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In answer to your original question.

Both were not supporters of their respective clubs at the time of their purchase, and both have put money into their clubs.

Cowling has put the club's interests first, kept them debt free and is keen to make sure they have a business plan for a bright future.

Ron Marting has put his own interests first, loaded the club with millions of debt and is looking to make many millions NET of the money he had put in for himself over our move to a new stadium without any regard for the club's ability to prosper in the future.

Cowling doesn't need to make any money from the club, whereas Ron Martin either needs to or certainly intends to.

Their motives are very different.
 
Ron hasn't really loaded the Club with millions of debt. Who would loan us money? There's money owed by RHL to Sainsburys but that was essentially an advance on the purchase of Roots Hall. If the worst were to happen the Club wouldn't be obliged to pay that money back because it simply cannot pay that money back.

Our problem isn't, and never has been, debt. It's cashflow.

I don't disagree with the rest of your post though. Cowling is a very rich man who is happy to bankroll the football club. Ron Martin is a skint property developer who has been juggling our (and his) finances for about three years in order to try to keep treading water until he's able to build RonWorld and make his fortune.

Ideally the Club would be self-sufficient, but that would mean accepting that we simply cannot keep up with the likes of Colchester.
 
Ron hasn't really loaded the Club with millions of debt. Who would loan us money? There's money owed by RHL to Sainsburys but that was essentially an advance on the purchase of Roots Hall. If the worst were to happen the Club wouldn't be obliged to pay that money back because it simply cannot pay that money back.

What a stupid comment. OK, so I apply for an amex card, run up £10k worth of debt, and I can't pay it back. Therefore it isn't a debt! Simples....................

Ron has sold the family silver (whatever there was of it), sold B&L, sold Roots Hall, and sold us all a pup with the plans for the stadium.
 
The difference between Cowling and Martin is that the former has not sacked a successful manager and coach and upset thousands of loyal fans.
 
What a stupid comment. OK, so I apply for an amex card, run up £10k worth of debt, and I can't pay it back. Therefore it isn't a debt! Simples....................

Ron has sold the family silver (whatever there was of it), sold B&L, sold Roots Hall, and sold us all a pup with the plans for the stadium.

That analogy isn't at all applicable. I'd question who is the one making the stupid comment.

The football club hasn't been loaded with debt. It hasn't borrowed any money. Were it able to borrow money I'm sure it would have done, but who would loan a football club without any assets money?

RHL have been advanced money from the sale of Roots Hall. It's not the football club's responsibility to pay that money back and, simply, it cannot pay any money back because it's utterly incapable of supporting itself as a business.
 
The difference between Cowling and Martin is that the former has not sacked a successful manager and coach and upset thousands of loyal fans.

They haven't had a 'successful' manager to sack and they certainly haven't got 'thousands' of fans to upset....
 
The truth of it is that both men are neither southend united or colchester united fans. Both are and in Rons case i use the term lossely wealthy men who make money via various channells. The fundemental difference between the two is that Robbie cowling doenst looked to have been hit too hard by a global recession and hasnt needed to fund a new stadium to continue his own business interests.

Ron on the other hand is a completely different kettle of fish. Ron needs the clubs hugely ambitious plans to come to fruition or he and his business simply will not recover and neither will southend united. Ron unlike robbie cowling doesnt know anything about football. Robbie atleast is a football fan albiet a hammers die hard supporter and was at some point a regular as i know people who have been in a box with him before. Obviously he didnt have the wealth to by and sustain west ham , but saw colchester as a cheap way of being the big cheese at a league club.

Ron has put all his eggs in one basket and is still trying to play russian roulette with the club the council sainsbury's and no doubt a whole lot of local peoples lives.

In short Ron is a washed up chancer of a property devoloper who has sold this club down the river and hasnt got his bus fare away from the club , even if he does like to pretend he still has money with his leased bentley and last minute sainsbury's loans.

Robbie is a man who has a vastly superior wealth of an estimated 100 million + and is not afraid to bankroll a club wich even when playing well still only gets 3-4000 in through the gates.

My main gripe is why did he not buy southend ? With his money behind us and pushing for the title in league 1 like col u we would have got 8-10,000 every week and atleast would have been closer to sustaining the huge wage bill he has built up. Col u supporters are so ****. Even with a great chairman and team they still dont show in numbers.

Sooner or later Ron martin will be gone and we will either have a new stadium and a new chairman and board or we will not exist.

As for colchester . How long would you bankroll a club in a town where nobody gives a ****. I mean what has he really achieved there since he has been there? In the time he has been there we have had great cup successes and one a league title on a much tighter budget.

So i say this .

Ron your days are numbered

Robbie , southend united would welcome you with open arms and give you and you spending the type of support you clearly deserve.
 
The truth of it is that both men are neither southend united or colchester united fans. Both are and in Rons case i use the term lossely wealthy men who make money via various channells. The fundemental difference between the two is that Robbie cowling doenst looked to have been hit too hard by a global recession and hasnt needed to fund a new stadium to continue his own business interests.

Ron on the other hand is a completely different kettle of fish. Ron needs the clubs hugely ambitious plans to come to fruition or he and his business simply will not recover and neither will southend united. Ron unlike robbie cowling doesnt know anything about football. Robbie atleast is a football fan albiet a hammers die hard supporter and was at some point a regular as i know people who have been in a box with him before. Obviously he didnt have the wealth to by and sustain west ham , but saw colchester as a cheap way of being the big cheese at a league club.

Ron has put all his eggs in one basket and is still trying to play russian roulette with the club the council sainsbury's and no doubt a whole lot of local peoples lives.

In short Ron is a washed up chancer of a property devoloper who has sold this club down the river and hasnt got his bus fare away from the club , even if he does like to pretend he still has money with his leased bentley and last minute sainsbury's loans.

Robbie is a man who has a vastly superior wealth of an estimated 100 million + and is not afraid to bankroll a club wich even when playing well still only gets 3-4000 in through the gates.

My main gripe is why did he not buy southend ? With his money behind us and pushing for the title in league 1 like col u we would have got 8-10,000 every week and atleast would have been closer to sustaining the huge wage bill he has built up. Col u supporters are so ****. Even with a great chairman and team they still dont show in numbers.

Sooner or later Ron martin will be gone and we will either have a new stadium and a new chairman and board or we will not exist.

As for colchester . How long would you bankroll a club in a town where nobody gives a ****. I mean what has he really achieved there since he has been there? In the time he has been there we have had great cup successes and one a league title on a much tighter budget.

So i say this .

Ron your days are numbered

Robbie , southend united would welcome you with open arms and give you and you spending the type of support you clearly deserve.

Can't disagree with any of that.
 
Just for the record - Robbie isn't a die-hard West Ham fan at all, his brother was/is and it was he that got Robbie's company (Jobserve) to sponsor West Ham in various guises, hence the reason they had a box their and Robbie attended some matches.

Robbie also does consider himself a Col U fan now (and is on record saying so) - can't remember Ron ever making an equivialant claim?

As for choosing Colchester over Southend - no idea - I would agree with you that Southend's support would suggest they are potentially a bigger club but thankfully he choose Colchester (perhaps because he only lives down the road in Tiptree, perhaps because we were available for sale and you weren't - who knows!?)

As for the future - who knows how long Robbie intends to keep going, but the indications are good - he's purchased land to build a training complex, increased funding in youth set-up, has employed additional back-office staff to progress the club commercially so he clearly has some form of longer term plan for us.

As for Ron - your saving grace is he needs the new stadium to safeguard his own personal financial security so I do believe he will make it happen eventually and then it depends on how much money he actually makes as to whether he continues trying to run the club or if he ditches it.
 
Just for the record - Robbie isn't a die-hard West Ham fan at all, his brother was/is and it was he that got Robbie's company (Jobserve) to sponsor West Ham in various guises, hence the reason they had a box their and Robbie attended some matches.

Robbie also does consider himself a Col U fan now (and is on record saying so) - can't remember Ron ever making an equivialant claim?

As for choosing Colchester over Southend - no idea - I would agree with you that Southend's support would suggest they are potentially a bigger club but thankfully he choose Colchester (perhaps because he only lives down the road in Tiptree, perhaps because we were available for sale and you weren't - who knows!?)

As for the future - who knows how long Robbie intends to keep going, but the indications are good - he's purchased land to build a training complex, increased funding in youth set-up, has employed additional back-office staff to progress the club commercially so he clearly has some form of longer term plan for us.

As for Ron - your saving grace is he needs the new stadium to safeguard his own personal financial security so I do believe he will make it happen eventually and then it depends on how much money he actually makes as to whether he continues trying to run the club or if he ditches it.

I think Ron has said that he's now a Southend fan, it's just everyone chooses not to believe him. Besides, being an Olympian is a far more impressive sporting credential than being the brother of a W*** H** fan.

FWIW I expect Cowling is in for the long haul, but what happens once he's gone? Will his family be so supportive? Your club's security is reliant on one man staying alive and healthy. That might be preferable to our position, but it's still not a long term viable business plan.
 
I think Ron has said that he's now a Southend fan, it's just everyone chooses not to believe him. Besides, being an Olympian is a far more impressive sporting credential than being the brother of a W*** H** fan.

FWIW I expect Cowling is in for the long haul, but what happens once he's gone? Will his family be so supportive? Your club's security is reliant on one man staying alive and healthy. That might be preferable to our position, but it's still not a long term viable business plan.


Totally agree - although I would say the majority of football clubs are reliant on their owners to a greater or lesser extent given that very few manage to properly balance the books - the lucky clubs are those with some assets behind them and with little debt
 
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