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SUFC: The Future SUFC up for sale

Our hopes and visions for the rebirth of Southend United, plus any plans published by the consortium for discussion
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The ticket revenue from a few games will not cover the HMRC debt
It definitely won't but Ron did state in court that if we aren't sold by that date, he would cover the debt. I'm not saying he will, but he did for the last one when none of us thought he would. Nothing surprises me with that man anymore.

Be interesting to know when other monies get released into clubs, TV money etc. Every team gets the same cut from TNT for each season. Then we don't know when installments for previously sold players come in either.

It seriously wouldn't surprise me if he has been stringing everyone along the whole time so he can pay the debt at the last possible minute.
 
This is proper barmy isn't it. New training ground unfinished, unkept. Why? Embargo for nearly a year, ron suddenly has the money to pay all outstanding wages and then meet the following payday. How? Protests, meetings, bids, no bids, deal agreed, non engagement in negotiations. WTF? All gone quiet it's a positive. All gone quiet it's over. Help?

Good luck to anyone trying to figure whats going on in real life, and even more luck needed to try and guess Ron's next move.

Every one that has guessed he's letting the club die have been wrong for 6 years. Everyone saying it'll be alright and it'll get sorted have been wrong. It looks like Ron might now be sorting it out himself!

I guess the point of this post is what the duckity **** is going on at our club. No one knows. Let's support the lads Saturday and go from there. Our first 11 might just spring a surprise for us and we can all go mental. C C C SIDERS
 
Let's not lose sight RM has held the day to day upkeep of the football club and its employees with total financial contempt. A very poor relation to the FF holy grail which is where his diminishing cashflow has been directed. The trouble is his neglect finally ended with exposure to a wide audience than just the fanbase and local media. MP involvement, wider media coverage, protest action's, hardship funds and much more. That's what happens when you endanger a Football Club and create such an emotive and toxic situation. There was no great plan other than to use the the sale process and potential bidders to gain time to find investment, to date as far as we know that hasn't happened so we now wait for the HMRC issue to be addressed, I just wish he did not have the luxury of a deadline date and the worse case senerio of potentially getting a further extension with the points deduction as a consequence.
 
Everything we have tried so far has resulted in heads bashing into doors. So I think it is time now for some creative thinking. There are plenty of very bright and passionate people on here and in our wider fan base who will have a raft of ideas, and at this point there is nothing to lose if those ideas are made known to people who can help - in fact the wackier the idea the better!

I think we all know the answers to the "how to kill a football club" and "how to get an unwanted owner to sell the club" questions!

Here is a challenge - what are the pole opposites of these things?


I dont have the answers, the time to be involved too much, or the money to invest but I can facilitate a session or two if anyone is interested in my help.
Well, for some considerable time now most people have been focusing on getting Ron Martin out of the club, and getting him out now. I have never been an advocate of that strategy as I thought it would kill the club; literally cutting our nose off to spite our face. I only wanted him to go either when he was ready (i.e. after FF was built) or if there was a buyer. There was, then there wasn't, then there was again, then possibly someone else, but not really. The reasons for that are actually not important. We are where we are and thank heavens the NL and the Courts have given us the stay of execution necessary for us to get to this point; 5 days away from a home game at the start of the season.

And as far as Ron goes, we are no further along the road than we were in March, aside from showing him, his family and neighbours that he really isn't very popular.

He has put another £250k in the club to keep it afloat and keep us alive. We aren't in very good health, granted, yet here we are. August 23rd will be a milestone date but again, absolutely nothing that has happened makes me think that there is any intention for us to not pay HMRC by then.

So, embargo lifted, there isn't another payday due between now and then so that means Kev and Co can move quickly to improve the squad before the inevitable next embargo.

So, as @ms brush says, what are the polar opposites to the highlighted questions? Because anything that we have done so far hasn't had the desired effect.

I'm not sure there is an answer or an opposite for the second question actually; but the opposite of "How to kill a football club" is "How do you keep a football club alive?" and the answer is so unbelievably obvious to me, but sadly not to many who have allowed their own personal hatred of Ron Martin to overtake and cloud their thoughts.

It's "You put money into it."

Even the Oldham fans get it... @Ritchierich says that every £20 from an Oldham fan goes towards our survival and yes it does, absolutely it does and please bring 1000 people down.

But what's the point in that when we have our own fans boycotting the game, not buying season tickets, threatening never to set foot inside Roots Hall until the rat is gone... wow, what power you are giving him! He certainly doesn't seem bothered.

So, if we throw our financial support behind the club (note, the club, not Ron Martin) then we can actually ensure the wages are paid. I have said before, 1000 season tickets equal about £300,000 so 2000 will be double that. There could be another £50k matchday revenue on top if there is a 6000 crowd and with transfer fees for Wooster, league/TV appearance money and sales of other merchandise this could be a significant amount towards our survival.

The management team have been here working behind the scenes unpaid. Staff at the club went unpaid for months. Now it's all systems go again and we need to ensure that we do absolutely everything to make sure we don't get a 10 point deduction. I want to show the unpaid heroes who have stuck around for us because they care, to know that we care too and you can't do that by refusing to give the club your support when it needs it most.

So come on. The protests may have had an effect of sorts but they haven't achieved the desired result. Now is time for us to step up in the other direction - the polar opposite of what we have done so far - and do our very very best to keep the club alive. After all, we have donated to the Trust's hardship fund, many gave up their time at the weekend for "Operation clean Roots Hall" and there are various posts on here suggesting that the fans could raise significant sums of money to wrest the club from Ron's grip by - literally - putting sufficient money in his pocket to go. I find it therefore ironic that people won't consider putting a far smaller amount in to help the current survival plan because they don't want to put money in Ron's pocket.

If we all pull together, who knows what we can achieve? We need the loyal players who have stayed to hear a packed Hall, just like it was against Wealdstone in May, with all the home voices roaring them on against all odds.

And one day, Ron will go. Of that I am certain.
 
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One of the outgoings that staggered me is business rates.

In 23/24 the rateable value for RH jumped 100% . Paying ( or should I say should be paying ) £500 per week was bad enough but jumping to £1k a week is just mind blowing.

Thats before you even think about gas and electric.

OK wages should have dropped but a FT player in the NL won’t be paid a lot less than a EPL player. EPL 2 clubs get circa £1 million more than a NL club

Some need to get real

dont assume RM has been paying his bills !!!!!
 
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