SUFC: The Future SUFC up for sale

[dusterman]

Sell up fast and **** off. Arrogance of the man in that press conference. Unreal.

 

[nick12]

I really hope you are right. However :

1. exploring a sale is not the same as committing to sell. Nor are there any firm timescales in that statement - not one. In fact, he said the process would not be fast-tracked, which to me is code for "there is no urgency involved in this"

2. As I understand it this risks separating club and stadium completely....

3. ..... which is a worry as the club is effectively worthless, except for the right to play in the NL

4. Any prospective investor will want to see accounts. I saw no mention of them

To me it looks suspiciously like a piece of deflection, or a fig leaf to hide behind over a crucial period in which you as fans have to make decisions about buying season tickets. He's asking you to give him the benefit of a considerable amount of doubt - again.

Even if you take the statement at face value, it reads as though he has accepted that funding a sustainable future for SUFC is beyond him. I can think of no other plausible explanation for the high interest loan that mortgages the club's future, or the belated wish to get new capital in.

Final point - given the precarious nature of the club's financial position, does it really need to be spending what could be hundreds of thousands of pounds on consultancy fees?

Agree totally

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

I can't believe no one asked him how the club will survive before a buyer is found. We have staff to pay (some still haven't), bills to pay, tax to pay, stadium repairs and contracts to negotiate. He had to borrow £2m to keep us afloat for a few months but what is the plan after that? This transition, if it happens, could take months. So how are we going to pay for those things listed above? I can't see him putting his hand in his pocket now he's walking away.

 

[dusterman]

Oh and he now wants to sell the stadium to new owners and there was us peasants thinking he said he’d gift it to the club.

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

I hope to start sleeping with Victoria Coren-Mitchell by the start of next season. But it's unlikely to happen.

What! All three of them? That's a big bed!

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

This is great news. I think we will only sell to the right people, unlike what has happened at Crawley.

We could have a new stadium, decent owners and the whole footballing department in a few years time.

Hmm. I’m confident Ron will sell. I’m not confident he’ll sell to the right people. I reckon he’d have taken Crawley’s owners’ cash.

 

[kentblues]

He said he will be selling for less that what has been invested, when pushed was revealed that figure is £25m over the time he's been there.

Are we to assume the figure is less than that. Or was he referring to the amount its cost to build the stadium?

Listening to it I think he believes the best option would be for someone to buy club and stadium (the club only bit reflecting there might not be buyers with deep enough pockets). He then clearly said around the question of club debts, that the investment in the stadium would never be recovered by the purchase price.

In simple terms
If club would be worth 5-10m without any debt
It has £20m of debt
the stadium cost £50m to build

Club at say 10 minus debt 20= -10 plus stadium 50 = 40
So you he would expect to be selling club and stadium (which contrary to what has been suggested earlier sounds like his PREFERRED option) for a sum around or less the the stadium has cost e.g. £40m.

Remember the stadium itself has three sides funded by Homes England so it might just be when he sells club and stadium he covers the clubs debts and the net "build" build cost of the stadium and training facilities.

He also said he doesn't want to be a landlord.

 

[bazzashrimper]

I watched the press conference and withdraw my previous comment. He wants to sell all as one and for a price less than the debt / build cost. Actually - that’s fair and represents the £££ from the flats build.

Other observations. He really does want to sell. I hope for a fair price.

I wish a question was asked about the timelines for the project - he said 21 months, but where is planning ? I guess this explains why capacity dropped to make it cheaper. I wonder if a buyer now may push for the original build?!?

And he didn’t get asked about wages in the interim period. A question on the embargo suggested this was still in a bad position. If he does want to sell… maybe season tickets now can pay for the next 3 months?

 

[LeedsSUFC]

Hmm. I’m confident Ron will sell. I’m not confident he’ll sell to the right people. I reckon he’d have taken Crawley’s owners’ cash.

With Stan and the American consultancy involved, I don’t think anyone like the Crawley owners are getting near. We’ll see though!

 

[Ted]

The whole stadium debacle is a bit sketchy. Can imagine he’s going to want to recover a large amount of the money he’s put in.

Anyone coming in would need a lot of patience and deep pockets !

 

[pottster]

I find it pretty embarrassing from Ron really. He could have sold it ten years ago when it originally had planning and the whole package was worth something. He knew then he didn't have the money to make it happen. Anyone with An ounce of decency would have let it go. Finally he now admits he's out if cash and tries to sell it with out any assets.

 

[Mr Browns Ghost]

Totally underwhelmed with that. Ok he is going one day when it suits him, thats about it ..the rest is just the usual stuff he puts out to quell the masses.

Couldn’t agree more feel completely deflated

 

[kentblues]

I watched the press conference and withdraw my previous comment. He wants to sell all as one and for a price less than the debt / build cost. Actually - that’s fair and represents the £££ from the flats build.

Other observations. He really does want to sell. I hope for a fair price.

I wish a question was asked about the timelines for the project - he said 21 months, but where is planning ? I guess this explains why capacity dropped to make it cheaper. I wonder if a buyer now may push for the original build?!?

And he didn’t get asked about wages in the interim period. A question on the embargo suggested this was still in a bad position. If he does want to sell… maybe season tickets now can pay for the next 3 months?

I know you would have thought a reoter might have drilled into timelines on Fossets more, also I swaer I didn't even hear a question about staff being paid?? Did I miss it?? Or about lack of communication from the club about various issues?? We moan rightly we don't get told stuff- but he was sat there towards the end encouraging more questions, here's your chance he was saying....

 

[fbm]

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Ron Martin: "In an ideal world we would like any new owner to eventually take the club and the stadium as one entity but that will not pay back everything I have put in over the years. It would be impossible to recoup.

This reads to me that he is not expecting all his money back and hopefully will sell the stadium.

I read that to say in an ideal world he'd like to sell the club and the stadium as one entity but he won't, because he won't get all his money back.

 

[kentblues]

I find it pretty embarrassing from Ron really. He could have sold it ten years ago when it originally had planning and the whole package was worth something. He knew then he didn't have the money to make it happen. Anyone with An ounce of decency would have let it go. Finally he now admits he's out if cash and tries to sell it with out any assets.

Absolutely not. He was never going to sell the development. Only ever the club and new stadium once the build was under way assured. And ownership of RH and Fossets was required for that also.

 

[Mr Browns Ghost]

Not sure how anyone can take that nonsense of a press conference seriously.
Who is going to be interested in a Company that has not delivered final accounts since 2018?
Who is going to be interested in a Company that has a ram shackle stadium with a lease of £400.000?
Promise of a new Stadium they can lease at what cost? Still not even got planning permission!
Promise of a training facility they can lease at what cost?
Who is going to buy a company that no one knows how many millions they owe to creditors?

Absolutely this

 

[northlincsshrimper1]

No one in their right mind would enter into any form of partnership with Ron Martin. Therefore ,for this to happen, it has to be a straight forward purchase of the Club and the new Ground when competed . This has to be a no " no strings attach" purchase with clear cut arrangements with Ron Martin and whoever else is involved. The new ground would then be owned outright by the new owner with no comebacks or other skeletons hiding away in some closet. Then maybe the new ground could be then self sufficient in the future.
My other main concern is that do we have we time to complete any purchase before other legal battles starts with HMRC, accountants, late returns of accounts and the rest of the shambles that is the club at the moment.

 

[kentblues]

I read that to say in an ideal world he'd like to sell the club and the stadium as one entity but he won't, because he won't get all his money back.

Absolutely not. He doesn't want to be a landlord. Thinks the best solution is to sell club and stadium. And accepts the club and stadium sale would not see the recovery of the full "investment" in the stadium. just realistic. But I think there is a difference between the "investment made in the stadium" and what is is costing him.

 

[ColinMorrisWalksOnWater]

I read that to say in an ideal world he'd like to sell the club and the stadium as one entity but he won't, because he won't get all his money back.

And here's where everything is down to interpretation....

I read it as him saying that ideally he would like the purchaser to buy the club and the stadium together, but any sale would not recoup the money he has put into the project. (No **** Sherlock!)

A moment of realism for everyone, but a positive in that he realises he cannot cling onto his pot of gold, without going under and losing the control of the project altogether. An epiphany he had during COVID, when The Hall was like a morgue.

He is open to a sale of the ground and the club together OR if the new owners couldn't afford both, buy the club now rent the ground and buy it at a later date.

Either way the club and the ground get reunited at some time in the future. That is music to my ears.

My only negative on today, was this sort of press conference should have taken place in 2009 to11 when the original planning permission on Fossetts was obtained, in place and someone who could actually see the project through to completion could have come in then.

 

[Evening Echo]

SOUTHEND United chairman Ron Martin insists he will not be fast-tracked into selling the club.

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