Breaking News Ron Speaks

[Pubey]

so let me get this right....

Revs was on £200,000 worth of wages?

over 1 year that means he must of been on nearly £4k a week!! And i don't think any of us would have thought he would have been on that much. Makes you wonder what the likes on Freedman, Barrett, Macca, Mildy, Franno etc are on

I think he was referring to the total outlay on wages... so £200,000 over the 2 1/2 year contract he got is c.£1.5k week. Seems about ball park for a 1st team member going by rumours/Footy Manager.

 

[GBJ]

I think he might have been referring to the wages saved by shipping out Revs AND Betsy. Would make sense to me them being on around 1.5/2k a week.

I seriously doubt Revs was on 4k a week.

Thig is he didn't mention Betsy at all. he spoke solely about Revs....

It's possible, but surely you would have referred to both.

 

[Yer Blues]

I was brought up to be polite to ladies. Dioes that concept offend you?

whats that sweet heart?

 

[Pubey]

I took that figure to mean the wages of Revell and Betsy combined - so about £2k a week each would sound more realistic.

yeah you could be right. it wasn't particularly clear about what he meant by 'carried over'

 

[NZamba Legend]

Ron always writes well but we still haven't signed any decent players and the stadium hasn't been started.

Details, mere details...

 

[Gremlin]

Yea, why wouldnt someone on a message board know? Look at our board, there are at least 2-3 people on here that post regularly that often come up trumps with 'rumours' from good sources...

From 837 active members that's less than 0.5% which, come to think of it, seems about right when you think of the drivel that's been spouted on here in recent days.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

That Ron Martin quote in full:

"I did not have sexual relations with that girl"

 

[shrimperton]

Yeah great speech Ron, he may be telling the truth who knows?

Peter Clarke
Kevin Betsy
Nicky Bailey
Charles Ademeno
Theo Robinson - loan
Dorian Dervitte - loan
Alex Revell
Clark Masters
Stanislas - loan
Adam Federichi - loan
Dan Harding - loan
Robson Kanu - loan
Matt Heath - loan
John White - loan

There may some ive missed, off the top of my head, loan players have to be counted, they dont play for free

Alll these players have been our wage bill over the last year, who are no longer around, is this not enough to fund the wages of the 3 new players we need in our squad!

One thing i do know know is that proof of the pudding is in the eating and so far Ron has cut the wage bill massively and stilll no new players in and no diggers digging holes, so to me that suggests that Ron aint the hero he wants to be.........

 

[sufc1234]

most surprising part of ron martins statement was the fact that steve tilson is happy with his defence? Is he joking? A left back is a must.

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Well, credit to Ron for an excellent piece of PR. Given how poor Geoff is at it, one wonders why Ron lets him make statements at all on the official site. The suggestion that Geoff's comments were "generic" is not terribly convincing; perhaps a simple apology and an admission that Geoff got it wrong wouldn't have hurted.

As for the financial stuff that Ron says... well, I don't think it answers an awful lot. Just as the Echo are undoubtedly whipping up our current financial wobbles into a major catastrophe for the purposes of shifting copy, equally I don't see Ron's riposte as allaying all of our fears as to how solvent the club is at the moment. Dealing dispassionately in a few facts as we know them:

* The accounts reveal trading losses at the end of last year in excess of £2m.

* The club failed to pay HMRC £680K in July when that debt fell due, and has only obtained a stay of execution of that debt until next month - after being taken to court by HMRC.

* Work has not started on the new ground despite full planning consent having been obtained.

All of the above point to our club being in considerable financial difficulty. Spinner's story, whilst it provides lurid copy for the Echo, is by no means cut & dried, and one wonders why Spinner thought it sensible to go to the Echo about this. Perhaps it was naievty on his part. Then again, I found it rather disappointing that Ron saw fit to have a go at Spinner in his statement, when Spinner has only ever been a fantastic servant to our club.

The McCormack bid is an interesting one. Ron is astute enough to know that much of a company's long-term financial stability is based in no small part in people's confidence in that company.

By turning down £200K from Millwall, Ron may well have achieved a clever sleight-of-hand. On the one hand, £200K isn't enough to pay the taxman, so on one level there may be little point in accepting it, since it still leaves us £480K short. Moreover, by accepting a cash bid for a player whom the manager rates so highly would also be a major signal to other creditors that we really are in a fire-sale situation, getting rid of assets in order to raise cash.

On the other hand, by turning down the £200K, he can spin it so that we appear far more financially robust than may in fact be the case, and thereby put other potential creditors at ease. The gift to Little Havens merely reinforces that view.

There is no doubt at all that Ron is an absolute master of PR - as good as King is bad. I also don't doubt for a minute that he has been late in making payments - why not; after all, the longer debts are held off, the easier cash-flow is.

But one question he needs to answer tonight is: from where and how is he going to raise the funds to pay the taxman £680,000 next month; does he have a contingency plan for staying the debt further and is he already discussing that with HMRC, or is he running the risk that HMRC will put us into liquidation in order to get its money - something HMRC tends to do with impunity?

That's my take on it all, at any rate. Clever PR by Ron, deflecting an overblown story by the Echo. I only wish he would stop allowing Geoff King to make any statements on the OS, since Geoff balls it up pretty much every time; I'm still embarassed at the way we handled Revell's departure, if largely unfussed by the fact of the departure itself.

Matt

 

[seany t]

Can't green you Matt, otherwise I would.

 

[shrimperton]

Well, credit to Ron for an excellent piece of PR. Given how poor Geoff is at it, one wonders why Ron lets him make statements at all on the official site. The suggestion that Geoff's comments were "generic" is not terribly convincing; perhaps a simple apology and an admission that Geoff got it wrong wouldn't have hurted.

As for the financial stuff that Ron says... well, I don't think it answers an awful lot. Just as the Echo are undoubtedly whipping up our current financial wobbles into a major catastrophe for the purposes of shifting copy, equally I don't see Ron's riposte as allaying all of our fears as to how solvent the club is at the moment. Dealing dispassionately in a few facts as we know them:

* The accounts reveal trading losses at the end of last year in excess of £2m.

* The club failed to pay HMRC £680K in July when that debt fell due, and has only obtained a stay of execution of that debt until next month - after being taken to court by HMRC.

* Work has not started on the new ground despite full planning consent having been obtained.

All of the above point to our club being in considerable financial difficulty. Spinner's story, whilst it provides lurid copy for the Echo, is by no means cut & dried, and one wonders why Spinner thought it sensible to go to the Echo about this. Perhaps it was naievty on his part. Then again, I found it rather disappointing that Ron saw fit to have a go at Spinner in his statement, when Spinner has only ever been a fantastic servant to our club.

The McCormack bid is an interesting one. Ron is astute enough to know that much of a company's long-term financial stability is based in no small part in people's confidence in that company.

By turning down £200K from Millwall, Ron may well have achieved a clever sleight-of-hand. On the one hand, £200K isn't enough to pay the taxman, so on one level there may be little point in accepting it, since it still leaves us £480K short. Moreover, by accepting a cash bid for a player whom the manager rates so highly would also be a major signal to other creditors that we really are in a fire-sale situation, getting rid of assets in order to raise cash.

On the other hand, by turning down the £200K, he can spin it so that we appear far more financially robust than may in fact be the case, and thereby put other potential creditors at ease. The gift to Little Havens merely reinforces that view.

There is no doubt at all that Ron is an absolute master of PR - as good as King is bad. I also don't doubt for a minute that he has been late in making payments - why not; after all, the longer debts are held off, the easier cash-flow is.

But one question he needs to answer tonight is: from where and how is he going to raise the funds to pay the taxman £680,000 next month; does he have a contingency plan for staying the debt further and is he already discussing that with HMRC, or is he running the risk that HMRC will put us into liquidation in order to get its money - something HMRC tends to do with impunity?

That's my take on it all, at any rate. Clever PR by Ron, deflecting an overblown story by the Echo. I only wish he would stop allowing Geoff King to make any statements on the OS, since Geoff balls it up pretty much every time; I'm still embarassed at the way we handled Revell's departure, if largely unfussed by the fact of the departure itself.

Matt

Excellent, Green from me!!!!!!

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

I have been sticking up for Ron Martin all week, but I'd like another statement to just clear up a few things that don't quite add up.

Why did they not pay Prior the small amount of £4000 that has now cost the club a further £10,000 and dragged the clubs good name through the mud.

Why let Geoff King speak to the echo in the first place, the guy is a nightmare and totally out of touch with supporters and the right and wrong things to say.

The local radio station has today said that Tilly has said that Revs was not top of his list to be loaned out. Again a contrast to what Ron has said.

Once and for all, please come out and say if we are in the doo doo financially, we suspect it, all the signs are there, we can take it, we understand it, we just don't like somebody like Geoff King giving us B.S.


Can't make it tonight for family reasons, but if someone would kindly ask any of these questions, it would be much appreciated.

 

[Andyhsufc]

What do people think Ron means when he talks about the "nought..cooperation" that the Echo are now going to receive from the club. Will that mean no interviews (?), Barrett's column going (?) and Chris Phillips being unable to commentate on BBC Essex?

 

[Pubey]

I have been sticking up for Ron Martin all week, but I'd like another statement to just clear up a few things that don't quite add up.

Why did they not pay Prior the small amount of £4000 that has now cost the club a further £10,000 and dragged the clubs good name through the mud.

Why let Geoff King speak to the echo in the first place, the guy is a nightmare and totally out of touch with supporters and the right and wrong things to say.

The local radio station has today said that Tilly has said that Revs was not top of his list to be loaned out. Again a contrast to what Ron has said.

Once and for all, please come out and say if we are in the doo doo financially, we suspect it, all the signs are there, we can take it, we understand it, we just don't like somebody like Geoff King giving us B.S.


Can't make it tonight for family reasons, but if someone would kindly ask any of these questions, it would be much appreciated.

I think for the simple reason that it will not benefit us in the slightest. we'd love to know, but coming out and admitting it will not help us on the pitch or with our short-term and long-term plans.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

most surprising part of ron martins statement was the fact that steve tilson is happy with his defence? Is he joking? A left back is a must.

This was pretty concerning. It made it sound as if Tilly was trying to get another forward in.

 

[Smudger]

What do people think Ron means when he talks about the "nought..cooperation" that the Echo are now going to receive from the club. Will that mean no interviews (?), Barrett's column going (?) and Chris Phillips being unable to commentate on BBC Essex?

All of those scenarios are akin to death for me.

 

[seany t]

Once and for all, please come out and say if we are in the doo doo financially, we suspect it, all the signs are there, we can take it, we understand it, we just don't like somebody like Geoff King giving us B.S.

See, this is the bit I don't mind being kept quiet.

It's fairly obvious to me that we are in trouble by glancing at the national news, our squad list and all the recent loanees.

But if we make a big thing out of it publicly, it gives rival clubs the opportunity to come in and pinch our best players / manager / youth. It also damages morale behind the scenes. It's a fine line between openness and honesty and self-destruction.

 

[Pubey]

This was pretty concerning. It made it sound as if Tilly was trying to get another forward in.

to be honest that's tended to be Tilly's solution for everything. I'd expect that when his washing machine breaks he'll phone up Ron Martin Warchest ltd and ask for a target man

 

[Cricko]

The is never a dull day in the life of being a Southend United supporter that's for sure.If he thinks running SUFC is hard work he wants to try running this Website for the past few days..;)