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Supporters Group News Meeting with Ron 15th

Ah but he did say at one point he'd be making monthly statements didnt he?

Not fussed tbh i get enough ear pie from the wife.
He did indeed say he'd update us more often, but that stopped prettyuch before it began. At the end of the day, does it matter? When he doesn't say anything, it's bad and when he does say something it's rubbish.
 
Ah but he did say at one point he'd be making monthly statements didn't he?

Not fussed tbh i get enough ear pie from the wife.

A few times during his tenure he has said he will make regular statements to inform the fans. It's something he has never kept to. So I just ignore it now, it's an empty promise.
 
Very unlike Ron.

He always comes out with that one when the revolting peasants are revolting. They ask why is the club sinking? Why are we in court again? Why are we skint? Are we going out of business? What's happening with the promised new stadium? Why can't we sign players? What are you doing to our club? Why are we kept in the dark? Etc, etc. They want to have a mass protest, and he says he will soon be making a statement, and also to keep the fans and staff more informed with an update every blah blah. It's just to calm everyone down at that moment, and to stop any protest. And I'm not a Ron hater. I say how it is. I both praise him and criticise him.
 
@Lord Football is in the process of doing so.

I was present too, and Ron was certainly candid with an acknowledgment that communication will be better going forward. Will leave it to the write up before commenting more.

He could have a page in the match day programmes called "Rons Ramblings" which cover his thoughts on the current clubs status etc and then a couple of answers to some fan questions each match
 
These are the notes I took during the meeting which have been broadly agreed by those in attendance. Not sure what other notes people are referring to.


SUPPORTERS MEETING WITH ON. 15th FEBRUARY

Meeting held by Zoom, usual suspects.

We’d provided questions to Paul Fitz (ST) ahead of the meeting, and to keep things in order he acted as our joint spokesperson. We learned that Ron has had Covid and is still struggling with some of the after effects.

Below is a summary of what Ron said as opposed to any input we may have had.

An acceptance that we might go down, however, doing our best not to. He went back to the Phil Brown days and the split in the camp. We’ve never got the culture back from before the split. RM wanted to rid the team of players who were either troublesome or were earning and not delivering. Chris Powell came in, resolved the problem be lost our “captains”, and we’d not recovered through the next two permanent managers. Nice words about Kevin Bond, Sol Campbell not mentioned. Mark Molesley is still learning on the job, but he does have an affordable, together dressing room. It cost a lost of money to move some of those people on. It is difficult to attract people, based on our current position. John Akinde being an example despite being offered a “League One contract”. Calvin Andrew also noted, but not fully fit and he didn’t come despite terms being agreed. Belief is if we stay up, we have something positive to build on. Accepted we have relatively strong defence and midfield, but not so up front.

Not planning for next season until we know where next season is. There won’t be any announcements on Season Tickets, however, we are receiving money on season tickets from the finance team. No one has been in contact re refunds on season tickets. There will be a financial knock on to what can be put into the club if refunds are made. Others are in the same boat.

We are in a better period of stability on the pitch, and it has taken a long time to get there. A multitude of things have gone wrong. Transfers was one, particularly with injuries. (nothing we haven’t spoken about before).

Doesn’t want to talk about relegation because doing as much as possible to avoid that.

Stadium IS going to happen, it is enabled by the housing issue. Happy to share information. This will build the future of the club, regardless of what league we are in. A lot within the stadium will benefit long term. There will be a hospitality area for 1000 people, which will be open on match days and be able to used on non-match days. There are some limitations to use, but these can be negotiated. There is competition with the O2 which limits what can be done. Club will benefit from anything like that. Ownership is technically with Ron. If the club was sold, the stadium would be part of that.
(LF note, this was all pretty vague, particularly around future potential ownership) There is no developments at Roots Hall until the Club has moved, these are just rumours.

There will be a lease on the new ground, in the same manner as Roots Hall. There has been no rent charged and no rent paid. Nothing will change. Objective is to write off all debts when we move. However, if the team came into a windfall, such as a massive transfer fee, consideration may be given to easing the rent write off

Council have a couple of complementary planning issues, Fossets / Roots Hall and Queensway. Expected to go to Committee date in April, not expecting any catch up in purdah as election dates might slip .
(LF note, Council Cockle advises otherwise). All financial considerations have been discussed, which people were able to see online. Council support the club surviving and growning, and understand a new stadium is fundamental.

There are issues around communications, where things that are said are dismissed as not true. There is a rumour mill that spreads stories, but in terms of communications it is very difficult during Covid. .
(LF note, supporters have offered many times to assist). Despite illness, still in charge of the club.

Better Comms with fans is needed, the protest group made that clear. Want to extend the forum on a “Thursday Surgery” basis on a weekly basis. We can use Zoom and Teams, which were tools we weren’t using ahead of lockdown. It allows easier attendance from SUFC staff. It wouldn’t be limited to the Chairman, we could involve everyone. Open to ideas on how to make things better. Aware that some people accuse of being over exposed.
(LF note, example was given as no update after the “its just a phone call away” comment about the embargo). This was true, and believed at the time we could enter in to a Time To Pay with HMRC, our problem was that we sat outside what we believed the arrangements were. Essentially, there was a change in rules that we fell foul of. Ultimately, the debt was paid in full in one go and that is when we left the embargo. With hindsight, better communications should have been made to the supporters.

Does want a CEO, and we will have one. Doesn’t want one when we are failing as we want someone to take us forward. Will do my best to get this resolved when we announce building plans. It is a very exciting time for the football club, but I can’t communicate everything as I cannot compromise our partners.

There are a lot of people on the Board who would be pleased to give their views from the position they hold.

Salary cap abandonment doesn’t really effect Southend United and we supported it. A salary cap makes it very difficult to compete if you move up the leagues. This may make it easier to pick up free agents.

There have been some mistakes with some players this year, but we’ve also got some successes. We have a better set of players. There are players coming back from injury and free agents who we may pick up. This would give us a bigger squad, which will be an advantage as we start playing two games a week.

We have a new physio in place and will be announced online this week
(LF note, prompted by a fan’s input).

No inside track on crowds attending, but hoping for end of March. But nothing is agreed and please don’t use this as a given.
 
Does want a CEO, and we will have one. Doesn’t want one when we are failing as we want someone to take us forward.

Did he elaborate on what he meant by this? I can't see why a CEO that is good enough to help to stop us failing wouldn't also be able to help take us forward.
 
haha so Ron wants to improve communication but then asks for things he says at a open meeting with fans to be kept secret

Yeah I get that viewpoint but irregardless of my personal opinion, if a request is made for something not to be made public then it should be heeded really.
 
There will be a lease on the new ground, in the same manner as Roots Hall. There has been no rent charged and no rent paid. Nothing will change. Objective is to write off all debts when we move. However, if the team came into a windfall, such as a massive transfer fee, consideration may be given to easing the rent write off


Hugely discouraging.

It's all well and good saying no rent has been charged but this doesn't protect the club going forward. It might be an objective to write off debt but it was also an objective to try and get promoted this season and we're going to fall well short.

Even after the stadium has been completed we're going to have no protection against Ron (or a future owner) running out of money or falling ill. With rent being charged we just aren't a viable business.
 
Hugely discouraging.

It's all well and good saying no rent has been charged but this doesn't protect the club going forward. It might be an objective to write off debt but it was also an objective to try and get promoted this season and we're going to fall well short.

Even after the stadium has been completed we're going to have no protection against Ron (or a future owner) running out of money or falling ill. With rent being charged we just aren't a viable business.
Rent isn’t going to charged just as now. He is just going to build up an inter company liability in the books so that if a massive transfer fee comes in or a big offer to buy the club then there is the opportunity in those circumstances to recover rent not charged. In the end however you wrap it up he owns the club and will own the stadium whether via the club or otherwise. This sort of arrangement is just good business sense even if we just want things gifted in all circumstances.
 
No, because it was specifically requested that that particular but of info was not made public. Not sure who has done so via a WhatsApp message, but they shouldn't have done.
Fair enough. Tbh it was the worlds worst kept secret before the meeting but you are right not to include- would be a great encouragement for future “openness”
 
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