Ron Martin the good, bad and ugly

[Tommy2holes]

My worry is that the club goes bust and the build goes ahead anyway.

I hope that it's a case of no stadium no development. That then puts pressure on those waiting on profit to advance money to Sufc to keep the club alive.

 

[GBJ]

My worry is that the club goes bust and the build goes ahead anyway.

I hope that it's a case of no stadium no development. That then puts pressure on those waiting on profit to advance money to Sufc to keep the club alive.

I don’t think we have any legal recourse for that.

If we didn’t exist, Ron could carry on as planned as far as I’m aware.

It’s the very reason why he deserves some credit, because it would have been easier for him to tell the judge last week, that we have no way of paying the HMRC debt.

 

[Tommy2holes]

I don’t think we have any legal recourse for that.

If we didn’t exist, Ron could carry on as planned as far as I’m aware.

It’s the very reason why he deserves some credit, because it would have been easier for him to tell the judge last week, that we have no way of paying the HMRC debt.

I'm sure that there are additional pound notes somewhere. Of that I am certain.

I'm sure there is an ego thing too (ie) finally proving he could get it built.

 

[WESTY_SUFC]

I don’t think we have any legal recourse for that.

If we didn’t exist, Ron could carry on as planned as far as I’m aware.

It’s the very reason why he deserves some credit, because it would have been easier for him to tell the judge last week, that we have no way of paying the HMRC debt.

Think you will find he wouldn't get planning or funding.

You'd be surprised how many people in the property world want this guy out the game for good and they know they only need to squeeze him a little longer to get their wish.

 

[IamJack]

Sadly we all know what happens this season if nothing changes. Southend will fall out of the football league and I am 99% sure this would be the end of SUFC as we know it. However to even get to this point we HAVE to get to through the current issues surrounding HMRC and the PAYE issue and not be wound up into NON existence.

I am fully aware, as most on this forum are, players taxes are currently being paid (well they're simply not) being paid until Ron settles his debts when he goes to court. Simple as that. The problem with this (as a business owner) HMRC will continue to take us to court until we simply pay on time.

Also every time we have to go to court it is costing around £12,000 in legal fees from start to finish. Based on the 20 odd times we have gone to court in so many years we could of easily saved £250,000 on this alone.

The main thing I cannot understand is. Ron Martin owns a HUGE piece of real estate. Well 2, 1 being Roots Hall, the other being FF. Both prime real estate and in terms of property development HUGE, HUGE opportunities. As someone involved in property. I have yet to understand and continue to fail to understand why Ron in the past (2 decades) has not gone after planning permission to redevelop the flats on the hill of Victoria Avenue and the corner of Victoria Avenue and Fairfax where the pizza shop is as a starting point to the development of the clubs future.

Doing this would of not only made commercial sense, but gaining planning permission for it would of been simple. Same as prospects college.

As a developer, Ron has access to UNLIMITED amounts of bridging finance. Literally unlimited. Lets say he got planning permission for 300 flats (which could easily go in that small space) he would of easily been given access to £15,000,000 and a return of probably £20,000,000 profit on top if not more.

He could quickly (and still could), of got planning permission (easily) with the council desperate for Victoria Avenue to be redeveloped and generated millions for himself providing funds to ensure the future of the football club also. Ron could also quite easily separate FF into land sections and have done similar and built on the Rochford end of the site with easy planning permission and done the same there.

I simply do not understand why he has not. I will also understand why he has watched as other people have built and built around it and the surrounding streets yet sat in his Bentley and not capitalised but has done so all over Hadleigh, Benfleet and other areas in the town.

On the flip side of this. I am fully aware if full planning permission comes through from the council, not only will Ron gain funds from the council he will also be able to draw down millions in bridging finance which I am sure will be used towards the football clubs debts and the debts owed by SUFC to RM. This of course is ultimately our best outcome.

SADLY I like many others will be worried this will never come and it will be the end of our beloved football club. At some point Ron needs to make a business decision not a footballing decision and actually gets help (A CEO would be great, but also external investment, how can he sell the dream of the new stadium to every manager but not a single backer?).

I genuinely want to ask Ron why? We failed to gain finance in the last credit crunch for the stadium when we had planning. In the past 4 years banks have been giving finance out like its Candy. FF wipes off all SUFC debt and will put us in a massively positive financial situation and give Ron a bundle of money... so why has it taken so long?

 

[fbm]

Sadly we all know what happens this season if nothing changes. Southend will fall out of the football league and I am 99% sure this would be the end of SUFC as we know it. However to even get to this point we HAVE to get to through the current issues surrounding HMRC and the PAYE issue and not be wound up into NON existence.

I am fully aware, as most on this forum are, players taxes are currently being paid (well they're simply not) being paid until Ron settles his debts when he goes to court. Simple as that. The problem with this (as a business owner) HMRC will continue to take us to court until we simply pay on time.

Also every time we have to go to court it is costing around £12,000 in legal fees from start to finish. Based on the 20 odd times we have gone to court in so many years we could of easily saved £250,000 on this alone.

The main thing I cannot understand is. Ron Martin owns a HUGE piece of real estate. Well 2, 1 being Roots Hall, the other being FF. Both prime real estate and in terms of property development HUGE, HUGE opportunities. As someone involved in property. I have yet to understand and continue to fail to understand why Ron in the past (2 decades) has not gone after planning permission to redevelop the flats on the hill of Victoria Avenue and the corner of Victoria Avenue and Fairfax where the pizza shop is as a starting point to the development of the clubs future.

Doing this would of not only made commercial sense, but gaining planning permission for it would of been simple. Same as prospects college.

As a developer, Ron has access to UNLIMITED amounts of bridging finance. Literally unlimited. Lets say he got planning permission for 300 flats (which could easily go in that small space) he would of easily been given access to £15,000,000 and a return of probably £20,000,000 profit on top if not more.

He could quickly (and still could), of got planning permission (easily) with the council desperate for Victoria Avenue to be redeveloped and generated millions for himself providing funds to ensure the future of the football club also. Ron could also quite easily separate FF into land sections and have done similar and built on the Rochford end of the site with easy planning permission and done the same there.

I simply do not understand why he has not. I will also understand why he has watched as other people have built and built around it and the surrounding streets yet sat in his Bentley and not capitalised but has done so all over Hadleigh, Benfleet and other areas in the town.

On the flip side of this. I am fully aware if full planning permission comes through from the council, not only will Ron gain funds from the council he will also be able to draw down millions in bridging finance which I am sure will be used towards the football clubs debts and the debts owed by SUFC to RM. This of course is ultimately our best outcome.

SADLY I like many others will be worried this will never come and it will be the end of our beloved football club. At some point Ron needs to make a business decision not a footballing decision and actually gets help (A CEO would be great, but also external investment, how can he sell the dream of the new stadium to every manager but not a single backer?).

I genuinely want to ask Ron why? We failed to gain finance in the last credit crunch for the stadium when we had planning. In the past 4 years banks have been giving finance out like its Candy. FF wipes off all SUFC debt and will put us in a massively positive financial situation and give Ron a bundle of money... so why has it taken so long?

But there must be a reason, yes? Because I am sure he would not have wanted to keep us afloat for God knows how long at however much it is per season he has to stump up to keep us out of administration.

 

[Tommy2holes]

Sadly we all know what happens this season if nothing changes. Southend will fall out of the football league and I am 99% sure this would be the end of SUFC as we know it. However to even get to this point we HAVE to get to through the current issues surrounding HMRC and the PAYE issue and not be wound up into NON existence.

I am fully aware, as most on this forum are, players taxes are currently being paid (well they're simply not) being paid until Ron settles his debts when he goes to court. Simple as that. The problem with this (as a business owner) HMRC will continue to take us to court until we simply pay on time.

Also every time we have to go to court it is costing around £12,000 in legal fees from start to finish. Based on the 20 odd times we have gone to court in so many years we could of easily saved £250,000 on this alone.

The main thing I cannot understand is. Ron Martin owns a HUGE piece of real estate. Well 2, 1 being Roots Hall, the other being FF. Both prime real estate and in terms of property development HUGE, HUGE opportunities. As someone involved in property. I have yet to understand and continue to fail to understand why Ron in the past (2 decades) has not gone after planning permission to redevelop the flats on the hill of Victoria Avenue and the corner of Victoria Avenue and Fairfax where the pizza shop is as a starting point to the development of the clubs future.

Doing this would of not only made commercial sense, but gaining planning permission for it would of been simple. Same as prospects college.

As a developer, Ron has access to UNLIMITED amounts of bridging finance. Literally unlimited. Lets say he got planning permission for 300 flats (which could easily go in that small space) he would of easily been given access to £15,000,000 and a return of probably £20,000,000 profit on top if not more.

He could quickly (and still could), of got planning permission (easily) with the council desperate for Victoria Avenue to be redeveloped and generated millions for himself providing funds to ensure the future of the football club also. Ron could also quite easily separate FF into land sections and have done similar and built on the Rochford end of the site with easy planning permission and done the same there.

I simply do not understand why he has not. I will also understand why he has watched as other people have built and built around it and the surrounding streets yet sat in his Bentley and not capitalised but has done so all over Hadleigh, Benfleet and other areas in the town.

On the flip side of this. I am fully aware if full planning permission comes through from the council, not only will Ron gain funds from the council he will also be able to draw down millions in bridging finance which I am sure will be used towards the football clubs debts and the debts owed by SUFC to RM. This of course is ultimately our best outcome.

SADLY I like many others will be worried this will never come and it will be the end of our beloved football club. At some point Ron needs to make a business decision not a footballing decision and actually gets help (A CEO would be great, but also external investment, how can he sell the dream of the new stadium to every manager but not a single backer?).

I genuinely want to ask Ron why? We failed to gain finance in the last credit crunch for the stadium when we had planning. In the past 4 years banks have been giving finance out like its Candy. FF wipes off all SUFC debt and will put us in a massively positive financial situation and give Ron a bundle of money... so why has it taken so long?

I've often thought this. The flats at prospects would have topped his bank balance no end. He was offered the property before anybody else and turned it down.

Someone else will now make a killing out of them.

As a property developer he rarely, if ever develops property at all.

 

[rigsby]

I've often thought this. The flats at prospects would have topped his bank balance no end. He was offered the property before anybody else and turned it down.

Someone else will now make a killing out of them.

As a property developer he rarely, if ever develops property at all.

Tommy do you don't appear to know the difference between a builder and a developer.

 

[GBJ]

Think you will find he wouldn't get planning or funding

I wouldn’t be so sure. The council desperately need to build new homes, and Ron has a readymade plan to do so. Why would they stop him?

A better question would be, what happens if we begin the building infrastructure, and then the club goes bust.

 

[GBJ]

As a property developer he rarely, if ever develops property at all.

As strange as it may sound, sometimes you don’t have to build anything to be a successful property developer.

Buying and selling pieces of land can be a lucrative little number.

 

[JIMSDAD]

I would love to know how the Seaway/Seafeont development got rubber stamped so quickly. Have this Council never heard of an
Emergency Meeting? It’s not as if they don’t need the money/housing just as quickly as Ron does. FFS, someone at the Council MUST see how important it is to help out now, not November.

 

[Leo210856]

I would love to know how the Seaway/Seafeont development got rubber stamped so quickly. Have this Council never heard of an
Emergency Meeting? It’s not as if they don’t need the money/housing just as quickly as Ron does. FFS, someone at the Council MUST see how important it is to help out now, not November.

Was it that quick?

 

[Tommy2holes]

Tommy do you don't appear to know the difference between a builder and a developer.

Yes. It's why I asked how much if any property he develops. Any developer worth their salt would have snapped up the prospects site and made a killing.

Seeing as you are Ron or Ron's number 1 fan, maybe you could enlighten us on what Ron actually does? Other than run the club terribly of course.

 

[LBBlue]

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...nd-soap-opera-may-have-sad-ending-637463.html

Blimey 20 years ago .. not much changed .....

 

[davewebbsbrain]

I agree with almost everything you have written. I think the majority of fans had seen that it was not working out for Chris Powell. He seemed at a loss with what to do, admittedly in the face of an unprecedented injury crisis. The loss of Hopper and Humphrys was especially crucial. So whilst the majority would agree Powell was unlucky I think most were ready to see him go.

I'm hindsight, Powell should have stayed, we would have gone down, regrouped, got rid of those not interested in playing in L2. I think we would be in a better position than we are now.

 

[Leigh_Seasider]

I'm hindsight, Powell should have stayed, we would have gone down, regrouped, got rid of those not interested in playing in L2. I think we would be in a better position than we are now.

Sadly he was at the point where he’d had enough. The injuries and the expectations had done for him. Amongst the saddest things I’ve seen as a Southend fan as I loved him as a player.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

Sadly he was at the point where he’d had enough. The injuries and the expectations had done for him. Amongst the saddest things I’ve seen as a Southend fan as I loved him as a player.

That was so evident in his 'body language' in pre & post match interviews. A million miles away from his first game ( & first win at Peterborough ), when he did one of his 'jigs' to our fans after the game?.

 

[Strykr]

You could quite easily blame the credit crunch for all that followed.

I dont blame him for funding the l1 winning season, or having a good pop at the championship. Arguably the finest years as a fan. Gates were high spirit was good and FF seemed real.

The fact remains that player wages are far higher then most lower league clubs can afford. Until that is addressed clubs will always get into trouble living on a knife edge of credit.

 

[Barry.C]

I would love to know how the Seaway/Seafeont development got rubber stamped so quickly. Have this Council never heard of an
Emergency Meeting? It’s not as if they don’t need the money/housing just as quickly as Ron does. FFS, someone at the Council MUST see how important it is to help out now, not November.

 

[LCBB72]

I'm hindsight, Powell should have stayed, we would have gone down, regrouped, got rid of those not interested in playing in L2. I think we would be in a better position than we are now.

Chrissy needed a good strong number 2 who would take no s- - t from anyone in the changing room , someone like Dave Martin spring to mind .