Shrimpers Trust News Ron Martin and SUFC Confidence vote

[danbowen]

Again, I disagree. I think we'll have to agree to disagree

That’s fair enough

 

[danbowen]

But they've already paid the season ticket money. The pockets are already lined. Why not show up and show him how you feel ?

Why not show up and make a more powerful statement? Bums on seats and buying food, programmes etc isn’t showing discontent. Or turn up and walk out shortly after kick off, interrupt the game by throwing things on the pitch. Even use insultate Britain as a inspiration (never thought I’d say that) and get a banner on the pitch during the match. Loads of things you can do to start getting national headlines on it which in reality is why things changed before. Stan was a bigger reason for it going national than SOS etc.

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

get a banner on the pitch during the match. Loads of things you can do to start getting national headlines on it which in reality is why things changed before.

hmmm...now you're talking. That's the spirit !

 

[danbowen]

hmmm...now you're talking. That's the spirit !

But this is my point do something that is going to shine a spotlight on it not just a pointless answer from fans that will just get thrown in the bin. Do something big. Get fans across the county understanding the state out club is in. All we ever hear is how bad teams like spurs fans think they have it yet they have no idea. Do any potential buyers actually know fans want Ron out probably not and this question fans are being asked to complete isn’t going to change it. Even if 5000 people say they have no confidence in Ron that isn’t going to go big. Do something big to get something done.

 

[Swiss Tony]

No, I meant exactly what I said. He is sensitive to criticism. Why did he come down into the away end yesterday if he's "insensitive" to it?

On your last point - whatever. Some people are trying to do something. If you don't like it then don't comment on it!

Abso****inglutely.

 

[WestyReturns]

Had anyone other than Rigsby actually voted 'YES'?

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

But this is my point do something that is going to shine a spotlight on it not just a pointless answer from fans that will just get thrown in the bin. Do something big. Get fans across the county understanding the state out club is in. All we ever hear is how bad teams like spurs fans think they have it yet they have no idea. Do any potential buyers actually know fans want Ron out probably not and this question fans are being asked to complete isn’t going to change it. Even if 5000 people say they have no confidence in Ron that isn’t going to go big. Do something big to get something done.

Now, we're on the same wavelength. But I think what the supporters groups are trying to do, is get everyone's opinion first before before taking action. What if a handful of fans do something big like you suggested, but the rest of the fanbase disagee with the idea and would rather Ron stayed. I prefer their idea of getting the feelings of the majority first, then act

 

[danbowen]

I think the answer is obvious though. The problem is protests in general have been quite small and groups all want slightly different things. Some just want an excuse to cause a bit of trouble. I do think on the zooms we need people on the zooms who will give Ron a tough time too and hold him to account properly.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

and having 5000-6000 turning up each week.

Really doubt that will happen much longer?.

 

[Holy Joe]

I think the answer is obvious though. The problem is protests in general have been quite small and groups all want slightly different things. Some just want an excuse to cause a bit of trouble. I do think on the zooms we need people on the zooms who will give Ron a tough time too and hold him to account properly.

If the protests have been quite small - does that mean the majority don't object to Ron? Or are they just not bothered enough to stand in the car park.

I've voted no. I don't necessairly want Ron 'out'. But I do want change, and I want to understand how the club is viable in the long term.

 

[Jai]

What is the purpose of this vote?

Is it simply to show Ron that the majority of supporters have no confidence with how he is running the club or is there more to this?

What does this do that chanting during games, protesting, and any potential boycott does not do?

Not saying this is the right or wrong thing to do, but just some questions that I'm sure many of us have.

Presumably, it is to confirm a starting point and to gauge the strength of feeling among the support base. We all think most fans can't stand Ron due to the general sentiment online and at matches, but the Trust represents all fans and this will give them an indication of the exact strength of feeling.

There's been loads of noise but no clear goals and no clear plan from fans and if you want to run an organised campaign, the very first thing you need to be clear of is your starting point and how strongly the supporters are behind you.

 

[Chapperz]

Presumably, it is to confirm a starting point and to gauge the strength of feeling among the support base. We all think most fans can't stand Ron due to the general sentiment online and at matches, but the Trust represents all fans and this will give them an indication of the exact strength of feeling.

There's been loads of noise but no clear goals and no clear plan from fans and if you want to run an organised campaign, the very first thing you need to be clear of is your starting point and how strongly the supporters are behind you.

Hopefully it will start the ball rolling on something.

I know I don't speak for all fans, but I'm ****ed off about the situation we are currently in and what you said above it true and probably makes it even more frustrating. I have no idea what we as fans can do to help us get out of this and for so long the answer has seemed to be "once we get the new stadium", but that has been a pipe dream for several decades. It seems we are stuck in this downward spiral of doom and despair waiting for either someone to come and save us or the club to disappear.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Really doubt that will happen much longer?.

4,307 sold for Tuesday v Eastleigh so far.
It will be our lowest 'league' crowd for some while.

 

[Jai]

Hopefully it will start the ball rolling on something.

I know I don't speak for all fans, but I'm ****ed off about the situation we are currently in and what you said above it true and probably makes it even more frustrating. I have no idea what we as fans can do to help us get out of this and for so long the answer has seemed to be "once we get the new stadium", but that has been a pipe dream for several decades. It seems we are stuck in this downward spiral of doom and despair waiting for either someone to come and save us or the club to disappear.

For me, the issue seems to be that we are crap. And have been crap for a long time. Worse than crap. There's no confidence, no unity, no togetherness. Even among the fan base. We've all had a go at blaming people left right and centre for our demise, and of course there is only one man who is a constant throughout the last three miserable years (well, two if you count Ricky Duncan).

I've seen people demanding JW and JD get released immediately, there's obviously a lot of calls for Brown to be sacked, young players have been abused in car parks over the past few years. Even going back to Dover in 2019, it has been poisonous for a long while. People are having a pop at the Trust for not being persuasive enough to make someone about to earn millions and millions of pounds from a once-in-a-lifetime property deal that will set his family up for life walk away before he does so. It's horrendous. Apparently, the Trust should be doing more and they should be giving Ron even more of a hard time, like yesterday or in that protest about 10 years ago where everyone demanded he came out to speak, and when he did, they just abused him so he went back in again - these incidents obviously achieved so much.

There are some positives. Pressure from the Trust and other supporter groups led to a CEO being appointed this summer (I've even seen people moan that he's not doing anything, when in reality he's down in the boiler room mopping up the **** from two years of total neglect), the manager was backed this summer and there weren't too many people who were unhappy with our summer recruitment.

But we can't seem to shake this losing mentality and for me the heart of it all has been the recruitment over the past few years. Chairman Ron is a complete **** and I have given him a big vote of no confidence, but there are others who have a lot to answer for. Is Ricky Duncan really the jewel in the crown that we thought he was? His views on players seem to align with Brown's, and it's clear with hindsight the recruitment strategy in the summer did not take into account the division we are going into.

We also have five or six players that are clearly capable and in some cases, even more so, of thriving in this division. Unfortunately, no player can thrive in an atmosphere like the one hanging around the club at the moment. The issue is the balance of the squad, the lack of pace, creativity and dynamism, and that is something you put only limited blame on Ron Martin for (you can certainly argue our reputation in football circles has been seriously damaged due to his actions). The recruitment side of the football club is an abject failure and has been for years. However, it's also a horrible place to play football, and there's really very little that can be done about that - how do you tell a set of fans that have put up with so much **** for so long to get behind the team?

A nice little side addition is Covid, which hasn't gone away and continues to cause businesses massive headaches with recruitment and supply chains. Fans demand the same standards in customer service as when we were a football league club, pre-pandemic. It's not going to happen. We've lost staff, there are massive headaches with stock issues, staffing etc and that is the case for all clubs. While it may seem we have returned to normal, we really haven't.

Not sure what I'm trying to achieve by this post. But personally, I'm checking the council meeting calendar every day, because the sooner this development gets to committee and passed, the sooner we can realistically be rid of the chairman. We're too far down the road of Ron hating to really focus our energies on the council, but it might not be a bad idea to start putting the heat on them too.

 

[ESG]

As far as I see it when he was running SUFC with Steve Kavanagh as CEO you had a good combination - a combined ‘running’ of the business side and the football side. As soon as Steve left and was not replaced until recently (I.e. too late) Ron has been running both sides and the rot set in.

Spot on

 

[Fairport]

As others have alluded to it would make a massive difference if any potential buyers would identify themselves publicly, like the so called Blue Knights did many years ago. Maybe a potential investor looks at Shrimperzone, if so, please come forward, it would help to get the Ron Out bandwagon rolling in a huge way.

 

[Holy Joe]

To what end? Everyone votes no, Ron tomorrow says “fair enough, I’m off - sufc owes me 30m in loans? Oh. It can’t pay, I’ll be folding the club then. Bye”

I don't think Ron can afford to fold the club - the debt on SUFC's balance sheet is an asset on his other companies balance sheets - if the asset becomes worthless (because the club is bust) then all his other companies become worthless. At the moment he needs the club to survive.

 

[Strykr]

As others have alluded to it would make a massive difference if any potential buyers would identify themselves publicly, like the so called Blue Knights did many years ago. Maybe a potential investor looks at Shrimperzone, if so, please come forward, it would help to get the Ron Out bandwagon rolling in a huge way.

Whilst that would be nice, for many many business and financial reasons theres no way a serious buyer is going to play their hand so early and in public on a football forum.

And if they did i'd be already doubting their credibility.

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

Whilst that would be nice, for many many business and financial reasons theres no way a serious buyer is going to play their hand so early and in public on a football forum.

And if they did i'd be already doubting their credibility.

I wouldn't expect them to announce it on here. They could announce it on whatever platform they wish...National press, Echo etc

 

[Smiffy]

Whilst Ron appears to have a thick skin and plenty of bravado. He clearly gets very rattled by the Martin Out chants. We saw it at the protests last season and even more so at Solihull. So I say to all that want the man gone, continue with gusto at every game. It may not achieve much, but if it rattles him then that's a small win in my book.