Is Administration the way forward?

[kentblues]

No. Cashflow shortages do. Which administration would do nothing to resolve.

Completely correct unless said cash flow shortage is due to funding such debt which is not the case.
hopefully the penny will soon drop..

 

[steveo]

Do inter company debts result in continual embargo's then?

In admin the debt will not get written off.
It look likes Ron has lent the club more money to keep it going. I know anyone on here appearing to defend Ron usually gets slaughtered but the easiest option for him would have been to let the club go insolvent and walk away probably 4 or 5 years ago.

 

[Cricko]

In admin the debt will not get written off.
It look likes Ron has lent the club more money to keep it going. I know anyone on here appearing to defend Ron usually gets slaughtered but the easiest option for him would have been to let the club go insolvent and walk away probably 4 or 5 years ago.

The covenant Southend Council put on the sale of RH stuffed him big time and did us the biggest favour for any future.

What grates on me the most is all RM lends/borrows call it what you like has been on the back of SUFC..make no mistake he would be in this at all if it was not for his end goal, which counts us very low in the priority order of things.

If he was a multi millionaire with huge capital behind him and he loaned the club monies to help us move forward I would not have a problem..He is as skint as us and moves money around from the cashflow of the club sustaining his own lifestyle and keeping alive his only way out of this whole thing by borrowing more money from Sainsbury's against the asset that once belonged to the fans IE: Roots Hall and 9 times out of 10 making SUFC look crap along the way.

There is no way after taking in the ticket money from Wembley sales we should be in this trouble once again..God only knows what would of happened if we had not made it to Wembley and sold 30k tickets...

He has had numerous investors who have and were willing to put money into the project, some have but he ended up stitching them up as well in his single minded egotistical greed.

The whole new stadium project was always above his means but it appeased the fans for years as it shrunk at every stage. Have no illusions here this is about RM first and foremost and SUFC and mainly Roots Hall was the light he saw to fulfil his own goal.

 

[fbm]

The covenant Southend Council put on the sale of RH stuffed him big time and did us the biggest favour for any future.

What grates on me the most is all RM lends/borrows call it what you like has been on the back of SUFC..make no mistake he would be in this at all if it was not for his end goal, which counts us very low in the priority order of things.

If he was a multi millionaire with huge capital behind him and he loaned the club monies to help us move forward I would not have a problem..He is as skint as us and moves money around from the cashflow of the club sustaining his own lifestyle and keeping alive his only way out of this whole thing by borrowing more money from Sainsbury's against the asset that once belonged to the fans IE: Roots Hall and 9 times out of 10 making SUFC look crap along the way.

There is no way after taking in the ticket money from Wembley sales we should be in this trouble once again..God only knows what would of happened if we had not made it to Wembley and sold 30k tickets...

He has had numerous investors who have and were willing to put money into the project, some have but he ended up stitching them up as well in his single minded egotistical greed.

The whole new stadium project was always above his means but it appeased the fans for years as it shrunk at every stage. Have no illusions here this is about RM first and foremost and SUFC and mainly Roots Hall was the light he saw to fulfil his own goal.

But to be fair, who wouldn't be in it for themselves? As we've all said before, we were unlucky (or maybe not with hindsight) regarding the timing of the credit crunch and the banking crisis.

RM stated at the outset he wasn't a football man. He isn't like Jack Walker, who built Blackburn a stadium and funded them all the way to the Prem title because he was a fan. He isn't like Roman Abramovich, who funds Chelsea for whatever reason he decides to (he wasn't a fan) and it isn't RM's fault that the fans no longer own the stadium.

Football is a screwed business model and the only thing worth having if you're not an agent or player is the land the ground stands on. Plenty of clubs have had new stadia with the old ones being redeveloped for housing/retail parks. Football is a different game from when we grew up (John, was it even invented when you were a kid? :winking:) and as fans we have to adapt and accept. If any of us won the Euro millions, would we seriously consider giving a huge chunk of that to SUFC? And then some more a year or two on? And then more?

I don't know RM's personal financial situation but reading what other people have discovered I understand that most, if not all, of his personal assets are in hock so that we can be funded one way or another, whether it be Sainsburys, individuals or banks. To me, that's the same as him putting his hand in his pocket so I genuinely would thank him for keeping us alive one way or another. And I'm well aware that he will benefit from the deal, which again is ok by me. There would be no reason in doing it if he didn't.

My leap of faith I suppose is concerning the post deal funding. We don't know where that is coming from but is that our business? We don't know where the money to keep us alive is coming from either and no-one seems overly bothered about that. In fact, there are many who seem to think that he's milking the club and that by renewing their season ticket they are lining his pockets. Quite how that can be the case when we're losing so much per month is a mystery to me but there you go.

I guess what I'm saying here is that I don't disagree with you; I just see it all as a rite of passage to our new stadium. And if it doesn't happen and we go bust, well, that almost certainly would have happened anyway. At least this way we have a chance of success given the current state of the game, which at the moment I hate.

 

[McNasty]

One of my worries is that when the 3 sided stadium is built RM walks away with the profits from Roots Hall and leaves us in the lurch.

 

[fbm]

One of my worries is that when the 3 sided stadium is built RM walks away with the profits from Roots Hall and leaves us in the lurch.

I'm sure that's a concern for many... but to do that would make zero sense.

FF isn't just about Southend Utd, it's a retail/business park that has a sports complex. He will have an interest in whatever company or companies own the leases that the shops and businesses take and I'm pretty sure he will have the main if not sole interest in the 4th stand.

Whilst he will undoubtably profit from the RH deal, the long term benefits of the rent will in time exceed that figure many times over and set his whole family up for life. One of the big factors for the tenants of FF would be the fact that thousands of people will be visiting the complex. The more fans, the more chance of success for the whole complex and the more money RM gets.

We may not know or even understand the future income streams for the club, but I cannot see any benefit at all in him just building a 3 sided ground and walking away. In fact, I no longer even hold the view that he'll walk away. I think he'll stay on.

 

[bucket&spade.f.c]

One of my worries is that when the 3 sided stadium is built RM walks away with the profits from Roots Hall and leaves us in the lurch.

Just what I said from day one...................Massive worry in my books

 

[Mick]

I don't know RM's personal financial situation but reading what other people have discovered I understand that most, if not all, of his personal assets are in hock so that we can be funded one way or another,

So all Ron Martin's personal assets are in hock to fund Southend United's lifestyle.

That's an interesting juxtaposition with the view I would subscribe to.

 

[Kevin Hogg]

Until the future unfolds..it is all down to your view on Ron Martin.

Some on here have a view that no matter what the evidence on the outside - RM is in it purely for his own gain. Those views obviously have a basis and the holders of such an opinion seem unwavering in their opposition to RM.

Others just see the facts as they too have unfolded. Unprecedented success (failure mixed in too) on the field in terms of a Championship, play-off success, The Millenium x 3, Wembley, beating Man Utd, largest ever gathering of Shrimpers etc.

The new stadium looks as though it will provide the final chapter..whether it is successfully completed ..or not. But then again, both view points knew it would always come down to Fossets Farm in the end!!

 

[chapperzUK]

One of my worries is that when the 3 sided stadium is built RM walks away with the profits from Roots Hall and leaves us in the lurch.

How much did he actually sell Roots Hall for? I thought that he was making advances from that sale to Sainsbury's to then loan to the club to pay off bills. If that is true, then with every bill that cannot be paid the more and more gets eaten away from the sale.

I thought that for Ron to be able to pay off all the debts of his companies and start becoming profitable, he would need the 4th side built with a hotel chain agreement in place as that is where the money is. Not only because it is within 3 miles of the airport (about £6 for a taxi?) and away fans coming from northern towns for a Friday night game.

 

[Thorpe Groyney]

"But to be fair, who wouldn't be in it for themselves?"

Frankly, no, I wouldn't be. If I was in a position where I could possibly put Southend United into a better position, I wouldn't want anything from it at all. But I guess I'm in a tiny minority these days.

 

[fbm]

So all Ron Martin's personal assets are in hock to fund Southend United's lifestyle.

That's an interesting juxtaposition with the view I would subscribe to.

But it does show that there is more than one way of looking at it.