COSU

[Holy Joe]

I enjoy watching and following southend united!

Strange - all you usually seem to do is moan.

If you enjoy it, try telling your posts as the vast majority are negative

 

[bigmolt]

I'm not digging out COSU and I'm very grateful for saving the club but I guess your happy to stay in the worst league in the world and pay good money to watch a poor standard of play and even worse players.The players we have are not good enough and we are miles off it! Supporters want wins and to get wins u have to spend money! U can't keep shopping in the bargain basement and expect success.Tell me ? Is what I'm saying ridiculous or the truth?

We have to consolidate at this time. With bills hidden in every cupboard and drawers from the previous owner, it’s impossible to spend the money your talking about on one player. We fans have to be patient and support COSU in their vision of the future IMHO. They have been in charge for six months and have done more for Southend United than RM did in the last six years. Still have a chance of playoffs, everyone getting paid. Improvements taking place on the stadium. Patience’s is what is needed from our supporters!!!!!!
Most can see this as various polls on Shrimperzone show.

 

[Strykr]

Without cosu we would be completely ****ed.

I admire and applaud the sustainability model.

But the whole "find non league gems, polish them and flog on" thing isnt exactly revolutionary, all teams do that. To think you can rely on that whilst playing good football and challenging for promotion is naive at best.

Question for me is whether they will alter their plan slightly. Imo you have to have at least one marquee signing in goal, defence, midfield and attack to stand a chance of promotion. Speculate to accumulate.

If you want success you have to spend some money. And then counterbalance that with non league gems.

Its a tightrope given our disastrous financial history and delapidated stadium. But football fans are passionate and fickle and generally extremely impatient.

 

[Liam AAS]

The biggest single shareholder in COSU has his own hedge fund.

They are minted. Minted.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Yeh I'm sure anton ferdinand and the likes of simon cox was close to being on around 5k a week and I'm sure we was the highest wage payers under ron in league 1! Ron didn't have the money but at least he tried but took us to the wall doing so.

You're sure of that, are you?

I don't think we have EVER paid a player those kind of wages.

 

[RobB11]

SUFC pay a 300k transfer fee whilst in the 5th tier!? Delusional and thank god we haven’t done that.. we are after long term stability not a quick fix. We paid good wages to past it players for too long and look where that got us.. I don’t quite understand how everything went so wrong financially with the crowds we’ve always had etc but at least RM is no more and however bad it gets, and is, on the field, at least we are in a much safer (multiple) pair of hands.

 

[cerbera45]

there certainly is no "bottomless pit" of money

 

[gatecrasher]

I enjoy watching and following southend united!

Kev is poor and I'm all for a change but who ever comes in needs to be backed by cosu and cosu need to spend to get better players.A WORKMEN CANT DO HIS JOB WITHOUT THE CORRECT TOOLS.

I think they have backed Kev enough, the players we have, in the right system, with the right manager is top 5 comfortably

 

[blues exile]

It is perfectly reasonable to keep an open mind about COSU. They should not be immune from serious questioning and examination of there actions or lack of them. Before the take over supporters were bombsrded with PR announcements but they have seemingly retreated into their collective shells and recent updates from TL have been somewhat anodyne and bland to say the least. There has been lots of speculation but no hard facts about the financial situation and it is probably in COSu's interest not to discourage talk of debts emerging out of every desk drawer as we can still blame Martin for everything. JR has gone very quiet after being all over the message boards and a feeling of drift is starting to take hold in view of the deplorable standard of football on display despite numerous signings. Maybe there are things going on in the background but a wasted season is not a good outcome after hopes were so high earlier.

 

[Strykr]

The biggest single shareholder in COSU has his own hedge fund.

They are minted. Minted.

And thats the real question for me. Will they tweak the sustainability model and spend more then they probably should to try and buy some success. ie the old model of teams being a rich mans plaything, maybe tweak it enough to sate the fanbase and try to get back into the efl with better income streams?

or plug away in mid table non league and hope people keep turning up.

Tough call.

 

[RHB]

It seems to be open season on most things Southend Utd at the moment. COSU collectively are bound to come in for criticism from those that don't have any idea what COSU are having to deal with. I have no firm evidence, but I'm pretty certain that liabilities and extra costs have been found which COSU were unaware of at takeover, and Ron Rat and Baby rat cost them far more to get control than they originally budgeted for. Let's for minute, accept that that is true, then the playing budget had to suffer to start meeting shortfall. If you have to contend with a reduced playing budget then the players won't meet some posters demanding expectations. Similarly, if COSU are running on less than they hoped then that will stop too much squad investment. That said, we shouldn't let any of that get in the way of why we are where we are.

 

[Liam AAS]

And thats the real question for me. Will they tweak the sustainability model and spend more then they probably should to try and buy some success. ie the old model of teams being a rich mans plaything.

Or maybe do it to some degree to sate the fanbase and try to get back into the efl with better income streams.

Tough call.

There's 11 of them. They own a business that loses £2m/year. That's an operational loss of £167k per month. Every month they collective cover that defecit. They have (as far as I'm aware) dealt with about £6m of debts run up by Ron, covered operating costs (with Ron owing 50% lol) from Sept '23 to July '24 when the takeover was completed. They have probably spent close to £500k on improvements to Roots Hall and installation work at the new training ground.

The club is targeting a £600k P&L swing this year (a combination of reduced outgoings and improved revenue). That has had an impact on the playing budget.

There is certainly a case to be made for financing promotion as higher position in the pyramid means increased revenues. But I think they are likely to want to do that through high-quality decision making in every single area, rather than throwing cash as a situation and hoping it all works out.

I don't know what they'll do, but I know that they are cautious as well as ambitious.

 

[Strykr]

There's 11 of them. They own a business that loses £2m/year. That's an operational loss of £167k per month. Every month they collective cover that defecit. They have (as far as I'm aware) dealt with about £6m of debts run up by Ron, covered operating costs (with Ron owing 50% lol) from Sept '23 to July '24 when the takeover was completed. They have probably spent close to £500k on improvements to Roots Hall and installation work at the new training ground.

The club is targeting a £600k P&L swing this year (a combination of reduced outgoings and improved revenue). That has had an impact on the playing budget.

There is certainly a case to be made for financing promotion as higher position in the pyramid means increased revenues. But I think they are likely to want to do that through high-quality decision making in every single area, rather than throwing cash as a situation and hoping it all works out.

I don't know what they'll do, but I know that they are cautious as well as ambitious.

Agree about that. And thats the way it should be.

Football isnt a 'normal' business though, and despite being experts in their chosen fields, most are relative novices in football, so high quality decision making will in a lot of cases just be instinct.

Will be interesting to see how it pans out.
Lets just hope they dont give 'arry a bell for managerial advice...

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

I enjoy watching and following southend united!

Kev is poor and I'm all for a change but who ever comes in needs to be backed by cosu and cosu need to spend to get better players.A WORKMEN CANT DO HIS JOB WITHOUT THE CORRECT TOOLS.

OK, I'll bite. Spend what?
There's an entire thread pointing out COSU's financial limitations. You read that, right?
Simple question therefore: would you rather they spend invisible money and risk the club going under, or would you rather the club keeps its head above water?
Answer A or B, please...

 

[Shrimpet steve]

There aren't enough freddy Eastwoods out there.

Without cosu we would be completely ****ed.

I admire and applaud the sustainability model.

But the whole "find non league gems, polish them and flog on" thing isnt exactly revolutionary, all teams do that. To think you can rely on that whilst playing good football and challenging for promotion is naive at best.

Question for me is whether they will alter their plan slightly. Imo you have to have at least one marquee signing in goal, defence, midfield and attack to stand a chance of promotion. Speculate to accumulate.

If you want success you have to spend some money. And then counterbalance that with non league gems.

Its a tightrope given our disastrous financial history and delapidated stadium. But football fans are passionate and fickle and generally extremely impatient.

 

[Liam AAS]

Agree about that. And thats the way it should be.

Football isnt a 'normal' business though, and despite being experts in their chosen fields, most are relative novices in football, so high quality decision making will in a lot of cases just be instinct.

Will be interesting to see how it pans out.
Lets just hope they dont give 'arry a bell for managerial advice...

I think this is where the data approach comes in. The received wisdom is someone like Ron running it how they want, overspending on players, hoping it works out so that they get a bit of adulation and then selling the club on for someone to pick up the tab.

SUFC is now running customer serveys on everything, looking to make sure the experience of visiting RH is enjoyable (I am not making a comment here about the results/performances). Data lets them know what's good, what's bad and what changes can disproportionately improve income (bar opening times, clean toilets etc.)

Data on the field is significant too. If you had a spreadsheet with stats on every single player at every single club in the top 6 tiers of English football you can quickly filter to identify the sort of player you want and alternatives that might be better value.

In almost every way, the club was on its knees because of Ron. He didn't want to build a successful organistion, he wanted to make money from a property deal and not let the club die. So much needs doing, it would arguably be easier to build a club from scratch than take on a husk.

 

[Shrimpet steve]

If they don't have the money then they shouldn't of bought the club! They knew what they was getting into and now they need to act.Keeping the clubs head above water is key but so is success on the pitch and all supporters really care about is winning games of football! It's harsh but it's the truth.

OK, I'll bite. Spend what?
There's an entire thread pointing out COSU's financial limitations. You read that, right?
Simple question therefore: would you rather they spend invisible money and risk the club going under, or would you rather the club keeps its head above water?
Answer A or B, please..

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

If they don't have the money then they shouldn't of bought the club! They knew what they was getting into and now they need to act.Keeping the clubs head above water is key but so is success on the pitch and all supporters really care about is winning games of football! It's harsh but it's the truth.

You know what? Nearly, a reply to the question!

 

[BlueBore]

If they don't have the money then they shouldn't of bought the club! They knew what they was getting into and now they need to act.Keeping the clubs head above water is key but so is success on the pitch and all supporters really care about is winning games of football! It's harsh but it's the truth.

If they hadn't bought the club, we wouldn't currently have a club to be having this debate about

 

[Shrimpet steve]

I agree but COSU have to realise we are Southend united and the best supported club in the national league we aren't hornchurch! No disrespect to hornchurch but the players COSU are signing are the sort of players hornchurch would

If they hadn't bought the club, we wouldn't currently have a club to be having this debate about