New stadium or Dome Discussion

[Pubey]

Protest about what? We're in L1, which is probably our long-run average position. We're hand to mouth and reliant on an owner to keep us going, but that's not unusual. We're competitive on the pitch and so why would you want to start protesting? I genuinely don't get it.

 

[Neil 15GB]

Really ? You don't get it? Your club is going to collapse in front of your eyes - Roots Hall will be houses and SUFC will become AFC Southend. I have great affection for the club having watched them for more than a decade but honestly the club is stuffed. Smiffy gets it but too many of you are standing by and letting this car crash happen. What a terrible shame.

 

[Pubey]

Really ? You don't get it? Your club is going to collapse in front of your eyes - Roots Hall will be houses and SUFC will become AFC Southend. I have great affection for the club having watched them for more than a decade but honestly the club is stuffed. Smiffy gets it but too many of you are standing by and letting this car crash happen. What a terrible shame.

last time I checked there's still a covenant on the RH land - we can't just suddenly be evicted with nowhere to go, even if people do constantly say the covenant means nothing (surely that defeats the whole concept of having a covenant drawn up in the first place).

The FF/RH move makes some amount of sense. You sell off prime land and build a stadium on cheaper land. However RM hasn't been able to finance that in a way which is agreeable for him. He can't have been too far off with Sainos, but then they pulled out, things have lapsed and we're back to square one. What do people want, Ron to walk and leave us with nothing, or to enjoy the football and hope that in the future things will turn around? I don't get what the magic bullet is that will occur if we start protesting. We haven't had serious financial issues (non-payment of players) for quite a while. We continue to buy, pay and develop our team, and that's thanks to the "money" that Ron is able to shuffle about to keep us going.

 

[Chalky]

last time I checked there's still a covenant on the RH land - we can't just suddenly be evicted with nowhere to go, even if people do constantly say the covenant means nothing (surely that defeats the whole concept of having a covenant drawn up in the first place).

The FF/RH move makes some amount of sense. You sell off prime land and build a stadium on cheaper land. However RM hasn't been able to finance that in a way which is agreeable for him. He can't have been too far off with Sainos, but then they pulled out, things have lapsed and we're back to square one. What do people want, Ron to walk and leave us with nothing, or to enjoy the football and hope that in the future things will turn around? I don't get what the magic bullet is that will occur if we start protesting. We haven't had serious financial issues (non-payment of players) for quite a while. We continue to buy, pay and develop our team, and that's thanks to the "money" that Ron is able to shuffle about to keep us going.

100% Agree with all of this.

 

[Pubey]

Also - if Ron was happy to grind the club into nothing so that he could get rich off of the RH and FF land... wouldn't he have done that already?

Anyway, I don't want to get into "Ron is misunderstood", "Ron is satan", "rose tinted" etc. My question remains - what would you be protesting about and what would you hope your protest would achieve??

 

[Pubey]

[video=youtube;9gSQg1i_q2g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gSQg1i_q2g[/video]

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

last time I checked there's still a covenant on the RH land - we can't just suddenly be evicted with nowhere to go, even if people do constantly say the covenant means nothing (surely that defeats the whole concept of having a covenant drawn up in the first place).

The FF/RH move makes some amount of sense. You sell off prime land and build a stadium on cheaper land. However RM hasn't been able to finance that in a way which is agreeable for him. He can't have been too far off with Sainos, but then they pulled out, things have lapsed and we're back to square one. What do people want, Ron to walk and leave us with nothing, or to enjoy the football and hope that in the future things will turn around? I don't get what the magic bullet is that will occur if we start protesting. We haven't had serious financial issues (non-payment of players) for quite a while. We continue to buy, pay and develop our team, and that's thanks to the "money" that Ron is able to shuffle about to keep us going.

I think the biggest worry is that the club could just collapse overnight, without warning. Each year our debts get worse, while we're hanging onto the dream of a new stadium...and it is a dream, because we have nothing substantial to show it can be achieved. Yes, it's admirable how RM has managed to take us this far by juggling the finances, but how long can it last ? I'm with Smiffy on this. We're paying customers and deserve to be treated better.

 

[Jam_Man]

Really ? You don't get it? Your club is going to collapse in front of your eyes - Roots Hall will be houses and SUFC will become AFC Southend. I have great affection for the club having watched them for more than a decade but honestly the club is stuffed. Smiffy gets it but too many of you are standing by and letting this car crash happen. What a terrible shame.

You've been saying that a long time Neil, yet we are still here.

In 2013 you were telling us we would be gone in 2014

That's the harsh reality. The club (company) has no assets and can not service it's debt from ordinary operating income. Therefore it depends on a property deal to underpin cash flow. As soon as the deal is done the cash will disappear, RM will cash his development profit and SUFC will go into administration. This will happen next season.

Only in May you were saying his plan was to put us in admin when the stadium was built

Every word is spot on. If only everyone could get it like you do. SUFC maybe in the old second division but that just makes I easier to put the cob into administration which is certain to happen once the new stadium is built.

Now you are saying we will just disappear.

I would say most of us know the financial mess the club is in, not many think otherwise. (Except one poster who thinks we have 5 million in the bank and another who thinks SUFC is a profit making machine:smile:)

Your negativity around the club and the ground and the way Prospects has been messed around is totally understandable and justified, but despite being involved in the mess close up you dont know Rons intentions anymore than the rest of us.

Personally I still believe he wants us in a new stadium, I just doubt he has any means to achieve it.

 

[Sentinel]

Would the club going bust really be such a bad thing?

Think about it. We re-start the club the following season in the Essex Senior League and take huge crowds to every Essex Senior League ground out there. We compete in the FA Cup extra Prelimanry rounds, the FA VAse and various other obscure trophies. We make our way up the Ryman league, into the conference then finally get to the shining lights of the Conference (sorry national) premier before making a triumphant return to the football league. Rather than being the worst thing ever to happen, it would be one hell of a journey that every Shrimpers fan would be part of.

The only really obstacle would be getting a new ground, but these things aren't impossible to solve.

 

[RobM]

Would the club going bust really be such a bad thing?

Think about it. We re-start the club the following season in the Essex Senior League and take huge crowds to every Essex Senior League ground out there. We compete in the FA Cup extra Prelimanry rounds, the FA VAse and various other obscure trophies. We make our way up the Ryman league, into the conference then finally get to the shining lights of the Conference (sorry national) premier before making a triumphant return to the football league. Rather than being the worst thing ever to happen, it would be one hell of a journey that every Shrimpers fan would be part of.

The only really obstacle would be getting a new ground, but these things aren't impossible to solve.

I think it's a bit more involved than that!

 

[Jam_Man]

Would the club going bust really be such a bad thing?

Think about it. We re-start the club the following season in the Essex Senior League and take huge crowds to every Essex Senior League ground out there. We compete in the FA Cup extra Prelimanry rounds, the FA VAse and various other obscure trophies. We make our way up the Ryman league, into the conference then finally get to the shining lights of the Conference (sorry national) premier before making a triumphant return to the football league. Rather than being the worst thing ever to happen, it would be one hell of a journey that every Shrimpers fan would be part of.

The only really obstacle would be getting a new ground, but these things aren't impossible to solve.

Yes it would be disastrous, the club as we know and have known it will be gone.

I wouldn't be interested in seeing us at that level.

 

[Jai]

Would be a hell of a long journey too. FC United of Manchester are still two leagues away from the Football League, despite being a splinter club of one of the best supported clubs in the world and having been around for a decade now.

How about Darlington? Hardly ripping things up. Scarborough? Even worse, IIRC their fans couldn't agree and split into two entities, they don't even play in the town any more.

I agree with Smiffy, but at the moment any kind of protest is likely to fail to muster enough support (because there isn't enough information available and most fans are happy with blissful ignorance). I think the November cabinet meeting, where the council have requested information from Ron on the latest with the project, may at last provide some evidence for what most of us know already: there is no progress and there will be no progress on the new ground under the current chairman.

 

[FarmdogSUFC]

Yes it would be disastrous, the club as we know and have known it will be gone.

I wouldn't be interested in seeing us at that level.

Glory hunter :winking:

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Would the club going bust really be such a bad thing?

Think about it. We re-start the club the following season in the Essex Senior League and take huge crowds to every Essex Senior League ground out there. We compete in the FA Cup extra Prelimanry rounds, the FA VAse and various other obscure trophies. We make our way up the Ryman league, into the conference then finally get to the shining lights of the Conference (sorry national) premier before making a triumphant return to the football league. Rather than being the worst thing ever to happen, it would be one hell of a journey that every Shrimpers fan would be part of.

The only really obstacle would be getting a new ground, but these things aren't impossible to solve.

Is this a genuinely serious post?

If so, then jesus ****ing Christ!

 

[Smiffy]

Would be a hell of a long journey too. FC United of Manchester are still two leagues away from the Football League, despite being a splinter club of one of the best supported clubs in the world and having been around for a decade now.

How about Darlington? Hardly ripping things up. Scarborough? Even worse, IIRC their fans couldn't agree and split into two entities, they don't even play in the town any more.

I agree with Smiffy, but at the moment any kind of protest is likely to fail to muster enough support (because there isn't enough information available and most fans are happy with blissful ignorance). I think the November cabinet meeting, where the council have requested information from Ron on the latest with the project, may at last provide some evidence for what most of us know already: there is no progress and there will be no progress on the new ground under the current chairman.

Exactly my thoughts.

Come November, if we are still none the wiser, I fully believe that pressure needs to be applied to those at the top.

I'm not talking about disorganised and frankly embarrassing protests in the car park, I am talking about proper organised and constructive sit down discussions between the fan groups and Ron. If he refuses to do so or just spouts the same old crap he has done for the last 15 years, then it is time for a Plan B.

We have been fed nothing but ******** for 15 years and treated like idiots. It's about time we pulled together and got honest and transparent answers.

 

[Liam AAS]

Also here:

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/13778529.2_000_seat_cinema_announced_for_Southend/?ref=twtrec

 

[Jai]

Interesting. Another false dawn no doubt although will be interesting to read, if only I could get the Echo in Chelmsford/Witham.

Also, what is a 12-screan cinema?

 

[Norwichsufc]

Another article here
http://www.southendrising.com/news

 

[Jam_Man]

Another article here
http://www.southendrising.com/news

Which answers a big question

"Martin Dawn Plc is in advanced discussions with British Land plc to forward fund the first phase of development, including the new stadium. British Land Plc is the UK’s largest listed owner and manager of retail space and a market leader in the design and development of Shopping Parks."

 

[RHB]

Interesting. Another false dawn no doubt although will be interesting to read, if only I could get the Echo in Chelmsford/Witham.

Also, what is a 12-screan cinema?

At the risk of going off topic, you can get an electronic version of the Echo if you are desperate to read stuff. Not a bad price against the hard copy version.

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/eedition/