Ron's echo blog

[overseas shrimper]

does ron really expect people to be so happy when we havn't signed a player other than 1 or 2 at the most in over a year. when teams most lower down are getting players in all the time. most he should wake up.

Well, you said it! Teams BELOW us are signing more players. Would you rather we were signing more but below them?

 

[united we stand]

It is a life or death situation, like most of the opinions on this site.

Do people really believe that Revs should be valued at a higher price than Theo? It looks like Tilson and Brush think that is the case, unless they saw something in Theo that they didn't quite like?

Theo is not my favourite player, but I can guess who most league 1 defenders would rather play against. Players like Revs are ten a penny! (well one a 150K)!

to me the question is flawed,
Revs was bought when finances and player valuations were in a different palce to today
Your question assumes that TIlly is happen with the fee he played. With hinsight maybe he wishes he hadn't bid so high- I don't know, nor does anyone else on this board.
As my mum taught me 'two wrongs do not make a right' - if we have payed too much for one player, why use that as an argument for paying too much again-- surely the opposite should be true- or have we all forgotten about Foran


The proposition that 'if Revs was worth 150,000 then Theo must be worth at least £200,000'

 

[philtalkin]

Probably yes. But by that i don't mean hundreds of thousands. Like i said Theo is rated at about £50-100k. Revs is in and around that bracket aswell IMO.

Anyway, whats your point? Please don't start saying Theo is better than Revs FFS, as they are two very opposite players.

Sorry but Theo is a better player than Revs and will probably go on to play at a higher level. They are both strikers so I can easily compare the two.

Theo is 5 years younger and has already scored more pro goals than Revell.

Revs is a nice guy but will never hold down a regular place in the championship. Theo might!

 

[cockles is back]

Anyone else starting to wish we'd never got promotion to the CC? It seems to have cost us a fortune. 2m loss last year & the same predicted for this year! Its such a dangerous game financially, if you don't gamble you effectively accept relegation before the season even starts, but if you do gamble on big fee's & salaries & it doesn't work out you plunge the club into financial meltdown.

I'm personally starting to think promotion would be a bad thing if it happens before we're safely in the new stadium & are generating an income that can support the downs as well as the ups.

And FFS why do some people insist on having a go at Ron? Of course he's not perfect but he's by miles the best chairman we've had certainly in my 35 odd years of supporting the club, and if he did get fed up with the critisism & walked I really would fear for our survival. But hey I guess some people just have to bite the hand that feeds them.

surely your first sentance should read......'Anyone else starting to wish we'd never got promotion to the CC? It seems to have been one big scape goat'

 

[cockles is back]

I fail to see how he is the best chairman we have had in 35 years? surely he has achieved so far no more or no less than Vic Jobson? talks cheap I would preffer to have something proving the original staitment as apposed to hearsay either way

 

[GBJ]

Sorry but Theo is a better player than Revs and will probably go on to play at a higher level. They are both strikers so I can easily compare the two.

Theo is 5 years younger and has already scored more pro goals than Revell.

Revs is a nice guy but will never hold down a regular place in the championship. Theo might!

Maybe so. Infact probably so. But then again he's only played a handfull of games at this level. He is still unproven. Like i said earlier, Jon Stead signed for on loan for Blackburn and basically kept them in the prem league. They signed him for £1.25m and he flopped the following season. At this time where money is very tight, and most of our money is tied up in the new stadium, we can't afford to throw money at a player who is unproven.

And the difference with Revs and Theo, is Theo is the man who hangs on the shoulder of the last defender and uses his pace to break away.
Revs on the other hand is the complete opposite. He is the target man. He does all the 'donkey-work' for others like theo to run on and do the business in front of goal

 

[philtalkin]

to me the question is flawed,
Revs was bought when finances and player valuations were in a different palce to today
Your question assumes that TIlly is happen with the fee he played. With hinsight maybe he wishes he hadn't bid so high- I don't know, nor does anyone else on this board.
As my mum taught me 'two wrongs do not make a right' - if we have payed too much for one player, why use that as an argument for paying too much again-- surely the opposite should be true- or have we all forgotten about Foran


The proposition that 'if Revs was worth 150,000 then Theo must be worth at least £200,000'

To a certain extent, I agree with what you are saying with regards to the market changing. But, I also wonder whether the price he paid for certain players, Revs, Foran etc.. has affected his judgement. If that is the case then I can't see us signing any decent players for some time to come.

I really like the loan system, but only if it leads to the occasional permanent signing. I thought we stood a good chance of signing Theo but it looks like our valuation of the player, compared to a number of other teams was way off the mark. Only time will tell who is right or wrong but I would have thought that Theo was worth the risk.

I just hope T&B don't become too cautious.

 

[Beefy]

How was bringing Revs into it going to prove you're arguement? Whether or not Robinson is better doesn't matte. Revell was bought in to replace Matt Harrold when we were trying to change our strikeforce to push for the playoffs. Theo has come along when we're trying to revamp the defence and already have six strikers on the books. If Lee Barnard stays fit then he'd outscore Robinson anyway. Plus if James Walker gets his act together we'll have the pacy striker to run in behind the back four anyway.

 

[Suffolk Blue]

How was bringing Revs into it going to prove you're arguement? Whether or not Robinson is better doesn't matte. Revell was bought in to replace Matt Harrold when we were trying to change our strikeforce to push for the playoffs. Theo has come along when we're trying to revamp the defence and already have six strikers on the books. If Lee Barnard stays fit then he'd outscore Robinson anyway. Plus if James Walker gets his act together we'll have the pacy striker to run in behind the back four anyway.

We also have Laurent who is stronger than Theo, and who looks just as pacey, but so far without the pure striker's singlemindedness that Theo demonstrated.

And we have Freedman too. I'm confident that between that lot we have the wherewithal to score goals as long as service is provided by a creative midfield.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

What would make you happy, getting into the Championship again? Beating Col U and Orient home and away? Winning the league with the highest goal diff ever? A decent cup run?

I am happy enough to be mid table in div3 for a few years, build a new ground, and eventually try to be an established Championship team.

In the end, it all boils down to trust and belief.

Do you believe Ron has the clubs best interest at heart? (even if it is purely for financial reasons.)

Do you trust him to deliver what he has promised? (or at least die trying.)

Everybody should stop moaning and wait to see what happens. What is the alternative?

personally i would like the same as you but i do get annoyed by ron. i have spoken to him a few times and all he ever goes on about is the stadium.

i want a new stadium and cannot wait until its open but i don't want to forget about the now. i feel too many excuses are being given to us all the time and the blame being passed. lets be honest how many times has he passed it to tilly and brush making it look as if they were at fault.

i don't want to be a team with a lovely stadium with no fans and in league 2.

we need players and i'm sure we will get them but more than likely later rather than sooner but people will grow annoyed by rm because as soon as we play a chelsea or a man u he'll be out there lapping up the applause when really half the crowd never watch southend play. surely he should be doing this at league game against some non-excitable team. makes more sense to me.

as i sayi have spoken to ron a few times and get bored with the stadium gobble.

 

[Sussex Shrimper]

This was the bit that jumped out at me:

When we were last promoted from League One our football costs were half what they are now. We will post a similar loss this year.

Anybody saying that we should be throwing money around would be able to make a much stronger case if they specified how we might balance the books at the same time. Otherwise we're incurring debt that might ultimately pose the same kind of threat to the club's continued existence that we had to live with during some of our darker days. I'm in no hurry to go back there. Is playing "only" one division higher than we have for the majority of our existence really so unpalatable that we need to gamble away our future?

 

[Jai]

Ron has done a great job but is not beyond criticism. I've been critical of him recently but it doesn't change the fact that I think he is a top notch chairman. He needs to be able to take constructive criticism on the chin. It must be difficult when people talk rubbish about things they know nothing about (I have to hold my tongue when people start slagging the Echo) but at the same time he's not perfect.

 

[Mick]

Not even read it all yet

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/theblues/4460613.Blues_chairman_answers_his_critics/?ref=rss

Hmmm not sure I like the way he tries to belittle critics. He refers to a trio of letter writers as the Three Musketeers. He later refers to them as D'Artagnan & Co and of course D'Artagnan was not one of the Three Musketeers. Is the rest of what he writes more factually accurate? Who knows? He's built up a pretty large groundswell of goodwill and I want to believe him.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

I actually think that Tilly and Brush have very much underestimated Theo's worth. We were a much more dangerous team with him up front, home and away. He missed a hatful of chances but at least he kept out stripping the defenders to get those chances.

So in my view his striking will improve and he will be worth a Million or more within two years. 300K will turn out to be an absolute bargain.

 

[Richard_Cadette]

Reading through these posts, it seems I'm in a minority of 1 that thinks our valuation for Theo is a bit unrealistic. I am all for us negotiating hard, and trying to get players as cheap as possible, but there is not a cat in hells chance we would get Theo for anything less than £200,000. Last season at Hereford, he formed an extremely prolific partnership with Hooper to help them get promotion, and then with us, he was also relatively prolific in a side which I think punched above it's weight.... In no small part through his performances.

Not only are you buying a player who has lightening pace, and can score goals at this level, you are buying someone at an age where he has bags of potential, and assuming he reaches even half of it, you are guaranteeing your money back and then some.

I'm not saying we can afford to pay £275,000, but given how the market currently is, with extremely over inflated prices, I'd say around that figure is what I would expect. To think we'ed get him for £50,000, £70,000 or even £100,000 is totally unrealistic.

To be honest, I'm not interested in any kind of war of words between Ron and his doubters, all I'm interested in is what he can deliver for this football club in terms of concrete results - The stadium, and the finances for Tilly and Brush to do their job. If he delivers on both those fronts, then that's excellent - if he doesn't, then it will be time to ask some serious questions about his tenure.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Not at all RC, I also think Theo is vastly over rated at that price...but then it kind of goes along with the whole over evaluation of the price of players.

 

[GBJ]

Not at all RC, I also think Theo is vastly over rated at that price...but then it kind of goes along with the whole over evaluation of the price of players.

I agree with OBL *SHOCKER* :stunned: :unsure:

I thought he was a good player, has lots of potential, but is very over-rated for that price tag. Like i mentioned somewhere else we got Freddy Eastwood for a 5-figure sum, and TR is not in FE same league IMO.

 

[Andy_S]

Reading through these posts, it seems I'm in a minority of 1 that thinks our valuation for Theo is a bit unrealistic. I am all for us negotiating hard, and trying to get players as cheap as possible, but there is not a cat in hells chance we would get Theo for anything less than £200,000. Last season at Hereford, he formed an extremely prolific partnership with Hooper to help them get promotion, and then with us, he was also relatively prolific in a side which I think punched above it's weight.... In no small part through his performances.

Not only are you buying a player who has lightening pace, and can score goals at this level, you are buying someone at an age where he has bags of potential, and assuming he reaches even half of it, you are guaranteeing your money back and then some.

I'm not saying we can afford to pay £275,000, but given how the market currently is, with extremely over inflated prices, I'd say around that figure is what I would expect. To think we'ed get him for £50,000, £70,000 or even £100,000 is totally unrealistic.

To be honest, I'm not interested in any kind of war of words between Ron and his doubters, all I'm interested in is what he can deliver for this football club in terms of concrete results - The stadium, and the finances for Tilly and Brush to do their job. If he delivers on both those fronts, then that's excellent - if he doesn't, then it will be time to ask some serious questions about his tenure.

Agreed. I can't quite believe how little Tilson rated him in the fee side of things and how so many people on here aren't fussed. £50,000 for a striker who was a regular scorer in League 2 as an 18 year old and then who fired us up the table? Strange. Especially for a manager who was quite happy to pay £150,000 for Revell, £150,000 for Foran and £200,000 for Paynter. In my opinion he's worth the £200,000 Huddersfield will get him for and we're going to struggle without a player of his type in the team.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Completely behind RM with this one. I think those who openly criticise and even belittle RM in a public domain are taking liberties and being extremely disrespectful to someone, who had it not been for, we would be out of business by now.

I'm not saying he's a saviour and we should treat him like one, but he deserves a hell of a lot more respect and patience than he is getting at the moment.

Should he walk away, I'd be extremely negative at the future of this club.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Completely behind RM with this one. I think those who openly criticise and even belittle RM in a public domain are taking liberties and being extremely disrespectful to someone, who had it not been for, we would be out of business by now.

I'm not saying he's a saviour and we should treat him like one, but he deserves a hell of a lot more respect and patience than he is getting at the moment.

Should he walk away, I'd be extremely negative at the future of this club.

I agree, if he withdrew his time, effort and money then the club would be in deep, deep do-do. I think a lot of other clubs would be very grateful for the same open door approach and level of communication we have both with and from the man, if people continue disparaging in this manner then he might decide enough is enough.