The state of play..

[Tommy2holes]

My understanding is this.

We had an outstanding tax bill of 2.1 million which was stalled numerous times because we seemingly couldnt afford it. We have from somewhere found the money, thus staving off the threat of points deduction administration.

As per usual the Ron is god brigade have come out with the "told you so" statements.

Personally think that the money will surface somewhere along the line as a debt or maybe mr martin is hoping that when he sells the club he can sly this debt into the buy out.

I seriously wonder what Ron Martin has to do in order to loose the affection he currently has from the roots hall faithful. He is like some kind of he who must be obeyed messiah.

I mean what has Ron Martin actually done for the club.

He saved us from certain financial doom, but he may also just have prolonged it as we are no way out of the woods yet.

He provided championship football, but he risked the club doing it( sustaining it)

He signed Till and Brushy as manager/assistant , but he had already spent a fair bit hiring and firing and it was purely coincidence that Tilly took over as caretaker and actually turned out great. And i would imagine a damn site cheaper than most.

He is closer to building a new stadium than anyone before him. Yes he is but lets be honest to do you really believe hand on heart it will be built? Do you honestly believe that Ron martin is doing it purely to help the club grow as he has stated, or that he needs to build it to break even and be able to sell the club at a profit.

Then let us move on to the current squad. We are playing a very capable mk scum at the hall friday.
Has the embargo been lifted? Where is the official word on this ? Why is it we need like five bodies in and what we actually get is some 18 year old kid from a league 1 rival. My guess is because swindon are paying his wages and we still are not able to bring anyboy in.
So with him now suspended and herd touch and go we may have to start at home with 2 midfielders playing defence.

Why are so many people happy to beleive what this plum has to say. We should all be very grateful that Tilly loves the club because any other manager would have walked or been sacked for daring to challenge the word of Ron.

As per usual we will get right behind the team friday , but how much longer can this go on? What if barrett broke a leg in training or during the match? It doesnt bare thinking about.

Either sort it out Ron by getting an investor partner or offer the club to someone who can take it forward. If your only holding on to it now because you cant walk away out of profit then you may end the club entirely.

I for one wouldnt trust the bloke as far as i could throw him anymore. Hope he proves me wrong.

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

I mean what has Ron Martin actually done for the club.

You forgot to mention the aquaducts ;)

 

[philtalkin]

Medicine...Education....Health

 

[BILLERICAY BLUE]

Are you People's Front of Judea ??

 

[fbm]

My understanding is this.

We had an outstanding tax bill of 2.1 million which was stalled numerous times because we seemingly couldnt afford it. We have from somewhere found the money, thus staving off the threat of points deduction administration.

As per usual the Ron is god brigade have come out with the "told you so" statements.

Personally think that the money will surface somewhere along the line as a debt or maybe mr martin is hoping that when he sells the club he can sly this debt into the buy out.

No, it was a debt and is still a debt. Nothing has changed except the
person(s) we owe it to.

I seriously wonder what Ron Martin has to do in order to loose the affection he currently has from the roots hall faithful. He is like some kind of he who must be obeyed messiah.

I mean what has Ron Martin actually done for the club.

He saved us from certain financial doom,
Is that not enough on it's own?
but he may also just have prolonged it as we are no way out of the woods yet.

No business or club has the right to just continue regardless. No matter who was in charge we could find ourselves in this position


He provided championship football, but he risked the club doing it( sustaining it)
Hardly fair - we got promoted and the fans were begging him to buy CCC quality players. We got in the only ones who would sign because we were one of the two most unfashionable clubs in the division and he WOULD NOT break the wage structure - and that is a massive plus which people seem to have forgotten. If he had done what 90% of people on here wanted him to do we would be probably bust by now. Getting relegated after one season was what did us in.

He signed Till and Brushy as manager/assistant , but he had already spent a fair bit hiring and firing and it was purely coincidence that Tilly took over as caretaker and actually turned out great. And i would imagine a damn site cheaper than most.
So he was lucky. That's not a crime and I don't believe he's ever taken credit for some amazing insight either

He is closer to building a new stadium than anyone before him. Yes he is but lets be honest to do you really believe hand on heart it will be built? Do you honestly believe that Ron martin is doing it purely to help the club grow as he has stated, or that he needs to build it to break even and be able to sell the club at a profit.
Personally yes I do think it will be built. Ron has to make this work and build the club into something that is attractive to any would be purchaser. That means we HAVE to be profitable (or at least capable of being profitable) and therefore in a far better position than we are at the moment or even have been for years. Therefore our goals are very much linked with his. If he fails in doing this he will have nothing to sell to recover his money.

Then let us move on to the current squad. We are playing a very capable mk scum at the hall friday.
Has the embargo been lifted? Where is the official word on this ? Why is it we need like five bodies in and what we actually get is some 18 year old kid from a league 1 rival. My guess is because swindon are paying his wages and we still are not able to bring anyboy in.
So with him now suspended and herd touch and go we may have to start at home with 2 midfielders playing defence.

Why are so many people happy to beleive what this plum has to say.

Because we don't have any other options.

We should all be very grateful that Tilly loves the club because any other manager would have walked or been sacked for daring to challenge the word of Ron.

As per usual we will get right behind the team friday , but how much longer can this go on? What if barrett broke a leg in training or during the match? It doesnt bare thinking about.

Either sort it out Ron by getting an investor partner or offer the club to someone who can take it forward. If your only holding on to it now because you cant walk away out of profit then you may end the club entirely.

I for one wouldnt trust the bloke as far as i could throw him anymore. Hope he proves me wrong.

Personally I think he will. But then because I hold that view I am apparently a complete idiot.

 

[bilbyboy]

My understanding is this.

We had an outstanding tax bill of 2.1 million which was stalled numerous times because we seemingly couldnt afford it. We have from somewhere found the money, thus staving off the threat of points deduction administration.

As per usual the Ron is god brigade have come out with the "told you so" statements.

Personally think that the money will surface somewhere along the line as a debt or maybe mr martin is hoping that when he sells the club he can sly this debt into the buy out.

I seriously wonder what Ron Martin has to do in order to loose the affection he currently has from the roots hall faithful. He is like some kind of he who must be obeyed messiah.

I mean what has Ron Martin actually done for the club.

He saved us from certain financial doom, but he may also just have prolonged it as we are no way out of the woods yet.

He provided championship football, but he risked the club doing it( sustaining it)

He signed Till and Brushy as manager/assistant , but he had already spent a fair bit hiring and firing and it was purely coincidence that Tilly took over as caretaker and actually turned out great. And i would imagine a damn site cheaper than most.

He is closer to building a new stadium than anyone before him. Yes he is but lets be honest to do you really believe hand on heart it will be built? Do you honestly believe that Ron martin is doing it purely to help the club grow as he has stated, or that he needs to build it to break even and be able to sell the club at a profit.

Then let us move on to the current squad. We are playing a very capable mk scum at the hall friday.
Has the embargo been lifted? Where is the official word on this ? Why is it we need like five bodies in and what we actually get is some 18 year old kid from a league 1 rival. My guess is because swindon are paying his wages and we still are not able to bring anyboy in.
So with him now suspended and herd touch and go we may have to start at home with 2 midfielders playing defence.

Why are so many people happy to beleive what this plum has to say. We should all be very grateful that Tilly loves the club because any other manager would have walked or been sacked for daring to challenge the word of Ron.

As per usual we will get right behind the team friday , but how much longer can this go on? What if barrett broke a leg in training or during the match? It doesnt bare thinking about.

Either sort it out Ron by getting an investor partner or offer the club to someone who can take it forward. If your only holding on to it now because you cant walk away out of profit then you may end the club entirely.

I for one wouldnt trust the bloke as far as i could throw him anymore. Hope he proves me wrong.

i totally agree with you, i keep saying, and i still believe that we are a FOOTBALL club, and football should come first. We are trying to compete with half (or less) of a defense and less players than most Sunday league football teams. My son has this season started playing 11 a-side football, his team have 15 players. Tilly & Brush cannot be expected to continue like this for much longer and if they go then God help us, i don't mean Ron Martin, i mean the other God. UTB.

 

[The Flying Scotsman]

I'm getting deja vu.

 

[canveyshrimper]

I'm getting deja vu.

One of the best albums that Crosby, Stills & Nash produced.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Reading this thread, I can understand how Bill Murray felt in Groundhog Day... am I the only one who is a bit weary of going over the same points again and again? Must be a slow news day.

The only one who can add anything to the discussions we have already had is Ron Martin who, admittedly, has been strangely quiet recently. Come on Ron, I'm guessing you're probably very busy and have been wounded somewhat by the recent criticism BUT you must realise that the PR recently could have been better - much better. Let's bring the blog out of retirement for one edition to help put people's minds at rest and clarify how we stand going forwards. I still believe honesty is the best policy - lack of info leads to a vacuum that will be filled by speculation, which tends to be more gloomy than the truth...

 

[superblue24]

I do agree with about 85% of what the poster has to say, and the 15% is only the sections that seem to infer that all the supporters at the club are blind followers of Ron Martin.

He tells the supporters what they want to hear, and when things are not going so well (like now), radio silence. I dont buy a lot of what he has told us, I consider him negligent to allow the club to go so close to administration, I dont think he gives Tilson the respect he deserves, I certainly dont think he has the clubs best interests at heart, and anyone who thinks we will buy anymore players under Ron Martin until at least a year after the stadium is built and in operation is seriously deluded.

I think the stadium WILL happen as you may have gathered, but only because it will benefit Martin Dawn. The fact it will benefit the club and fans is only a bonus in Ron's eyes that he can happily build the stadium without opposition.

How anyone can think that this consortium wasn't a better option for SUFC is beyond me. Ok, they were words, but offering to pay off the debt, continue with the stadium and purchase players in January is by far the better option for the club, but it didn't benefit Ron to sell the club as he sees the stadium as being a good investment, and would defnitely not sell the club for a penny. He's got more to suck out of it before it will be worth that much to any prosepctive buyers....

 

[Somerset Ex-TTB]

Reading this thread, I can understand how Bill Murray felt in Groundhog Day... am I the only one who is a bit weary of going over the same points again and again? Must be a slow news day.

The only one who can add anything to the discussions we have already had is Ron Martin who, admittedly, has been strangely quiet recently. Come on Ron, I'm guessing you're probably very busy and have been wounded somewhat by the recent criticism BUT you must realise that the PR recently could have been better - much better. Let's bring the blog out of retirement for one edition to help put people's minds at rest and clarify how we stand going forwards. I still believe honesty is the best policy - lack of info leads to a vacuum that will be filled by speculation, which tends to be more gloomy than the truth...

Ron is too busy at the Lego and Mecanno distributers conference looking for some more building blocks

 

[Richard_Cadette]

To be honest, I don't actually care who is in charge of our club as long as they have the best interests of Southend United at heart - or alternatively, the best interests of Southend United happen to be the same as theirs.

In this instance, I have no love for Ron - In fact, I hold him entirely responsible for our current financial predicament, BUT, his best interests are exactly the same as Southend Uniteds - that is building the new stadium. It's the only way our club can progress in a meaningful manner, and it is the only way Ron will make any money by being involved with our club - He is if course in it for himself - he is a business man - but as long as that objective means us getting a new stadium, then that's OK.

Trouble with that of course is we don't have any finances to build the new stadium, and little chance of any financial institution lending us the money to do so right now, and that is a huge problem for the longevity of our club, and Ron Martin PLC.

Recent weeks have brought to the fore that it is impossible for us to continue as we currently are at Roots Hall - we don't have the finances to do so - why, I've no idea, but we don't. We now owe someone £2.1m (assuming it wasn't a down payment from Sainsbury's) and we won't be able to afford to pay that back unless the new stadium materialises.

Personally,. I doubt that we will move into a new stadium while under Ron Martin's tenure - which leave only two possibilities going forward - we will eventually be forced into Administration with debts we have no hope of covering, or we will have to be rescued by a consortium.

I think Ron has enjoyed much adoration because he got lucky - nothing wrong with that, I think everyone would rather be lucky than good - but it's easy to ride the crst of a wave when things are going well, even if behind the scenes, all is not what it seems. Ron is not the messiah many claim him to be, he is just a businessman who found himself at the helm of our club, and he got lucky. The income we have generated over the last 4-5 years should have been enough to see us sitting comfortable, ut we're not, and that question HAS to be addressed and answered - where has it gone? One statement in the original post I don't agree with - Ron did not speculate at all when we reached the Championship - in fact, had he of done, we may have stayed up, but instead we had a wafer thin squad which got found out.

At the moment, his silence is deafening, and he has gone completely under the radar, which is totally unlike him, seeing as he never misses an opportunity to wax lyrical about something he has done. That maybe says a lot.....

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

The test of his credibility will come in January, see who leaves and who Tilly is allowed to bring in.

 

[united we stand]

I
I
How anyone can think that this consortium wasn't a better option for SUFC is beyond me. Ok, they were words, but offering to pay off the debt, continue with the stadium and purchase players in January is by far the better option for the club, but it didn't benefit Ron to sell the club as he sees the stadium as being a good investment, and would defnitely not sell the club for a penny. He's got more to suck out of it before it will be worth that much to any prosepctive buyers....

I posted the below to another similar thread. My one line reply to you would be 'how can anyone think that this consortium is a better option is beyond me ' People like yourself are knocking Ron for a lack of transparency (far enough) but are happy to support a bid with sod all details to it and statements which contradict each other ! more details below
If Ron made these statements he would pillared for them ! That doesn't make me a 'fan boy' or whatever, it makes me someone who ties to look at everything in the same light without an 'angle'


Originally Posted by Smiffy
"We'll buy the Blues for £1...and pay off the debts" says group of local businessmen.


A consortium of wealthy businessmen want to save Southend United.

The group made up of 10 life long Blues fans,

The people involved in the potential takeover have made millions of pounds in a variety of businesses, including retail, security and mobile phones.

None of them currently want to be named, but the majority are season card holders at Roots Hall.


The consortium has vowed to provide cash needed to keep the club "playing and trading" until the end of the season.

"From the start of the 2010-2011 season the club will be run in a business like manner, on a debt free basis

The group are also keen to strengthen the squad and move into Fossetts Farm. The spokesman added "If and when the proposed move to Fossetts Farm takes place, we intend to take the club there in robust form and hopefully in a higher division to its new and permanent home."
Anyone else see the contradictions in the above statement .

They are proposing pumping in JUST enough money to keep us going this year. Next year we will run as a business. How exactly are they going to do that when the 'business' is presently losing money every year?

What is so opbvious to them that they are going to change - there is no detail?

They are also going to strenghen the squad --- wheres the money coming from ?

We will be paying rent on Roots hall-- wheres the money going to come from if we are running as a 'business'.

Ron owns Fossets farm - is he going to give SUFC and a new chairman the same deal he would have given SUFC if he was chairman.

The post makes that fact that these are season ticket holders - so what ? They are doing this as business men- not as life long supporters , if not then why not lend the club the money?

 

[united we stand]

Why is it we need like five bodies in and what we actually get is some 18 year old kid from a league 1 rival. My guess is because swindon are paying his wages and we still are not able to bring anyboy in.
.

• People have been crying out for a center back-- we got one
• People have been crying out for a big lad------- we got one
• We want quality - the posters from Swindon on here rate him very highly
• Wages- Swindon borrowed £2.45 to opay a tax bill in 2005 and re being threatened with a winding up order so I wouldn't be so sure that Swindon are paying his wages
• What makes you so sure that we are doing NOTHING about trying to get more players in -

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Reading this thread, I can understand how Bill Murray felt in Groundhog Day... am I the only one who is a bit weary of going over the same points again and again? Must be a slow news day.

The only one who can add anything to the discussions we have already had is Ron Martin who, admittedly, has been strangely quiet recently. Come on Ron, I'm guessing you're probably very busy and have been wounded somewhat by the recent criticism BUT you must realise that the PR recently could have been better - much better. Let's bring the blog out of retirement for one edition to help put people's minds at rest and clarify how we stand going forwards. I still believe honesty is the best policy - lack of info leads to a vacuum that will be filled by speculation, which tends to be more gloomy than the truth...

the following may explain this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8362890.stm

Apparently, the plan was, that Tony Musulin alias Ron Martin would firstly extract the £2.1 million in order to pay the taxman. He then had the idea of playing the casino's (ooops, sorry, that's another thread) in Monaco so as to win enough money back................................ to replace the sum borrowed...............and even a little more to allow us to bring some players in. Anyway the whole thing went pear-shaped and at the moment Ron is trying to persuade the police in Monaco that he is really Ron Martin and not Tony Musulin. No wonder with this double identity, police found him to be in a confused state. If anyone on here is in a similarly confused state, I refer you to

http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1057723&postcount=1

 

[united we stand]

iMy son has this season started playing 11 a-side football, his team have 15 players. .

your son is very very lucky then . Three teams in his age group in the Southend Junior league have folded SO FAR this season and a large number have played matches with only 9 players. But I take your point

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

Originally posted by superblue24

I think the stadium WILL happen as you may have gathered, but only because it will benefit Martin Dawn. The fact it will benefit the club and fans is only a bonus in Ron's eyes that he can happily build the stadium without opposition.

What does the above mean? Are you suggesting that Ron Martin should only build us a new stadium if it doesn't benefit the club?

Here's one for ya, I'll offer to pay off all the debt and buy in loads of new players in January, I'll even make Freddy Eastwood captain and everyone can be happy again. Of course these are just words which any gullible twit could swallow!
What was that about a consortium again?

 

[superblue24]

Originally posted by superblue24

I think the stadium WILL happen as you may have gathered, but only because it will benefit Martin Dawn. The fact it will benefit the club and fans is only a bonus in Ron's eyes that he can happily build the stadium without opposition.

What does the above mean? Are you suggesting that Ron Martin should only build us a new stadium if it doesn't benefit the club?

Here's one for ya, I'll offer to pay off all the debt and buy in loads of new players in January, I'll even make Freddy Eastwood captain and everyone can be happy again. Of course these are just words which any gullible twit could swallow!
What was that about a consortium again?

As I mentioned in my post, the consortium promises were just "words" which means no-one really knows whether it could have been good or bad for the club.

Regarding the stadium, not sure how you managed to get my point so massively out of context. What I'm saying is that Ron will go ahead and build the stadium as the whole complex will bring him a lot of cash from the retail and gambling side. If it was only plans for a football stadium alone that had been approved, he would be long gone, or looking to move us out to another council.

So what I'm saying is if the deal didn't benefit himself or Martin Dawn, the stadium probably wouldn't be happening....

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

Of course it wouldn't be happening if Ron Martin wasn't going to make money out of it what do you expect? I really fail to see the point you are trying to make.