Ron Martin - A disgrace!

[Leigh_Seasider]

Losing Hopper last season was massive and then to lose Humphrys when he was bang on form was unfortunate. Any team would've struggled.

In terms of Ron, I have sympathy with him up until the point he appointed Redknapp’s mate full time. It was a very odd appointment and it was more by luck that we stayed up last season than any management skill of Bond’s (in my view). I also think Ron took too long to rectify that this season, draw a line and appoint a successor. He perhaps (having learned from previous windows) shouldn’t have rubber stamped the Ridgewell signing. But he’s hardly a disgrace. He’s invested time and money and clearly cares about the club, despite some of his decisions. He talks to fans, despite most of it being false promises and bulls**t. Be careful what you wish for is all I’m saying.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

Losing Hopper last season was massive and then to lose Humphrys when he was bang on form was unfortunate. Any team would've struggled.
and it was more by luck that we stayed up last season than any management skill of Bond’s (in my view). g.

Be surprised if anyone disagreed with that?.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

You might want to get your facts right before posting threads that could seen as libelous.

All the staff i spoke to have been paid. They know full well that it has not been a deliberate act by Ron but because of exceptional circumstances this season.

There was never the remotest chance of a strike by staff or players.....Seems even the girls in the office understand far more about it than some people on here. Points deductions and no money coming would hardly help them keep their job.....Would it?

Time for the moderators to think about some of these posts.

BANG ON!

 

[OldBlueLady]

Sorry to just pick this statement out but this sentence winds me up every time I see it. How was he unlucky with injuries? So many of the players he signed had horrendous injury records, Lennon & Hyam just to name a few.

Harry Lennon had never broken a bone in football before last season - he's now broken 3. That's seriously bad luck.

 

[londonblue]

I always thought the mistake wasn't signing these players but that we didn't sign players that balanced the ones we already had.

An example being that we didn't sign a winger which left us with an out of form Stephen McLaughlin as the only wide option. (The same mistake we made in the previous window as well.)

As much as I would have agreed with that at the time, I would say that McLaughlin has been one of our better performers over the last couple of months. Even though the team haven't been doing well, I think he has.

 

[londonblue]

Hyam I'll give you. But the injuries we were getting weren't down to injury prone players with recurring injuries like hamstrings, calf and groin strain, that sort of thing, but these -

Lennon - 2 broken bones in one season.
Coker - double ligament injury
Hopper - ACL
Gard - Horrendous injury I think involving hamstrings
Barratt - ACL
Smith - Hyper extension of elbow
Oxley - Disc and back (I think)
Kyprianou - ACL
Demitriou - ACL
Yearwood - out for most of the season with thigh and hamstring injuries
Humphrys - Smashed face

That actually gave us a stronger team injured than on the pitch. Consider this side -

Oxley
Demitriou
Lennon
Kyprianou
Coker
Barratt
Hyam
Gard
Yearwood
Hopper
Humphrys

Smith as sub keeper

That's arguably a stronger team than we've put out this season! No one, but no one can tell me that all those injuries to happen at once is not unlucky.

Last season I warned that a lot of those injuries would spill over until around December this season. Turns out I was wrong, it's been worse than that. KB might use that as proof that he wasn't to blame, but personally I think he was the wrong choice. However, it would have been really harsh not to give him the job given "he kept us up". (Again, personally I think we stayed up in spite of him, not because of him, but there you go.)

 

[jarvisyeh]

As much as I would have agreed with that at the time, I would say that McLaughlin has been one of our better performers over the last couple of months. Even though the team haven't been doing well, I think he has.

I agree, and hopefully with Barratt back it will only get better in that regard.

 

[fbm]

As much as I would have agreed with that at the time, I would say that McLaughlin has been one of our better performers over the last couple of months. Even though the team haven't been doing well, I think he has.

Yep. His performances under Bond were intergalactic light years away from his performances since.

 

[blue pilot]

I'm sorry but the spin some of you have bought into that this is RM's 'own money' he's put into the club is, I suspect, pure fantasy. I bet the reality is it will be in the form of more 'loans' from his other companies which will have to be paid back in the future, together with all the other loans, unpaid rent for Roots Hall (another asset he hived off into one of his other companies) etc. More chance of finding the 'war chest' than of this being his own money me thinks.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

Harry Lennon had never broken a bone in football before last season - he's now broken 3. That's seriously bad luck.

I didn't mention about broken bones, I said injury's, his injury record with Charlton was shocking.

 

[GBJ]

I'm sorry but the spin some of you have bought into that this is RM's 'own money' he's put into the club is, I suspect, pure fantasy. I bet the reality is it will be in the form of more 'loans' from his other companies which will have to be paid back in the future, together with all the other loans, unpaid rent for Roots Hall (another asset he hived off into one of his other companies) etc. More chance of finding the 'war chest' than of this being his own money me thinks.

Nail on head.

Imagine believing Ron puts his own money into this club

 

[South Bank Hank]

Nail on head.

Imagine believing Ron puts his own money into this club

I'm quite happy to believe the truth is, as always, somewhere between the two extremes. As blue pilot points out, Ron will have been heavily leveraging the asset of Roots Hall but there's more to money and investment than "cash" anyway. It may or may not be 'cash' but it would be hard to suggest Ron hasn't personally invested significant time and energy alongside the high opportunity cost associated with that, and that he doesn't remain heavily vested in this club's fortunes.

On the wider point, it's always been clear to me that, while Ron of course stands to gain (along with the club) in the long term if his vision comes to fruition, he has generally managed to ensure a steady flow of funds into our team. Even when you look at the travesty of personnel that's taking us down and down right now, it's more due to decision making than funding.

 

[Chrisb]

I'm quite happy to believe the truth is, as always, somewhere between the two extremes. As blue pilot points out, Ron will have been heavily leveraging the asset of Roots Hall but there's more to money and investment than "cash" anyway. It may or may not be 'cash' but it would be hard to suggest Ron hasn't personally invested significant time and energy alongside the high opportunity cost associated with that, and that he doesn't remain heavily vested in this club's fortunes.

On the wider point, it's always been clear to me that, while Ron of course stands to gain (along with the club) in the long term if his vision comes to fruition, he has generally managed to ensure a steady flow of funds into our team. Even when you look at the travesty of personnel that's taking us down and down right now, it's more due to decision making than funding.

Yes, Ron has always backed his managers financially as much as possible, whatever else we criticise him for.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

I'm sorry but the spin some of you have bought into that this is RM's 'own money' he's put into the club is, I suspect, pure fantasy. I bet the reality is it will be in the form of more 'loans' from his other companies which will have to be paid back in the future, together with all the other loans, unpaid rent for Roots Hall (another asset he hived off into one of his other companies) etc. More chance of finding the 'war chest' than of this being his own money me thinks.

It was reported once that he remortgaged his house at one stage to get money into the club.

 

[Ramsdenblue]

Once you get a record of non payment of wages your staff start leaving simple as that,without them you will be in the **** with the Taxman.

It's a catch 22.
I totally understand what Ron is doing.
It is just purely a matter of business judgment as to who you pay first at any given situation.

Personally I think Ron has done good for this club.
Yes, he is a business man and wants to make profits, why be in business if you dont.

But there are ways of doing it, and I I beleive he has relatively kept this ship afloat.

 

[GBJ]

I'm quite happy to believe the truth is, as always, somewhere between the two extremes. As blue pilot points out, Ron will have been heavily leveraging the asset of Roots Hall but there's more to money and investment than "cash" anyway. It may or may not be 'cash' but it would be hard to suggest Ron hasn't personally invested significant time and energy alongside the high opportunity cost associated with that, and that he doesn't remain heavily vested in this club's fortunes.

On the wider point, it's always been clear to me that, while Ron of course stands to gain (along with the club) in the long term if his vision comes to fruition, he has generally managed to ensure a steady flow of funds into our team. Even when you look at the travesty of personnel that's taking us down and down right now, it's more due to decision making than funding.

Yep, can’t fault him on the fact that he’s generally supported managers quite well.

I wish he hadn’t sometimes, but admittedly, that’s often through the gift of hindsight.

He’d go up in my estimations (slightly) if he at least learned from his mistakes from time-to-time, though.

 

[GBJ]

It was reported once that he remortgaged his house at one stage to get money into the club.

Odd that a man who - supposedly - puts his own money into the club on the regular, would need to do something so drastic though, no?

 

[GBJ]

It's a catch 22.
I totally understand what Ron is doing.
It is just purely a matter of business judgment as to who you pay first at any given situation.

Personally I think Ron has done good for this club.

Yes, he is a business man and wants to make profits, why be in business if you dont.

But there are ways of doing it, and I I beleive he has relatively kept this ship afloat.

Genuine questions, no baiting;

1 - Ron is a businessman, who owns several businesses, all of which operate at a loss, if I’m not mistaken.

Where does the profit come into it?


2 - Can you name me some things that Ron has done, which are good for this football club. Since he took control, we have amassed a £17m debt (on paper), and have lost our only two major assets; Roots Hall and Boots & Laces.

What good things, can we call upon to counteract those, please?

 

[fbm]

I'm sorry but the spin some of you have bought into that this is RM's 'own money' he's put into the club is, I suspect, pure fantasy. I bet the reality is it will be in the form of more 'loans' from his other companies which will have to be paid back in the future, together with all the other loans, unpaid rent for Roots Hall (another asset he hived off into one of his other companies) etc. More chance of finding the 'war chest' than of this being his own money me thinks.

A quick lesson then - a company is obviously a separate entity to an individual for tax purposes. It has to have directors and shareholders. But if Ron is the majority shareholder in "his companies", then to all intents and purposes - especially if he owns the equity either individually or as a nominee - then actually it is his money.

One way of looking at it is to ask "If his companies were sold, who would get the sale proceeds?"

If that is Ron, then it is his money. Just because he hasn't taken it out and put it in his bank account before putting it into the club doesn't mean otherwise (and actually he may have even done some of that; I have no idea).

Either way, he is either using his hard earned cash or has mortgaged or offered as security his assets in order to finance our club. Most of us buy our tickets, programmes, shirts etc and that's the extent of our financial commitment. Not so with Ron. If the club folds, he probably goes with it, or a huge chunk of his empire does, anyway.

So actually, the spin that it ISN'T his own money, in some shape or form, is the fantasy.

 

[camden shrimper]

It'll read as me being anti but more intrigued. A couple of questions. Didn't he write off a large chunk of debt in the not too distant past? Also, what happened to the big football bubble thing he bought for a million quid from David Beckham (apologies if I'm misremembering?)