Echo News A statement from Southend United chairman Ron Martin (26/10/20)

[in the know]

Cant believe rons getting so much stick! Yes we have a poor playing squad and yes results have been terrible but im not quite sure what else ron could do at this present time? We have brought in 6 players which mark molsley picked and so far they havent helped.Also if anyone didnt notice but there is a worldwide pandemic and football clubs especially in league 2 arent making any money due to fans not being allowed at games.Hes trying to pay off the tax bill each month and im sure when he goes to HMRC he will pay some more off.It must be an absolute nightmare trying to run southend united football club right now and i think the guy should be cut some slack.

Shrimpet. Steve......Maybe try imagining being one of Rons employees for a second. With bills and mortgages to pay and then to regularly find you havent been paid again and to receive false promises blah blah. The nonsense he promises is only equalled by the lack of warnings when its going to happen!
This was occuring pre-pandemic!!
Hopefully it wont happen any more as he may be on his last warnings before a serious punishment from the powers that be.
But when you say 'give him some slack' ... Hes a ridiculously poor employer, and a teller of porkies at best...
I dont want to know your circumstances, but imagine those things happening to you, and then thinking that person needs some slack!

 

[jaffa1]

So I'm reading that as Ron was relying on the rescue package to pay off HMRC in full. 12 point deduction here we come.

 

[tottenham541]

The thing that gets me is that he never blames himself for unpaid debts no matter who he owes money to, relying on the money from other parties to pay the bills is just asking for trouble, it doesn’t look good at all.

 

[Barry.C]

But Ron absolutely assured the bill would be paid in full and the embargo lifted in his BBC Essex interview from his asset rich Holding Company. Surely theres no way Ron would go back on his word , its his BOND after all ??

 

[Shrimper]

Why do u think this? There is a pandemic and there is no funds coming into the club.Dont u think Hmrc know how tough this must be ?

HMRC will be fully aware we've sold two players, received a sell on fee from Yearwood and sold around 1500 season tickets.

 

[Danshrimper]

Why do u think this? There is a pandemic and there is no funds coming into the club.Dont u think Hmrc know how tough this must be ?

HMRC will have little sympathy because things are tough. Either we make a payment, or a sizeable part payment with evidence that the rest can be paid, or we’re finished. I’m fairly certain that a sufficient part payment will be made on Wednesday and the case will be adjourned again, but there will be no extra leniency from the courts on the basis that things are tough.

 

[GBJ]

Why do u think this? There is a pandemic and there is no funds coming into the club.Dont u think Hmrc know how tough this must be ?

Fair play to you mate, you had me going for a few weeks, which isn’t easy.

 

[fbm]

HMRC will be fully aware we've sold two players, received a sell on fee from Yearwood and sold around 1500 season tickets.

We may not have received all the money from the sales though, and the club still has to be run yet with absolutely minimal income from iFollow. Much of the season ticket money hasn't been released to the club as it's still held by Lloyds.

My prediction is that he will pay or have paid a chunk - but not all - of the debt by Wednesday, leaving the embargo still in place with more debt to pay off, which he will hope to do before January.

In the meantime he will be hoping for the return of the injured players and the fact that we will scrape a few points together. I've seen enough from the loanees to see that we may actually be quite a decent side going forwards, but we need stronger striker options. There's tons of time left, no point in pushing the panic button just yet.

 

[Jai]

Shrimpet. Steve......Maybe try imagining being one of Rons employees for a second. With bills and mortgages to pay and then to regularly find you havent been paid again and to receive false promises blah blah. The nonsense he promises is only equalled by the lack of warnings when its going to happen!
This was occuring pre-pandemic!!
Hopefully it wont happen any more as he may be on his last warnings before a serious punishment from the powers that be.
But when you say 'give him some slack' ... Hes a ridiculously poor employer, and a teller of porkies at best...
I dont want to know your circumstances, but imagine those things happening to you, and then thinking that person needs some slack!

I find it curious that Shrimpet Steve is willing to cut Ron, whose neglect of the running of this football club for the past four years has essentially caused all of our problems, some slack, and not Mark Molesley who has inherited the worst and most unbalanced playing squad in the club's history.

That said the statement isn't a terrible one as some have said. He is trying to explain things and most of his explanations do stack up, he just fails to openly say that the underlying reason for all the issues over the years have been due to the club being run horrendously.

I think he's still probably working on Wednesday's issue and as such hasn't come out with a definite stance. I guess we just have to hope for the best.

 

[GNH]

I think we can safely assume from that statement that we won't be paying off the tax bill on Wednesday.

If that was the case RM's statement would have started with that fact, mentioned it around 37 times in the middle and concluded with us being reminded of it. It's lack of being addressed at all speaks volumes.

Expect no favours from the Judge or HMRC this week because of the current global disaster, this non payment to HMRC has been going on for years and years and it all relates to pre-Covid issues as mentioned elsewhere and can find it roots in the appalling way our finances have been handled over the past 5-6 years. They know it, we know it and SUFC knows it.

I would love to find out how much we've paid in costs for all the 'mutual consent' partings we've had over that period for both players and managers. I suggest that is one league we would be top of by a country mile.

So sad

 

[overseas shrimper]

My understanding from the last statement that we will survive as RM had arranged for funding to come in from outside sources and Lloyd's Bank.Now he is suggesting that he is waiting for some sort of bailout from PL EFL or the Government.Yet again supporters are left with more questions than answers. Sorry Ron we need reassurance not ambiguous statements.

Perhaps he has none to give.

 

[blues exile]

The usual masterclass in evasion and ambiguity. Meaningless and hardly worth wasting time to read it.

 

[Swiss Tony]

Unless we pay off at least half I reckon it's goodnight Irene

Is that the cleaners name?

 

[londonblue]

Was about to renew my Season Ticket and then remembered the hearing is Wednesday - any chance we go into Administration do you reckon or will we pull the Rabbit out of the hat again??

Neither. I suspect it won't be paid in full, but that RM has been speaking to HMRC and they'll be happy to defer once more.

Then he'll have to pay before January otherwise we'll have no chance of staying up.

Which leaves me with 2 things to say:

1. Happy embargo birthday. I'm not sure of the exact date, but it looks like, pretty soon, we're going to have been under an embargo for over year.
2. It must make RM so proud to know he's going to be the 1st chairman of Southend United to take them out of the football league.

 

[TheGoat]

My problem with this is that IF the debt is not settled on Wednesday, then how could Ron in good faith and with any genuine morality have openly quashed the fans’ efforts to raise the money to help with the debt. He said and I quote “the debt will be paid.” It’s one thing to lie to everybody the whole time to cover yourself but it’s a whole other thing when you play with honest football fans who want to help their football club, which Ron may not realise but was actually around for 92 years before he came and took it over!
We get how impossibly hard it must be atm (even though Ron’s problems go back way before Covid) but come on man, a little honesty to the fans is surely a fair thing to ask!

 

[londonblue]

Seemed pretty realistic to me. We have a squad that is working hard and learning game by game. We have experienced players sidelined that collectively, added to the matchday team, would make a considerable difference. We can call for more signings but the club, like many clubs, is in a precarious position, compounded and confounded by the uncertainty of covid.

RM is trying to live within the means available. Difficult with such little income. His words were supportive of the current team and manager and he inferred continued financial support for the club.

He didn't mention Wednesday which many see as him struggling to raise the funds. It may be he has options to consider, pay part of pay all, and has to work out which is best for the sustainability of the club at this present time. Revenue streams ebb and flow more than the Thames and do not always coincide with the due date of some debts.

If he can't discharge the whole amount owed to HMRC, but can pay an acceptable part and cover all staff wages, then we live to fight another day. I don't know the full situation but then neither do any of the negative posters on here. Ron is the only one with all the facts and figures and the decisions are his to make.

We have been a club in freefall for some time. Ron is trying to unpack the parachute.

Many, myself included, wanted the overpaid and underperforming players, to be shown the door. We also wanted a young, on the up, manager. Ron has given us what we asked for. It was always going to be a rebuild from there. The fans clamour for statements when what we really need is a dose of realism and a pile of patience.

He's leaving it ****ing late then.

 

[londonblue]

Cant believe rons getting so much stick! Yes we have a poor playing squad and yes results have been terrible but im not quite sure what else ron could do at this present time? We have brought in 6 players which mark molsley picked and so far they havent helped.Also if anyone didnt notice but there is a worldwide pandemic and football clubs especially in league 2 arent making any money due to fans not being allowed at games.Hes trying to pay off the tax bill each month and im sure when he goes to HMRC he will pay some more off.It must be an absolute nightmare trying to run southend united football club right now and i think the guy should be cut some slack.

Out of interest, why are you prepared to go out of your way to excuse Ron, but won't give MM any slack whatsoever? More to the point, if you're prepared to accept all the arguments you put forward above, how do you think a change of manager will make any difference? Do you think a different manager would have been able to afford better players that are further up his wish list? Or does the financial position not apply to MM for some reason?

 

[GBJ]

My problem with this is that IF the debt is not settled on Wednesday, then how could Ron in good faith and with any genuine morality have openly quashed the fans’ efforts to raise the money to help with the debt. He said and I quote “the debt will be paid.” It’s one thing to lie to everybody the whole time to cover yourself but it’s a whole other thing when you play with honest football fans who want to help their football club, which Ron may not realise but was actually around for 92 years before he came and took it over!
We get how impossibly hard it must be atm (even though Ron’s problems go back way before Covid) but come on man, a little honesty to the fans is surely a fair thing to ask...Jesus

I could be wrong here, so happy to be corrected if so... back in 2010ish, when the first winding-up order came down on us, I believe we the fans managed to raise around £10k.

And it goes without saying that times were much better back then, than they are now. I’d be surprised if we managed to raise £10k now, which even if we could, is a mere drop in the ocean

 

[Harry Bullocks]

Wednesday's looking like being a grim day in our history .....

 

[Flinty]

More importantly how will HMRC view being told there is no money to pay the debt off, yet it is in the public domain that he stated the parent Company are cash rich and can / will pay the debt off by the next court date.....surely reading that, and then hearing his cash strapped pleas as to why he cant pay, they will assume he is mugging them off !