We are at a cross roads ....

[Tommy2holes]

There has been much said on here over the last few days and there does seem to be two/three camps.

The First is i will support my club through thick and thin and buy my season card with ron martin there or not and i dont beleive that chanting martin out will help anybody and just makes the fans look stupid.

The second is i love the club but have had enough , but im still going but genuinely beleive that Ron martin should get all the abuse we can muster and dont care if some of the other fans dont like it.

The third is the i used to go but refuse to go anymore and put any money in the pocket of ron martin and will not be returning until the new ground is underway or Ron has left the club.

The one thing we did have amongst our fan base in recent times was unity. That for me is the biggest obstical that we have had to face. There is a defenite devide appearing and one that is alienating both side from each other and i would not be surprised if the fans turned on themselves at some point in the near future.

We are now at the cross roads that i hoped in time we would avoid.

We are in the car and in the rear window are the good players we had and promotions and cup runs and ofcourse tilly and brush with all our smiley faces waving at us .

The turning to our left is one of hope and optimism. Play-offs and possitive news of our stadium and a real future for southend united.

The turning to our right is relegation sub 4k crowds and Ron being removed by sainsbury's having not paid any money back and being nowhere starting the stadium.


Make no mistake at all. Things have come to ahead. HRMC will need paying soon an agm is on the way and questions regarding the stadium will need answering not just by us and shareholders, but more worryingly sainsbury's who have the ability to end us!

Just so you know im camp 2. I cancelled my seaso DD last month and when that runs out i wont go again while Ron martin stays or things change. By my reckoning i have paid until jan/feb so we will see what happens by then. Ive been going nearly 20 years and have never felt so bad and emotionless at the way the club feels right now.

What i cant understand if im honest is why people pour scorn over those that shout abuse at Ron martin.

Ron martins way of running the club of the last year has made me feel physically sick and anxious.

If me shouting abuse at him makes him feel uncomfortable and makes him squirm in his seat then im all for that as its all that i can do. Why should we chant before or after? Whos gonna hear that?

Did it have an effect on the team saturday? No we were already 2 down and dead and buried.
Also we do support the team and have backed the blues over the last 2 seasons when the performances have not deserved the support. Saturday was a mixture of paying good money to watch bad bad football and felling powerless as we lurch from one disaster to the next .

Frustrated.

 

[Mad Cyril]

I stopped at Crossroads once.

Terrible fried breakfast from Shughie McFee.

 

[Badger74]

An excellent post T2H.
At our next game I will be chanting Martin out throughout the game as i have had enough of this man and wheather it upset some people I dont care.
This man needs to know the damage he has done because at the moment he is laughing at us!!!

 

[Richard Hearn]

I stopped at Crossroads once.

Terrible fried breakfast from Shughie McFee.

But Amy Turtle served it with panache.*

(* a Highland delicacy)

 

[BrettieAngell]

What i cant understand if im honest is why people pour scorn over those that shout abuse at Ron martin.

Ron martins way of running the club of the last year has made me feel physically sick and anxious.

If me shouting abuse at him makes him feel uncomfortable and makes him squirm in his seat then im all for that as its all that i can do. Why should we chant before or after? Whos gonna hear that?

Did it have an effect on the team saturday? No we were already 2 down and dead and buried.
Also we do support the team and have backed the blues over the last 2 seasons when the performances have not deserved the support. Saturday was a mixture of paying good money to watch bad bad football and felling powerless as we lurch from one disaster to the next .

Frustrated.

The point is if the chants where heard at other times than just when we are losing they would have more credibilty.

 

[Badger74]

So we agreed then, go one nil up and sing Martin out love it!!!
Hang on we have to go one nil up first, maybe difficult, lets do it from nil nil LOL

 

[BrettieAngell]

So we agreed then, go one nil up and sing Martin out love it!!!
Hang on we have to go one nil up first, maybe difficult, lets do it from nil nil LOL

Why not? I was watching Newcastle on TV last season at Ipswich, they went 3-0 up in about half an hour and straight after the 3rd goal the Geordie's started singing "get out of our club" at Ashley. If some feel that strongly about RM they should let him know all the time not just when we are losing and playing badly.

 

[Tommy2holes]

Do you not think that martin out chants when we are playing well will have a detremental effect on the players?

I think the point being the martin out chants only happened saturday when the game was well and truely over.

And im sure martin heard them as he made his hasty retreat with 10 mins to go. Hope they made him feel embaressed and uncomfortable as thats what they were intended to do.

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

Why not? I was watching Newcastle on TV last season at Ipswich, they went 3-0 up in about half an hour and straight after the 3rd goal the Geordie's started singing "get out of our club" at Ashley. If some feel that strongly about RM they should let him know all the time not just when we are losing and playing badly.

Good idea, but then you get all the "it will all work out fine" brigade shouting down those who do feel Martin is the main root cause of all that is currently wrong with Southend United FC.

 

[BrettieAngell]

Do you not think that martin out chants when we are playing well will have a detremental effect on the players?

I think the point being the martin out chants only happened saturday when the game was well and truely over.

And im sure martin heard them as he made his hasty retreat with 10 mins to go. Hope they made him feel embaressed and uncomfortable as thats what they were intended to do.

Somehow I doubt that!

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

An excellent post T2H.
At our next game I will be chanting Martin out throughout the game as i have had enough of this man and wheather it upset some people I dont care.
This man needs to know the damage he has done because at the moment he is laughing at us!!!

Do you think that you may be able to set aside just a couple of minutes in order to chant something supportive of the team and manager? I know that feelings are running very high at the moment but it does seem to me that some people have a strange way of supporting the team that they claim to love so much. If your feelings against Ron Martin have really become more important than your wish to back the team on the pitch, could I suggest another form of protest. You could, for example set yourself up with a group of like-minded individuals, outside the entrance to Roots Hall (East Stand), where your anti-Martin message would get to him and the Directors as they entered and exited the ground. You would also show your refusal to support the side and back it financially, whist he remains in control. In this way you would certainly get more support and respect for your stance whilst at the same time you would avoid the risk of your chants having a detrimental effect on the players and management who, after all, are not to blame for the present situation.

 

[Richard_Cadette]

I honestly don't mean any disrespect by this comment, but is chanting 'Martin Out' not just a little bit infantile? What exactly do people think this will achieve in all honesty? Do you think it will make him turn round and decide to sell the club to the highest bidder? Does anyone really and truly believe that? If you do, then you're more deluded than he is!! Ron Martin has way too much invested in this football club for him to just walk away because a few fans decide to throw their toys out of the pram because we're losing 0-2 at home!!

We then get the other extreme, where now, it appears, that some fans are going to start chanting this from the get-go against Rotherham - Great, that will create exactly the kind of environment where our players will thrive and want to play football.... Oh, hang on a minute, that's not right is it? Actually, it will create the kind of environment where the opposition, in this case a decent side, will look to take full advantage of - and who loses then? Ron Martin? Nope, he owns the club, but he's not a fan, actually it's the fans who lose out because we've lost yet another home game.

Also, what is with all the melodrama? Have we ever seen our club in a worse position than this? Yes, of course we have - anyone who was there when we played Halifax Town in front of our lowest ever league crow, around 1500, will testify to that!! I think perspective is needed again here.

We are rebuilding this squad of ours from the ground up - we had no players in July, now we have 20+. Yes, we know the reasons for this, but what is important now is everyone concentrating on the future and trying to move on from what has gone on. We do no good for this club by immediately looking for an excuse to start chanting Martin Out every time we play at home - and as BA said, the chants had no credibility because they only started when losing 2-0 - as if to say, Martin, you're to blame for that defeat - Nonsense!

The players we have here now don't have the baggage of last season, which is a good thing, so why do we see fit to try and burden them with it? We're making it their problem by constantly bringing up what has gone on, and why do we want to do that? He is not going to sell this club because you ask him to - and if he wanted to, who in their right mind would buy it right now? Everything goes in circles - we have good times, and we have bad times - we're not a big enough club to survive in the Championship right now, and we are the size of club who is likely to yo-yo between League One and Two. It's hardly outrageous that we are where we are - Look at Bradford?

There seems to be an undercurrent on here amongst some that almost want us to do badly so they have an opportunity to vent their frustration, and that cannot vbe right can it? Everyone is so quick to criticise, but not equally as quick to offer praise, and that is a real pity. Instead of looking for the bad things with our club, perhaps try and search for the positives - The fact we have 20+ of our own players, we have a renound manager in charge and we have so far avoided administration - that would be a good starting point!

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

There seems to be an undercurrent on here amongst some that almost want us to do badly so they have an opportunity to vent their frustration, and that cannot vbe right can it? Everyone is so quick to criticise, but not equally as quick to offer praise, and that is a real pity. Instead of looking for the bad things with our club, perhaps try and search for the positives - The fact we have 20+ of our own players, we have a renound manager in charge and we have so far avoided administration - that would be a good starting point!

I'm probably as guilty of any in terms of this first sentence of your paragraph I've quoted, although this can maybe attributed to strong words that I vented at the height of my anger. I no longer wish for us to lose but then again I'm not actually that bothered if we win (or indeed give an excellent account of ourselves at high-flying L2 teams like Chesterfield or Wolves in the League Cup), so much has RM & cronies killed off the love, affection & goodwill I had for SUFC.

Unfortunately, it's a fact of modern life that people criticise quicker than they praise. Just take a look at any customer services industry and they'll tell you exactly the same. I know there will be people on here who disagree but it almost seems to me at the moment that Ronald is loving just how frustrated elements of the support are getting but can do precious little about, but then again it's "his" club so he can do as he no doubt sees fit. His lack of comments on current events, save for the snidey piece about Tilson's payments (which may be have been the work of GK) as well as the half-ar5ed trivial marketing attempts the club are putting out certainly suggest so to me.

I'm sorry, but again I don't class the majority of OUR 20+ current "assets" in terms of the squad as a positive. Probably the main thing you can attribute as a positive is they all appear to want to play for a manager who they know & trust of old. However, save for a few tired platitudes tumbled out to the media pre/post match I don't see this as the actions of a currently renowned manager, just somebody who is seeing out his football days on past glories. We were obviously not going to attract a particularly high-profile or on the up manager after the shambles of 2009/10 in the summer (& another element of all that has gone on which irks me is how RM can fully back the new manager after causing so much in-fighting to ensure his predecessor would, in his eyes, hopefully walk). The only potential saving grace would be for me currently is if Widdrington inherits the SUFC hotseat. I honestly now fear a long hard winter and will be interested to see how many defeats or poor performances the fans will take before really getting on Sturrock's back.

 

[shallowshrimper]

Agree with most of T2H feelings.

As I have said before the biggest worry to me is seeing the fans dividing into factions and viewing each other almost as enemies. This is mad because whatever our take on things we are all first and foremost southend fans and what ever happens in the future even to rebuilding everything from scratch we the fans must be united and allow others their own opinions.

 

[TJC]

Good posts from both sides of the argument from T2H and Richard_Cadette.
I think I sit somewhere in the middle. I feel so despondent at the moment; turning up purely out of habit and because of having a season card. I wouldn't cancel the DD though as I made my commitment at the beginning of the season. Where do you stand if you cancel the DD? As soon as they get a failed payment, do they block the season card or let you keep going until you run out of credit?
I have yet to see us play well this season (missed the first half of the previous home match, and turned up at half time to see us nearly throw it away!) and was away for the Bristol cup game. Everything else has been pretty poor.
I do think Ron is responsible for relegation despite the financial difficulties as he clearly had his mind focused on driving Tilly out by making his job impossible. With support from the Chairman, Tilly and Brush could have saved us despite the tough conditions with his support.
At the same time, I don't believe there is anyone else to take us forward better than Ron. At least he has his own personal gains tied in with getting the new stadium built and SUFC still in business. Not sure he has the clout or resources to do it though, and that worries me. He clearly will fight to the bitter end and if that means the club are dragged down with him, then he will.
All we can do is sit and wait. I have no objections to fans venting the feelings at Ron, but its not something I would join in with.

 

[Cricko]

We are back to where we were last season only earlier and with lesser players and management team....Once again we are about to face the non payment of individuals within the club...The 5 mill we know about is long gone down the river if what I hear from within the club is true...we are on the the new road to ruin unless Sainsbury's see some movement in their direction...IE: something starts to happen on RH or the deal with the 3 parties is resolved....I am including the builder here in this 3 part scenario.

Now RM feels he is happy to bounce cheques about once again we should of course feel secure with his actions...as this is how he is and operates.

 

[EastStandBlue]

We are back to where we were last season only earlier and with lesser players and management team....Once again we are about to face the non payment of individuals within the club...The 5 mill we know about is long gone down the river if what I hear from within the club is true...we are on the the new road to ruin unless Sainsbury's see some movement in their direction...IE: something starts to happen on RH or the deal with the 3 parties is resolved....I am including the builder here in this 3 part scenario.

Now RM feels he is happy to bounce cheques about once again we should of course feel secure with his actions...as this is how he is and operates.

Have I missed something? Was there any news eminating from the club that would cause this? All I've seen is a few posts intimating that this was the case because of Sturrock making a comment about needing to talk to RM before extending Timlin's loan...

 

[Cricko]

Have I missed something? Was there any news eminating from the club that would cause this? All I've seen is a few posts intimating that this was the case because of Sturrock making a comment about needing to talk to RM before extending Timlin's loan...

Generally speaking the club are the last to let you know.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Generally speaking the club are the last to let you know.

But that doesn't answer my question, though... You're suggesting that we're about to default on wage payments, and I'm asking whether this is something which has something substantial (i.e. Someone's leaking information), or if this is just an intimation made from Sturrock's comments.

 

[Cricko]

But that doesn't answer my question, though... You're suggesting that we're about to default on wage payments, and I'm asking whether this is something which has something substantial (i.e. Someone's leaking information), or if this is just an intimation made from Sturrock's comments.

Of course it is not for me to confirm we have not paid players...but if you want me to assure you we are skint and bouncing chq's about...that I can confirm 100%