Question Any Questions?

[StanleyVictorCollymore]

Can I please suggest that some of the players confidence are in their boots and I believe they need some psychological support and confidence building.

Give me an hour with the players behind closed doors and I'll give them tips for life in and out of football.

They'll get all the support they want.

 

[Floval Flyer]

Think this was covered by others, he’s not left in limbo. He has made the decision to not enter talks with the club, that’s that I believe.

I think that decision was made by his agent as opposed to Elvis himself.

Happy to be corrected, but that was my perception

 

[Welly7]

If I'd have been involved ( truthfully, Ron and I get on very well, but he thinks I'm a maverick, and he's right. But a maverick with the best contacts book in the sport who will clear away the stench of failure from a club I hold dear. Don't be afraid of a maverick, be afraid of the status quo, a losers mentality and people in it for themselves), Southend United woukd get

1. First dibs on U-23 players from around the country. I took the liberty of contacting Liverpool,, Forest, Barry Fry, Leicester amongst 30 other clubs. Every one of those clubs said they wanted to work with me where they could. I hope that gives the tiniest flavour of what I can bring.

2. Employees with integrity. A United club.

3. Working with players ( where a manager feels it's appropriate), especially forwards, to show them the tricks of the trade, tell them how good they are and have me available 24/7 to help them along.

4. Meeting parents of quality young Essex talent and telling them Southend United is the club where their son can see a pathway to the pro game. Stan Collymore turning up at a kid's home has gravitas. Real gravitas.

5. Meeting and communicating with supporters regularly. Showing them the work we are doing and why that should make them content with the direction of the club.

6. Creating a clear club wide strategy that is simple, cost effective, promotes talent from within and spreads our net wide to bring the best talent in ( coaching, development, financial, directors) to a progressive football club.

7. Travelling with the team everywhere to support the manager, travelling staff and players, an identifiable totem of SUCCESS at Southend United.

8. Having an up to date managerial hit list that fits in with our ethos, values and playing style ( which we must have) in order to be proactive in coaching and management employment, not reactive. This alone will get us great coaches and managers way ahead of the opposition.
Amongst about 50 other tangible things that can be done yesterday if given the remit.

Hi Stan
Just a question regarding point no.1. At what stage would we as a club have to be at for the better u23 players being given the green light to leave, say Liverpool or Leicester, to come and play here? Immediately or would we have to be showing green shoots of improvement and therefore they wouldn't be arriving for as long as that would take?

 

[Floval Flyer]

Give me an hour with the players behind closed doors and I'll give them tips for life in and out of football.

They'll get all the support they want.

Caretaker manager Stan? Would you…

 

[Jcd]

I bought Shares in SUFC some time ago - how many shares are not owned by Ron and what influence can we have? Has there ever been an AGM? if one person got hold of all these shares what are the consequences, seat on the board?

The club's stats are still late (obviously) but i think last time i checked Ron (through a parent co) owns at least 70% of the share cap.

I also remember reading somewhere that those shares in that issue had no voting rights, yet per the 2019 stats all the share capital have full equal voting rights so who knows. FWIW i wouldnt place any reliance on our audited financials to be accurate.

 

[Clarky176]

I think that decision was made by his agent as opposed to Elvis himself.

Happy to be corrected, but that was my perception

I’m not ITK so am not sure, but if a player isn’t happy with an agent they can just sack them.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

I would sack the current recruitment and scouting staff.

Hi Stan, thank you for not giving up on Southend and for the evident passion in your phone call with BBC Essex this evening.

In your conversations with Ron Martin over the last week do you believe that he is now more likely to do the above, and clean sweep the recruitment staff including Ricky Duncan and Anton Robinson? And if he is do you think it would be more likely to happen once a new manager is appointed.

I do hope a formalised role is offered to you, as I think not only will your experience help the club, but you are willing to engage with us on SZ etc and bridges do need to be rebuilt between the club and fans. All the best.

 

[Yer Blues]

Hi Stan. Fancy a zoom call? Be good to hear from you. I think the fans would like it.

 

[MisterStubbs]

Hi @StanleyVictorCollymore, firstly it’s great to see you posting on here again. Seeing as you’ve already covered most of the questions I’d have asked, I’ll just say thank you for all you continue to do behind the scenes. I can only hope that Ron finally opens up and accepts your help, god knows he and the club needs it.

 

[shrimpled]

I do hope a formalised role is offered to you, as I think not only will your experience help the club, but you are willing to engage with us on SZ etc and bridges do need to be rebuilt between the club and fans. All the best.

This is a key point Stan, as I know you are already aware.

In your opinion, does Ron understand the value in keeping supporters on side? I think there are some incredibly basic things that could be done to build bridges between the supporters and the boardroom. They are free, easy and quick to implement, but he doesn’t seem willing.

He obviously cares enough to give his time to supporters groups through the Zoom calls he does regularly attend but there does seem to be a bit of a bunker mentality around him and how he looks after the clubs business. I don’t believe he deliberately makes poor decisions, but he does make them and when he does (and knows he does) there’s a lot of pride that needs to be swallowed before admitting to them.

He owns the club and of course there is an argument he doesn’t answer to anyone and can do what he wants, but I think it would be beneficial to him to consider how better to communicate the good things that the club does (it does plenty, but we’re rubbish at shouting about them) and explain where he admits errors have been made, and mostly why those decisions were made.

Tone matters. Perception matters.

We are a fractured fanbase, and there are some supporters Ron will never win over and some who believe he isn’t the devil and we need to work with him. If he can get some back on side, with a clear plan for both off the pitch and on the pitch matters, we can make some real progress.

I would also like to know Stan if you ask questions away from the football side of things? Has the situation with the stadium been explained to you and are you satisfied with the answers? My understanding is that things are actually more positive there than they have been for some time. Is that an accurate précis of that situation?

 

[sufcfed]

I believe everyone involved in the first team football staff who's responsibility it is to buy, sell, negotiate, recruit, put out teams should be sacked. Today.

Yes please stan! Namely Ricky Duncan on my part, the guy has been Ron’s right hand man for many many many years now and flies under the radar. From a personal level I’m not a fan of the guy for my own valid reasons that I will not go into.

He’s definitely involved heavily in recruitment.

 

[Texas Eslan]

How confident are you that this isn’t a case of Ron playing “keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer”?

It felt to me at the end of last season that he strung you along (my opinion you may feel differently) to some degree to dampen down the protests and then dropped you like a stone when he got the fans where he wanted them.

 

[Crawliano]

Ladies and Gentlemen, any questions you have about my involvement since summer, the club moving forward please fire away.

Stan.

If the chairman says a word you use most days in general conversation will you clutch your pearls?

 

[StanleyVictorCollymore]

Caretaker manager Stan? Would you?

Absolutely not!

How confident are you that this isn’t a case of Ron playing “keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer”?

It felt to me at the end of last season that he strung you along (my opinion you may feel differently) to some degree to dampen down the protests and then dropped you like a stone when he got the fans where he wanted them.

I'm fully aware who I'm dealing with.

 

[superblue24]

You may or may not be the silver bullet we need, but no one can fault the personified hope you bring that we can end this shambolic situation which has been in free fall deterioration since before Chris Powell departed. I think I speak for most, and definitely myself when I tell you that the feeling is that all is lost at this club and that we’re wedged in a hopeless place.

The one thing I ask is to ignore negative comments from the small minority on here and focus on the positivity you bring to the vast majority. As I said, it’s possible that the promise you bring fails to deliver in the long run (and being a SUFC fan through and through, I think you can understand me taking pretty much everything with a pinch of salt right now), but your desire and energy is just what we need right now and I believe that you can be the agent for change we need.

good luck, Stan!

 

[CaptainSmudger]

Ladies and Gentlemen, any questions you have about my involvement since summer, the club moving forward please fire away.

Stan.

Any chance of you Managing our club Stan?
???

 

[StanleyVictorCollymore]

Hi Stan, this result has in my mind helped rather than hindered as we have finally cut ties with the management. I fear a draw or 1-0 loss would have seen Phil stay on. I think it is very important that we have a manager that knows the level, I wonder if this is taken into account in your shortlist? Oh and thank you for what you have done so far, you have given our plight viability we could not have achieved without you

I have a list of 10 who I think all have strengths and weaknesses but one gets me very excited.

He's a manager, early 40's, spoken to him recently and he's an impressive guy with an impressive outlook on the game. Doing very well, reputation for quality teams, proactive style, players enjoy playing for him.

The list of 10 will go to Ron and Tom.

 

[StanleyVictorCollymore]

Hi Stan
Just a question regarding point no.1. At what stage would we as a club have to be at for the better u23 players being given the green light to leave, say Liverpool or Leicester, to come and play here? Immediately or would we have to be showing green shoots of improvement and therefore they wouldn't be arriving for as long as that would take?

Southend United would be in an immediate position to expand the player recruitment base and utilise the associations and relationships I have.

Immediately.

 

[Texas Eslan]

Absolutely not!

I'm fully aware who I'm dealing with.

I’m sure you do Stan! I really hope it works out this time for all parties.

What you are proposing in terms of opportunity, structure and future plans is something I think the majority of supporters can and will buy into.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I genuinely believe Ron does not care ultimately about the fans nor the success of the club. All he cares about in my opinion is his pot of gold.

What I find sad is that if that is the case then a man of his age, with what he already has, chooses greed over personal success/fulfilment/likeableness (if that’s a word)

He could have left a lasting legacy, but money appears to mean more in my opinion.

I could even understand if it was someone of age in their 20’s/30’s with a whole life infront of them.

Ultimately I do not thing he cares if fans don’t show up, stadiums run empty, us fans will not win. He won’t sell, he’s made it clear. We are in essence being held hostage.

For me personally I’d rather this whole ordeal be over with and start a new Phoenix club with a 51/49 stance as you have stated and get to work as soon as possible.

What would be heart wrenching is the fact that Ron would have won, and there’s really nothing we can do about it.

For someone who doesn’t care he’s remarkably prickly about criticism.