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Zone Update Shrimpers Trust Statement

So Southend United is a business and should be treated as such. So we must treat it as any other business and if it goes to the wall, so be it.

If I need to buy a carpet and find that local carpet shop that I've used for the past 49 years has closed cos' it got into financial difficulties, I'll just go a few miles up the road and find another shop.

Perhaps that should be the way for us to think.
 
So Southend United is a business and should be treated as such. So we must treat it as any other business and if it goes to the wall, so be it.

If I need to buy a carpet and find that local carpet shop that I've used for the past 49 years has closed cos' it got into financial difficulties, I'll just go a few miles up the road and find another shop.

Perhaps that should be the way for us to think.

Not when the shop up the road is Leyton Orient or Col U.
 
So Southend United is a business and should be treated as such. So we must treat it as any other business and if it goes to the wall, so be it.

If I need to buy a carpet and find that local carpet shop that I've used for the past 49 years has closed cos' it got into financial difficulties, I'll just go a few miles up the road and find another shop.

Perhaps that should be the way for us to think.

I hope you're kidding. My football club is a part of my soul and nothing could replace the passion I feel for it let alone some other two-bit club at either end of the A12/127.
 
Everyone is entitled to opinions, but as always, whether it's match analysis or anything - it's always a scapegoat being sought. I'm not taking things personally Chadded, but just don't see why people are blaming the Trust for anything at all here.

Jesus... Nobody is blaming the Trust at all here, What exactly is there to blame on them? People are merely making reasoned observations that the tone taken by the Trust in the statements was inappropriate and has, more than likely, set the organisation back a few years by causing a divide between the Trust and the hierachy at the Football Club.

RM co-operated with the Trust pretty much the whole way until the statements took the tone that they did... Did anybody ever stop to think that, maybe, RM was a little fed up of the criticism at such a testing time?
 
So Southend United is a business and should be treated as such. So we must treat it as any other business and if it goes to the wall, so be it.

If I need to buy a carpet and find that local carpet shop that I've used for the past 49 years has closed cos' it got into financial difficulties, I'll just go a few miles up the road and find another shop.

Perhaps that should be the way for us to think.

May I refer you to a sentence I wrote on a previous post in this thread.

It's a business that has people with a massive interest in that unusually, isn't just a financial one.

The harsh truth is that SUFC is just a business. Our love affair with it seems to cover that fact up IMO.
 
I'm not taking things personally Chadded,

I'm not saying you are taking things personally my love, what I am saying is that people could be forgiven for thinking I have something against you as I cannot remember a single one of your 76.7 million posts that I've agreed with. (Unless its pro military, or pro ginger)

You see things from your perspective. I see things from mine. As 2Pac said - that's just the way it is. :) xx
 
A different way of looking at this.

The Trust (according to Kay) took a deliberate tone in their statements. This was arguably a high risk strategy aimed at provoking a response from Ron It didn’t achieve the response it hoped for (Ron did not come back) but did upset some people - although the tone may have been pleasing to a much larger number (

Ron has (hopefully) come good at the last moment. We don’t know his strategy but on the basis it has (hopefully) come to fruition at the last moment means it was arguably a high risk strategy. It has hopefully achieved its goals-paying off the tax bills, but the way it has been done may not have been pleasing to everyone

Anyone notice any similarities? You can’t please all of the people all of the time, it is a pointless exercise trying to achieve this. Personally I believe both camps have the same goals at heart and both are doing their best to take Southend forward. Both should learn from this episode and move on in a positive direction.

Now lets all be friends and unite in supporting our team
 
A different way of looking at this.

The Trust (according to Kay) took a deliberate tone in their statements. This was arguably a high risk strategy aimed at provoking a response from Ron It didn’t achieve the response it hoped for (Ron did not come back) but did upset some people - although the tone may have been pleasing to a much larger number (

Ron has (hopefully) come good at the last moment. We don’t know his strategy but on the basis it has (hopefully) come to fruition at the last moment means it was arguably a high risk strategy. It has hopefully achieved its goals-paying off the tax bills, but the way it has been done may not have been pleasing to everyone

Anyone notice any similarities? You can’t please all of the people all of the time, it is a pointless exercise trying to achieve this. Personally I believe both camps have the same goals at heart and both are doing their best to take Southend forward. Both should learn from this episode and move on in a positive direction.

Now lets all be friends and unite in supporting our team

starting an email to Ron with:

"Ron

Did u forget.....?"

Doesn't sound 'high risk' to me, just rude.
 
May I refer you to a sentence I wrote on a previous post in this thread.

It's a business that has people with a massive interest in that unusually, isn't just a financial one.

The harsh truth is that SUFC is just a business. Our love affair with it seems to cover that fact up IMO.

Absolutely, it is just a business that a few people care about. Some cared to the extent that they formed a fan club in 1929 to help it out financially from time to time.

Then the fan club decided that they'd save up for a new ground and bought it and helped build it. They ran the tea bars, they printed the programmes. They bought the floodlights. They even gave a player a "sub" to buy an engagement ring.

Then the business men got their hands on it and decided that they didn't need the fan club and took steps to close it down. The business began to lose money and successive "saviours" came along. Not all of them caring to much about how well the business was doing financially but to bask in a bit of glory and investigate other opportunities.

A movement started in football to try to return football clubs back to the fan clubs and away from the saviours. They weren't called fan clubs any more but Trusts. The Trust movement called for greater scrutiny of the saviours in football, wanted to ensure that the saviours were fit and proper people to run football clubs, which were now called businesses.

The idea was to look closely on how these businesses were run, buy shares so the annual report and accounts could be scrutinised to make sure that profits weren't being siphoned off to somewhere like Bermuda.

Trusts saved up money for a rainy day. They helped clubs out when they needed a few quid to get an academy going. Some even bought their clubs back from the administrators to make sure that they had a business to go and visit on a Saturday afternoon.

A lot of these Trusts began to have meetings with the businesses and told them how they could make the customer experience better on a Saturday afternoon. A lot of the customers thought that these Trusts were doing a good thing getting close to the business and making sure that it would always be there. Some, customers, however, were always unhappy with the interference of these Trusts and did their best to run them down as they thought that those who ran the businesses knew best.

The Trusts did their best to inform the customers what was going on. The Trusts tried to work amicably with the businessmen but put them straight when they spotted a businessman pulling a fast one. Usually the businessman threw his toys out of the pram and said that he wouldn't work with the Trust anymore but was soon on the phone when a "favour" needed doing

When some businesses were going to the wall, the Trusts stepped in to mobilise the customers. They sought advice from other Trusts that had saved their particular favourite business and acted on their advice.

So is it worth these Trusts being there, monitoring what their favourite business does in order to keep it going. Maybe the best thing is for the businesses to be run into the ground and wound up. That would at least free up some land to kick start the economy.
 
I don't think anyone is quibbling why the Trust exists, and certainly the liaision meetings have helped to improve the link between the businessmen and the fans.

Unfortunately when push comes to shove the businessmen can do what they like and the Trust and Fans have very little say in it all.
 
Jesus... I only asked why the Trust was concerned with the timescale... which is about the only question that hasn't been answered!

So, I'll hazard a guess that for some reason the Trust either misinterpreted why we have been given 3 days extra or think that Ron can't raise the money.

Am I close?

As I stated, I wasn't criticising the Trust at all. The Trust have had dialogue with the consortium who will present their own spin on what is happening and obviously have their own interests (as well as the clubs) as heart.

With Ron being relatively silent it is understandable why the Trust possibly thought that something was awry - although I have to say that, being a businessman myself, if I have something urgent to attend to the last thing I want to do is have constant interruptions so I think, when Ron was saying he was making all efforts, he should have been given the space to attend to that without unnecessary criticism or attack. There are plenty of supporters who would do that anyway!

In hindsight - and isn't that a wonderful gift - perhaps the Trust should have refrained from making any statement AT ALL other than something like "We are told Ron Martin is making every effort to resolve the issue and we hope he is successful in doing so. However, we are stepping up our efforts to fund raise on behalf of the club should it be needed at some point in the future. We will provide more information as and when it becomes available".

Now considering the Trusts funds are nowhere near enough to get the club out of trouble the whole thing had an air of panic about it and it felt like we had to raise the entire amount between the entire football supporting community in a week. As it stands, the Trust has more members, the situation has achieved a level of national awareness, a consortium has come forward with loads of dosh and none of those are bad things.

However, the reality is that we are still in exactly the same position we were in three weeks ago.

The biggest positive for me is that there now seems to be a viable alternative to Ron owning the club. In all walks of life, competition improves performance. So, if nothing else, it will keep Ron on his toes in the future. If that has only come about as a result of the publicity over the last week then thats a good thing.
 
As the smoke clears, RM is still in the Hot Seat and I believe that the Trust will find it exceedingly difficult to earn his trust again.

I think RM has got quite a bit of work to do to regain the trust of the fans and Trust as well.


How long would've it have taken RM to email,txt or call to say "sorry nothing to add today"?
 
How long would've it have taken RM to email,txt or call to say "sorry nothing to add today"?

Not long.

But maybe too long if you are trying to put a £2.1 million finance package together.

I wouldn't know because I have never had to but anyone who has please feel free to correct me.
 
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I have sat silently for the last week but think the time is right for me pipe up.

At the end of the day Southend United is a Sports club that offers people the chance to Watch a sporting event..its up to us if we decide to or not.

We have no right to knowledge...Ron doesnt really owe us anything. okay his actions will result in less people attending (I actually doubt that)

When we need to know we will know.

SUFC will not cease to exist on any outcome...okay 10 pts deduction...I'm not going to stop going are you?

Lets stop this we are supporters its our right...frankly its not
 
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I have sat silently for the last week but think the time is right for me pipe up.

At the end of the day Southend United is a Sports club that offers people the chance to Watch a sporting event..its up to us if we decide to or not.

We have no right to knowledge...Ron doesnt really owe us anything. okay his actions will result in less people attending (I actually doubt that)

When we need to know we will know.

SUFC will not cease to exist on any outcome...okay 10 pts deduction...I'm not going to stop going are you?

Lets stop this we are supporters its our right...frankly its not

Sorry that's bollocks imo.

A football club is a lot more than that...it's provides a town with a sense of pride, a sense of community and a sense of identity. Going to a football match is for many people a social event and an opportunity for people with a common cause to come together when otherwise they wouldn't.

Usually a supporter chooses his club at an early age and follows that club all their lives. In a sense, that club belongs to the supporter because it is a part of him.

A Chairman on the other hand, whilst he may own the club from an administration and financial point-of-view, doesn't own the club in the same way a supporter does. We view a chairman as guardian of the club as its his decisions that shape the success or failure of it. And if through the results of a chairman's actions our club is threatened with extinction then I think we are perfectly entitled to demand an explanation, as it's our money and support that keeps the club in business.
 
How long would've it have taken RM to email,txt or call to say "sorry nothing to add today"?

Seriously ??

You are complaining because Ron hasn't come out today and said "nothing" :doh: :tumbleweed:

That doesn't read how i want it to but i'm sure you get my point

I despair sometimes, i really do
 
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Choggy
Its still a Football club/business
take the emotional stuff a side its a business (at the moment) owned by Ron, When he has something to say he will.
All you need to know is the debt will be paid Friday end of...none of your/Our business how that happens.
As long as the team turns up each week that all that is of our concern.
many things are social events but I dont care who owns my local pub as long as it's open thats the main thing....none of my business who owns it.

Its like everyone thinks they are shareholders...For gods sake get a grip on reality
 
I don't think anyone is quibbling why the Trust exists, and certainly the liaision meetings have helped to improve the link between the businessmen and the fans.

Unfortunately when push comes to shove the businessmen can do what they like and the Trust and Fans have very little say in it all.

Many ways to skin a cat! ;)
 
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