Sale of Southend United to Justin Rees and his consortium

[onceknownasrab]

Exactly. It's irritating when you hear the same old "it won't make him sell" "what's the point" etc etc.

There is one thing Martin hates and that is bad exposure. How quick is he to get his minions to remove banners in the ground, on top of the pram shop, paint over graffiti on fences/walls, threaten legal action for printed words or sound clips etc. He hates it big time and is probably the only way to get under his skin in reality.

Exposure, exposure, exposure. It's all we can do. That and frustrate him at home.

We are where we are despite the protests. You have no evidence that they have been helpful or constructive. I can reframe the narrative and assert that he is being difficult in negotiations because he is sick and tired of the way he is harangued.
I am convinced Ron will do what he wants regardless of public angst. You have a differing opinion as is your right
When it comes to blame there are past managers and players that equally deserve your protests and above all SBC.
Carry on ****ing Ron off but, don't be surprised if he does things in spite. With much of the moronic vitriol posted I would not blame him.

 

[West Stand]

I think perhaps a govt grant might be able to close the gap. Problem is timing - that won't be decided by 4 Oct.

It may indeed close the gap but unlike Bury ,whose ground eventually became under the control of Administrators , RH won’t and that’s key.

As you say timing is everything

 

[CC51DAS]

Every minute, hour, day passes the mental anguish gets worse doesn’t it? While we suffer that prick just sits there at court looking non plussed. I hate him so much.

Have emntioned before that many,many are finding their sleep, relationships, mental and physical health affected by this scumbag's actions and lack of clear communication. I have asked contacts in legal circles to explore the potential for a class action against Ratty should he receive a pot of gold. Can't say I'm confident about this. or that it will help save the club but it would help me, for one, feel a bit better about all this torment he is putting us through.

 

[dusterman]

We are where we are despite the protests. You have no evidence that they have been helpful or constructive. I can reframe the narrative and assert that he is being difficult in negotiations because he is sick and tired of the way he is harangued.
I am convinced Ron will do what he wants regardless of public angst. You have a differing opinion as is your right
When it comes to blame there are past managers and players that equally deserve your protests and above all SBC.
Carry on ****ing Ron off but, don't be surprised if he does things in spite. With much of the moronic vitriol posted I would not blame him.

Moronic? Think you’re on the wrong forum.

 

[dusterman]

Have emntioned before that many,many are finding their sleep, relationships, mental and physical health affected by this scumbag's actions and lack of clear communication. I have asked contacts in legal circles to explore the potential for a class action against Ratty should he receive a pot of gold. Can't say I'm confident about this. or that it will help save the club but it would help me, for one, feel a bit better about all this torment he is putting us through.

Absolutely. I am grumpy as hell and sharp, and all my family know why. I don’t know how anyone who loves the club wouldn’t be. I don’t like any from of injustice and the fact one man can asset strip us, finance his dreams by ladling us with debt, not pay loyal people and treat us like scum on his shoe makes me livid every minute of every day.

But hey apparently we’re all morons. There you go.

 

[Paulie Walnuts]

We are where we are despite the protests. You have no evidence that they have been helpful or constructive. I can reframe the narrative and assert that he is being difficult in negotiations because he is sick and tired of the way he is harangued.
I am convinced Ron will do what he wants regardless of public angst. You have a differing opinion as is your right
When it comes to blame there are past managers and players that equally deserve your protests and above all SBC.
Carry on ****ing Ron off but, don't be surprised if he does things in spite. With much of the moronic vitriol posted I would not blame him.

Who employed the past managers and why?.

I can answer this for you, it was Ron and due to him being such an awful businessman he did so on a nod and a wink from the likes of Harry Redknapp.

Finally we got a proper CEO in who alongside Stan set up proper interviews with process which ultimately landed us with Kev and Co who shock horror turned out to be more than excellent additions who have probably saved us from dropping into the NL South.

My point is if he wasn't running the club so badly we wouldn't have had a lot of the crap we've had to put up with over the years. Covid he does get a pass but if you listened to Ron we were the only club in the world to suffer.

If the like of Bohremwood and Bromley can run a decent operation with a fifth of out fan base then this utter clown should do too.

 

[Blue Yonder]

I'm not sure whether the protests help or hinder in terms of the response from RM, probably hinder, but I'm certain it helps in convincing other parties in government, the council, maybe even in court, that SUFC is something worth saving.

 

[fredheim_holm]

He may see the debt as stopping the buyers making a “realistic” offer for the RH site. He will see the valuation as cheap given the proven development opportunity (or even partial development opportunity). If the buyer only sees it as a dilapidated stadium then they start on entirely different pages. Not ideal.

If he can’t afford to accept less than £4.5m for the RH site because it’s heavily borrowed against it wouldn’t surprise me if he has raised the option of administration, and the debt avoided by the buyer enabling them to meet the asking price in the stadium. I could be way off.

I honestly don’t know what he does if he say owes £4m on RH and a consortium think they can buy it for £1m. He finds £3m to enable the sale? Effectively pays the consortium to take RH off his hands? The consortium would see it that way because they think about the debt they are picking up with the club and the refurb costs? What would be the way out? If the consortium knew this was the problem (and it may not be) what do they think is the way out?
Making offers way below the what is owed against the stadium will go nowhere unless someone closes the gap.

Who knows. A mess.

Reading between the lines and not being ITK, this is how I see things currently.

From what we know JR and co have made a two offers, but Ron claims he would be giving it away if he accepted them. Therefore it's likely that JR and co have offered less than the minimum Ron can accept due to taking out loans against the value of RH.

Pure conjecture, but it does seem to roughly correlate with what we've heard.

I honestly can't see Ron ever agreeing to take a deal where it's clear he's lost out, such as this case where he sells RH and also has to cough up extra cash to pay off debts. Whether it's his best move whilst backed into a corner is irrelevant, the man operates on ego not on wisdom so unless JR and co are inclined to offer what he wants/needs the deal is likely dead.

Judging by their statement it seems they agree that no deal is looking by far the likeliest outcome.

He's like a gambler at the casino who bet his life savings, lost, begged for more money, lost most of that, only to be left with a few chips left but a debt higher than what's left in his hand.

He's ****ed, but whilst he's still in the casino it's a hypothetical loss, as soon as he cashes out and enters the fresh air he's hit with the cold reality of what he's spent the past 25 years of his life doing.

Gamblers like Ron would rather stay in the casino, order another drink and make their situation incrementally worse.

 

[Shrimp Curry]

It looks to me like Ron is going to pay HMRC. The club will then go into administration to clear all remaining debts. The consortium will then take on the club and purchase Roots Hall/Boots and Laces directly from SEL or whichever of Rons companies that owns them.

 

[BEERMONSTER]

I was told a couple of years back by a family friend that the Echo would never really go after the Rat on an editorial basis as he had friends within the top management of the paper. The guy would have been in a good position to know that and is not the type to BS, so today's front page is interesting.

 

[annie1954]

I'm not sure whether the protests help or hinder in terms of the response from RM, probably hinder, but I'm certain it helps in convincing other parties in government, the council, maybe even in court, that SUFC is something worth saving.

One thing for sure Kevin & the team needs everyone backing them now we may only have 4 games left as a football club

 

[dusterman]

Reading between the lines and not being ITK, this is how I see things currently.

From what we know JR and co have made a two offers, but Ron claims he would be giving it away if he accepted them. Therefore it's likely that JR and co have offered less than the minimum Ron can accept due to taking out loans against the value of RH.

Pure conjecture, but it does seem to roughly correlate with what we've heard.

I honestly can't see Ron ever agreeing to take a deal where it's clear he's lost out, such as this case where he sells RH and also has to cough up extra cash to pay off debts. Whether it's his best move whilst backed into a corner is irrelevant, the man operates on ego not on wisdom so unless JR and co are inclined to offer what he wants/needs the deal is likely dead.

Judging by their statement it seems they agree that no deal is looking by far the likeliest outcome.

He's like a gambler at the casino who bet his life savings, lost, begged for more money, lost most of that, only to be left with a few chips left but a debt higher than what's left in his hand.

He's ****ed, but whilst he's still in the casino it's a hypothetical loss, as soon as he cashes out and enters the fresh air he's hit with the cold reality of what he's spent the past 25 years of his life doing.

Gamblers like Ron would rather stay in the casino, order another drink and make their situation incrementally worse.

Great analogy.

 

[Che's Left Foot]

I was told a couple of years back by a family friend that the Echo would never really go after the Rat on an editorial basis as he had friends within the top management of the paper. The guy would have been in a good position to know that and is not the type to BS, so today's front page is interesting.

The rat cuts an incredibly and increasingly (who thought that was even possible) isolated figure amongst the local community, local businesses, the footballing community and politically.
He may be deluded but he knows this.
The tide has turned.

 

[West Stand]

It looks to me like Ron is going to pay HMRC. The club will then go into administration to clear all remaining debts. The consortium will then take on the club and purchase Roots Hall/Boots and Laces directly from SEL or whichever of Rons companies that owns them.

Despite RM supposedly saying that Insolvency will be avoided I wouldn’t rule it out and to add even more to the pot of concern I think you have to factor in the NPower debt.

Going into Administration is not going to be a straight forward as some are suggesting because quite simply the issues around RH ownership could tip the view that will have to be taken re trading In Administration and how any NewCo could possibly trade going forward.

We know the club is valued ( or should I say the majority ownership ) is valued at £1 that’s the simple thing and if there is admin then SEL wont benefit from that £1 nor if that’s the perceived commercial value of the club will that getting an administrator licking their lips

Any Administration will not come cheap and most of the assets left in the ownership of the FC are in effect worthless in a forced sale. You can bet your bottom dollar if the likes of HMRC had seen any value they would have seized them and disposed of them.

So in order the administration will look toward what primarily is in the best interests of the creditors.

 

[CanveyCastle]

I really have a bad feeling about all this.

 

[CC51DAS]

The debenture is likely to be severely questioned given its timing and may not actually be considered by administrators.

Ron won’t be able to guarantee that he can get the club back after administration so he will lose all the “debt” built up.

The club still has zero in the way of assets, and HMRC will still need to be paid in full.

So all it actually does is get rid of some of the smaller debt and anything that hasn’t been dug up in the DD.

I don’t think admin is likely at all. As many have said he either negotiates on his price or eventually HMRC will just wind us up.

I was told the same a few weeks ago by an accountant friend. Neither of us are lawyers so I wasn't sure.

My friend said it might depend on whether it was issued on new or old debt. If it's old debt the courts might ignore it and see it as a deeply cynical move.

Coming back to this - seems to me to be a key issue with the way things are heading - could either Londonblue or Superblue add anything further? for example who would have the right to appeal to the Court that these charges be ignored ??

 

[CC51DAS]

Despite RM supposedly saying that Insolvency will be avoided I wouldn’t rule it out and to add even more to the pot of concern I think you have to factor in the NPower debt.

Going into Administration is not going to be a straight forward as some are suggesting because quite simply the issues around RH ownership could tip the view that will have to be taken re trading In Administration and how any NewCo could possibly trade going forward.

We know the club is valued ( or should I say the majority ownership ) is valued at £1 that’s the simple thing and if there is admin then SEL wont benefit from that £1 nor if that’s the perceived commercial value of the club will that getting an administrator licking their lips

Any Administration will not come cheap and most of the assets left in the ownership of the FC are in effect worthless in a forced sale. You can bet your bottom dollar if the likes of HMRC had seen any value they would have seized them and disposed of them.

So in order the administration will look toward what primarily is in the best interests of the creditors.

WS what's your view on the comments I just put on the other JR thread ?

this:

The debenture is likely to be severely questioned given its timing and may not actually be considered by administrators.

Ron won’t be able to guarantee that he can get the club back after administration so he will lose all the “debt” built up.

The club still has zero in the way of assets, and HMRC will still need to be paid in full.

So all it actually does is get rid of some of the smaller debt and anything that hasn’t been dug up in the DD.

I don’t think admin is likely at all. As many have said he either negotiates on his price or eventually HMRC will just wind us up.

I was told the same a few weeks ago by an accountant friend. Neither of us are lawyers so I wasn't sure.

My friend said it might depend on whether it was issued on new or old debt. If it's old debt the courts might ignore it and see it as a deeply cynical move.

Coming back to this - seems to me to be a key issue with the way things are heading - could either Londonblue or Superblue add anything further? for example who would have the right to appeal to the Court that these charges be ignored ??

 

[Holy Joe]

What happens to the players and staff in adminstration - do their contracts automatically transfer to new owner?

 

[Grayson]

He's ****ed, but whilst he's still in the casino it's a hypothetical loss, as soon as he cashes out and enters the fresh air he's hit with the cold reality of what he's spent the past 25 years of his life doing.

Gamblers like Ron would rather stay in the casino, order another drink and make their situation incrementally worse.

Think you've nailed it completely with your whole post.

 

[BEERMONSTER]

The rat cuts an incredibly and increasingly (who thought that was even possible) isolated figure amongst the local community, local businesses, the footballing community and politically.
He may be deluded but he knows this.
The tide has turned.

The Rat's toxicity is at a level that there will be 'allies' that now need to distance themselves. Also a lack of condemnation of his actions could be viewed as passive support. The Echo would like to promote itself as a paper for the community of Southend, therefore it now has no more editorial choice other than to finally fall in and nail it's colours to the Martin Out campaign. Arguably more out of self preservation than anything else!