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Ron...The worst gambler in town.... Success or failure?

Sadly I think (like most clubs) we're treading water. Football can't go on like this.
Exactly, and there is going to be a domino effect when the current unsustainable situation results in just one club folding completely rather than going into administration. The mirage of FF has been a remarkably successful trick of illusionism, but it's just that and once that has vanished, you can start writing the history books.about clubs like SUFC. I hope I am wrong.
 
Well if the option for someone else to have a go is not on,we can stick with Martin and let the Hall rot,sounds like a plan unless he addresses the stadium we have already the clocks ticking riggers.
may I add others found ways to get a new stadium or a revamp Morecambe,Mansfield,Northampton,Bristol rovers(soon) Doncaster,Shrewsbury to name a few,i'm not on this thread to argue just to say maybe just maybe there is another way. UTB

Yes its frustrating and i'm not here to argue anyones case but clearly its not all Rons fault. Don't forget we have to deal with two councils (including Rochford) who seemed to enjoy not cooperating for the good of their own residents.....Southend relief road/Warners bridge comes to mind. If they had have done that 20 years ago we would have no access problems for Roads around FF and thousands of us would have not wasted hours of our lives getting in/out and across the town.

Plus we have far less land options and population that wont back its football club at the ballot boxes. We have witnessed the downfall of one of the South Easts best high streets and the loss of big local employers. Their has been years of incredible incompetence by lots of different regimes.

So after all that the facts are the club owes Ron £17m. If he has gambled it is not with his own money. If FF is turned down, then no new owner will take over....As much as some may not like it we are stuck with Ron and he is stuck with us.....rather like all those contracted players nobody likes.....We had all better smile at each other and get on with it if we really don't want a disaster

On a positive side we have had time to learn from other mistakes. Some of those new stadiums are good examples of how not to do it.

Doncaster...To far behind the goal. Shrewsbury...big gaps in the corners making it cold and windy.
Morecambe....Good main stand but 3 sides are non league standard.
Northampton...Have they finished that half built stand yet.
Mansfield...Not been yet, hopefully go next year instead of Ipswich.
Bristol R have had years of delays because a certain retailer by the name of Sainsbury's agreed a deal with them and then stalled for years whilst conveniently putting off rivals opening up nearby.....Sound familiar, yes well Rovers tried to sue them but lost.
 
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This is incorrect. The Council, and others, keep requesting fresh reports on things that have already been submitted every time there is a change in personnel in the relevant department. Ecological, historical and geographical reports have all been submitted numerous times, but every time someone new comes in they want to have the evidence re-submitted.
The 'new' plans have not actually been submitted though, they do not even reach that stage. Get plans with all the relevant bits and pieces sorted, then submit them for review.
Ron knows the process and is probably trying to cut corners.
 
The 'new' plans have not actually been submitted though, they do not even reach that stage. Get plans with all the relevant bits and pieces sorted, then submit them for review.
Ron knows the process and is probably trying to cut corners.

Again, no. He is doing everything he can to prevent any possible refusal, so crossing every t and dotting every i to prevent that possibility.
 
Again, no. He is doing everything he can to prevent any possible refusal, so crossing every t and dotting every i to prevent that possibility.
Ok its only taken him 10 years since the last plans were approved to get this far.
Each change of plan since then has added 100's more flats and loads more retail space that seems to be the issue.
 
Ok its only taken him 10 years since the last plans were approved to get this far.
Each change of plan since then has added 100's more flats and loads more retail space that seems to be the issue.

This is because every time there is a delay, the fixed cost to deliver the development will, naturally, increase.
Hence, as the stadium portion is being financed entirely by enabling development such as retail, commercial and leisure/hotel, then these elements need to be constantly adjusted to suit.

Couple that with submissions coinciding with council elections, then we have been extremely unlucky with timing.
 
Only about 25 new grounds in top 4 divisions since Ron took over and probably major redevelopment of 50+ of the others. Oh well a new set of plans every 6 months keeps our fans happy.
 
Only about 25 new grounds in top 4 divisions since Ron took over and probably major redevelopment of 50+ of the others. Oh well a new set of plans every 6 months keeps our fans happy.

You can't compare like for like with stadium developments. Each and every club pretty much has a completely different set of challenges to deal with. They are largely worthless to Councils given the pressures on delivering unrealistic housing targets and trying in vain to rescue their dying retail centres, and clubs at our level don't have the luxury of private equity on tap, so the projects become incredibly complex in terms of how they are financed.
Somebody mentioned Bristol Rovers as an example to be jealous of earlier in the thread - they have pretty much been trying to move for the same timeframe as us, and have tried to instigate so many partnerships to fund the move which have all, as yet, failed.
 
The way retail is going, maybe not such a hot idea...

I think you might be surprised - and this has been one of the biggest battles, because the High Street is dying and many people locally reckon that Fossetts would be the end of it. For most the High Street died a long time ago, and it's internet shopping that's to blame not retail parks, which all seem to be booming. For that you need to look at Councils and the exorbitant rents they charge High Street businesses, but no, ignorant people are blaming SUFC and Ron Martin.
 
Reatil parks booming? I'll take your word, but Debenhams, Maplin, so many more in trouble or gone.
 
Reatil parks booming? I'll take your word, but Debenhams, Maplin, so many more in trouble or gone.
Neither of which are generally found on retail parks. I know from what we've been told at Liaison meetings, that much of the retail is already in place for Fossetts.
 
I think you might be surprised - and this has been one of the biggest battles, because the High Street is dying and many people locally reckon that Fossetts would be the end of it. For most the High Street died a long time ago, and it's internet shopping that's to blame not retail parks, which all seem to be booming. For that you need to look at Councils and the exorbitant rents they charge High Street businesses, but no, ignorant people are blaming SUFC and Ron Martin.

Yep, and the final nail is the parking charges. Lately they have changed many spaces to a rip off 2 hour minimum, and put the price up to £2.90. So even if you only pop in for something for 20 minutes or so, you pay £2.90. People are rightly saying why bother at those parking charges, might as well shop online. The council are killing the High Street.
 
Neither of which are generally found on retail parks. I know from what we've been told at Liaison meetings, that much of the retail is already in place for Fossetts.

Wasn't when I last drove past!
 
Is it actually the stadium that the council has an issue with or the rest of the stuff Ron wants to build? The roads around Fossetts Farm are already pretty bad for traffic, so Fossetts could make traffic be gridlocked on a consistent basis.

If it was just a football stadium there would be ways around this (like enforcing a no parking zone for non residents on match days) but given that Ron also wants to build a hotel, 848 homes, a cinema, shops and restaurants on site then that's going to cause a lot of extra traffic on the roads every single day, and the roads aren't equipped to deal with such a large increase in traffic at all. Unless building new roads are included in Ron's plans to deal with this problem I can see why the council favour the Seaways plan, which already has all the infrastructure in place to deal with traffic.

Southend council don't care about the roads; they are building thousands of houses each year, with no improvement in infrastructure.

Even Basildon council has questioned what plans Southend council have with the A127 based on the number of houses they are proposing to build!!
 
Dunno if he is the worse, I’ve lost a fair whack in Coral.
 
Some great posts above written from the heart. I’ve supported the club for 55 years but I think we are approaching our darkest hour. I believed in Ron, up until ten years ago, but lost the faith in him, with his treatment of Tilly & Brush.
Sir Adam & Flavs told me stuff I just did not need to know.
Putting that to one side if he delivered I would be 100% behind his ambitions, but he hasn’t.
As to local government I work in it. It is fraught with Politics that drive you nuts. And every four years we go through it again. Unless you get the politicians onside FF will never happen, and that’s RM’s greatest failure.
We are not alone in this as others with more knowledge have eloquently recorded.
Football at Southend has never been overly well supported by the residents the majority of the fans come from the surrounding districts. I believe this is one of the main issues.
Also geographical Southend is a cul de sac, a disaster for traffic flow, that can never be addressed how ever you paint it up.
The huge stadia that West Ham, Spurs, Arsenal is a massive drain on our support. I fear FF is 15 years to late. I would love to be proved wrong!
 
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