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Ron’s Latest Statement (24/9/20)

If he dosent make a statement he gets panned , if he does make a statement he still gets panned but worse .Theres no pleasing most of you .

The statement is a disgrace. In one month SUFC will cease to exist unless Martin can present a credible plan to pay HMRC £500k. He doesn’t even acknowledge it.

I don’t think you realise how serious this is.
 
If he dosent make a statement he gets panned , if he does make a statement he still gets panned but worse .Theres no pleasing most of you .

I do not think it is asking too much for the Chairman to actually give supporters the latest update on his Board's efforts to pay outstanding taxes and get what has been a lengthy embargo lifted.
 
I do not think it is asking too much for the Chairman to actually give supporters the latest update on his Board's efforts to pay outstanding taxes and get what has been a lengthy embargo lifted.
Ron has never really talked money to that degree, and quite frankly what businessman would about their company.

I wouldnt tell my clients the financial ins and outs of my company, would you?
 
Ron has never really talked money to that degree, and quite frankly what businessman would about their company.

I wouldnt tell my clients the financial ins and outs of my company, would you?

Thanks for your comment. I take your point. There are clearly circumstances when professional dealings should be kept confidential. But Southend United is not just a private company belonging to one individual. A lot of dedicated people work for the club and a lot of fans spend significant amounts of their hard-earned cash supporting it. I know the Chairman has done more than anyone to keep the club afloat and I really admire his determination to get the club on to a sound financial footing. But the current circumstances with COVID-19 are extraordinary, and it would be great if he could just say a little more to supporters than 'there is nothing to worry about' when there is the threat of a winding-up order in the pipeline.
 
I don’t think Ron would or maybe even could talk about the money.

My guess would he has it/has access to a loan/funding but would rather keep it/keep access to it and pay HMRC just enough to keep them quite and keep enough aside to keep the club running - annoying as it is balancing player in/out, actually this is what a money losing cash strapped club like ours (and now every single L1/2 club) should be doing.

He probs was going to pay in full (As rumoured by those ITK) but then saw the way Covid was heading again or heard inside info about the likelihood of fans coming back, and decided to keep some emergency cash aside.


Legally he probs can’t come out and be like “ah, I’m playing HMRC for fools as always” and he probs legally can’t lie, so he just tells us to relax.

#teamron thanks for a great nights sleep.
 
All you
I don’t think Ron would or maybe even could talk about the money.

My guess would he has it/has access to a loan/funding but would rather keep it/keep access to it and pay HMRC just enough to keep them quite and keep enough aside to keep the club running - annoying as it is balancing player in/out, actually this is what a money losing cash strapped club like ours (and now every single L1/2 club) should be doing.

He probs was going to pay in full (As rumoured by those ITK) but then saw the way Covid was heading again or heard inside info about the likelihood of fans coming back, and decided to keep some emergency cash aside.


Legally he probs can’t come out and be like “ah, I’m playing HMRC for fools as always” and he probs legally can’t lie, so he just tells us to relax.

#teamron thanks for a great nights sleep.
All you say makes sense from a financial point of view but not from the footballing side of things.
Given our present resources our squad needs strengthening as a matter of urgency. Until the embargo is lifted we have no chance of bringing in enough good players to make a difference.
If we are to have a credible season money has to be found and quickly.
Otherwise we are waiting for a miracle unless the plan is to try and stay in the league as cheaply as possible and then hope to avoid relegation by virtue of a number of other clubs going to the wall before the end of the season.
If that is the plan it will not be a very exciting season but I can also see why it would not want to be made public.
 
All you

All you say makes sense from a financial point of view but not from the footballing side of things.
Given our present resources our squad needs strengthening as a matter of urgency. Until the embargo is lifted we have no chance of bringing in enough good players to make a difference.
If we are to have a credible season money has to be found and quickly.
Otherwise we are waiting for a miracle unless the plan is to try and stay in the league as cheaply as possible and then hope to avoid relegation by virtue of a number of other clubs going to the wall before the end of the season.
If that is the plan it will not be a very exciting season but I can also see why it would not want to be made public.

...because then he would have to admit to HMRC that he has the cash or spend excess money we don’t have.

Likeihood is he couldn’t clear HMRC and strengthen the squad.

So we are doing the later and strengthening the squad as per rules

We are bringing in players slowly, it’s only 2 games in not 10. We tend to bring in a fresh face each week, in a couple of weeks plus a few returning from injury we could/should have a good enough squad to survive and enough cash to survive financially.

Not many L1/2 clubs can say that soon.


Id be a lot more scared if I was another team that had signed some expensive players, chairman gambling crowds opening back up and then bang. Big salaries, no income, no crowds for months and just sitting begging for cash from gov/PL.

I think Ron has played a good hand here, it just doesn’t suit everyone’s agenda nor does it suit everyone’s expectations to bounce straight backup, but it’s everyone expectations and believe we should be in the championship that probs got us where we are.

A last point, Ron saying we are pushing for promotion...I would expect nothing different.

If I was leading a team atm in any business, the messaging certainly wouldn’t be to sit back, expect less and see how we go. It would be to set expectation hard, explain everyone else is in same situation and we go again

For what it’s worth, I doubt we will even complete the season unfortunately. What new rules did EFL write for this season for cancelation/postponements? That might be how our fate is decided.
 
The statement is a disgrace. In one month SUFC will cease to exist unless Martin can present a credible plan to pay HMRC £500k. He doesn’t even acknowledge it.

I don’t think you realise how serious this is.

I think the point is that he doesn't think it's as serious as we do, and isn't he actually in the best position to know that?

This is why he seems to have such trouble making statements - because he simply doesn't see the doom-mongers' predictions of failing coming true. He believes things will be sorted and he believes he has methods in hand to do so.
 
Ron has never really talked money to that degree, and quite frankly what businessman would about their company.

I wouldnt tell my clients the financial ins and outs of my company, would you?

If you look at the minutes of past liaison/ trust meetings the financial situation was discussed in quite some detail.

From confirmation that WUOs had been paid to details of which VAT returns were outstanding, which PAYE months were due to be paid and also we were told about default on the wages.

Those meetings are for obvious reasons suspended so social media provides an obvious medium to enable the flow of critical information.

Talking about drones, the numbers in the management team are interesting but to ignore the one thing that could in a blink of an eye render everything else irrelevant is just not helpful.

As for those supposedly ITK it seems to me they are being played by others the trouble is they in turn are playing the vast majority on here that haven’t a clue as to what’s going on and in desperation are having to cling on.
 
Having had a good nights sleep, (cheers Ron), there are a lot of positives in that statement particularly about bringing players in and experienced players returning.

The HMRC debt will be in hand and dealt with, although I suspect it may get adjorned again at the next court date after being significantly reduced. at the moment Ron has got us living within our means which he had to do after gambling on getting up to the championship.

Right now as long as we can keep spinning the HMRC along or hopefully pay them off we are in a far better place than other clubs, Bolton for example are still under an embargo over an unpaid £10M historical debt yet rather than relying on mainly youth this season with no cash coming in they have signed some expensive long term contracts which will come back to bite them if fans stay away until March. They also have the same number of points as us.
 
I think the point is that he doesn't think it's as serious as we do, and isn't he actually in the best position to know that?

This is why he seems to have such trouble making statements - because he simply doesn't see the doom-mongers' predictions of failing coming true. He believes things will be sorted and he believes he has methods in hand to do so.

The trouble is that unless he pays it in full he isn’t in control .

At the last hearing had a more aggressive approach been taken by HMRC then the likelihood was that the order would have been carried out.

There is no doubt that the courts are trying to enable business rescue but a continual trail of default and then broken promises ultimately were the undoing of Macclesfield and that was in these very uncertain terms.

I keep pointing out that part of the adjournment was that all outstanding returns had to be filed and my concern would be that if debts were larger than they were when the WUO was issued then that will change the whole dynamic of HMRCs approach
 
“The HMRC debt will be in hand and dealt with, although I suspect it may get adjorned again at the next court date after being significantly reduced. at the moment Ron has got us living within our means which he had to do after gambling on getting up to the championship.”


Where is the evidence to support any of this?

No football club in the EFL, save the likes of Brentford, Birmingham and Exeter who have received millions in transfer fees will be generating enough cash to pay the wages.
 
The trouble is that unless he pays it in full he isn’t in control .

At the last hearing had a more aggressive approach been taken by HMRC then the likelihood was that the order would have been carried out.

There is no doubt that the courts are trying to enable business rescue but a continual trail of default and then broken promises ultimately were the undoing of Macclesfield and that was in these very uncertain terms.

I keep pointing out that part of the adjournment was that all outstanding returns had to be filed and my concern would be that if debts were larger than they were when the WUO was issued then that will change the whole dynamic of HMRCs approach
That would result in HMRC getting no money, why would they want the order carried out?
 
...because then he would have to admit to HMRC that he has the cash or spend excess money we don’t have.

Likeihood is he couldn’t clear HMRC and strengthen the squad.

So we are doing the later and strengthening the squad as per rules

We are bringing in players slowly, it’s only 2 games in not 10. We tend to bring in a fresh face each week, in a couple of weeks plus a few returning from injury we could/should have a good enough squad to survive and enough cash to survive financially.

Not many L1/2 clubs can say that soon.


Id be a lot more scared if I was another team that had signed some expensive players, chairman gambling crowds opening back up and then bang. Big salaries, no income, no crowds for months and just sitting begging for cash from gov/PL.

I think Ron has played a good hand here, it just doesn’t suit everyone’s agenda nor does it suit everyone’s expectations to bounce straight backup, but it’s everyone expectations and believe we should be in the championship that probs got us where we are.

A last point, Ron saying we are pushing for promotion...I would expect nothing different.

If I was leading a team atm in any business, the messaging certainly wouldn’t be to sit back, expect less and see how we go. It would be to set expectation hard, explain everyone else is in same situation and we go again

For what it’s worth, I doubt we will even complete the season unfortunately. What new rules did EFL write for this season for cancelation/postponements? That might be how our fate is decided.


A lot of common sense written here, I’m no fan of Ron,his handling of the club in the past has been “dubious “ to say the least. These are extraordinary times for everyone, with virtually no income of any worth coming in, who do you pay first? HMRC or staff, if he doesn’t pay staff he gets done by the EFL, we get a points reduction and are well and truly shafted, if he strings out HMRC for as long as possible we all get sleepless nights and form lynching parties at the gates.
Yes a lot of the mess is of his own doing, but we have no other choice ATM but to sit back and wait, the protests BTW will achieve nothing, but will possibly damage morale within the staff IMO.
 
Listened to the interview.....

Personally I felt that Glen Speller could have pushed Ron a bit more in his questioning around the HMRC debt and how he will find the money.
Discussions with Lloyds around the card net issue continue but no resolution has been agreed so far.

Worryingly, Simeon Akinola pulled up in training right at the end of Thursday's session (quad injury). He has suffered from injury in the last 3 years so hoping we haven't signed another player who will play two games before being sidelined with various muscle injuries.

John White was another Ron mentioned who pulled up in training today.

It sounds like Ron/ Mark are already looking post 26th October when we can still sign out of contract players despite the closure of the transfer window.
 
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