Do they? I am still struggling to understand why, or even if, we are operating on a shoestring budget?
Where have the club ever said they are in a bad position financially, and are having to be unbelievably prudent when it comes to signing players?
Of course we're financially screwed - and that manifests itself in the fact that for all the talk of transfer fees, the only players we're looking at are free-transfers. I also reckon that we will find ourselves amongst the lower wage-payers in the division this coming season. We'll be in the bottom 6 or 7, I reckon.
As any financier will tell you, a lot of the financial viability of a company is closely connected to confidence in that company. Northern Rock was probably screwed for several months - but you didn't get a run on it until confidence vanished. You can therefore see why Ron doesn't want to go around publicising that we're up the creek financially - if he did that, then frankly we'd struggle to persuade even the free transfers to come and join us.
Anyone with even a passing knowledge of our situation must know that, in truth, we're in dire financial straits. Between Jobson, Main, Storrie, Whelan and The Chipmunk, we ran up several million pounds' worth of debt. That debt was sold to Delancey - who were very much property developers of the rapacious kind and whom, I sure, would have kicked us out of Roots Hall in the manner of Brighton being kicked out of the Goldstone were it not for that precious restrictive covenant on the use of Roots Hall.
So, there we were with Delancey accruing their debt, and Ron Martin beginning to wonder whether he might have a go at turning the club into something. Ron has showed that, at the very least, he is a man committed to SE Essex and Southend in particular; the fact that his company built the new Southend campus for the University of Essex is testament to that.
Ron therefore decided to buy out the Delancey "half" (in fact, more like two-thirds) of the ownership of RHL and SUFC Limited. He was required to fund the purchase of that debt - which I seem to recall coming from a loan from the Bank of Ireland. It is
that debt which concerns me most - especially when, in answer to a question I put to him, he informed me that the debt wasn't being serviced. If it isn't being serviced, then it's growing.
I must hold my hands up and say that I'm very much not in possession of even half the facts of the situation. I don't know how big the debt is. I don't know what agreements, if any, exist between SUFC Limited, Roots Hall Limited, Martin Dawn and the Bank of Ireland as to the debt which is (presumably) currently charged against Roots Hall. I don't know what the sale price of the Roots Hall site would be to Sainsbury - and whether it is being sold as is, or with the stadium demolished, or complete with the supermarket and flats built. I can only hope that the value of the Roots Hall site is greater than the debts currently registered against it - although that may be a fairly folorn hope. And I have little or no idea where the funding for the FF development is coming from.
There are a lot of unanswered questions, and if I thought about them too long or too hard then - in answer to Rusty's initial question - I might be inclined to panic.
As for the footballing side of things, it rather has the feel of rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. I never really worry too much about the footballing side of things, though, because Tilly & Brush will see us right, whatever the case may be; and I also think we'll be stronger than at least 5 sides this season (Yeovil, Carlisle, Exeter, Gillingham, Stockport), not to mention having 10 more points than Southampton already.
So, in answer to Rusty's question, I'll only start panicking if:
(a) Tilly leaves;
(b) We're in the bottom 4 at Christmas; or
(c) There has been no progress in terms of the new ground by this time next year.
Other than that, we'll be OK.
Matt
