The Umbongo

[Shrimper]

Just to be clear, where has Ron said he promised to have the embargo lifted? From what I've read all he's said is he hopes to have it lifted.

Not neccessarily hard and concrete promises but he has repeatedly said "it will be cleared". He's been stringing people along and they're fed up.

 

[Cricko]

Not neccessarily hard and concrete promises but he has repeatedly said "it will be cleared". He's been stringing people along and they're fed up.

I think most are well past fed up..I am not shocked by the posts on social media and other avenues atm at all...You cannot blame the fans for starting to get really ****ed off with the whole thing.

 

[Cricko]

I think @Shrimperstrust need to try again to find out wtf is going on, not that I expect them to get anymore truthful answers than the next man, but something needs to be done and we have not had an update from them for about 6 weeks now.

 

[Shrimper]

I think most are well past fed up..I am not blaming the posts on social media and other avenues atm at all...You cannot blame the fans for starting to get really ****ed off with the whole thing.

Ron is lucky fans haven't been able to attend as I can only imagine how bad the atmosphere would be. Might open his eyes a bit though.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

I can't see that Ron has anything to gain by having to find/borrow/steal money to pay HMRC (or whoever else the club is in debt to) in order to get the embargo lifted.
He has tacit agreement from the Council for Fossetts and the building of residential both there and at Roots Hall. He clearly couldn't give a toss about the football club (and even less about its fans!).
When we are relegated to the National League he won't need to build a 22,000 seater at Fossetts. He could start by building, say, a 10,000 seater with the option of adding another stand, or two, to it at a later date if the club were to get promoted back to the EFL. National League South will need an even smaller build. This would save him yet more outlay.
Come January if we're still adrift at the bottom there will be no need for him to pay anything for any players coming in - just like last season.
I think he's just playing us along. He's clearly now just in it for the end result for himself.... millions and millions. Why bother even trying to keep the club in the league? It'll just cost him more, whereas relegation will actually save him money.

You're quite right.Yogi has already pointed this out.FWIW,I think that if the embargo isn't sorted now it won't be in January either.By which time we'll be effectively relegated ,of course, as we were under SC last season.

 

[londonblue]

Would agree that lifting the transfer embargo is not in the Chairman's gift as such but if he pays HMRC the money owed (or a subtantial proportion of it ) then logically HMRC would agree to lift the embargo.

Good. It was the post that I objected to, because you said he's promised to get the embargo lifted whereas he's only said he hopes to have it lifted. There's a big difference and I don't think we should let Ron off that hook. He's very good at speaking in tongues, and people fall for it all the time. Every time he does so it should be pointed out.

However, the answer to your poll is still a big fat no. Even if the embargo is lifted I doubt very much that it will be because of anything Ron did.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Our illustrious chairman promised us that he hoped he 'd get the embargo lifted this week.Just to recap ,we need this to happen so we can play two players we've actually signed and got under contract,Sam Hart and Akinola.Also we need the embargo to be lifted before we can sign any new out of contract players.Including the mystery striker that we've apparently been having talks with.

Unless we can get some goal scorers in the team before the next critical 4 matches starting with the game against Stevenage on Saturday (and so far we've scored 6 all season) we're clearly not going to avoid another relegation this season.

So simple question, do you think the Chairman will keep his promise and get the embargo lifted this week?

If his promise was that he hoped to get the embargo lifted, then yes I believe he will be true to his word and he will be doing a lot of hoping.

As to the entirely separate matter of whether the embargo is lifted, that would seem to depend on whether the EFL bailout package is agreed. Has there been any news on that?

 

[londonblue]

If his promise was that he hoped to get the embargo lifted, then yes I believe he will be true to his word and he will be doing a lot of hoping.

As to the entirely separate matter of whether the embargo is lifted, that would seem to depend on whether the EFL bailout package is agreed. Has there been any news on that?

And for me that is the crux of the matter. It's nothing to do with Ron. He has no control over the issue, other than trying to talk to HMRC. I don't however, think that will lead to anything because we have no income at the moment, so unless he can pay the debt then anything he says is irrelevant because he's not in control. For that reason I don't see the embargo being lifted any time soon.

 

[rararblue]

And for me that is the crux of the matter. It's nothing to do with Ron. He has no control over the issue, other than trying to talk to HMRC. I don't however, think that will lead to anything because we have no income at the moment, so unless he can pay the debt then anything he says is irrelevant because he's not in control. For that reason I don't see the embargo being lifted any time soon.

If we sold 1600 season tickets @ £300 each, that's £480,000 that we will be getting over the season - approx 21k per home game, released by RBS. Not a lot of income, but some.

 

[Westcliff DGS]

Would agree that lifting the transfer embargo is not in the Chairman's gift as such but if he pays HMRC the money owed (or a subtantial proportion of it ) then logically HMRC would agree to lift the embargo.

Don’t think he has to pay them anymore monies, think the monies due whilst there ware no fans is subject to a payment plan being agreed over a reasonable period of time. However he has not been able too due to no income, that may of course change now fans are allowed in (I suspect it will lose the club more money). Putting that aside i think he is hoping the EFL bail out fund comes in and he uses that to either say here is some income here is a payment plan or he could of course (but doesn’t have too as I’ve read tings) okay the money due during the last 6 months without agreeing the payment plan.

Either way it needs to be sorted and soon

 

[Westcliff DGS]

If we sold 1600 season tickets @ £300 each, that's £480,000 that we will be getting over the season - approx 21k per home game, released by RBS. Not a lot of income, but some.

But they have not released that money after every home game, Lloyds bank wont release it till fans are in the stadiums apparently

 

[Barling Magna]

However he ha snot....Either way it needs to be sorted and soon

Yes, I've suffered from that too. It's a bugger to clear out of your nose but I finally used "Ron Martin Nose-lax" - it promises a lot but delivers just enough to keep you breathing.

 

[Holy Joe]

Just to be clear, where has Ron said he promised to have the embargo lifted? From what I've read all he's said is he hopes to have it lifted.

He did say a few weeks ago - all it needed was a phone call, a few days. He made it sound a formality - he was either wrong or deliberatly misleading. Since then I don't think he's clarified any difficulties in making that phone call.

 

[Holy Joe]

I've voted no - unless the EFL bail out is agreed early this week, there won't be enough time for the few days to arrange the call with HMRC and then for the EFL to remove the embargo.

 

[BriggBlue]

I can't see the embargo being released until the EFL stop enforcing it, I'm not convinced the bail out money will be enough to cover the amount outstanding and fund the club until the end of the season.

for what it's worth I have a hunch that Ron has agreed to sell the club once he gets planning permission, perhaps to the dutch consortium that were interested last year, and will not be putting any more money into the club unless it's to simply keep it in existence as he needs the club to exist for the property plans to be passed. I also think we will end up with the 22,000 seater stadium simply because it'll be too much hassle to change the plans too much.

 

[SUBBlue]

Ron is lucky fans haven't been able to attend as I can only imagine how bad the atmosphere would be. Might open his eyes a bit though.

I agree, if fans had been in the ground witnessing the current mess we would have certainly made our displeasure known to Ron Martin & he might have gotten his ar$e in gear by now or maybe there’s nothing he can do to hasten things along.
One of the most frustrating things for me is lack of updates & communication. It’s like buying a property & hearing sweet FA from the vendors solicitor for weeks on end so it ends up like a guessing game.

 

[londonblue]

If we sold 1600 season tickets @ £300 each, that's £480,000 that we will be getting over the season - approx 21k per home game, released by RBS. Not a lot of income, but some.

True, but AFAIA none of that will be here this week.

 

[Chairman Trigg]

Whether Ron gets the embargo cleared depends on what happens elsewhere, that’s obvious. What I do fear is the backlash if it makes sod all difference and Hart, Akinola - and any other players we can get in - are crap and unfit. People seem to think we will shoot up the table but I think let’s manage expectations now. We’ll do well to get out of this rut. January and the summer will be another clearout exercise, the rebuilding is far from done. The fact we’ve got players like White and McCormack on short deals and our best players are loanees shows how desperate we are.

The whole club is toxic and if no attempt is made to turn it round this month I don't think the club will ever recover on or off the pitch.
If we go down don't expect anymore than a 3 sided ground for many many years ,and a large loss of support which will never return .Just what will happen when the fans return will be very interesting.In normal times Ron would now be needing more than a tin helmet as people have now run out of patience with his spin.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

If we sold 1600 season tickets @ £300 each, that's £480,000 that we will be getting over the season - approx 21k per home game, released by RBS. Not a lot of income, but some.

It won't be that much between credits from last year's sales and reduced prices for OAPs, kids, students etc. I expect at least half of season cards sales are concessions. However, in addition to season card sales there are also individual match passes sold on ifollow (albeit about half of the time they have to be refunded because ifollow is ****).

 

[Westcliff DGS]

He did say a few weeks ago - all it needed was a phone call, a few days. He made it sound a formality - he was either wrong or deliberatly misleading. Since then I don't think he's clarified any difficulties in making that phone call.

Not sure he promised that, but he did say it was just a phone call away. In theory it is just a call, but if he has to prove income to give the HMRC a sustainable / working payment plan i am not sure he can due to no income. So then it isnt a phone call away, he probably knew that but didnt want to say.