Xàbia Shrimper
Co-founder of ShrimperZone
"There will be no stadium at Fossetts Farm and the future of the football club remains at Roots Hall." A year after being ousted from position of chairman at Southend United, John Main returned to warn fans that a new stadium was merely a pipe-dream.
His words, posted on a Southend United online mailing list one afternoon, proved to be somewhat prophetic for the dream did indeed appear to be pipe-shaped. At the end of September, whilst the world was still recovering from the shock of 9/11, Ron Martin finally admitted that the proposed development had been put on hold indefinitely. He blamed Lansbury Development, the company that owned most of the land earmarked for the stadium complex, for not being prepared to sell the land. "We need to come to some form of agreement with Lansbury before we can make progress because it owns most of Fossetts Farm," he admitted. Ron Martin was far from the hero he is considered to be almost six years later. Fans questioned his motives. Why draw up a proposal for land that you didn't even own and, by the sounds of it, you had no hope of owning?
Those motives were questioned further when Lansbury responded by claiming that the plans had actually been shelved months prior to the announcement and accused Ron Martin of misleading the fans. "Until now we have remained publicly silent but Mr Martin's continual misrepresentation of what is happening must be commented upon," said a spokesman. He then went on to claim, much as John Main had warned, that the future of Southend United lay at Roots Hall, not Fossetts Farm "which has been the case since last May." Ron Martin counteracted with a short statement: "All I can say is that this simply isn't true."
Southend United was in turmoil. Popular manager David Webb resigned in October with the club in the bottom half of the Division Three table after recording just three wins in the last ten games. Webb claimed that he had lost the passion for management but some suggested that his resignation so close to the collapse of the Fossetts Farm proposal was more than just mere coincidence. Veteran defender Rob Newman took temporary charge of the team for the home clash against Swansea City, a 4-2 win for the Shrimpers, before signing a two-year contact with the club two weeks later.
With just 18 months left on the lease, the future was looking decidedly bleak for Southend United and fans and shareholders alike were growing increasingly concerned. Hugh Cumberland summed it up for many people: "Southend United are in limbo. We are £5m in debt. We do not own our own ground and the lease for Roots Hall runs out in 18 months time. What are we going to do then, especially now we are not moving to Fossetts Farm?" And very soon it seemed that even the owners of the football club were having serious doubts. Over 150 fans gathered at Roots Hall to listen to Colin Wagman of Delancey Estates threaten to quit the club."I have never said I will take football away, but if people don't want us, I will take my cue from that," he warned, flanked by two bodyguards. Wagman admitted that if Delancey was fully aware of the financial mess that the club was in, they might not have been involved. "Receivers were about to be appointed," he claimed. "But we have shared the risk and how hope to share in the reward."
Such a withdrawal would surely have meant financial ruin for Southend United. Wagman revealed that if the club was to break even on crowds alone, it would mean an average attendance of 6,000, each paying £15. It was clear that other sources of revenue were desperately needed and a new stadium complex might just provide those sources. But these were desperate times. Wagman assured fans that the future of the club was safe until the summer; beyond that, the outlook was uncertain. There were no amended plans for Fossetts Farm. The football club was firmly rooted in mid-table; there was no much to attract spectators to Roots Hall, to lift that average attendance figure towards that magical break-even mark. The gloom of Christmas 2001 was lifted briefly by the storming Boxing Day comeback by the Shrimpers from 2-0 down at half-time to a 4-2 final score over Rushden & Diamonds
They say that a new year can ring the changes and Ron Martin strode confidentally into 2002 with fresh plans for a new stadium for Southend United ... just days before he faced a petition for bankruptcy over alleged unpaid debts to a team of architects which designed South East Essex College's new town centre building, to be built by Martin Dawn plc. However, the football club insisted that the winding up order, brought by KSS Architects (who also designed the original Fossetts Farm stadium), would not affect the future of Southend United. A couple of weeks later the college got in on the act, claiming that Martin Dawn owed them a "considerable amount of money" and backed the High Court bid for the company to be wound up over alleged unpaid debts. The changes were certainly rung. The future of Southend United had gone from bleak to positively barren.
In the end, the hearing didn't happen and, whilst Southend United strode along in mid-table in the Third Division, Ron Martin turned his attention to marketing the football club for the future. "People will not come and visit Southend United if we cannot please them, both on and off the pitch," he declared. "This is a service industry and they are our customers." Despite the collapse of ITV Digital in March, Martin insisted that the club was on a fairly secure platform. "We do not spend money we do not have," he revealed. "We set budgets, we have day-to-day monitoring of them, and we don't go outside that box." However, with performances on the pitch hardly conducive to pulling in the punters, the club was falling well short of the 6,000 break-even figure. "Until we have a new stadium, Southend's existence is always in danger."
Yet the summer of 2002 was not to bring much relief to worried fans. The annual Deloitte & Touche review of football finances identified Southend United as one of the most heavily indebted club in the Football League with a total liability of £4m at the end of the 2000/01 season. Such figures placed the Shrimpers firmly alongside homeless Wimbledon, soon to move to Milton Keynes and lose their identity, and Brentford, who faced liquidation if they couldn't find a buyer for its Griffin Park ground. However Ron Martin was less concerned. "You should look beyond the surface and see the strength of the parent companies which support Southend United," he said. "We had made huge losses prior to 2001 - in the three years prior to that we had lost £6million. We are still making a loss, but the underlying trading loss is about £300,000 for last year - and this year's will be less again."
With the Shrimpers firmly embroiled in yet another mid-table battle, the months ticked on towards the expiry of the four-year lease on Roots Hall. Ron Martin had said with some confidence that Southend United would be playing in a new stadium well before the lease expired. "When Roots Hall was sold, we set the lease at four years as we genuinely believed it would be a long enough time frame to relocate the football club.
It was November 2002 and there were just four months until the end of the lease. "A lot of negativity has accompanied the length of the lease over the past three years, but as usual it has been unfounded. We are still actively working to move to a new ground and Southend United will never be homeless."
Part IV to follow ...
His words, posted on a Southend United online mailing list one afternoon, proved to be somewhat prophetic for the dream did indeed appear to be pipe-shaped. At the end of September, whilst the world was still recovering from the shock of 9/11, Ron Martin finally admitted that the proposed development had been put on hold indefinitely. He blamed Lansbury Development, the company that owned most of the land earmarked for the stadium complex, for not being prepared to sell the land. "We need to come to some form of agreement with Lansbury before we can make progress because it owns most of Fossetts Farm," he admitted. Ron Martin was far from the hero he is considered to be almost six years later. Fans questioned his motives. Why draw up a proposal for land that you didn't even own and, by the sounds of it, you had no hope of owning?
Those motives were questioned further when Lansbury responded by claiming that the plans had actually been shelved months prior to the announcement and accused Ron Martin of misleading the fans. "Until now we have remained publicly silent but Mr Martin's continual misrepresentation of what is happening must be commented upon," said a spokesman. He then went on to claim, much as John Main had warned, that the future of Southend United lay at Roots Hall, not Fossetts Farm "which has been the case since last May." Ron Martin counteracted with a short statement: "All I can say is that this simply isn't true."
Southend United was in turmoil. Popular manager David Webb resigned in October with the club in the bottom half of the Division Three table after recording just three wins in the last ten games. Webb claimed that he had lost the passion for management but some suggested that his resignation so close to the collapse of the Fossetts Farm proposal was more than just mere coincidence. Veteran defender Rob Newman took temporary charge of the team for the home clash against Swansea City, a 4-2 win for the Shrimpers, before signing a two-year contact with the club two weeks later.
With just 18 months left on the lease, the future was looking decidedly bleak for Southend United and fans and shareholders alike were growing increasingly concerned. Hugh Cumberland summed it up for many people: "Southend United are in limbo. We are £5m in debt. We do not own our own ground and the lease for Roots Hall runs out in 18 months time. What are we going to do then, especially now we are not moving to Fossetts Farm?" And very soon it seemed that even the owners of the football club were having serious doubts. Over 150 fans gathered at Roots Hall to listen to Colin Wagman of Delancey Estates threaten to quit the club."I have never said I will take football away, but if people don't want us, I will take my cue from that," he warned, flanked by two bodyguards. Wagman admitted that if Delancey was fully aware of the financial mess that the club was in, they might not have been involved. "Receivers were about to be appointed," he claimed. "But we have shared the risk and how hope to share in the reward."
Such a withdrawal would surely have meant financial ruin for Southend United. Wagman revealed that if the club was to break even on crowds alone, it would mean an average attendance of 6,000, each paying £15. It was clear that other sources of revenue were desperately needed and a new stadium complex might just provide those sources. But these were desperate times. Wagman assured fans that the future of the club was safe until the summer; beyond that, the outlook was uncertain. There were no amended plans for Fossetts Farm. The football club was firmly rooted in mid-table; there was no much to attract spectators to Roots Hall, to lift that average attendance figure towards that magical break-even mark. The gloom of Christmas 2001 was lifted briefly by the storming Boxing Day comeback by the Shrimpers from 2-0 down at half-time to a 4-2 final score over Rushden & Diamonds
They say that a new year can ring the changes and Ron Martin strode confidentally into 2002 with fresh plans for a new stadium for Southend United ... just days before he faced a petition for bankruptcy over alleged unpaid debts to a team of architects which designed South East Essex College's new town centre building, to be built by Martin Dawn plc. However, the football club insisted that the winding up order, brought by KSS Architects (who also designed the original Fossetts Farm stadium), would not affect the future of Southend United. A couple of weeks later the college got in on the act, claiming that Martin Dawn owed them a "considerable amount of money" and backed the High Court bid for the company to be wound up over alleged unpaid debts. The changes were certainly rung. The future of Southend United had gone from bleak to positively barren.
In the end, the hearing didn't happen and, whilst Southend United strode along in mid-table in the Third Division, Ron Martin turned his attention to marketing the football club for the future. "People will not come and visit Southend United if we cannot please them, both on and off the pitch," he declared. "This is a service industry and they are our customers." Despite the collapse of ITV Digital in March, Martin insisted that the club was on a fairly secure platform. "We do not spend money we do not have," he revealed. "We set budgets, we have day-to-day monitoring of them, and we don't go outside that box." However, with performances on the pitch hardly conducive to pulling in the punters, the club was falling well short of the 6,000 break-even figure. "Until we have a new stadium, Southend's existence is always in danger."
Yet the summer of 2002 was not to bring much relief to worried fans. The annual Deloitte & Touche review of football finances identified Southend United as one of the most heavily indebted club in the Football League with a total liability of £4m at the end of the 2000/01 season. Such figures placed the Shrimpers firmly alongside homeless Wimbledon, soon to move to Milton Keynes and lose their identity, and Brentford, who faced liquidation if they couldn't find a buyer for its Griffin Park ground. However Ron Martin was less concerned. "You should look beyond the surface and see the strength of the parent companies which support Southend United," he said. "We had made huge losses prior to 2001 - in the three years prior to that we had lost £6million. We are still making a loss, but the underlying trading loss is about £300,000 for last year - and this year's will be less again."
With the Shrimpers firmly embroiled in yet another mid-table battle, the months ticked on towards the expiry of the four-year lease on Roots Hall. Ron Martin had said with some confidence that Southend United would be playing in a new stadium well before the lease expired. "When Roots Hall was sold, we set the lease at four years as we genuinely believed it would be a long enough time frame to relocate the football club.
It was November 2002 and there were just four months until the end of the lease. "A lot of negativity has accompanied the length of the lease over the past three years, but as usual it has been unfounded. We are still actively working to move to a new ground and Southend United will never be homeless."
Part IV to follow ...
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