Ron Martin on BBC Essex

[Robbshrimp]

BBC Essex Sport - Ron Martin: We are light years away from the situation Macclesfield were in - BBC Sounds

Southend United chairman assures fans an outstanding tax bill will be paid

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Mad Cyril]

Ron has confirmed the debt will be discharged by the next hearing.

Card money retained by Lloyds because they no longer accept the insurance provided by the EFL (via a company called Bluefin) against clubs not being able to fulfill season ticket terms and will be released per game played.

 

[Mad Cyril]

A bit patronising for Ron to say many fans live for the weekend.

Some of us are on it from Thursday afternoon.

 

[L0311 Liberty Shrimper]

Whilst I intensely dislike the way things are being done and toss and turn over the future of the club, it's hard actually to argue against all the points being made.

 

[kentblues]

Ron has confirmed the debt will be discharged by the next hearing.

Card money retained by Lloyds because they no longer accept the insurance provided by the EFL (via a company called Bluefin) against clubs not being able to fulfill season ticket terms and will be released per game played.

If you recall this is all Ron’s fault..

 

[Mad Cyril]

I enjoyed Ron's thoughts on Chinese authoritarianism vs Western liberalism

 

[Tommy2holes]

If you recall this is all Ron’s fault..

Maybe not this time but when there wasn't covid and or financial complications we were still in court for non payment of players and HRMC. What's his excuse for those?

The fans were still coming in numbers and season cards etc were high.

He is always quick to blame the world etc but plenty of times the world has been stable and he is still not paying bills.

 

[Mad Cyril]

If you recall this is all Ron’s fault..

This may not be Ron's fault but no business should be using this years revenue to pay last years tax.

 

[kentblues]

I

Maybe not this time but when there wasn't covid and or financial complications we were still in court for non payment of players and HRMC. What's his excuse for those?

The fans were still coming in numbers and season cards etc were high.

He is always quick to blame the world etc but plenty of times the world has been stable and he is still not paying bills.

I would refer you to Rigsby’s excellent piece on that- should be pinned somewhere for reference so we don’t have Groundhog Day. But my point was some simply blame him for everything as a reflex- which then diminishes the argument.

 

[kentblues]

This may not be Ron's fault but no business should be using this years revenue to pay last years tax.

I can tell you from experience many do not out of desire but necessity.

 

[Tommy2holes]

I

I would refer you to Rigsby’s excellent piece on that- should be pinned somewhere for reference so we don’t have Groundhog Day. But my point was some simply blame him for everything as a reflex- which then diminishes the argument.

That may be so but teams like Fleetwood, Burton, Accrington, Rochdale etc etc are all. Smaller clubs and do not end up in court for non payment of debt and wages.

This only points to how poorly the club is run. Whether that is naivety on Ron's part or just plain financial mismanagement, it's difficult to argue that he has run the club well.

After 20 odd years, you would like to think that he could run the club semi effectively but this doesn't appear to be the case.

Poor managerial and player recruitment and very much a lack of common sense in the day to day running of the club.

He has always had his eyes on fossetts and I firmly believe that this has meant he has allowed the football side of the club to suffer.

 

[Westcliff Shrimper]

My thoughts as I'm listening / listened:

• Parent company will pay off the £400k plus to HMRC. This will probably involve another inter-company loan, which Ron will probably do another debt for equity swap to reduce the club liabilities.
• Not happy with the schedule demonstration but is going to speak to the main organiser to discuss his point of view.
• Parent company owns all tangible assets of the football club - he ain't going to walk away as literally SUFC will have nothing of value (bar the intangible assets of player registrations etc).
• Not happy with recruitment in the last two years. Too many injury problems (dig at physio department?) and not enough value for money.
• MM has been able to bring in 5 members of staff to totally change the back room attitude (can't argue with this, a clean sweep was required).
• Thinks we are playing too many kids but reckons JD, Harry Lennon, Simeon etc will make a massive difference.
• Parent company asset rich, cash poor, so will be leveraging up his properties again (more debt for Martin Dawn plc).
• Not chuffed with Lloyds Bank not releasing the Season Ticket money. Credit insurance problems I can well understand but I think he'll factor the money to get cash into the club.
• Accepts the season needed to start but worried about spread of the virus from club to club.
• 2400 fans in Roots Hall with social distancing. I actually reckon that is possible with entry from the West, East and North Stands (South remaining shut).
• The West vs East discussion on liberalism was awkward...
• Banking is naturally cautious? Maaatteeee...
• Macclesfield went (according to Ron) as they never paid any money towards the £1.1m debt they had. Apart from £20k on the day...
• Thinks previous managers have run the club on a part time basis (now who could he be referring to?) but not MM.

 

[Blueeyedboy]

I don’t think that was a dig at the physio’s. They work wonders to get those wage stealers actually on the pitch.

 

[Mad Cyril]

I am pretty sure Macclesfield presented a screenshot of a bank account containing ~ £1m as evidence they could afford to pay HMRC.

It sounds like the sort of scam someone selling watches at a motorway service station would pull

 

[KiwiRob]

My thoughts as I'm listening / listened:

• Parent company will pay off the £400k plus to HMRC. This will probably involve another inter-company loan, which Ron will probably do another debt for equity swap to reduce the club liabilities.
• Not happy with the schedule demonstration but is going to speak to the main organiser to discuss his point of view.
• Parent company owns all tangible assets of the football club - he ain't going to walk away as literally SUFC will have nothing of value (bar the intangible assets of player registrations etc).
• Not happy with recruitment in the last two years. Too many injury problems (dig at physio department?) and not enough value for money.
• MM has been able to bring in 5 members of staff to totally change the back room attitude (can't argue with this, a clean sweep was required).
• Thinks we are playing too many kids but reckons JD, Harry Lennon, Simeon etc will make a massive difference.
• Parent company asset rich, cash poor, so will be leveraging up his properties again (more debt for Martin Dawn plc).
• Not chuffed with Lloyds Bank not releasing the Season Ticket money. Credit insurance problems I can well understand but I think he'll factor the money to get cash into the club.
• Accepts the season needed to start but worried about spread of the virus from club to club.
• 2400 fans in Roots Hall with social distancing. I actually reckon that is possible with entry from the West, East and North Stands (South remaining shut).
• The West vs East discussion on liberalism was awkward...
• Banking is naturally cautious? Maaatteeee...
• Macclesfield went (according to Ron) as they never paid any money towards the £1.1m debt they had. Apart from £20k on the day...
• Thinks previous managers have run the club on a part time basis (now who could he be referring to?) but not MM.

Very interesting interview. The Chairman seems very happy with new management team. He also favourably contrasted MM's dedication and determination to be a winner with the semi-detached and "part-time" approach of the previous manager.

 

[nevereatwhitesnow]

I

I would refer you to Rigsby’s excellent piece on that- should be pinned somewhere for reference so we don’t have Groundhog Day. But my point was some simply blame him for everything as a reflex- which then diminishes the argument.

It's only an excellent piece if you fundamentally want to believe it's not Ron's fault as you can draw comfort from what is said to justify your belief. Equally if you want to believe Ron is to blame you can equally find plenty of information/evidence to suggest that is the truth.

It's like a lot in society now, everything has to be binary, right/wrong, good/bad etc and most that is said or written on a subject is done so to prove a case and very little is truly objective.

For what it's worth I think Ron came to SUFC with very good intentions for the club and saw an opportunity to provide a win/win scenario with the new stadium that would benefit both himself and the club. Ultimately 20+ years later he hasn't been able to achieve it. Forget "blame" but contributing factors will be, lack of finance, council delays, planning delays, over ambitious plans, personality clashes, false promises etc - Not all are down to Ron but some definitely are (despite what some posters will say)

I think the problem for Ron now is that he is "pot committed" to this, the long-term financial stability for his family is dependent on the stadium project, partly because he was unlucky in timing and partly because he made some poor decisions but he can't/won't walk away without planning in place so he can achieve the pension he wants and SUFC get the stadium.

I think there are two main risks to SUFC right now, The first is if someone gets too greedy but trying to squeeze an extra 20 flats in here, or cut corners on this to save money and make obtaining planning harder (whether Ron or potential backers) and the second would be that he can't find sufficient funds in the interim to keep the club afloat (either literally in terms of WUO's etc and indirectly through not having good enough playing squad available to keep you in the league)

Let's hope for everyone on of your fans sake he can manage it, his motives or ethics really aren't important now, his competence is.

 

[Mad Cyril]

I can tell you from experience many do not out of desire but necessity.

Of course but my point is that the tax has already been collected.

 

[rigsby]

It's only an excellent piece if you fundamentally want to believe it's not Ron's fault as you can draw comfort from what is said to justify your belief. Equally if you want to believe Ron is to blame you can equally find plenty of information/evidence to suggest that is the truth.

It's like a lot in society now, everything has to be binary, right/wrong, good/bad etc and most that is said or written on a subject is done so to prove a case and very little is truly objective.

For what it's worth I think Ron came to SUFC with very good intentions for the club and saw an opportunity to provide a win/win scenario with the new stadium that would benefit both himself and the club. Ultimately 20+ years later he hasn't been able to achieve it. Forget "blame" but contributing factors will be, lack of finance, council delays, planning delays, over ambitious plans, personality clashes, false promises etc - Not all are down to Ron but some definitely are (despite what some posters will say)

I think the problem for Ron now is that he is "pot committed" to this, the long-term financial stability for his family is dependent on the stadium project, partly because he was unlucky in timing and partly because he made some poor decisions but he can't/won't walk away without planning in place so he can achieve the pension he wants and SUFC get the stadium.

I think there are two main risks to SUFC right now, The first is if someone gets too greedy but trying to squeeze an extra 20 flats in here, or cut corners on this to save money and make obtaining planning harder (whether Ron or potential backers) and the second would be that he can't find sufficient funds in the interim to keep the club afloat (either literally in terms of WUO's etc and indirectly through not having good enough playing squad available to keep you in the league)

Let's hope for everyone on of your fans sake he can manage it, his motives or ethics really aren't important now, his competence is.

Who cares what you think. Your a Colchester fan.

 

[nevereatwhitesnow]

Who cares what you think. Your a Colchester fan.

Yes, I'm a Colchester fan and probably far more objective than you are with your propaganda posts

 

[Lemon Lyman]

I am pretty sure Macclesfield presented a screenshot of a bank account containing ~ £1m as evidence they could afford to pay HMRC.

It sounds like the sort of scam someone selling watches at a motorway service station would pull

Indeed I think they were also waiting for a payment from a Nigerian Prince that had contacted them