Sale of Southend United to Justin Rees and his consortium

[ThurrockShrimper]

Warfarin… you can get it on prescription.

It's a shame I haven't worked in the chemist in East Tilbury for 10 years

 

[Holy Joe]

If he does not have to spend 30 mill (his words) on a new stadium at FF, why not?

Because he's not getting the profit from developing RH into housing would be my guess

 

[Cricko]

Because he's not getting the profit from developing RH into housing would be my guess

Maybe , but he is free to build a lot more houses at FF, it must equate out.

 

[kentblues]

The money needed to reverse the neglect at Roots Hall and then turn it into a facility that generates decent revenue for the club outside of match days (which is what any prospective new owner's business model will be built on) will cost far and beyond what RM is asking for to sell the club at the moment.

And RM needs money up front so that's probably a red line for him.

It seems to me that JR and this consortium are exactly new owners RM should be selling to if he cared at all about the club. Hopefully its c**k waving and a deal gets done.

RHL limited owns the ground and will continue to do so independently of what happens with SUFC. And as an asset the condition of the stadium is of little relevance as its a site with planning for 502 properties and has been valued as a development site for some time- planning will have increased that value further, and current charges will likely reflect that. Just as it is, I suspect, even if deeply regrettable. If the cost of a complete refurb of the stadium were to come out of the £4.5m sale price then basically the asset would be sold for next to nothing. And Ron would need to settle those charges before a sale could happen. And he has no money and is getting £1 for the club. As you suggest that might be a red line especially as he keeps the asset whatever.

What are the council doing? I know, as politicians, they are sharing nice words (especially if they involve not actually doing anything). But is there finance or not that they can put into the stadium as an asset that helps with this for the new owners or not? If it was all hot air then let's say so. They could suggest to Ron that they will likely support extra housing to replace the stadium at FF- in the long term that may very well work. In the short term how does it provide any funds? Probably not. Any third party closing the gap at this point would be very helpful. Can funds be obtained from the levelling up fund be used for remedial work and close the gap (again MPs actions not words I'm afraid). Let's hope the various parties are offering JR & co concrete help rather than words of encouragement.

My best guess is for the reasons above he will be forced to go down the administration route as he simply does not have the money to do otherwise. JR doesn't want it, the creditors surely to God don't want it (for example if you were Emersons even £200k is better than 100% of nothing) and surely Ron doesn't want it as it brings much focus onto how he has run the business, but all the parties have an immovable deadline and then the blame game will start.

Let's hope it is the squeaky bum, c**k waving stage that this time leads to all invoved finding a solution.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Sorry, we don't need more roads, that doesn't solve anything. What we need is viable alternatives to driving. There are too many cars on our roads.

Couldn’t agree less, I’m afraid. Yes to alternatives, yes (huge yes) to carbon reduction - but no to anti-car busybodies who want to tax them out of existence or penalise drivers at every turn.

Cars will be needed and cars are not the problem. Emissions are the problem. We don’t need less cars, we need less emissions.

 

[kentblues]

Maybe , but he is free to build a lot more houses at FF, it must equate out.

I think this is true but it's timing unfortunately. Jam tomorrow does solve the predicament if he doesn't get funds to pay off what is owed to charge holders on RH who need to be paid off. We, probably not even JR & co, know how much he owes against the RH site but its difficult to believe he hasn't leveraged it as far as he could. And hence the problem?

 

[southendkid]

Even with another -10 i firmly believe Kev and the boys would still manage to keep us in this league.

I agree (assuming we can get reinforcements in once we get taken over) however it would be tight. With a 20 point penalty we would have survived last season, but only by a single point.

 

[Cricko]

Couldn’t agree less, I’m afraid. Yes to alternatives, yes (huge yes) to carbon reduction - but no to anti-car busybodies who want to tax them out of existence or penalise drivers at every turn.

Cars will be needed and cars are not the problem. Emissions are the problem. We don’t need less cars, we need less emissions.

Can we leave the roads/cars discussions until another day please guys.

 

[Holy Joe]

I haven't time at the minute to double check. But someone posted the league rules around administration - wasn't it a compulsory relegation the penalty? It spoke of events happening between agm's. It also seems you do not lose all of your debt in administration - I'm not convinced it's the cure all we're thinking of.

 

[kentblues]

Alternatively I read ......that the consortiums 'preferred' choice wouldnt be administration
Possibly inferring it's not a showstopper. Just preferable to dealing with the purchase post administration.

Well the the huge sums saved on debt could be put into the stadium and make that problem go away. But lots of angry creditors and the NL to manage (all be it if Ron's not staying in charge and nice new owners are...). But want an unsavoury mess even if all blame would be directed at one person.

 

[CanveyCastle]

Sorry, we don't need more roads, that doesn't solve anything. What we need is viable alternatives to driving. There are too many cars on our roads.

Perhaps we might not need so many pathetic Martin Muppet security guards.

That might reduce traffic.

 

[kentblues]

I haven't time at the minute to double check. But someone posted the league rules around administration - wasn't it a compulsory relegation the penalty? It spoke of events happening between agm's. It also seems you do not lose all of your debt in administration - I'm not convinced it's the cure all we're thinking of.

Its not. just better than not existing.

 

[Jai]

Fossetts Farm is green belt land isn't it? IIRC the planning consent was only granted with the caveat that this was extraordinary circumstances because of the need for a new stadium for SUFC.

Would a housing-only proposal get planning consent?

 

[meerkat54]

What Ronald Mugabe fails to understand is when you run a business as badly as he has there are consequences to both the value of the asset, as well as how people are going to deal with you ie: without utter suspicion and distrust.

What the past few years have told us about Mugabe is that he doesn't really live on planet earth, see's no failure in any of his work and has no compassion for anyone except for himself.

This is why its impossible to deal with this utter **** with the only way is for the government/fans to go nuclear on him and all the Martin enterprises.

I think your naming of the as Ronald Mugabe is probably the best description of that odious man, sorry

 

[defender05]

Fossetts Farm is green belt land isn't it? IIRC the planning consent was only granted with the caveat that this was extraordinary circumstances because of the need for a new stadium for SUFC.

Would a housing-only proposal get planning consent?

As the council are getting a chuck of them I can't see them say no.

 

[shrimperjon]

I agree wholeheartedly - I choose to believe him too, but what I'm saying is that nobody knows for certain.

Hopefully the deal can be done Justin time...

That for sure

 

[TrevorFitzpatrickHattrick]

Excellent statement, clear and concise. He's read the room well and pretty much expressed the limit of what he can in the public domain.

Unfortunately, the "ball's in Ron's court now" analogy is incorrect; it has always been in his court.

You could see Martin pre-empting this months ago with the various debt shifting activities he undertook, protecting his interests in the event of administration.

It's why he failed to engage with Kimura but led them on to keep a lid on fan protests.
It's why he continued to be intransigent whilst court dates loomed.
It's why he has most likely knocked back 2 bids from JR without countering.
It's why he rarely looks like he's feeling the pressure 99.9% of the populous would feel if they were in his shoes.

Administration is his backstop in the event nobody bends to his ludicrous demands, and has been for quite a while now.

The City, the management, the players, the backroom/day-to-day staff, the fans and anyone that's contributed to this great club over the years deserve so much better than this.

After the Kimura debacle, I'm staying absolutely pessimistic regarding the ultimate outcome. I obviously hope I'm completely wrong.

 

[SUBBlue]

It's a shame I haven't worked in the chemist in East Tilbury for 10 years

Slip some into the bastards morning cuppa

 

[Richard Hearn]

Slip some into the bastards morning cuppa

He'll never have a heart attack then.

He'll live forever.

 

[ThurrockShrimper]

Slip some into the bastards morning cuppa

that and some horse-strength laxatives