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Ron Martin - whats the view now

Joined
Oct 26, 2003
Messages
1,196
Just thought I'd ask the question to see what people think now about Uncle Ron.In the beginning there was a fair amount of scepticism about his motives, and that scepticism may well remain today.

I number myself amongst the early sceptics, developer takes over a Southend, alarm bells rang for me.

But what I dont think can be argued is that we were facing a very dark future when he took over and he has managed to turn this club around, the odd dodgy managerial appointment not withstanding.

We are undoubtedly on an upward curve and for that I think Ron deserves a lot of credit.
 
Tend to agree with that, as property companies can be seen as asset strippers, look at Wrexham. Having survived the worst that Anton Johnson could through at us, Ron is a saint in comparison.

But Ron has seemed to become a "football fan" along the way, and his reaction to the win at Col******r on Saturday was great. We certainly seem to be on an upward cycle and long may it continue, with promotion and stability in Division 2, and a new stadium to watch it in.
 
I still reserve judgement, and always will. It's my nature...

ps any news on the JCR case?


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For me it was Bury away a couple of years ago I mean what sort of chairman comes into the crowd to celebrate an away win at Bury for goodness sake?
 
Dont think I can agree if the Chairman isnt passionate about his club then he wont be interested in putting the club on a sound basis he will just milk it for all its worth, and we have had one or two of them in the past.
 
I had my doubts about te man I must admit, but now I believe he does have our clubs best interests at heart.

Ron I salute you Sir.

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There's still no real visible evidence of his intentions though. I have always had time for Ron Martin, of course, but he still doesn't have total support from me until the club's finances have been sorted out and Southend United are in an obvious secure position (rather than him just saying so). Having a new stadium doesn't necessarily cure debt (see: Leicester City see: Coventry City) but I suppose it would demonstrate a commitment ...
 
Ron Martin has won me over, I do think he has the clubs best interests at heart.
Older fans like me will remember the disgarceful way Vic Jobson treated thye fans. We had him liking us to Hitler Youth because people dared to speak out against him and some of the most loyalist fans banned from going to home matches because they had spoken out against him trying to move to a new stadium(how times have changed). Ron Martin has managed to repair the damage done by Jobson and I think most fans trust him and believe he wants a sucessful Football club.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Csboy @ Mar. 07 2006,20:18)]and I think most fans trust him and believe he wants a sucessful Football club.
Agree, and I just want a solvent club ! one that perhaps if I may be a bit greedy consolidate a position in the Championship, maybe with a good cup run here and there, that's all....that'll suit me until the day I die thankyou very much.
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[b said:
Quote[/b] (Ljubljana Branch @ Mar. 08 2006,10:12)]Ron has turned the club about.  The appointment of Tilson was the best decision any chairman's probably ever made.
The appointment of Tilson was more or less forced on Ron in the end, as Tilly & Brush did such a good job in staving off relegation and getting us to our first cup final.

Remember he was gung ho for tw&tkins when Wignall got the boot. So Tilly more or less got the job by default, thank God.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (canveyshrimper @ Mar. 08 2006,10:25)]
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Ljubljana Branch @ Mar. 08 2006,10:12)]Ron has turned the club about.  The appointment of Tilson was the best decision any chairman's probably ever made.
The appointment of Tilson was more or less forced on Ron in the end, as Tilly & Brush did such a good job in staving off relegation and getting us to our first cup final.

Remember he was gung ho for tw&tkins when Wignall got the boot. So Tilly more or less got the job by default, thank God.
He still appointed him though. Yeah, when he gave him the role as caretaker he probably didn't expect him to do so well but who did honestly?
Ron Martin did well in keeping David Webb on the scene after he stepped down to help Tilson out.
 
Ron seems to want only what's best for the club, so I trust him - we could do a lot worse (see Wrexham's old chairman, or Southampton's Rupert Lowe - always interefering with his managers business)
 
A big thumb up for me
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Who remeber the dark day of end of July pre-season friendly Vs Gillingham which we lost 3-1 at Root-Hall, everyone was chanting "We want John Main" as Southend was 24 hours from being wound-up as we got much debts cos' of John Main doing & players wages was 3 time more for players like Tinker & Houghton etc. than our current squad earn now. That the night I thought Ron Martin was a bad guy in my eye as an type that want to make profits from turning Root-Hall ground into profit making property like building new flat there. Leaving the Southend Utd fans building AFC Southend Utd FC to play in Ryman League 2nd Div.

How time changed - Iam glad Iam supporting Southend in year 2006 not in year 2000
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Well having been through Bill Rubin, Mark and Tony, Anton Johnson, Vic, John Main and Ron; best Chairman/ Figure head is a difficult call,
in all honesty, if Vic had stood up and said, when Webby required financial backing in his push for the prem, words to the effect of "this is getting out of myleague, time to sell to someone who can tac us that one step further" he would have finished his tenure as the best thing since sliced bread, he didn't, he lost the plot completely, it stayed put far too long into his illness and basically nigh on killed the club. Bill Rubin, I understand, was a nice bloke, but he never got us anywhere. Mark & Tony....Milton Keynes anyone ? Johnson was a Crook. John Main, Nice bloe, but couldn't do the difficult bit and cut back before trying to grow the club. Ron...disliked initially for outing Nice bloke John, drastic cuts early on but they do seem to have bourne fruit so IMHO Ron is the best of the chairmen in the last 40 years...

Promotion is the next aim, then consolidation both on and off the field for a while, then a Reading like surge......
 
My main question is where is the money coming from?

Ron Martin is a Director of 14 Companies. 1 of whnich is non trading, 1 has a moderate risk credit rating, and the other 12 have a credit rating of "Suspended". The index I am using scores companies on a 1-100 credit rating, 1 being the best. To get a suspended rating the score is over 75 which means bad risk.
Perhaps he won the lottery
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Firestorm @ Mar. 08 2006,11:10)]Bill Rubin, I understand, was a nice bloke, but he never got us anywhere. Mark & Tony....Milton Keynes anyone ?
Which reminds me of the time when Mark and Tony Rubin were running the club, and there was a huge campaign by the fans to get rid of them - which happened in the shape of Anton Johnson and his accolytes McCutcheon and Cranston (?) who were both briefly Chairman.

Well, at one particular game I was in the North Bank, and had taken my cousin, from oop north, to the game. The North Bank were chanting to get rid of the rubins, who were both, like their father, of semitic persuasion. They were singing a song to get rid of them, to the tune of what is colloquially known as "Here We Go", and my cousin turned to me and said "what number for Southend is Bernard Hughes!"
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Sing Bernard Hughes to "Here We Go" if you need to!
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He has done well so far, but my cynical nature means trust is too strong a word. I believe that he does have strong feelings for the club, but let's not forget the Fossetts situation is still far from resolved.

Whilst I like Ron, you still have to be wary enough to ask the big questions when they arise, such as the JCR situation.
 
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