A Letter To Sainsbury's

[C C Csiders]

All these letters and emails to Mr King. I wonder how fully aware he is of the Sainsbury's Roots Hall development?

 

[ian_the_girth]

has anyone had a reply yet?

 

[Pubey]

has anyone had a reply yet?

My reply:

Dear Mr Pubey,

Please do not harm my family - I will meet your demands. Meet me at Holborn Tube Station - Southbound Piccadilly Line platform at 2200. I'll be wearing orange.

Mr King

 

[ms brush]

Well, If Mr King (of sainsburys) wasnt aware of our plight, he soon will be...

And, if the other Mr King (delusional of Southend) is not aware, he needs to be given a red card!!!

S

 

[canveyshrimper]

Well, If Mr King (of sainsburys) wasnt aware of our plight, he soon will be...

And, if the other Mr King (delusional of Southend) is not aware, he needs to be given a red card!!!

S

It's possible the beloved Mr King of Southend would benefit from the application of an industrial strength suppository.

 

[pickledseal]

I wouldn't be surprised if we all got a generic response next week, but hopefully by then it will be on the agenda even if Mr King emails some peeps within Sainsburys saying WTF is going on in Southend!

 

[pickledseal]

Just a thought, maybe the Trust want to set up an email address where we can all copy our emails to so that they know how many have been set etc.
THose already sent can be forwarded?

 

[Shrimper]

I'm CC'ing one to Sky Sports, BBC and the Daily Mail.

 

[Smiffy]

I'm CC'ing one to Sky Sports, BBC and the Daily Mail.

Yep national coverage is needed. Keep 'em coming people.

 

[Razam]

I haven't sent mine yet, I wanted to ask if all the CC's could be put in the OP, rather than scattered around the thread. THNX :)

here's what I propose to send:

Dear Mr. King

It was 1987 when I first heard of Sainsbury’s supermarket. I remember one day there was this bright new supermarket, in the place where there was once a bus depot on London Road in Southend-on-Sea. As a child growing up on Gordon Road (the road opposite the Sainsbury’s), I remember with fondness how big and futuristic it all looked, including the travalators to the car park. Sainsbury’s was a regular visit for me on the way back from school, spending my pocket money on sweets & drinks and weekend shopping trips with my family.

However I fear that Sainsbury’s may soon be linked to a not so pleasant memory for me and thousands others in the local community. As I am sure you are aware from other correspondence, my football club, Southend United, is going through a very difficult period - one which many fans like myself, fear we may not recover from. I understand (and am thankful for) Sainsbury’s has previously bailed us out on 2 occasions, with our unpaid tax bills, but it is now becoming apparent that they were not just financial blips, but indicative of problems on a much larger scale. The third court case brought against us by HMRC this year is pretty much a sign of this.

Southend United has over 100 years of history, much of which is based in the Roots Hall Ground, Southend-on-Sea. In order to achieve the potential the club has, and showed only recently playing in the second tier of English football, the club needs to move to a new ground. Land at Fossett’s Farm has been identified and planning permission was approved in 2008. As part of the plan, Sainsbury’s has bought Southend United’s current home at Root’s Hall to build, as I understand, the 5th biggest supermarket in the country. What an amazing opportunity for both ourselves and Sainsbury’s. Unfortunately, things have not gone smoothly as we both hoped. I am sure you are aware of Southend United’s current financial situation – as recent article in the Southend Echo highlighted Sainsbury’s are in control of 70% of the shares of Southend United. This, in addition to the business arrangements over Roots Hall, I’m sure would allow you more insight into what is happening than myself or other concerned fans. It certainly appears that the current situation can not carry on much further, without some external impetus to help it. Southend United has won Family Club of the Year, and Community Education Awards, and if it was to fold it would not just be a huge loss for the local community, but for the football community as well. We have already had fans from other clubs, posting messages of support on our forums.

I currently work as a Contracts Manager, and I fully appreciate the confidentiality surrounding any business arrangements you have with Southend United, and/or it’s chairman Ron Martin. I am writing today as I fear if something is not done soon then Southend United FC will be no more – and through no fault of it’s own Sainsbury’s will forever be linked to the story of a fallen club. However, this could be avoided and another story written entirely. I ask that you consider intervening in any way that you can, to ensure that Southend United FC survive, not just for the next court hearing but in a permanent and sustainable way. The survival of the club could certainly be used by Sainsbury’s in a number of marketing, sponsorship or PR ways.

If you were able to play a part in our survival, I and many others in the community will be forever grateful.

Please give this matter your urgent attention to keep my club alive.​

Yours sincerely​

​

 

[Shrimper]

Smiffy, or anyone in the know, could you tell me why there has to 50 e-mails/letters for them to make a statement?

 

[Benfleet A1]

Sent mine.......Fingers crossed.

One thing I would say is I am not so sure on the transfering of shares etc. We know nothing about the consortium so until we do I for one am wary. Hence in my letter I simply asked him to consider the supporters and the town as a whole when making any decisons and dealing with the redevelopment.

Us older chaps know the Rubin Family. Quite a few older fans would tell you they were bent as an hairpin but at least we were solvent under them. Its been pretty much downhill ever since with our saviour chairmen.

 

[Hotman]

Smiffy, or anyone in the know, could you tell me why there has to 50 e-mails/letters for them to make a statement?

If you had ever received 50 letters, you would understand. Until then I cannot help

 

[pickledseal]

Smiffy, or anyone in the know, could you tell me why there has to 50 e-mails/letters for them to make a statement?

It perhaps came from a figure I mentioned on here.
I do a fair bit of letter writing to MPs, MEPs etc for various charities. The magic figure that is always cited is 50.... 50 different letter/emails from 50 real people in a week really puts something on the agenda.

I've found a link which says something similar here:

MPs rather naturally take a sudden influx of identical or similar messages with a large pinch of salt, since they know that what they are seeing is stuff from a minority of constituents who are either impassioned/neurotic about the topic concerned or who are easily gulled into agreeing with some plausible story and sending the message, since it takes minimum effort to do so.

Given a daily mailbag of (say) 50 individual messages from individual constituents, on a wide range of topics, when the mailbag suddenly rises to 100 a day, 50 of which are much the same as each other, the representative has no way at all of knowing whether the message concerned is representative of opinion in the constituency.

All he or she knows is that 50 constituents have been persuaded to mail them about 'topic X'. Much more notice is taken of trends within the regular flow of messages from clearly identified constituents. If in a month 50 people write in different ways and through different routes with similar views on a subject, this is much more likely to raise the profile of the topic with the MP.

http://www.writetothem.com/about-qa#formletters

I'd same MPs are similar in many ways to CEOs

 

[OldBlueLady]

Just a thought but I kind of had an inkling that there was a supporter (and possibly Trust member) that is quite important in the world of sports journalism writing in the Sun - if anyone on here has an appropriate email address can that not be added in for the ccing?

 

[Razam]

I haven't sent mine yet, I wanted to ask if all the CC's could be put in the OP, rather than scattered around the thread. THNX :)

Any mods able to do the above?
also what about CC'ing Collymore or Martin on TalkSport??

 

[Pubey]

Just a thought but I kind of had an inkling that there was a supporter (and possibly Trust member) that is quite important in the world of sports journalism writing in the Sun - if anyone on here has an appropriate email address can that not be added in for the ccing?

I don't get the press angle, I can understand wanting clarity from Saino's... but why would The Sun, for example, be interested? "Club in peril" stories are two a penny these days, unfortunately.

 

[OldBlueLady]

I don't get the press angle, I can understand wanting clarity from Saino's... but why would The Sun, for example, be interested? "Club in peril" stories are two a penny these days, unfortunately.

I would imagine it's just a case of involving as many people as possible, particularly those who might possibly have the clout to give the cause some exposure.

 

[Pubey]

I would imagine it's just a case of involving as many people as possible, particularly those who might possibly have the clout to give the cause some exposure.

1. what cause?
2. what's the benefit in giving 'the cause' exposure?

We're absolutely ****ed, but I haven't seen a coherent strategy from anyone that makes any sense other than 'wait and pray'. Exposing our troubles alerts yet more creditors, and puts off more and more signings...

 

[ms brush]

I posted my letter to Mr King at Sainsburys this afternoon, but have not copied to the press.

Reason being, as someone already suggested, is that with the exception of a few, many clubs are in trouble so another desparate bail out story isnt newsworthy. Surely, a successful lower key campaign, where we get a pledge of action to save our club would be a far better story for them, as the Sun, Sky News etc are in the business of selling news, not building and maintaining brand loyalty like sainsburys need to.

Would rather keep the whole thing under the radar and pop up with a national 'Sainsburys are new owners of SUFC' headlines!!