Do you wish the sheikhs had visited our pier rather than Nottingham City Centre?

[bishmania]

With all this business of Notts County being taken over by a Middle East consortium and Sven being appointed as their director of football, while we apparently can't afford to pay massive transfer fees and according to some on here are in debt up to our eyeballs, it got me thinking how I would feel if a similar thing happened to our club.

We'd know we would be financially stable until the consortium gets bored and would be in a prime position to have success, but I'm not sure I'd like to see us buy a load of primma donnas who are only along for the money.

There's nothing better IMO than seeing Tilly pull off a signing of the Freddy stature, turning a wee Romany gypsy boy into a megastar (for one night at least), or even the likes of Goat on a free.

Moulding a team together from players who have been there years (Barrett) with exciting young prospects (Moose, Sawyer) is far more interesting and beneficial long term for our club than a load of expensive signings which might be here a season or two.

Of course I'd like our club to afford good players at this level, would just be nice to feel like we've earned it (as it would if the stadium comes off the way Ron wants it to).

Thoughts anyone?

 

[BoyWonder2]

Yes, it would be great if some guy invested some serious cash into Southend, but then I feel we'd only attract the "wrong" types of signing. The types of players that join us because of the cash, and nothing more.

Personally, I wish the Club had a bit more money, I'm sure we all do, but I love seeing local players getting a chance at the Club, youth team players becoming first team regulars, non-league players being bit hits, older more experience heads dropping in for one last season.

Its part of the reason I support Southend, if I wanted all the money and glory I'd be a Man City or Chelsea fan.

 

[Mad Cyril]

Sheiks and Oligarchs are old news now.

I'd like to see a Columbian drug baron or perhaps someone from the world of entertainment step on board.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Sheiks and Oligarchs are old news now.

I'd like to see a Columbian drug baron or perhaps someone from the world of entertainment step on board.

A takeover cartel of Southend stars from the world of light entertainment?

Terry Alderton, that bloke from Busted, Helen Mirren and the baldy bloke from the One Show. He knows his onions about warchests and the cost of speedy forwards.

 

[DTS]

Nah rather we had someone in charge who really cared (Tilly). These things never last long do they where as do it the right way and maybe it will.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

I'm staggered that more people are saying 'no' than 'yes'. I guess I just don't appreciate the joys of mediocrity and financial instability as much as others.

 

[Shrimper]

The club would lose it's identity though Rusty. Would you want that?

 

[shrimperton]

Yes but if they would have brought in Sven & co, then i would be off to watch Southend Manor every saturday!!!

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

The club would lose it's identity though Rusty. Would you want that?

No it wouldn't. We would still have the same history, the same hardcore fans and the same memories. We would still be Southend United, the one team in Essex. The only difference would be that we'd have good players and financial security. If our identity has to include living on a shoestring budget, I'm happy to lose it.

 

[Skyblue]

Bit of an old one thats probably been done to death but here goes....Why didn't that Lloyd guy, the brother of John Lloyd the tennis player put his money into us instead of Hull some years ago? The lloyds were local to Southend owning sports shops and the like and I went to school with the younger brother, just wondered why we missed our chance of a bit of finacial injection.

 

[Beefy]

No it wouldn't. We would still have the same history, the same hardcore fans and the same memories. We would still be Southend United, the one team in Essex. The only difference would be that we'd have good players and financial security. If our identity has to include living on a shoestring budget, I'm happy to lose it.

Yeah I don't buy it either. I'd have loved for us to have been in Notts County's position.

 

[fredheim_holm]

No from me, although if the club went out of business obviously I would retract that.

I don't want foreign investment, it's not Southend.

 

[ldnfatso]

If we had more money we would not be able to moan on here about being so skint!

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I'm staggered that more people are saying 'no' than 'yes'. I guess I just don't appreciate the joys of mediocrity and financial instability as much as others.

I voted no as a vote against financial instability.

A rich owner doesn't bring about financial stability, it offers financial instability. If you want stability, you want the club to grow organically, within its budget, not to be financed at the whim of an individual with no links to the club, the locality or even the country.

Our current financial situation isn't ideal, but at least our future isn't dependent on some Middle Eastern consortium maintaining interest. As soon as they lose interest, Notts County will be in all sorts of trouble. They'll attract in "big name" (aka big wage) players on big contracts, but what happens when their owners get bored? When they realise that football isn't profitable and that even if they win promotion to league one, they'll still have to visit places like Colchester in the middle of the English winter.

When they pull out, Notts County will be in huge difficulty and will probably end up in the conference and with a pretty decent chance that they will fold. Sure, they may get a couple of good seasons out of their new owners, but at what cost? It is far too big a gamble. As Southend fans, we know what can be achieved on a shoestring, when the squad is down to the bare bones - this can be achieved by stability, a local heart to the club. I'd rather take my chances on the building on team spirit, with a closely knit squad and spending cash on players who want to play for the opportunity not the cash. This is the formula that saw us promoted two years in a row, not once but twice. Doing that, we grew the club and doubled the average attendance. That's the way forward in the long term: investing in stability and in the youth team, not expensive short term gambles.

 

[OldBlueLady]

No, it would mean short term stability but massive instability when he decided to walk away. The thing about Southend is that we do have our own identity and the investment of some foreign mega-millionaire would completely destroy that, I like our "family" run club and the way it sits in the local community. I don't want arrogant footballers playing in our side, I want real honest to goodness footballers, ones that "belong".

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

What Yorkshire said.

I don't want our beloved Blues being some rich idiot's plaything, throwing money at us until he got bored then sodding off and leaving us screwed, with debts, an enormous wage bill and fighting to stay in existance. If a Southend fan or local business got super rich though, then it would be a different story.

 

[Shrimper]

No it wouldn't. We would still have the same history, the same hardcore fans and the same memories. We would still be Southend United, the one team in Essex. The only difference would be that we'd have good players and financial security. If our identity has to include living on a shoestring budget, I'm happy to lose it.

We'd have the history and the heritage that has been built with over a century of local people working hard and then having players that want to play for the club because of the fans and the club as a whole. I'd rather have Ron Martin than a rich Sheikh, i'd rather have someone who understands the fans and lives locally than someone who is using it as their plaything and lives a long way away.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

What Yorkshire said.

I don't want our beloved Blues being some rich idiot's plaything, throwing money at us until he got bored then sodding off and leaving us screwed, with debts, an enormous wage bill and fighting to stay in existance. If a Southend fan or local business got super rich though, then it would be a different story.

If I ever get super rich I'll have to think carefully about buying the club: I'm not sure I could put up with the fans constantly bemoaning how I was spending my money.

If it was my money, I'd use it to enable the club to grow, not to fund wages and transfer fees. That's probably not too different from what Ron Martin is trying to do with the new stadium and the youth system.

We'd have the history and the heritage that has been built with over a century of local people working hard and then having players that want to play for the club because of the fans and the club as a whole. I'd rather have Ron Martin than a rich Sheikh, i'd rather have someone who understands the fans and lives locally than someone who is using it as their plaything and lives a long way away.

Whilst he is at least local, Ron Martin is using it as his plaything, he just isn't rich enough to be able to afford to buy a different plaything.

 

[Strykr]

No from me, a local zillionaire yes!
theres something special about being the permanent underdog and the pride of being asked which prem team do you support and you say none im a real fan...,

 

[Tin Bath]

It will all end in tears eventually at Notts County, yes the fans will enjoy the ride but Sven will bugger off to a new and more exciting job in a couple of years and the Middle East money will probably see sense in a few years and realise own a football club is a black hole. Just look at Newcastle, there fan base and history doesnt give you success, once you have an owner that doesnt give a sh!t its all downhill from there