[b said:
Quote[/b] (rabbloke @ Sep. 20 2004,15:09)]I wonder why clubs are so blind or the business is so bent that its allowed to happen?.
Neither of these is necessarily the case.
Look at Marconi, Enron, Arthur Andersen. Totally enormous names in their respective fields... Andersen were, if you like, the Man U of the accounting world, for example.
Sh*te management can destroy any company - and, in terms of its business context, Southend United is merely a company, just like any other.
So far as Arthur Andersen is concerned, watching people carrying out an audit of another company's books has yet to become a spectator sport - hence why, perhaps, you didn't have people wailing in the streets at their demise.
But just as bad management reduced companies like those mentioned above to their knees, so the same happened at Roots Hall. Our current position is attributable to four men - Jobson, Whelan, John Main and Alvin Martin.
Throught poor decisions, naievety, lack of foresight, lack of diligence, or simply not giving a damn, they allowed the club to change from a tightly run ship full of young tyros punching above the club's weight in Division 1, to a devil-may-care retirement home for overpaid boozers and hackers who had neither the ability nor the desire to win games for Southend United.
Why people see fit to moan at Ron Martin or Delancey frankly bemuses me. They inherited a club losing almost £2m a year, with players' wages at 123% of turnover - and have turned it into a club where wages are now in the 50-60% of turnover range, that turned a profit last season, that saw gates increase last season, that got to a cup final last season, and that has some of the best players and the most invigorating management team that we've seen in years.
Of course we want promotion, of course it hurts that the Scum are in the division above.
But it took 4-5 years to destroy all of Webby's (and, dare I say it) Fat Judas's good work. It'll take at least twice as long to repair the damage.
Frankly, the fact that we're not bankrupt, or in the Conference, is a minor miracle... let's rejoice at what we do have, which is a professional team playing in the League in Southend.
Anything else is a bonus.
Matt
