SUFC: The Future SUFC up for sale

[Evening Echo]

SOUTHEND United fans have been boosted by news the club are in advanced talks to be sold.

Read more on this story


Help with Echo links

 

[The General]

Perhaps the Ray Winstone thing is a bit of a red herring and gets the more "important" info out into the public domain!?

 

[lombard]

Calm down everyone.There are talks going on, but no conclusion as yet. Are Kimura the answer,I hope so,but Im not too excited.Wonderful to see the back of Dodgy Ron.As for
a documentary, who cares.Lets get the football side correct firstly.I wouldn't be surprised
that Dodgy Ron keeps a small shareholding !! Anyway lets await further news.

 

[Liam AAS]

Most of us would prefer the larger version, capacity wise. But Ron seemed like he won't budge on the newer plans for the 4th main stand. Which obviously includes more property and a bigger return for him/investors at the expense of several thousand seats.

Remember that the 4th side will, essentially, pay for itself because of all the built in homes. £££

 

[annie1954]

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.

The doom & gloomers are happy now working overtime to find fault with everything

 

[henry18]

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.

You won't need to worry.

 

[Shrimper1985]

The doom & gloomers are happy now working overtime to find fault with everything

well i have renewed my tickets today

 

[Barry.C]

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.

Thanks, much encouraging and indeed fair points and good news of course . I did suggest a close understudy arrangement for mentoring purposes to strengthen things , rather than a major change , which no doubt happens in part, not sure how often Still is performing his wonders on his own? Learning from him must be a must, Im sure though that Currie has done a fair bit of that

 

[southendkid]

I haven’t looked into it but I’m not aware of a docuseries that really captures that underdog, passionate, beaten down English club rising from the ashes.

That's the Wrexham documentary (English bit aside I suppose), there's a lot of it focused on how much **** the fans have dealt with over the years prior to the takeover

 

[Mad Cyril]

Might be getting over excited here but the fact the club address is now that of a solicitors in St.Albans gives me hope that they are dealing with all the legal framework with regards to a change of ownership.

It could confuse away fans though.

 

[fredheim_holm]

That's the Wrexham documentary (English bit aside I suppose), there's a lot of it focused on how much **** the fans have dealt with over the years prior to the takeover

Fair point, though I feel like the English angle, along with it being done by local people not Hollywood drop ins, would provide a different angle that would work well.

 

[Mad Cyril]

Is it owned by H from Steps?

 

[Mad Cyril]

I hope Ray walks into Uncle Ron’s office and says “I’m the daddy now”, armed with a snooker ball filled sock.

I can see Ron giving him a good hiding like the one he took in Quadrophenia

 

[SS9_Shrimper]

Is it owned by H from Steps?

Pretty sure it's not his, he likes his water a deeper shade of blue.

 

[GBJ]

I can see Ron giving him a good hiding

So many quips relating to off shore accounts, Warchests and The Freddy Eastwood money, went through my head… alas most of them are libellous, so I won’t

 

[Strykr]

On the new stadium, I’d like the new owners to:

1) Involve the fans and ask what they would like in terms of facilities;
2) Review the design to make it a bit more unique and to prioritise atmosphere and noise - we don’t want another Arsenal situation where the new ground doesn’t match up to the old one in terms of noise; and
3) Bin off the council estate on the main stand.

Agreed, and in an ideal world a percentage of rental income on some of the flats in perpetuity. Even a small percent would provide some security

 

[pottster]

The doom & gloomers are happy now working overtime to find fault with everything

I'll wait and reserve judgement when I know more about the potential buyers. The fact that they are hedge fund managers doesn't fill me with confidence. But I'll wait and see what they have to say and how they engage with us. Remember how we all used to like Ron all those years ago?

 

[Yer Blues]

I'll wait and reserve judgement when I know more about the potential buyers. The fact that they are hedge fund managers doesn't fill me with confidence. But I'll wait and see what they have to say and how they engage with us. Remember how we all used to like Ron all those years ago?

You'll need tens of millions to see this through. There aren't many hedge funds that would consider buying a soccer club if, A) they didn't know what they were getting into B) They didn't have a plan to make a shed load of cash ( both for the club and themselves)

I wonder what it'll mean for Stan, Tom, Reece etc. Assume Stan will stay as an ambassador/similar and most of the others to move on.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

You'll need tens of millions to see this through. There aren't many hedge funds that would consider buying a soccer club if, A) they didn't know what they were getting into B) They didn't have a plan to make a shed load of cash ( both for the club and themselves)

I wonder what it'll mean for Stan, Tom, Reece etc. Assume Stan will stay as an ambassador/similar and most of the others to move on.

I would hope that everyone apart from Ron will stay on, be paid and be involved going forwards - and some more appointments will be made to take the pressure off existing staff a bit and help them deliver the service levels they have been trying to deliver - and we deserve. Bigger changes can happen over time as necessary, but I strongly hope the existing staff get the tools to deliver the existing football strategy properly.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

I'll wait and reserve judgement when I know more about the potential buyers. The fact that they are hedge fund managers doesn't fill me with confidence. But I'll wait and see what they have to say and how they engage with us. Remember how we all used to like Ron all those years ago?

Would that be just 8 years and 2 days ago with the play off win?