Save our Southend Save Our Southend

[Westcliff DGS]

TrueBlue, have you arranged a meeting with the club yet? If so what date is it so we can all know when t expect an update? If you haven’t what are the plans if he doesnt agree to a meeting

 

[euroshrimper]

If we’ve got any billionaire fans hiding out there that fancy running the club then now is the time to show yourselves! ?

Well in all seriousness if I won the Lotto or Euro Millions I know where some of my money would be going........ I would keep Roots Hall and upgrade the stadium (yes I love our old ground and stadium, it has character and a lot of memories) Ronald could disappear and build his new housing estate and make his millions. I'm sure there are plenty of us with both football and real buisness experience that could put our great club back on the map and once again earn some credibility and respect in the footballing world. OK I know I am day dreaming but we do have enough very loyal and caring fans who could collectively make a difference........

 

[Medway Blue]

Dipping my toes in the Med, apparently.

Wow, there's a blast from the past!

Funnily enough, just looked up your most recent post before today.

April 2010:

"There's something very wrong with this football club. I've followed SUFC for more than 30 years and, aside from Anton Johnson's brief suicidal tenure during the first half of the 1980s, I cannot think of a worse position that Southend United finds itself at the moment. Ron Martin might spin a few good yarns that keep those wolves from the door for a few more weeks but reality lays itself out with unmistakable inevitability. The club's owners - or rather its holding company Sainsbury's Supermarket Ltd - has little interest in the future of Southend United Football Club but huge enthusiasm for the plot of land currently occupied by the Roots Hall ground. Fossetts Farm is a mere pipe dream that has masked the true intention of RHL; the liquidation of SUFC Ltd and the coerced conversion of the existing covenant which has little value against suitable investment for Southend-on-Sea. Relegation is simply part of the plan by the holding company to destroy SUFC and acquire valuable estate - it has always been so since Martin Dawn plc got involved with the football club. Count those days for they are numbered."

11 years ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same...

 

[rigsby]

Well in all seriousness if I won the Lotto or Euro Millions I know where some of my money would be going........ I would keep Roots Hall and upgrade the stadium (yes I love our old ground and stadium, it has character and a lot of memories) Ronald could disappear and build his new housing estate and make his millions. I'm sure there are plenty of us with both football and real buisness experience that could put our great club back on the map and once again earn some credibility and respect in the footballing world. OK I know I am day dreaming but we do have enough very loyal and caring fans who could collectively make a difference........

Good luck and I hope you win big you will need it. To pay off the debt would be £20m and now the 7acre RH site has planning for nearly 500 houses, it must be worth £25/30m

So for about £50m you get exactly what we have now. A run down stadium that will eventually fail its safety cert.

The rebuild at RH will cost around 30% more than the same build on new ground. You might be better off buying FF and then swapping it for the Queensway site that the council intend to flatten and rebuild. A new stadium in the heart of our town would be money well spent. Certainly better than FF or RH.

Good luck to True Blue he has some good ideas as do SOME others on here, even Pubey..... Having fought many a campaign in my union days heres my advice. If your up against it and your opponent has all the cards. You have to come up with something radical and new to win. Going over the same old ground and argument or even appearing, let alone actually making it personal against the the opponent.......Means you will lose 100%.

Heres another tip. The loudest angriest people will be the first to desert when the going gets tough. You had best decide do you actually want to achieve something or just let of somme steam and then go for a pint. Either is fine with me but at least have a clear goal or objective.

 

[Xàbia Shrimper]

Wow, there's a blast from the past!

Funnily enough, just looked up your most recent post before today.

April 2010:

"There's something very wrong with this football club. I've followed SUFC for more than 30 years and, aside from Anton Johnson's brief suicidal tenure during the first half of the 1980s, I cannot think of a worse position that Southend United finds itself at the moment."

11 years ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same...

Occasionally, I spoke with some lucidity.

?

 

[euroshrimper]

Good luck and I hope you win big you will need it. To pay off the debt would be £20m and now the 7acre RH site has planning for nearly 500 houses, it must be worth £25/30m

So for about £50m you get exactly what we have now. A run down stadium that will eventually fail its safety cert.

The rebuild at RH will cost around 30% more than the same build on new ground. You might be better off buying FF and then swapping it for the Queensway site that the council intend to flatten and rebuild. A new stadium in the heart of our town would be money well spent. Certainly better than FF or RH.

Good luck to True Blue he has some good ideas as do SOME others on here, even Pubey..... Having fought many a campaign in my union days heres my advice. If your up against it and your opponent has all the cards. You have to come up with something radical and new to win. Going over the same old ground and argument or even appearing, let alone actually making it personal against the the opponent.......Means you will lose 100%.

Heres another tip. The loudest angriest people will be the first to desert when the going gets tough. You had best decide do you actually want to achieve something or just let of somme steam and then go for a pint. Either is fine with me but at least have a clear goal or objective.

Well I did say I was "day dreaming" but your relaty check just proves that FF is really all about money for someone who has seen an opportunity and not really about our football club........having run a construction company myself for 20 plus years I'm not sure I agree that it's more cost effective to build new as opposed to upgrading what already exists but that's just my own personal opinion.

 

[TrueBlue]

Blimey Mike, where have you been hiding all these years?

See I come out the woodwork and now Mike shows up!

 

[Xàbia Shrimper]

See I come out the woodwork and now Mike shows up!

I believe you might have forgotten "the legend" after my name?

On a serious note, I'll see if I can dig out the old SOS paperwork from back in the day. It's such a shame that we're still fighting this battle. And it's likely it will be fought from the pitches of the National League next season.

 

[rigsby]

Well I did say I was "day dreaming" but your relaty check just proves that FF is really all about money for someone who has seen an opportunity and not really about our football club........having run a construction company myself for 20 plus years I'm not sure I agree that it's more cost effective to build new as opposed to upgrading what already exists but that's just my own personal opinion.

You can't up grade those stands it would have to be a rebuild. Then what would that mean, one stand at at time? or a ground share for 2 seasons......An NL ground share might mean a risk of never returning as it often drags on longer.

 

[TrueBlue]

I believe you might have forgotten "the legend" after my name?

On a serious note, I'll see if I can dig out the old SOS paperwork from back in the day. It's such a shame that we're still fighting this battle. And it's likely it will be fought from the pitches of the National League next season.

Cheers Mike, any help would be superb

 

[euroshrimper]

You can't up grade those stands it would have to be a rebuild. Then what would that mean, one stand at at time? or a ground share for 2 seasons......An NL ground share might mean a risk of never returning as it often drags on longer.

This could be an interesting discussion and debate but possibly not on this thread. My original intention other than the "day dreaming" bit was to indicate to True Blue that in my opinion what he is proposing will have the support of many of us fan's so I'm in.......as they say.

 

[TrueBlue]

This could be an interesting discussion and debate but possibly not on this thread. My original intention other than the "day dreaming" bit was to indicate to True Blue that in my opinion what he is proposing will have the support of many of us fan's so I'm in.......as they say.

Thanks for the support mate, if you have any ideas please fire them over to me

 

[rigsby]

This could be an interesting discussion and debate but possibly not on this thread. My original intention other than the "day dreaming" bit was to indicate to True Blue that in my opinion what he is proposing will have the support of many of us fan's so I'm in.......as they say.

Yes I wasn't having a dig at your daydreaming just pointing out the financial reality as it has already been mentioned.

Plus there are several roads the group could decide to take that need to be clear for it to have a chance. For example stay at RH, move to FF or chose a new site within the town...Im assuming Basildon is out of the question of course.

 

[TrueBlue]

ex

Yes I wasn't having a dig at your daydreaming just pointing out the financial reality as it has already been mentioned.

Plus there are several roads the group could decide to take that need to be clear for it to have a chance. For example stay at RH, move to FF or chose a new site within the town...Im assuming Basildon is out of the question of course.

A full ‘manifesto’ if you will, will be produced in the next few days to state some clear aims

 

[rigsby]

ex

A full ‘manifesto’ if you will, will be produced in the next few days to state some clear aims

Heres another tip. If you study a bit history it often needs a dictator to beat a dictator.... So don't rule out ruthlessly seizing power yourself. After all a camel is a race horse designed by a committee.

 

[O's fan]

People shouldn't underestimate what fan power can actually achieve. If it gets the publicity and the numbers behind it, can go long way.

Blackpool/orient/charlton fans took action and got what they wanted.

If the vast majority of fans put sustained pressure for change then surely at some point the owner of a football club has to consider his position.

You can argue the power is very much in the fans hands.

It was touch and go for us. I never wanted Becchetti because I always thought it would end in tears. Orient turned out to be his play-thing. The Leyton High Road protest (with Blackpool, ironically) was the turning point and he stopped paying the bills. It was very nearly the end.

The trouble is that Ron has a way out, the housing projects at Roots Hall and Fossett's could be his win, repay his loans, transfer the stadium to one of his companies charging an annual fee and take a nominal sum for the club, which will have no assets except for a name. Very similar to Orient.

When built, perhaps consider applying for Fossett's to become a community asset to ensure its used for football long-term and deter any asset strippers? We did it and the owner was none-too-happy.

 

[rigsby]

It was touch and go for us. I never wanted Becchetti because I always thought it would end in tears. Orient turned out to be his play-thing. The Leyton High Road protest (with Blackpool, ironically) was the turning point and he stopped paying the bills. It was very nearly the end.

The trouble is that Ron has a way out, the housing projects at Roots Hall and Fossett's could be his win, repay his loans, transfer the stadium to one of his companies charging an annual fee and take a nominal sum for the club, which will have no assets except for a name. Very similar to Orient.

When built, perhaps consider applying for Fossett's to become a community asset to ensure its used for football long-term and deter any asset strippers? We did it and the owner was none-too-happy.

What was your opinion of Barry H and why did he move on ?

 

[ms brush]

Very interesting debate, and agree that there ought to be a accountability for the demise of our beloved club, but it needs to be in a positive, action focused manner, not a blaming fest! Bottom line, regardless of the hurt of the last few seasons, the sadness at the likely loss of our league status, and despair at how we have ended up here, we need to draw a line, and stop throwing stones over the parapet!

I will offer my support, when it becomes clear what the objectives of this group are, and more importantly how it brings the various fan groups and the vastly different, but equally valid opinions together.

If you need help to create a consensus and clear direction of travel, i can offer some support to help develop a short term and a longer term strategy. Learning from the mistakes made by other club's supporter takeover groups, and gaining their input and support is also vital.

First thing first though, regardless of my personal views, any solution needs to include Ron in some way, as he has controlling interest of our club both legally and financially. Forcing the issue is not going to help - you need to really understand his motivations (and i expect we can all guess at this, but we dont know what is in his head). When we do know this categorically, the group needs to be creating practical and and financially viable commercial solutions that will help him to achieve them. Working with him, difficult though that might be if he doesnt want to work with a group of individuals, will make any future planning and potential takeover easier. He will be far more likely respond positively to a commercial approach than an emotive angry fan group calling for his head in the gallows! Hostile takeover attempts in the business world tend to create havoc and have at least as many problems as opportunities are created - but leave significant bad feeling and casulties in their wake. The Trust also need to be a key stakeholder, as whilst objectives may be different, the Trust are an official key stakeholder and have to be fully engaged. This means creating a fully worked through plan before anyone approaches Ron for the inevitable conversations about thd club's future. It also needs to be funded, with a plan to raise the required funding to allow a constructive conversation with Ron to even start. Why do you think the discussions with the Henrick Laarson consortium took precedence over a managerial appointment when he sacked KB? Nothing to do with our need for on the pitch success, much more to do with a financial settlement to give Ron his exit strategy. My personal view is that in the midst of the stadium and housing build, the football itself has become an inconvenient and expensive side show, that he can only put a limited investment in, financially and emotionally.

This situation needs a full strategic business approach (are there plans to set up a community interest company or similar?) or it will become another disparate talking shop. Harsh maybe, but it is the reason why nothing else has worked so far. As i say, happy to offer help and support but only if it is going to be done as a strategic long term commercial solution. Economic development and local employment opportunities are high on every local authority's agenda, so it could be a good time to get a formal plan in place.

 

[Westcliff DGS]

Very interesting debate, and agree that there ought to be a accountability for the demise of our beloved club, but it needs to be in a positive, action focused manner, not a blaming fest! Bottom line, regardless of the hurt of the last few seasons, the sadness at the likely loss of our league status, and despair at how we have ended up here, we need to draw a line, and stop throwing stones over the parapet!

I will offer my support, when it becomes clear what the objectives of this group are, and more importantly how it brings the various fan groups and the vastly different, but equally valid opinions together.

If you need help to create a consensus and clear direction of travel, i can offer some support to help develop a short term and a longer term strategy. Learning from the mistakes made by other club's supporter takeover groups, and gaining their input and support is also vital.

First thing first though, regardless of my personal views, any solution needs to include Ron in some way, as he has controlling interest of our club both legally and financially. Forcing the issue is not going to help - you need to really understand his motivations (and i expect we can all guess at this, but we dont know what is in his head). When we do know this categorically, the group needs to be creating practical and and financially viable commercial solutions that will help him to achieve them. Working with him, difficult though that might be if he doesnt want to work with a group of individuals, will make any future planning and potential takeover easier. He will be far more likely respond positively to a commercial approach than an emotive angry fan group calling for his head in the gallows! Hostile takeover attempts in the business world tend to create havoc and have at least as many problems as opportunities are created - but leave significant bad feeling and casulties in their wake. The Trust also need to be a key stakeholder, as whilst objectives may be different, the Trust are an official key stakeholder and have to be fully engaged. This means creating a fully worked through plan before anyone approaches Ron for the inevitable conversations about thd club's future. It also needs to be funded, with a plan to raise the required funding to allow a constructive conversation with Ron to even start. Why do you think the discussions with the Henrick Laarson consortium took precedence over a managerial appointment when he sacked KB? Nothing to do with our need for on the pitch success, much more to do with a financial settlement to give Ron his exit strategy. My personal view is that in the midst of the stadium and housing build, the football itself has become an inconvenient and expensive side show, that he can only put a limited investment in, financially and emotionally.

This situation needs a full strategic business approach (are there plans to set up a community interest company or similar?) or it will become another disparate talking shop. Harsh maybe, but it is the reason why nothing else has worked so far. As i say, happy to offer help and support but only if it is going to be done as a strategic long term commercial solution. Economic development and local employment opportunities are high on every local authority's agenda, so it could be a good time to get a formal plan in place.

Agree, its why i have asked some of the questions i have, still not had answers on some but hey there is still time

 

[TrueBlue]

Support from our very own Ben Clarkson