the Victoria Shopping centre end to stand any chance of survival.

I think someone on the call mentioned opening up an Amazon store or warehouse on the site. Amazon warehouses are massive. The one at at Tilbury, admittedly its the largest in the UK is 22 metres high and 550,000 sq ft floor. It would turn result in the new stadium being located on an industrial estate.

Amazon store might have been a good shout, but with Amazon I very much doubt your in charge when it comes to contracts, agreements etc. I would imagine its Amazons way or they will go somewhere that does accommodate them. Also could you imagine an Amazon Fresh store in Southend, where its completely contactless in that you go in, put your items in a bag and wander out. It would be cleaned out by shoplifters within a week with just hummus and avocado left.

 

[rigsby]

See the Chairman's as arrogant as ever :- SOS-" I thought I'd been doing that for the last 22 years".

(Promise to watch the whole thing wnen I've got 2 hours spare).

I thought we all wanted total honesty from the Ron?

 

[Pak Power]

My view (as I expressed on another thread) is that without the retail (hotel etc) and we all know retail has declined financially Where is the Football Club's additional income stream going to come from.

The only way I can see the football club getting additional income stream is if the additional housing instead of retail are rented out and the income goes to the football club.

Not going to happen is it?

 

[rigsby]

First it was Sainsbury's then BL who were going to pay for the stadium now its the Houses being built at FF. That will most likely be Ron, or it could be a new owner.

Either way a stadium, training centre, extra car parks and domes etc. All have to be paid for. I'm sure everyone knows that but facts spoil a good Ron thread.

 

[rigsby]

People don't just give stadiums away.

Have you looked on Freecycle?

 

[Crawliano]

Are the stadium plans floating about anywhere? Be keen to see what they're doing with it

 

[rigsby]

Life is too short?

You really should find the time. You weren't impressed by Ricky Holmes from your ten minute highlights. Most of us who actually watched the game thought it was probably his best appearance so far. He even created his own chance but the shot deflected wide for a corner. Still if you already know what you going to say about Ron and Ricky, then why waste time actually watching.

 

[gatecrasher]

I'm surprised some fans are shocked by this to be honest. This has always been about Ron and his pot of gold at the end of the rainbow ? the club is merely a vehicle to achieve that.

We will get a very mediocre new stadium, not because we need it ( incidently we do due to the neglect of Roots Hall) but because that is what suits Ron. He will do the bare minimum required to satisfy the covenant. The only plus I can see from a this is once hes made his mega bucks he can sell us for one last pay day without any associated debts to him and hopefully the next custodian will love the club and have genuine ambitions of improving the lego arena and the squad.

 

[onceknownasrab]

First it was Sainsbury's then BL who were going to pay for the stadium now its the Houses being built at FF. That will most likely be Ron, or it could be a new owner.

Either way a stadium, training centre, extra car parks and domes etc. All have to be paid for. I'm sure everyone knows that but facts spoil a good Ron thread.

Absolutely you are right. All things have to be paid for. In this case the expenditure will be a fraction of the returns. Good business of course but the only loser, potentially, is the club. No assets, no serious revenue streams beyond football and trapped in the cycle of debt repayment due to insufficient income. SBC has got what it always wanted and never gave a hoot about the club, the fans or the Bloomfield legacy. RM gets what he wants and will continue to hold all the aces over the clubs future.

Capitalism at its worst and devoid of any morality whatsoever.

 

[C'mon you Shrimpers]

Whenever I spoke to Sid Broomfield he actually acknowledged the need for a new stadium. It was sad that he didn't live long enough to open the new ground and the Sid Broomfield stand. Mind you he'd have been well into his hundreds by the time it's built.

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

Would anyone on here who had the opportunity to make millions actually pass up the chance ?

That would depend on how.

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

Whenever I spoke to Sid Broomfield he actually acknowledged the need for a new stadium. It was sad that he didn't live long enough to open the new ground and the Sid Broomfield stand. Mind you he'd have been well into his hundreds by the time it's built.

He's not going to be the only one!

 

[Crawliano]

Absolutely you are right. All things have to be paid for. In this case the expenditure will be a fraction of the returns. Good business of course but the only loser, potentially, is the club. No assets, no serious revenue streams beyond football and trapped in the cycle of debt repayment due to insufficient income. SBC has got what it always wanted and never gave a hoot about the club, the fans or the Bloomfield legacy. RM gets what he wants and will continue to hold all the aces over the clubs future.

Capitalism at its worst and devoid of any morality whatsoever.

If Ron cuts corners with the Hosp, he's screwed. In this climate if businesses / more affluent fans are going to dip their hands in their pockets, a bare room with some crappy chairs and tables won't cut it with the associated % increase on cost compared to RH.

If you're going to attract the businesses on a crappy Tuesday night, the meal, the experience etc has to reflect a decent night out for their client, otherwise you might as well just go to the Roslin or Aurum.

It would take a lunatic to not invest in the Hospitality, my concern is if we have a head of Hosp who will go toe to toe with Ron to get the money they need to make it work (which it could easily do with the right mix in place)