I think we need to go bust to survive

[CAPTAIN BIRDSEYE]

After watching the game on saturday, I have reached the very sad conclusion, that the only way out of this mess, is to actual get wound up, and go bust. then reform, aka wimbledon, chester, halifax,etc etc. for there is no getting away from it, we are very close to the end, both on and off the pitch. the only way that ron martin is going to be beaten. if we start up a new club, he cannot get his hands on that . I realise the dream is over, and that we will not for a very very long time see days like 4 years ago. I know accept that deep down. Martin has killed us dead in the water, and sucked everything out of us. we are nothing, just a 2 bob team scrapping around the bottom of div 2, and would expect to us to go into the conference, possibly with a points deduction if we go into administration . Are the trust ready to set up a new club, oh no!! silly old me, they are to busy making inane statements in the local press, how they will miss geoffrey king!!!!! and welcome the new chief executive, not one word of dissent against martin and the current regime. but then you have private chats to him dont you?? and he chums you and you chum him. you dont represent the fans just your self satisfying little circle of chums

 

[Csboy]

Ive been saying that for a while AFC Southend is the only way to go. Ron Martin has virtually killed SUFC in its present form. The new ground is nowhere insight, there is no money, if we dont go out of the League this season we will go out of the league in the next few years. The only way now is to do a Chester and get the club wound up and start again even if it means starting in the Essex Senior League at least it will be our club and the likes of Martin and Jobson can never get their hands on it again.

 

[David Essex]

AFC Southend are you serious......Up the blues. why is it the only way? this surley is a wind up

 

[ibwiajwa]

AFC Southend are you serious......Up the blues. why is it the only way? this surley is a wind up

Exactly. What is the evidence for your 'the end is nigh' placard, Birdseye? We are not playing well? We've had suspensions. We are near the bottom of the league? We have games in hand on most of them. We are not playing the football of four years ago? We've had an entirely new team for four months. Yes, these are difficult times for our club, but many clubs are struggling in the current financial climate. There are some decent players there - keep the faith! UTB!

 

[Mick]

AFC Southend are you serious......Up the blues. why is it the only way? this surley is a wind up

Yes, I think a wind up is exactly what he is suggesting.

 

[Gt Yarmouth Shrimper]

After watching the game on saturday, I have reached the very sad conclusion, that the only way out of this mess, is to actual get wound up, and go bust. then reform, aka wimbledon, chester, halifax,etc etc. for there is no getting away from it, we are very close to the end, both on and off the pitch. the only way that ron martin is going to be beaten. if we start up a new club, he cannot get his hands on that . I realise the dream is over, and that we will not for a very very long time see days like 4 years ago. I know accept that deep down. Martin has killed us dead in the water, and sucked everything out of us. we are nothing, just a 2 bob team scrapping around the bottom of div 2, and would expect to us to go into the conference, possibly with a points deduction if we go into administration . Are the trust ready to set up a new club, oh no!! silly old me, they are to busy making inane statements in the local press, how they will miss geoffrey king!!!!! and welcome the new chief executive, not one word of dissent against martin and the current regime. but then you have private chats to him dont you?? and he chums you and you chum him. you dont represent the fans just your self satisfying little circle of chums

What started as a sensible post, which would have lead to a mature and passionate debate, just decended into an attack on the club and the trust. Well done Captain

 

[shallowshrimper]

I must admit that as a worst case scenario this is something I have wondered about, obviously no one wants things to come to that but if worst comes to worst it must be worth considering. After all we have a fan base at least as big if not bigger than the likes of the teams mentioned above and we seem to have a council that is supportive of having a decent football team in the town. The first stumbling block to me would be where would we play, what would happen to fossets farm if there were no Ron and no stadium,I doubt if only the retail element would go ahead.

I hope of course this all just remains conjecture and that uncle ron has something up his sleeve but as time has gone on I get less and less hopeful.

 

[MK Shrimper]

If we go bust it'll take 15+ years for Southend AFC to get to this paltry level, if at all. All we can hope for is league survival at the moment, and hopefully the removal of Sturrock and Martin in the summer of 2011.

 

[tangerine dream]

I think it's safe to assume that you're not one of the many local businesses owed money too by SUFC.

 

[turkishm]

After watching the game on saturday, I have reached the very sad conclusion, that the only way out of this mess, is to actual get wound up, and go bust. then reform, aka wimbledon, chester, halifax,etc etc. for there is no getting away from it, we are very close to the end, both on and off the pitch. the only way that ron martin is going to be beaten. if we start up a new club, he cannot get his hands on that . I realise the dream is over, and that we will not for a very very long time see days like 4 years ago. I know accept that deep down. Martin has killed us dead in the water, and sucked everything out of us. we are nothing, just a 2 bob team scrapping around the bottom of div 2, and would expect to us to go into the conference, possibly with a points deduction if we go into administration . Are the trust ready to set up a new club, oh no!! silly old me, they are to busy making inane statements in the local press, how they will miss geoffrey king!!!!! and welcome the new chief executive, not one word of dissent against martin and the current regime. but then you have private chats to him dont you?? and he chums you and you chum him. you dont represent the fans just your self satisfying little circle of chums

The present team with everybody fit and not suspended is as good as any in this div outside top 6 or 7. a couple of decent loans in Jan window, and i think we will be ok. To talk of going bust is imo a bit over the top, half the teams in this league arnt much better of than us, we cant all go to the wall just because things are tough at the moment, we have been here before and managed,and we will do it again, imo.

 

[Cricko]

The present team with everybody fit and not suspended is as good as any in this div outside top 6 or 7. a couple of decent loans in Jan window, and i think we will be ok. To talk of going bust is imo a bit over the top, half the teams in this league arnt much better of than us, we cant all go to the wall just because things are tough at the moment, we have been here before and managed,and we will do it again, imo.

The problem with that is it will only happen about once in every 10 games.

 

[turkishm]

The problem with that is it will only happen about once in every 10 games.

Then PS has got to get it right in the Jan window then, so that we have players who can make a difference when coming of the bench. But i do take your point, i suppose getting half decent players here is easier said than done.

 

[TravellingBlue]

I personally believe going bust would be a disaster and the death knell of this club. Going bust is not just having no money and starting again. Going bust is loosing everything, the name, the ground the ability to trade etc.

We need to ride this out, we need to survive.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Can I just ask, what's stopping you from starting this yourself? It's not as if you'd require a golden share from the club in it's current entity as you'll be starting from scratch anyway. If you're confident that this is the only way forward, why not put the wheels in motion now as opposed to criticising the Trust for not doing the same?

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

What point would there be in starting a new club now? As much as we all hate Ron, chairman come & go. As it stands I see three possible outcomes;

a) We scrape by, the stadium somehow gets built, Ron sells up & leaves. SUFC Survives.
b) We end up in admin & get bought out. SUFC Survives.
c) We got to the wall. SUFC Ceases To Exist

For arguments sake lets say they each have an equal chance of happening. If you've already started AFC Southend and either a) or b) happen (66.6% chance) and you've gained significant fanbase then all you will have suceeded in doing is dividing both sides support so that neither is capable of supporting a football league side. And if a new side was started now & took a significant number of fans with it, the demise of our beloved 104 year old club becomes more likely, making those starting a new club before the demise of our current one, just as culpable as Ron.

In the event of SUFC ceasing to exist is the time to start a new SUFC, not now. By all means make plans, put things in place but for the love god, don't start a new club whilst this ones still exists.

 

[Beefy]

FCUM have shown that you don't need the Club to go bust in order to start again. If people feel passionately about this then start a new Club free from the grasp of the Devil known as Martin. I'm not sure what that would have to do with The Trust though as clearly until SUFC go bust there will be many Southend fans more interested in supporting the current Club.

 

[* ORM *]

Don't be too hasty to criticise. I'm waiting to see what January brings but I'm not hopeful. The simple fact is that injuries and suspensions happen to all clubs. Some squads are good enough but the table never lies. Games in hand mean nothing. This thread could be very relevant in 5-6 weeks time at which point I wouldn't necessarily disagree with some of the thoughts at the start of this thread

 

[Csboy]

There are still so many Southend fans viewing everything through rose tinted specs thinking everything will be alright and all we need is to sign a few players in january and we will be alright.
Wake up its far bigger than that. The club is screwed if the new ground was being built we would have something to cling onto but it isn't and not likely to be. As Private Frazer said 'We are doomed'. No money, No ground,no decent players and a Chairman who screwed us good and proper. This is even worse than it was in December 1984 when the club very nearly folded. At least then we still owned Roots hall now we have nothing.
AFC Southend is not a wind up its a reality. Playing at a lower level might be difficult but at least it would be our club. Wimbledon fans had seen their club win the FA Cup and play in the top Division for over 10 years but they accepted that they had to reform to keep the club alive and play at a very low level and now they are not that far off being a League club again. It might be painful for a longtime watching Southend in a low level but in the end it may well be worth it.

 

[southendkid]

I've seen no worrying news financially for ages, that could just be because SZ has been down but still...
Yes we are going to struggle in this league but it is not the only way, theres just as much chance of us being taken over in 10 years and ending up doing well as there is starting a new club up and believing we will make it to the conference in 15 years

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

The difference between FCUM and us however is Man Utd have quite a hefty fanbase to begin with, so can afford to lose a few. We don't.

By all means put building blocks in place, make plans. But actually start AFC Southend before this one goes bust? No.