Save our Southend Thursdays meeting here!

[TrueBlue]

Can't see too many problems with how Ron talks for the majority (Sorry Scott).

Obvs not ideal swearing, but if you ask the fella a question...you got to let him answer.

I always feel he comes across well, I actually think he makes sense a lot of the time.

He fcked it with the embargo, but he does put a lot of his own cash in a club that loses money every year.

Anyways, onwards and upwards.

We are staying up.

I agree in parts he speaks well, but taking constructive criticism is something he does not

 

[south247]

I would have liked to see the embargo raised but this may have come across in previous call. One thing we all agree on is passion for the club and what can we do realistically to help get the points we need. So loved the idea about getting a message across to players. So how about doing something to take advantage of the technology that is available, minor lifting of restrictions tomorrow etc and pull together a montage of fans' pieces that could be played to the players say in advance of a game and maybe be used a motivational tool?

 

[TrueBlue]

Imo needed a lot more Scott and far less Dan (yawn)

I knew I always loved you! OXLEY OUT!!

Dan’s a good bloke though

 

[Barling Magna]

I understand why the Zoom meeting is conducted in the way it is with many fans present and making their comments. I applaud the guys behind this. Thank you. It doesn't make for a satisfactory meeting though I'm afraid. It would be much better if, whilst as many as possible can join the meeting, only one person was unmuted and asked pre-prepared questions sent in by us. Everyone elsecan just observe not contribute. The one person can ask follow up questions and push Ron to answer when he doesn't do so. It would be smoother and quicker and achieve more. At the moment it's easy, and understandable from his viewpoint, for Ron to divide and rule.

 

[TrueBlue]

Thanks for sharing, I haven’t been able to watch the whole thing yet but I will get round to it over the next few days. One thing to take from the short bits I have seen is that Ron is exactly the same condescending, patronising, “it’s my way or no way” bloke as he was when I worked at the club some 15 years ago. Back then he’s right hand goon, Geoff King didn’t want to hear any new ideas, any suggestions when put forward to them. I remember being involved in a meeting regarding ticket office and ways in which to improve customer interaction etc which included everyone involved with the ticket office then. Out of the 20/30 or so ideas, some better than others but out of all of them the only thing that came from that was to put some pictures up in the ticket office. You could tell very early on that neither Ron or King wanted to be there and as a young member of staff as I was back then, it left me with the impression of “why the **** should I try and work hard for this ****er”.

Ron mentioned Geoff King, and as I pointed out he shamed fans for fighting eachother in the west stand when it was in fact Leicester city fans had got tickets in the west (this was the game they got promoted to the championship)

 

[TrueBlue]

Can anyone say if this is actually worth watching or not ? I don’t really want to waste Saturday time if I don’t need to.

I think the second one (Thursday) is as you get a better idea of what Ron can be like, the first one is ok and hast some good points as well

 

[dannypav]

I still haven't watched it all yet , but I stand by the point I made earlier.
If I take take the time to have a meeting with another adult - regardless of whether we agree or not - I expect the bare minimum is that they are polite.
Starting off with a catty remark just sets the wrong tone.
Actually , not only adults , I would expect the same basic manners from a child.
Not an impressive start at all.

 

[C'mon you Shrimpers]

was amused by the question well it was more a diatribe as to how the questioner viewed Mark Molesley. This was not complementary.
What on earth did the questioner expect Ron to say. Yes the man's a **** and I wish I'd never appointed him. Less of these next time I think.

 

[Sufc.2008]

Scott made some solid points on the call, well structured. Some of the other questions were a little weak, and in fairness I think Ron addressed them pretty well. "Half the players are on loan" kind of questions aren't particularly helpful - and I think Ron was right to dismiss them in the way he did... we moan when Ron doesn't respond, then moan when he answers. As for the swearing, I think it was a little uncomfortable like seeing your grandma swearing, but I'd rather he did that than give politician answers.

 

[Barling Magna]

I think the second one (Thursday) is as you get a better idea of what Ron can be like, the first one is ok and hast some good points as well

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a criticism but a genuine question TB - what do you mean by what Ron can be like? Bearing in mind Ron's burst artery and the perpetual headache he is now suffering I thought he was quite reasonable throughout the two hours, he certainly looked unwell. What do you find unreasonable about his behaviour under these circumstances? Genuine question. And thanks again for putting this together.

 

[Fairport]

An interesting watch, first of all, thanks to the group of fans involved in this, its all on a voluntary basis and fair play to them. After viewing this it doesn't really change my views which are:
1. Ron has had obvious cash flow issues over many years resulting in non payment of taxes and players wages which has caused embargoes meaning the non signing of players when we desperately needed them.
2. He has put money into the club to keep it going and in turn pay the above debts. The problem is that he has had to borrow that money using his assets whatever they are as collateral. Many of his various companies seem to have charges on them from lenders. All these transactions seem to have taken time which is why wages and tax bills have been paid weeks late causing all sorts of problems.
3. Ron mentions the difficulty in signing players, probably because the club has a bad reputation when it comes to making payments.
4. We were probably unlucky in not being able to sign Akinde from Gillingham who may well have scored a few goals and brought us extra points.

Overall, I feel that we are where we are now solely because of financial situations, some of it mismanagement like paying over the odds in wages for ageing players.
To me, Ron seems like a man with big plans but not the ready cash available to see them through.

The problem is that if fans groups ask him questions on financial issues he won't answer them as they are business sensative.
We have an owner who appears to want the club to do well but his pockets are not deep enough. In contrast, some clubs are owned by foreign investors or the Mike Ashley's of this world who have plenty of financial clout but who cause other feelings of anger amongst their fans.

 

[WestyReturns]

Its clear and astonishing that there is no real structure or future plan in place. His skillset in business is devastatingly poor. He doesnt even understand the tangible relationship between fans being his customers. It's almost like he expects his customers to soak up his failure. So out his depth.

 

[TrueBlue]

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a criticism but a genuine question TB - what do you mean by what Ron can be like? Bearing in mind Ron's burst artery and the perpetual headache he is now suffering I thought he was quite reasonable throughout the two hours, he certainly looked unwell. What do you find unreasonable about his behaviour under these circumstances? Genuine question. And thanks again for putting this together.

The second meeting showed how he can get irate when questioned also I felt it showed how out of touch he is with fans

 

[TrueBlue]

Its clear and astonishing that there is no real structure or future plan in place. His skillset in business is devastatingly poor. He doesnt even understand the tangible relationship between fans being his customers. It's almost like he expects his customers to soak up his failure. So out his depth.

Yeah fans are fans but they are still customers and should be treated with the respect as such

 

[Southminster Shrimper]

I don't know whether i like him a little bit after watching, or hate him even more.

 

[fbm]

Meeting from Thursday night with the club is now up on the shrimpers trust Facebook page!
https://fb.watch/4uErXn8rfr/

or here on YouTube

Thanks to them for hosting!

Now you will see what we are up against! We will let you make your own mind up.

Well done TB at al, a good watch in my opinion.

Scott - when you ask/send Ron questions, one from me please... what is his disaster and succession plan? I have said in the past that my major concern is what happens should Ron die. He's had the virus, he has torn an artery, no-one is immortal. Does he have a Commercial Lasting Power of Attorney in place in case he has a stroke or loses his mental capacity, and what happens if he dies? What's the plan in that eventuality?

Cheers

 

[Supershrimper]

I think Ron came across quite well. Clearly suffering as a result of his brush with Covid. And to be fair to him, he is never going to openly criticise the manager or any players, especially on a recorded Zoom meeting.

I think Ron gave up a lot of his time to answer the questions. Could well have hung up the zoom call after the promised hour. I'm unsure how a meeting scheduled to last 1 hour ends up running to 2 hours.

 

[TrueBlue]

Well done TB at al, a good watch in my opinion.

Scott - when you ask/send Ron questions, one from me please... what is his disaster and succession plan? I have said in the past that my major concern is what happens should Ron die. He's had the virus, he has torn an artery, no-one is immortal. Does he have a Commercial Lasting Power of Attorney in place in case he has a stroke or loses his mental capacity, and what happens if he dies? What's the plan in that eventuality?

Cheers

This is a question sos plan to ask but I will also throw your version behind it. Let’s say Ron gets hit by a bus tomorrow (I hope to god he does not because anybody who wishes somebody ill health needs their head looking at) what happens with the club? Does it go to his son? Does it go up for sale?
I think this question goes back the time CEO question, somebody who runs the day to day so if let’s say it does go to his son he has somebody who can ease that transition.
Now I know this is a morbid subject but we have to be able to protect our club in all circumstances.
Just to add to that SOS does not welcome anybody in our ranks who wishes to join to personally abuse or threaten harm to Ron.

 

[TrueBlue]

I think Ron came across quite well. Clearly suffering as a result of his brush with Covid. And to be fair to him, he is never going to openly criticise the manager or any players, especially on a recorded Zoom meeting.

I think Ron gave up a lot of his time to answer the questions. Could well have hung up the zoom call after the promised hour. I'm unsure how a meeting scheduled to last 1 hour ends up running to 2 hours.

Yeah it’s hard to keep the meetings to 1 hour, Ron does like to go off a bit on a tangent sometimes, one thing we could never accuse Ron of is giving short one word answers

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

Well done TB at al, a good watch in my opinion.

Scott - when you ask/send Ron questions, one from me please... what is his disaster and succession plan? I have said in the past that my major concern is what happens should Ron die. He's had the virus, he has torn an artery, no-one is immortal. Does he have a Commercial Lasting Power of Attorney in place in case he has a stroke or loses his mental capacity, and what happens if he dies? What's the plan in that eventuality?

Cheers

It's a good question, and also applies to him being (seriously) ill, whereby he's unable to manage the day to day activities of the club. What is the contingency plan ? Is anybody else aware of the structure of the various companies and have access to funds to pay suppliers, wages etc ?