Shrimpers Trust News Shrimpers Trust Statement - 20th March 2021

[Supa Shrimpa]

But didn’t Ron publicly back MM only a week or two ago?

Fair point. He was well enough to communicate that.

 

[NZamba Legend]

I may be in the minority but I'm not exactly on tenterhooks waiting for Ron's next 'club statement'. They are almost always a right load of old blather.

 

[Hegman]

That’s one thing I can’t wait to see, I actually thought that fans wouldnt buy many this season but the club did ok, next season will be very different when we go down, Rip the fans off in the national league and we could go back down to the average gates of 4,000 at home games, and that’s being generous.

I think they are going to be a lot lower. Plenty of my friends who would barely miss a game are not planning on returning until things change with how the club is run.

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

I may be in the minority but I'm not exactly on tenterhooks waiting for Ron's next 'club statement'. They are almost always a right load of old blather.

It's now time for the old blather to stop, and to start talking to us like grown ups. Not giving the Trust (or whoever else) just and hour of his time, or a meeting that includes the team manager (eating up precious time talking about team matters), or telling us exclusive stories because he thinks that'll keep us happy...it's time for the truth ! We can handle it...we're SUFC supporters.

 

[mfurok]

A key principle in the Shrimpers Trust doing what we do has always simply been to support Southend United. Like all fans, we love our club, and we want to do everything we can to help it not only survive but also to thrive.

We are more than aware of the growing concern amongst fans over the direction the club is heading, not only in terms of performances on the pitch but also in terms of how it is run. We have always sought regular positive dialogue with the Club Chairman, Ron Martin. We fully recognise that he is the Club's major shareholder and that, whilst we might disagree with his approach, the decision process lies with him. To that end we have sought to be co-operative, believing that this will then at least allow us to have a voice that is listened to.

It is fair to say that, although his responses to us have sometimes been erratic, until relatively recently he has generally been communicative. Trust Board members were amongst a group of fans that held a zoom call with Ron Martin on 15 February, and in that call he made certain undertakings, not least being (and this was his suggestion) to hold weekly zoom calls with fans to help address the communication issue. Despite repeated attempts to get an update on this since, our prompts have gone unanswered.

On 14th March Chris Phillips wrote an article in The Echo addressing the reasons behind why our Club now seems to be on the brink of relegation to the National League. There were a lot of home truths in that article. Our 100 years of Football League history is now in peril, and whilst we will continue to give our full support to the Club in its fight to retain league status and will not give up until the last, like Chris, we have serious concerns. It is so frustrating not being able to be at Roots Hall to help urge Mark Molesley and his team on to victory - we saw back in December what a difference some vocal support can make.

It is the way that the Club at the top level is treating the fans that for us is a HUGE CONCERN, as if ever there was a need to communicate regularly with the fans it is now. It is the fans who have lived and breathed the Club's past ups and downs, and it is the fans who will be there long after any future change in Club ownership. We need to be included, not cast aside as if our views do not matter.

To this end we publicly appeal to Ron Martin to involve the fans and not to treat us as an irrelevance that can be ignored. We are all in this together, and irrespective of how we got where we are today, we all need to pull as one to give ourselves the best chance of a bright future.

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Probably doesn’t like quiz nights.

 

[mfurok]

I think they are going to be a lot lower. Plenty of my friends who would barely miss a game are not planning on returning until things change with how the club is run.

What makes you think that the club will still be around next season?

 

[Pak Power]

Well in fairness Ron did say " we are not in the same league as Morecambe"

 

[Shrimper]

What makes you think that the club will still be around next season?

Why wouldn't it be?

 

[mfurok]

Why wouldn't it be?

Bust.

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

Why wouldn't it be?

How would it be ?

 

[mfurok]

How would it be ?

Run out of cash.

 

[discord]

I was going to post this when it was mathematically impossible for us to stay up, but after another match with us unable to actually score from open play I feel we are finished.
Whose to blame?
At the end of the day it is Uncle Ron's fault, the town is going to lose its football team. How many times has his inability to pay the final demands affected the club's progress and this year was exactly the same.
To fall out the EFL into a league that is hard to get out of, is not the prospect the supporters of the blues ever wanted Mr Martin!
I see teams like Fleetwood, Burton, Crawley etc, whose support is a fraction of what we get all able to sustain their league places, how is it possible for them to do this, when we have more support than them?
Yes we head into a league littered with teams like us and of course a few bigger like Notts County etc.
If something is not done to save this club it will go further down the pyramid of leagues :(

 

[Cricko]

We do as fans need to know what is actually going on or do we just sit here and take our fate.

Even if we ( inevitably) go down we need to know what the future holds for us.

Nero.

 

[C'mon you Shrimpers]

Maybe I'm too optimistic but I see the future as 1 If we stay up (miracles sometimes happen) then we'll have a real go at it next season. If 2 we go down we'll have a real go at it next season. The new ground will be built hopefully in my lifetime and Ron will step down and someone else will take over. And the fans won't have a lot of say in this. Plus ca change plus c'est la meme chose

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

Sad thing is, we've been saying "we'll have a real go at it next season" ever since we were relegated from the Championship, and look where we are now.