SUFC: The Future SUFC up for sale

[kentblues]

Note the difference in balance sheets compared to the Football Club's parent company...

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RHL is the holder of our stadium and is also relatively robust with up to date accounts and a decent balance sheet. Still leaves the football clubs as separate legal entities exposed in both cases- and wholly reliant on group company support which continues at the gift of the owner...Of course the Col U is able to continue the support in a way ours now can't (but then ours use to be able to do so as well...)

 

[kentblues]

Robbie’s biggest failing by far is that the club don’t do nearly enough to market themselves locally. Colchester has grown massively over the last 2 decades and very little is done openly to attract those new residents to the club. He would really benefit too from appointing a supporters liaison officer as a lot of fans feel disconnected to what goes on in the club.
He must be doing something right though as January saw a massive budget for new players and we are looking at a couple of decent recruitments this week.
You’re 100% correct though, too many clubs at this level live by the seat of their pants and are overly reliant on a reliable and responsible owner.
Where we are lucky, live or loathe our ground, it does give a lot of additional non matchday revenue streams.
For you to keep RH and to develop that ground, how long would it be before you can rebuild the East stand to give those same opportunities

We need to find a buyer first who even understands the opportunity and what needs to be done first

 

[Sherif H]

RHL is the holder of our stadium and is also relatively robust with up to date accounts and a decent balance sheet. Still leaves the football clubs as separate legal entities exposed in both cases- and wholly reliant on group company support which continues at the gift of the owner...Of course the Col U is able to continue the support in a way ours now can't (but then ours use to be able to do so as well...)

Indeed, but the difference is stark between the respective companies which control the two football clubs - RC's group of companies clearly has the means to support a football club at that level. Ours is insolvent.

 

[Joshy boy]

Anyone know if players and staff paid today?

Exactly what I was thinking Matt. Considering it’s “pay day” for the players and staff, have they actually been paid?

 

[spoons]

Any news of the Safety Certificate being granted yet. Asking for a friend

 

[BEERMONSTER]

The harsh reality is that we need a buyer, be it a Consortium or an individual that is driven to be the owner of Southend United Football Club. What RM has left on the table is not by any means an investment opportunity of great potential or quick returns. So we need football driven people, would be nice if they had prior or current affiliation to us already but beggers can't be choosers. Obviously need the financial clout to get control off RM if he does sell having been unable to find other investors to keep his long chased pot of gold at the end of his rainbow. They have to have the strategy and continued means to make us sustainable and to spark a rebirth across all areas of the football club. That's the reality, stating the obvious I know but where there is life there is hope, Sunday showed that.

 

[Leeboy]

Any news of the Safety Certificate being granted yet. Asking for a friend

5pm apparently

 

[cerbera45]

Can you point me in the direction of this please ? I am not being awkward I am struggling to keep up / find out the up to date sale position as this is the SUFC sale thread. Thank you.

I have DM'd you

 

[flangejackrabbit]

I have been a loyal and avid fan of the Shrimpers for over 60 years. My thoughts on the club are blurred by my love for it. But I ask myself one question: Why would any serious business want to purchase Southend United?

What RM has left on the table is not by any means an investment opportunity of great potential or quick returns.

From a business perspective, any lower-league football club is a dreadful investment.

Unless you are prepared to fund it all the way to the Premier League (which would probably cost at least £100m) you are incredibly unlikely to see an increase in value matching the amount you are putting in.

The only other way it becomes attractive is enabling a property development, a situation we're now all too familiar with the risks of.

 

[Westcliff DGS]

5pm apparently

Isnt that the time the NL have set to make a decision?

 

[Rayleigh boy]

Just to be clear, revenue isn't an asset. That rules out:

Player sales, inward revenue (as you call it, but there's no such thing as outward revenue!) for ticket sales, sponsorship and advertising, shirt sales and hospitality.

even in 2021 the club is turrning over 3.9 million .. 2020 5million 2019 7million

these are good robust established revenue streams ... the business, the club is essentially sound.

the business is saddled with RM mythical debt and loads of bullsh++ but essentially there is enough money coming in to run a professional football club.

The problem is not the club being unprofitable..,

Anyone can see that the club is sustainable at NL level with this sort of turnover -

the ONLY problem is the owner ...

 

[ms brush]

even in 2021 the club is turrning over 3.9 million .. 2020 5million 2019 7million

these are good robust established revenue streams ... the business, the club is essentially sound.

the business is saddled with RM mythical debt and loads of bullsh++ but essentially there is enough money coming in to run a professional football club.

The problem is not the club being unprofitable..,

Anyone can see that the club is sustainable at NL level with this sort of turnover -

the ONLY problem is the owner ...

I have always thought that turnover is enough, even at League 1 level. the bigger question for me is how has SEL (SUFC) managed to rack up such a huge amount of "debt", partcularly with sufficient revenues coming in and particularly after the assets have already been "sold"?

How is the documentary coming along Guys?

 

[Napster]

even in 2021 the club is turrning over 3.9 million .. 2020 5million 2019 7million

these are good robust established revenue streams ... the business, the club is essentially sound.

the business is saddled with RM mythical debt and loads of bullsh++ but essentially there is enough money coming in to run a professional football club.

The problem is not the club being unprofitable..,

Anyone can see that the club is sustainable at NL level with this sort of turnover -

the ONLY problem is the owner ...

there's only so many times I can report you for nonsense.

 

[Sparte]

Post #20,000 coming up! on your marks…

 

[basilrobbie]

Dad and I were just having an honest conversation about all this, ironically on the way to picking up our season cards.

We were saying that who realistically is going to want to stump up the cash? Let's all take our Southend United glasses off and ask that question. Yes, there may very well be a consortium willing to purchase the club for what they value it at, but that is most probably peanuts. I'm not knocking them for that, because why should they pay what Ron is asking? Especially when most of that is debt he has accumulated.

However, in all honesty, why should Ron accept there offer? Yes, we all want him to accept it and we all dream of a better future, but being at Roots Hall and everything being ok again is just a dream at this point. No business person in their right mind is going to throw away £10m (cost for everything in the sale) for no return. They then have to spend god knows how much to redevelop Roots Hall. Again, where is the return? If there is one, it won't be for a long, long time. People had blue prints up on here not so long ago, dreaming of a new stadium and a few flats dotted around. How much profit is really there for those potential buyers?

I just cannot see any sound mind business group willing to throw £20m+ at us with just RH and the club in the mix. Kimura's investors clearly felt the same.

I simply can't see Ron backing down from his valuation and I don't see the consortium offering more to buy it, simply because of the lack of return. As I sit here with my season card, I sincerely hope I'm so wrong.

An interesting, "head over heart" post.

The missing dimension is the moral one. If you buy into football club owners being custodians of a civic asset, then RM should be under a moral obligation to maintain the club and preserve its status as such. As seems very clear now, he has had little or no interest in doing so.

I was listening to Kieran Maguire earlier talking about who REALLY owns Tottenham, and whether they can really argue that because Joe Lewis signed a change of control document recently he can pretend that he is no longer the de facto owner of that club.

KM talked about "substance over form" ; his analogy was if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, sounds like a duck and is called Daffy, you can't credibly argue that it is a giraffe.

I think RM might have a job convincing the FA and the NL that he doesn't retain a "controlling interest" in SUFC in much the same way that Andy Pilley has found that rearranging the family deckchairs at Fleetwood Town isn't fooling anyone.

Meanwhile the saga rolls on. I would take a lot of convincing that the people currently in charge of the club are making any serious effort to be competitive this season, and hiding behind the kind of company law fig leaves described above doesn't change that, or their responsibility for it.

It's one of the reasons I am so keen on you getting RH declared an Asset of Community Value. It makes disposing of it more problematical, regardless of which member of the Martin family is deemed to be in control.

 

[Napster]

ooooh

 

[Sparte]

Go!

 

[Avl1983]

so close

 

[Cricko]

so close

We have a winner. Page 1000, and 20,000 posts on this thread.

 

[Shrimper]

30,000 by the time 23rd August comes around