COSU Statement - Friday 7th June

[Stan33]

Mid to late 80's / early 90's around the same time as fbm.

Oh dear me in the 60’s !

 

[Bearded Shrimper]

One thing this new Council could do, if they had a brain cell and an ounce of political balls between them, is make it absolutely clear how they would see the World in the event that the Martins drove the local football team off a cliff in their pursuit of personal riches.

For example, they could pass a resolution to compulsorily purchase Roots Hall in the event that SUFC were to be allowed by the Martins to die in its present form. I don’t know if that’s possible or would work (and you could argue they should do this anyway ahead of SUFC’s demise, but they clearly do NOT have the gonads for such a move)…

Either way, I’m sure a way / ways could be found to make it crystal clear to the Martins that their pot of gold would disappear like a mirage before their eyes in the event that they refuse to release SUFC from their grip and drive it to the wall when they didn’t need to.

My fear is that this is a game of chicken, with the Martins believing that COSU will relent on the £20M at the last moment, or part of it at least, in order to get the club signed over before it dies at the Martins’ hands. Sadly I believe that’s as half-baked as 25 years of Ron’s Fossetts ‘plans’…

the council has very limited powers. lots of things like this will be illegal, and no amount of political balls or brain cells will change that.

i'd hope that a message has been communicated, privately of course, that the council might not look too kindly upon the club disappearing. and that someone with that on their record plus so, so many winding up orders and unpaid bills might not be the kind of person the council would be willing to give access to all that taxpayer money.

and even if they couldn't deny the whole development on that basis, they might have to be that little bit more careful about who they were dealing with. given the tangled web and credit history, there might need to be a fresh round of DD, credit checks etc. and with this prominent community asset going bust they'd have to be even more careful than before. might take a couple more decades to conclude, you know how these things go. plus there could be a change of administration, and then they might want to look at the whole thing again. no guarantees with those pesky voters having a say.

they can't just come out with lots of these things, but there might be more subtle (and deniable) ways of getting the message across. i hope they've been used.

that's my view, but then I don't hold elected office

 

[onceknownasrab]

the council has very limited powers. lots of things like this will be illegal, and no amount of political balls or brain cells will change that.

i'd hope that a message has been communicated, privately of course, that the council might not look too kindly upon the club disappearing. and that someone with that on their record plus so, so many winding up orders and unpaid bills might not be the kind of person the council would be willing to give access to all that taxpayer money.

and even if they couldn't deny the whole development on that basis, they might have to be that little bit more careful about who they were dealing with. given the tangled web and credit history, there might need to be a fresh round of DD, credit checks etc. and with this prominent community asset going bust they'd have to be even more careful than before. might take a couple more decades to conclude, you know how these things go. plus there could be a change of administration, and then they might want to look at the whole thing again. no guarantees with those pesky voters having a say.

they can't just come out with lots of these things, but there might be more subtle (and deniable) ways of getting the message across. i hope they've been used.

that's my view, but then I don't hold elected office

Compulsory purchase is allowed for premises in poor repair where the owner is unlikely to make good. The site only had planning in tandem with the FF project and so will only be classed as leisure/pleasure. If purchased by the council, with a willing crowd like COSU in the wings, they could have leased it out and turned an eventual profit as well as having an extended property portfolio. Never happen of course. The council is in a unique position where if all goes wrong they can blame everyone else and get more houses. If the deal does go through they can take the credit from the gullible city folk.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

the council has very limited powers. lots of things like this will be illegal, and no amount of political balls or brain cells will change that.

And yet Edgeley Park was bought by the local council to save it, and ultimately the football club, from oblivion. Not by CPO I don’t think, but sooner than that - a time like now, in fact. Hence the reference to brains and balls. With a little bit of these the council could take a leaf out of Stockports book and bring a positive end to this bollocks right away. They would just make sure any outlay was deducted from the git-herd’s profits down the line.

All manner of ‘can’t be dones’ will be quoted by their apologists, no doubt, and yet someone with sufficient legal expertise would find a way to effect the right outcome - mark my words. It just requires the aforementioned political cojones to not stand back hand-wringing and preparing the ‘lines to take’ blaming everyone else.

So let’s not hold our breath.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Compulsory purchase is allowed for premises in poor repair where the owner is unlikely to make good.

Hmm… certainly sounds like an amount of brains and balls might be able to make a case along these lines about the near-condemned Roots Hall….

 

[Tinks]

John Main was spot on.

We weren't sure at the time. He sounded good, as he had all these plans, for a shiny new stadium, and for Southend to be run as a Championship club, even when we weren't in it. He was involved in a lot of companies, so we thought he had a lot of money behind him. But outgoing Chairman John Main warned there will be no new stadium at Fossetts. He also warned of the conflict of interests as RM was charging rent for Roots Hall, but paying it to one of his company's. He basically was warning that RM was not what he portrays. It turns out John Main was right about everything. Straight away there was arguments about the Fossetts land that Lansbury owned. RM was drawing up plans for land he didn't even own. Lansbury called him out publicly, saying he was misrepresenting facts and blaming Lansbury. Then KSS team of Architects were knocked, over the South East Essex College and the new stadium design by Ron's Martin Dawn plc. The college also said Martin Dawn owed them a considerable amount of money. RM faced a petition for bankruptcy from KSS Architects.
All that was a foretaste of the way Ron Martin operates. From there, a few of us spoke out and said we were in big trouble with this man at the helm. Cricko was also onto him straight away.

That is how i also recall some bits

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Talk about a Freudian slip.

Ha! I'm off to see Freud's last session thos pm.

 

[Tinks]

That is how i also recall some bits and also didn't he try to buy Another club prior to ours (?was it Rotherham???)

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

John Main was spot on.

We weren't sure at the time. He sounded good, as he had all these plans, for a shiny new stadium, and for Southend to be run as a Championship club, even when we weren't in it. He was involved in a lot of companies, so we thought he had a lot of money behind him. But outgoing Chairman John Main warned there will be no new stadium at Fossetts. He also warned of the conflict of interests as RM was charging rent for Roots Hall, but paying it to one of his company's. He basically was warning that RM was not what he portrays. It turns out John Main was right about everything. Straight away there was arguments about the Fossetts land that Lansbury owned. RM was drawing up plans for land he didn't even own. Lansbury called him out publicly, saying he was misrepresenting facts and blaming Lansbury. Then KSS team of Architects were knocked, over the South East Essex College and the new stadium design by Ron's Martin Dawn plc. The college also said Martin Dawn owed them a considerable amount of money. RM faced a petition for bankruptcy from KSS Architects.
All that was a foretaste of the way Ron Martin operates. From there, a few of us spoke out and said we were in big trouble with this man at the helm. Cricko was also onto him straight away.

I knew someone at the time who worked in Johm Maine's office as his PA.She cionfirmed that he was a decent bloke.

 

[TJC]

I knew someone at the time who worked in Johm Maine's office as his PA.She cionfirmed that he was a decent bloke.

John Main was a breath of fresh air. Approachable, ambitious for the club, seemingly very honest. I recall he was forced out by Delancy (or was it Ron) as he spoke out of turn defending the club. All a bit hazy now, but he really did seem to have the clubs interests at heart and that contradicted Martin Dawn and Delancy. Is that others recollection of it?

 

[Tommy2holes]

John Main was a breath of fresh air. Approachable, ambitious for the club, seemingly very honest. I recall he was forced out by Delancy (or was it Ron) as he spoke out of turn defending the club. All a bit hazy now, but he really did seem to have the clubs interests at heart and that contradicted Martin Dawn and Delancy. Is that others recollection of it?

Is John Main still alive. He would be great to have on a podcast

 

[Maldon Blues]

John Main was a breath of fresh air. Approachable, ambitious for the club, seemingly very honest. I recall he was forced out by Delancy (or was it Ron) as he spoke out of turn defending the club. All a bit hazy now, but he really did seem to have the clubs interests at heart and that contradicted Martin Dawn and Delancy. Is that others recollection of it?

John did spend beyond our means to be fair, appointing CEO Peter Storrie on a huge salary, as well as a pretty hefty playing budget.

Ron knew exactly how to trim this budget without fans grumbling.... appointing fans favourite David Webb as manager to oversee shipping off the high earners!

Of course Ron subsequently doing just this type of thing has played a fair part in our downfall.

 

[Firestorm]

Tinks said:
That is how i also recall some bits and also didn't he try to buy Another club prior to ours (?was it Rotherham???)


He was involved with Anton Johnsons aborted attempt at Morecombe I believe , Naps may well remember, I think he was referred to asan " Essex Estate agent" Naps and I did something for the Blue Anorak web site 20 odd years ago

 

[CrippsCorner]

Was it ? I always saw it as a property developer who bought the club on the cheap, because nobody else wanted it. He was never a fan. Just a developer

I see. All about the money from the start then no doubt... at least most in the consortium do actually have an interest in the club.

 

[Mr Browns Ghost]

I knew someone at the time who worked in Johm Maine's office as his PA.She cionfirmed that he was a decent bloke.

I wonder if he is still about lovely man ?

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

I wonder if he is still about lovely man ?

That I don't know .But my contact is and so is her husband and daughter.

 

[Tommy2holes]

John did spend beyond our means to be fair, appointing CEO Peter Storrie on a huge salary, as well as a pretty hefty playing budget.

Ron knew exactly how to trim this budget without fans grumbling.... appointing fans favourite David Webb as manager to oversee shipping off the high earners!

Of course Ron subsequently doing just this type of thing has played a fair part in our downfall.

Depends if the CEO earns his wages in contacts and building links and revenue streams etc.

100k wage sounds a lot until they bring in twice that in revenue

 

[Paulie Walnuts]

I have no doubt Peter Storrie was another Harry Redknapp special, who alongside Kevin Bond (except the Sunderland game) and the god awful Mark Molesley and his merry men of PE teachers were all bad for our club, and probably good for his pocket.

 

[TJC]

Have we actually ticked off any of the 3 conditions?

1. A revised set of terms for the property contract that all parties are committed to closing.

2. An updated scope and realistic timeline for the remaining council DD work.

3. An agreement with the Martins to provide security for the further funds COSU will need to inject prior to the takeover.

3 will never happen, but what about the other 2?

 

[Booma]

Have we actually ticked off any of the 3 conditions?

1. A revised set of terms for the property contract that all parties are committed to closing.

2. An updated scope and realistic timeline for the remaining council DD work.

3. An agreement with the Martins to provide security for the further funds COSU will need to inject prior to the takeover.

3 will never happen, but what about the other 2?

The first two are the most important, I suspect number three is to place RM under greater pressure to sort the mess out with the council and get the deal over the line.

If the first two are met, then I suspect COSU may let number three slide