Medway Blue
Trust chairman/glutton for punishment ⭐🦐
I wouldn't say it's pointless. Protesting absolutely can work, and absolutely can have its place......and still might yet in our situation. People can do whatever they feel they need to do, and whatever makes them feel better. Free country and all that. I've protested, and the Trust has backed and attended protests in the past. They have their place.
I think people need to get away from thinking Ron Martin will react predictably, or like a normal person would, to protests. I don't dispute the line that the family dislikes them, and dislike their bad guy images......and you might expect somebody who is wired normally to do what they know will stop the protests.
Unfortunately, instead of thinking "I'll bring this all to a close now in order to stop these protests that I don't like", he blames other parties in the deal for them, and uses them as an excuse to move slower on an action, or to go back on something he's verbally agreed to, or to no-show a meeting because he "fears for [his] safety"..... all out of spite and all as a power play. That then affects the negotiations and their speed because everybody needs him in the room and fully focused on the task at hand.
Stop treating Ron Martin like a normal person who reacts predictably to things. He's not. He's unpredictable and volatile. Short of physically escorting him to the table and holding a gun to his head whilst he signs the deal, there is very little that we can do in terms of protesting outside his or his family's properties to make him do the right thing.
The council is pulling as many levers as it possibly can to get a deal through in time, that will pass all of the subsequent milestones. It is a labour, time and resource-heavy process for all involved parties, and as difficult as it is, they need to be left to it for the moment.
It's a shame we couldn't get supporter group unity, but it is what it is. Everybody wants unity when that unity is behind their desired action, but you can't force people to agree. It's football, and you'll probably find that 99% of club's fanbases across the country don't all have internal agreement on every decision and course of action to do with their club.
I think people need to get away from thinking Ron Martin will react predictably, or like a normal person would, to protests. I don't dispute the line that the family dislikes them, and dislike their bad guy images......and you might expect somebody who is wired normally to do what they know will stop the protests.
Unfortunately, instead of thinking "I'll bring this all to a close now in order to stop these protests that I don't like", he blames other parties in the deal for them, and uses them as an excuse to move slower on an action, or to go back on something he's verbally agreed to, or to no-show a meeting because he "fears for [his] safety"..... all out of spite and all as a power play. That then affects the negotiations and their speed because everybody needs him in the room and fully focused on the task at hand.
Stop treating Ron Martin like a normal person who reacts predictably to things. He's not. He's unpredictable and volatile. Short of physically escorting him to the table and holding a gun to his head whilst he signs the deal, there is very little that we can do in terms of protesting outside his or his family's properties to make him do the right thing.
The council is pulling as many levers as it possibly can to get a deal through in time, that will pass all of the subsequent milestones. It is a labour, time and resource-heavy process for all involved parties, and as difficult as it is, they need to be left to it for the moment.
It's a shame we couldn't get supporter group unity, but it is what it is. Everybody wants unity when that unity is behind their desired action, but you can't force people to agree. It's football, and you'll probably find that 99% of club's fanbases across the country don't all have internal agreement on every decision and course of action to do with their club.
