SUFC: The Future SUFC up for sale

[Smiffy]

Forget "the daddy" for a minute. Should Kimura take control, I am pretty sure we wont be seeing Ray at the club on a day-to-day basis. He will be a face with some clout, particularly on the media/marketing side.

The important part in the article suggests Kimura want to become "Majority owners" of the club, training ground and new stadium. This should be music to every Shrimpers ears. That would mean we see the back of Ron for good. Exactly what is needed.

That would take a rather substantial amount of money. Tens of millions. I doubt any NL club in history (or many FL clubs for that matter) would of been involved in such a large acquisition.

If this info is also being banded about in such a large and reputable read as the Athletic, I'd like to think the info is accurate as well and gives me hope this group are serious and do indeed have the funds to deliver what has been mentioned.

Is this a tactical leak of info to get fans on-side and help turn the screw?...no idea...maybe.
But I like what I hear initially and hopefully the management and players do and in time, when they are able, I would like to hear more on their finances, their hopes and ambitions and how they plan on re-igniting the club to fan relationship which has been so badly damaged in recent years.

So in all this is finally some positive news. Rejoice! Let's hope more comes of it, or if indeed we now see posturing from any other interested individuals or groups.

 

[Callum]

I’ll be getting drunk down the railway the day Ron is gone and I’ll be a happy season card holder

 

[stewart]

In reply to Crate , i believe Peter Taylor and John Still would know each other very well and have a mutual respect for each other and work together very well and harmoniously . The same goes for SVC who i hope gets a very good position within the heirarchy / club .He deserves that .

 

[The General]

It sounds like someone got a bit ****ed down the golf club last Friday and start blabbing, which is probably why this has all started to come to light and more people were hearing about it / the story has been released rather than anything majorly "tactical".

 

[stewart]

I think ( and a relief to the very partisan amongst us) Ray will be used as the ambassador type role to assist and help in the lucrative deals , to create avenues for the new investors etc .. I’m not sure you’ll see him signing cheques

I also dont think we will see him signing cheques ,but what a beautiful ambassador he could be for our club , it will be needed a high profile person like Ray Winstone shows the consortium have shown DD and thought this through .

 

[number11]

Went from NDA Central to....here's exactly who and talks are advanced.
Funny old game

At the event on Saturday they were certainly not acting like there were any NDA’s in place. So they are either pretty confident or, as BoyWonder says, wanting to ramp up pressure on Ron.

Whilst I’d ordinarily be suspicious of this kind of set-up, the involvement or Peter Taylor (who was with them on Saturday) gives me some degree of comfort - he always strikes me as a thoroughly decent and humble chap, with the strongest of links to the town and the club, and a football man through and through.

 

[henry18]

All I’m gonna say on the matter, from what I’ve heard good times are ahead !

 

[defender05]

After reading the Echo piece about the takeover it reads like they will be borrowing the money to buy the club, like the Glaziers, so we will still be in debt just to someone else.

Surely this would mean that the club would have to run at a profit each year and so our playing budget would need to be cut massively, especially if the academy is being kept.

 

[Userorange]

The only reason a journalist wouldn’t break a story is the promise of an exclusive in due course. Well somebody else got in first, bad luck.

As for the ITKs, did any of you sign a NDA? If not you could have shared, teased us a little if you wanted to. I’ve no doubt you will say doing so would have scuppered the deal. Or were you just playing it safe in your smoke filled rooms in case you’d mixed up Nash with Gnasher and Dennis.

 

[shrimperjon]

I’d argue that our “recruitment team” has never been as big, and wouldn’t need expanding.

We’ve no idea what the new owners will do, but let’s say they stick with what we have at the moment for arguments sake.

Our recruitment team consists of Kev, Benno, Currie, Collymore, Still and his army of scouts. When talking to potential new signings, we have the option of sending up to 5 different people to talk to them to “sell” the Club to them, 6 if Tom Lawrence gets involved, and has been 7 with RM, but take him out of the equation obviously.

Not many sides at this level, or even 1/2 potentially even 3 levels above have that sort of clout.

You could send any of the management trio, two of which are ex-players who have both won promotion and played in cup finals so can talk about those times and recreating them. Currie can talk about the support, he has mentioned it time and time again on social media. You could send it Collymore, a Premier League legend, a former England international, arguably our greatest ever player. He can talk about his 6 months, the battle against relegation and how the spell at the Club was his happiest time in football. You’ve then got non-league legend Still. How many players has he picked up who have gone on to make serious careers in the game? He can mention those, and how you are his next big thing. I know how highly he rates Jack Wood, and thinks he can make the very top. Finally, you’ve got Lawrence, the money man, and fan of the Club. He can talk numbers, but also his experiences as a fan, the stuff behind the scenes that makes us great etc.

Potentially ahead a “face” like Winstone (Wrexham have used both their owners like that in transfer talks) and it would be hard to turn us down going forward.

We don’t need to expand our recruitment team.

Great post as always

 

[henry18]

The only reason a journalist wouldn’t break a story is the promise of an exclusive in due course. Well somebody else got in first, bad luck.

As for the ITKs, did any of you sign a NDA? If not you could have shared, teased us a little if you wanted to. I’ve no doubt you will say doing so would have scuppered the deal. Or were you just playing it safe in your smoke filled rooms in case you’d mixed up Nash with Gnasher and Dennis.

Trouble is 1 you run the risk of your contact getting into trouble.
2. Not getting any more information in the future.

 

[henry18]

After reading the Echo piece about the takeover it reads like they will be borrowing the money to buy the club, like the Glaziers, so we will still be in debt just to someone else.

Surely this would mean that the club would have to run at a profit each year and so our playing budget would need to be cut massively, especially if the academy is being kept.

Not necessarily

 

[SUFCGoals]

Just how rich are these guys?

Can they afford the running costs of the club and make us more sustainable? Will they offer us the budget to get us back into League 1?

Don't want a deal where the club won't be taken forward. Last thing we want is to be sat here in 5 years time looking for new owners again because the proposed new owners can't afford to keep the club running.

 

[Smiffy]

Just how rich are these guys?

Can they afford the running costs of the club and make us more sustainable? Will they offer us the budget to get us back into League 1?

Don't want a deal where the club won't be taken forward. Last thing we want is to be sat here in 5 years time looking for new owners again because the proposed new owners can't afford to keep the club running.

I'd look at it this way.

If they (Kimura) are raising the capital (assuming tens of millions) to be "majority owners" of the club, training ground and new stadium, they aren't going to want to go sideways. You would want to see a decent upward trajectory of the club pretty sharpish, if you are throwing that sort of money at it.

But yes, it would be nice to see a bit more from them regards finance and plans, if and when the time comes.

 

[hlane17]

IMO to make such a large purchase of the club, new training ground and new stadium there must be some serious financial clout backing it.

The costs of simply acquiring SUFC and our new facilities would be huge. That's before they even consider the money our club needs in the immediate future regarding safety at RH, staff wages, recruitment for this summer, HMRC and other debts, etc.

Edit: I notice the Echo article has been edited to highlight Gary Pettit's involvement. What will his involvement be? Is he the one bringing the money?

 

[Medway Blue]

IMO to make such a large purchase of the club, new training ground and new stadium there must be some serious financial clout backing it.

The costs of simply acquiring SUFC and our new facilities would be huge. That's before they even consider the money our club needs in the immediate future regarding safety at RH, staff wages, recruitment for this summer, HMRC and other debts, etc.

Precisely.

We're talking:

• Purchase of majority shareholding in club
• Purchase or eventual purchase of 3-sided stadium
• Partnering on build of 4th stand at new stadium
• Purchase of training facility
• Building (if true) of permanent facilities at training ground.
• Paying off of outstanding debts (HMRC, PGSS, etc.)
• Injection of funds into the club for a decent budget.
• Funding of full Academy.

That's a **** tonne of money required. Perhaps £30m-£40m at a guess. I don't know exactly how wealthy they are or where the major wealth might come from - I can only go on logic, and logic would suggest that they would need to have some serious money for all of that.

 

[Carl]

Precisely.

We're talking:

• Purchase of majority shareholding in club
• Purchase or eventual purchase of 3-sided stadium
• Partnering on build of 4th stand at new stadium
• Purchase of training facility
• Building (if true) of permanent facilities at training ground.
• Paying off of outstanding debts (HMRC, PGSS, etc.)
• Injection of funds into the club for a decent budget.
• Funding of full Academy.

That's a **** tonne of money required. Perhaps £30m-£40m at a guess. I don't know exactly how wealthy they are or where the major wealth might come from - I can only go on logic, and logic would suggest that they would need to have some serious money for all of that.

Spot on. I won’t quote every post so will do a generic reply - to give you an idea of what we’d raised, £50m was earmarked for football alone (so including debts and rebuilding the team but excluding stadium and other developments).

Everyone needs to grasp reality here - we aren’t going to get a multi billionaire who is going to fund the lot out of their own pocket. It will be financed by someone else - that’s a fact of modern football. Was the case for our bid, will be the case for 99.9% of all substantial bids for any club. The days of Jack Walker putting his own cash into a club he loves are gone.

So that means that the only things that fans should be concerned about are:

- the ability and credibility of the team to raise further funds if required
- the culture and vision to be put into place
- the debt structure if funded by debt finance

Despite making my preference for long term equity clear (vs PE cycles or debt), it can still work with other forms of financing and I’m sure any buyer and lender will be robustly checking all DD to ensure it stacks up.

Fingers crossed that we get the ability, credibility, culture and vision that this club deserves.

 

[BoyWonder2]

The only reason a journalist wouldn’t break a story is the promise of an exclusive in due course. Well somebody else got in first, bad luck.

As for the ITKs, did any of you sign a NDA? If not you could have shared, teased us a little if you wanted to. I’ve no doubt you will say doing so would have scuppered the deal. Or were you just playing it safe in your smoke filled rooms in case you’d mixed up Nash with Gnasher and Dennis.

No. I’m not an employee of the Club, or do work for them or anything like that.

I was told bits and pieces and was asked not to say anything, so I didn’t. I could say a lot more than I do, but then I wouldn’t be trusted with any addition information going forward. Plus these people are mates, so wouldn’t betray their trust.

 

[rigsby]

Have to laugh at some one here. 3500 posts on thread that was always going to be 90% nonsense. None of us know what was going to happen and there are no guarantees about anything going forward. Yet the same people who singled out anyone who didn't want to storm Ron's house will now hint about the West Ham connection, lack of local lad made good. Or even question lack of business skills and funds.

Well if it is RW and his consortium I would prefer that to some money launderer from the Far East. Better than oil money and far better than some Yank who has to be told there is a thing called relegation here in the English league.

From what I understand talks are very well advanced. Which is exactly what all of us dreamed of let alone hoped before the end of May.

If it is Ray instead of Ron, he is more a front man rather than investor.....Seems he has taken his own advice and gaaambled responsibly. His first ever game was at RH and there is no suggestion we will become West Ham B.

Some of you wanted rich old fool who would rebuild RH and happy to lose £millions on some late life folly. Some wanted the sort who wanted the whole project. Yet the best option for us fans was always group/individual who wanted the football and change to put their stamp on anew stadium and academy etc. That was and hopefully still is the best option.

Even sadder we're those that wanted the club to fold. In their mind that was better than Ron getting an earner out of SUFC. Through myth and self appointed witch hunters amongst so called fans many started to believe this.

From the moment Ron arrived 25 years ago it was always going to be Ron makes a few quid or we go bust.....That time has come and fans need to accept it.

I would rather have people with a proven track record, like the owner of Brentford because that's exactly the level our club needs. Stop kidding yourselves we are an Essex version of Newcastle or even Brighton.

My view is we are already at the start of serious economic crash so who ever has the job of the new ground will be up against it. Lets at least hope Ron and us fans can see the best deal staring in the face. With the clock ticking Ron or us fans are in no position to turn our noses up

So far I see this as great news. If there are others who really are interested they will have to move fast and that's the best option for us all.

I might even open next season's glossy brochure on a seaso in the Captains bar. Must still be in the corner where I chucked it.

 

[Smiffy]

Precisely.

We're talking:

• Purchase of majority shareholding in club
• Purchase or eventual purchase of 3-sided stadium
• Partnering on build of 4th stand at new stadium
• Purchase of training facility
• Building (if true) of permanent facilities at training ground.
• Paying off of outstanding debts (HMRC, PGSS, etc.)
• Injection of funds into the club for a decent budget.
• Funding of full Academy.

That's a **** tonne of money required. Perhaps £30m-£40m at a guess. I don't know exactly how wealthy they are or where the major wealth might come from - I can only go on logic, and logic would suggest that they would need to have some serious money for all of that.

Not forgetting providing a competitive playing budget for Kev and Co and paying staff also.

As you say, that is potentially obscene amounts of money required for a NL club, even a FL club and we should be thankful that any group is even considering it.