National League statement - 24 June 2024

[meerkat54]

If I win the Euromillions I’m joining COSU.

If I win euro millions I’m buying a cruise missile. No prizes where that will be delivered

 

[Jim Levenstein]

COSU would’ve known this was coming. It’s not news to them as it to us now. Do not **** the bed

 

[gatecrasher]

Years of fans veig put through he ringer by an odious cretin like Ron, seemingly saved at the last minute by a group of hero's, only for the odious ones greed to tip it back the other way. No group of fans at any other club has had such a drawn out tortuous journey.

The club is done ( in its current guise anyway) I hope Ron's vast indiscretions catch up to him and his family and they are left with nothing

 

[LBBlue]

It’s clear the trigger for this has been the clubs financial position as shown in the 22/23 accounts. That’s the year we weren’t paying HMRC etc and Torquay who got relegated were pretty hacked off that we weren’t punished more severely for our financial mismanagement.

So one of the conditions for membership of the NL is publishing accounts within the required framework - I.e by 30 April. So I guess they have been pushing the club to submit those accounts which lo and behold showed a deficit of £2.75 m on a turnover of £2.93m and a wage bill of £2.92m. Of course we signed lots of new players in 22/23 which quite frankly we couldn’t afford to pay - but hey-ho that’s ok. But not if you’re Torquay, relegation almost put them out of existence last season.


At least with the embargo last year our wage bill should have gone down a bit.

No one knows whether the sale will actually happen and the NL have a competition to run that starts in what 7 weeks time with a club that has a WUP which even if it is adjourned gives no guarantee to anything. So what are they supposed to do to be fair to the other clubs in the League, some of whom may run at a loss but at least their losses are covered and their bills are paid.

Hope fully this does trigger a speedy sale.

There are ways of avoiding the bond if you read the statement again.


Of course Ron Martin has been a complete **** taker but it’s not the football authorities who should deal with him - it’s Companies House - he has not been fit to be a company director for many years through his habitual non compliance with Company Law and complete disregard for suppliers and society. Trouble is there’s so many of his ilk around and they just get away with it hiding behind the Ltd Company protection and some donations to the Conservative Party.

Delusions of Grandeur - what marks out a narcissist.


Oh I forgot 10,000 supporters paying £100 each would cover the bond. Anyone up for that?

 

[fbm]

Ron must be rubbing his hands with glee.
If COSU pay and we somehow survive this, he'll get his deal.
If we go into administration he is the biggest creditor and can then start charging any new owners the proper tent, making it a totally non viable proposition so the club would go under, leaving him free to sell RH.
If we are wound up he gets to sell RH with development potential and also keeps FF.
All this has done has strengthened his hand. He is in an absolute no lose position. Thanks a bunch NL.

I do now think we are screwed.

 

[bazzashrimper]

Just to try and add some much needed hope to this thread, please stay with this and see if in practical terms it might fly.

We need to look firstly at three facts (verified or based on received information from a reliable source).

#1 from NL Statement thread. “The bond shall remain in place until I) an ownership agreement with the consortium currently in talks with the club is successfully concluded.

#4,504 from SO Takeover thread. Councillor Cowan stated “ On Friday they (Citizen Housing took the revised deal”.

#177 from NL Statement thread. Tribal Chief said “COSU were willing to pay to get rid of the WUP but they aren’t paying this (the bond)”.

So putting these things together it would seem that the demise of the club could well be down to a £1 million returnable bond, with the deal as good as secured and the two key creditors paid off.

My solution would be that as soon as is possible, season ticket application forms are put online, with the payment made out to an account set up by the National League, who would hold the money on our behalf until the deal was completed. It would then be transferred back to the club.
Of course in the event of the deal falling through, we would lose our season ticket money, but I think with 99% of fans on here, that is a gamble they would consider well worth taking.

I am unclear as to how many S-T holders we had last season, but would imagine the income generated from sales would be around the £1 million mark.

I am not saying this is foolproof and there may be legal ramifications, but it is far better than just throwing in the towel.

But surely the bond is to enable payment for partial loss of income (1 less game) to the other clubs. They would give it to them if we went belly up.

 

[shrimpled]

This is absolutely ****ing outrageous from the national League.

Ron Martin is an absolute **** ****.

This action, at this time, is absolutely disgraceful. How on earth has this been decided as the way forward from their side? Scandalous.

 

[basilrobbie]

It's a very depressing and worrying development, that's for sure.

I can see where the NL are coming from ; you have one party here (RM) who has no intention of doing anything in a timely manner or one that directly benefits SUFC. So I can see some merit in the argument that they are trying to back him into a corner.

The timing looks awful, but as others have said, they have immediate and pressing concerns about the integrity of their league. They ideally want this settled long before a ball is kicked in anger.

My main argument with the NL is that they could have upped the ante a lot sooner. You are about to start a third season under their supervision and have been in a state of crisis throughout that entire period. They should have been collaborating with the FA to bring more pressure to bear much sooner. And, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, if there is any club in the top five tiers of English football that makes the case for an independent regulator, then your club is it. It won't come soon enough, unfortunately.

Final thing - I'm mystified that a small number of you have decided that this is a good time to take pot shots at your Supporters Trust. They have worked long and hard to try to protect supporter interests and this is not their fault. Without them, and the pressure they have managed to bring to bear, you may well have been past the point of no return already.

 

[bazzashrimper]

I was actually thinking about this yesterday. If I won the 180 million I would buy the col u stadium from the council and put it the ownership of a supporters trust so never at risk from Dodgy owners.
I would also reach out to your trust and donate the money to buy RH plus a good chunk to kickstart the refurb.
My only condition is I bury a col u scarf under the centre circle

That’s 1000 seats for every supporter ;)

 

[The Original Tribal Chief]

COSU would’ve known this was coming. It’s not news to them as it to us now. Do not **** the bed

They didn’t know.

 

[Colblue]

That’s 1000 seats for every supporter ;)

Ouch, harsh

 

[Stuart W]

But surely the bond is to enable payment for partial loss of income (1 less game) to the other clubs. They would give it to them if we went belly up.

And that would be the gamble. Better than just giving up and moaning about it all. I would certainly like to think that my last major financial contribution to the club was to make a material difference as to whether they survived or died.

 

[LeedsSUFC]

Just a guess about the timing... It could be due to the accounts being published 4 days ago, on a Friday... So today was the nearest time to apply such a statement/condition on the club.

The fixtures are released on July 10th.

So the timing is a mix of actual accounts triggering the league to take action, and giving the club possibly 2 weeks notice for the bond, before having to **** the league's fixtures?

 

[Target man]

RIP SUFC

 

[The Original Tribal Chief]

It’s clear the trigger for this has been the clubs financial position as shown in the 22/23 accounts. That’s the year we weren’t paying HMRC etc and Torquay who got relegated were pretty hacked off that we weren’t punished more severely for our financial mismanagement.

So one of the conditions for membership of the NL is publishing accounts within the required framework - I.e by 30 April. So I guess they have been pushing the club to submit those accounts which lo and behold showed a deficit of £2.75 m on a turnover of £2.93m and a wage bill of £2.92m. Of course we signed lots of new players in 22/23 which quite frankly we couldn’t afford to pay - but hey-ho that’s ok. But not if you’re Torquay, relegation almost put them out of existence last season.


At least with the embargo last year our wage bill should have gone down a bit.

No one knows whether the sale will actually happen and the NL have a competition to run that starts in what 7 weeks time with a club that has a WUP which even if it is adjourned gives no guarantee to anything. So what are they supposed to do to be fair to the other clubs in the League, some of whom may run at a loss but at least their losses are covered and their bills are paid.

Hope fully this does trigger a speedy sale.

There are ways of avoiding the bond if you read the statement again.


Of course Ron Martin has been a complete **** taker but it’s not the football authorities who should deal with him - it’s Companies House - he has not been fit to be a company director for many years through his habitual non compliance with Company Law and complete disregard for suppliers and society. Trouble is there’s so many of his ilk around and they just get away with it hiding behind the Ltd Company protection and some donations to the Conservative Party.

Delusions of Grandeur - what marks out a narcissist.


Oh I forgot 10,000 supporters paying £100 each would cover the bond. Anyone up for that?

Seriously, who has the means to put up a grand or two? Do we have 500-1,000 people who would do that?

 

[Stuart W]

Oh I forgot 10,000 supporters paying £100 each would cover the bond. Anyone up for that?

#267 demonstrates a more realistic and productive proposition.

 

[Stuart W]

Seriously, who has the means to put up a grand or two? Do we have 500-1,000 people who would do that?

#267.

 

[The Original Tribal Chief]

#267.

#267 demonstrates a more realistic and productive proposition.

How very modest of you. That’s not remotely realistic.

 

[rararblue]

Seriously, who has the means to put up a grand or two? Do we have 500-1,000 people who would do that?

I think a number might, if COSU commit to continuing subsidising the club, while the takeover goes through.

 

[bazzashrimper]

I think a number might, if COSU commit to continuing subsidising the club, while the takeover goes through.

That’s the thing though. COSU would pay (I think) and have said they will continue to subsidise the club into the long run. They cannot commit to doing this while the “takeover goes through” as they don’t have any guarantees that it will go through, or timely. That is in the gift of one family. This is exactly why they want a workable timeline and the martins to put some security to their WUP payment.