SUFC: The Future SUFC up for sale

[Callum]

The Rock will come in and give Ron Martin the people elbow and send him on his way lol maybe a sharp shooter as well make him tap out to sell the club lol

 

[kentblues]

Imagine being a prospective buyer of a football club, whereby you can't buy the stadium it plays in, and there's no cast iron guarantees the forever promised new stadium will ever be built. Why would you? In an ideal world RM would have built the stadium (or at least enough of it for the club to play in it) so the buyers have something tangible to buy. Its going to take some serious negotiating to get around this hurdle.

Indeed. That is why when people wanted Ron out now it was endlessly pointed out that the optimum time to sell was when the stadium was built. That remains the obvious course except he no longer believes he can/wants to fund the club until that point. So we are getting our wish. So yes it is messy. Not helped if you then believe either, or both, of two fictions: 1. RH was ever available for sale. It wasn't. Ever. 2. Ron has no money to deliver FF or RH as no-one would ever lend to him- such statements always somehow ignore the fact the joint developers are the billionaire Dellals.

Probably contractually in not beyond a good lawyer to come up with a solution to the FF not yet built piece. Probably along lines that the new club owner has the lease on RH until FF is ready. At which point the transaction for the new stadium proceeds. No FF then RH has a sitting tenant with a very, very long lease. Simplistic and there would be various caveats to answer what ifs no doubt.

 

[sufc4life21]

Imagine being a prospective buyer of a football club, whereby you can't buy the stadium it plays in, and there's no cast iron guarantees the forever promised new stadium will ever be built. Why would you? In an ideal world RM would have built the stadium (or at least enough of it for the club to play in it) so the buyers have something tangible to buy. Its going to take some serious negotiating to get around this hurdle.

Very true....... on the face of it the football club itself doesn't look attractive investment but saying that clubs have been bought in the past with their assets leased back to the club/new owners...... This situation isn't new. The thing which concerns me is the new stadium looks miles away from construction. Given Ron inept failure in getting FF to stage where construction is atleast started, I would imagine any potential new owners would be quite wary of that. They may even get cold feet and pull out all together. Our situation does look messy! The attractive part of Southend united is the size of its catchment area and location which will tempt potential buyers to take a punt....... everything else looks **** from buyers point of view.

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

I guess it makes sense for the prospective buyers to rent Roots Hall until FF is finished. However, the huge stumbling block with this is, when will that actually be built? We don't even have planning permission acquired yet. If that had been granted, the stadium could commence right away, but it isn't. The buyers then have to trust Ron to actually build it without delay. Who in their right mind would trust that/him?

The new buyer has to rent Roots Hall and pay for the upkeep/repairs. That's a huge drain on their resources before they've even paid out for the future new stadium. There has been no talk from the club regarding the current pitch. Would that have to be ripped up and paid for? Is it too late to put a new one down?

So many hurdles to overcome yet, too many to think about. One would wager that at least one of them might knock the potential buyers down. Let's hope not.

 

[Seaside Shrimper]

Just thinking out loud more than anything, a potential solution to the RH challenge could be that any rent and/or upkeep paid to keep the doors open are subtracted from the final amount paid for FF when the time comes. This gives an incentive to get the building completed quickly for a bigger payment when the club moves in.

 

[Rob1920]

Just thinking out loud more than anything, a potential solution to the RH challenge could be that any rent and/or upkeep paid to keep the doors open are subtracted from the final amount paid for FF when the time comes. This gives an incentive to get the building completed quickly for a bigger payment when the club moves in.

I was thinking along those lines. The club owner agrees to pay for the upkeep of RH to keep it useable in the short term, but no rent as such. Then RM has to pull his finger out to get the new stadium built asap.

 

[turkishm]

I no nothing of financial situation ron martin is in but i ask this. If everyone walked away from any deals with rm and the club folded could he still sell roots hall for housing.

 

[TrevorFitzpatrickHattrick]

I would imagine that any deal involving the new stadium will involve a mutually agreeable completion date and a seller's fall back of a long-stop completion date in the event of delays (similar to structure of buying a new-build house). I would also expect that the prospective buyers would release funds related to the stadium as and when certain milestones are hit.

I agree, as many have said, that the purchase of Roots Hall would be the ideal scenario both for the buyer and for us as fans, but see that as highly unlikely.

 

[sufc4life21]

Ron had 20 plus years to build a stadium and has failed! I just don't see FF being built if Ron has anything to do with it. In ideal world our best solution would be for any potential new owner to buy Roots hall and knock it down and build new stadium on Roots Hall. Could that happen? I doubt it! We really did screw ourselves over back in the late 90s when we sold our assets..... Since then our existence as football club has always looked bleak!

 

[Medway Blue]

I was thinking along those lines. The club owner agrees to pay for the upkeep of RH to keep it useable in the short term, but no rent as such. Then RM has to pull his finger out to get the new stadium built asap.

Something like that would be ideal.

 

[shrimpled]

I assume you don't know the terms of any offer MB?

From my POV the guys linked with this purchase are no mugs. While they might not buy RH, surely the terms of any lease to be discussed would be repairing/ renewal but at a peppercorn rent?

 

[Holy Joe]

I no nothing of financial situation ron martin is in but i ask this. If everyone walked away from any deals with rm and the club folded could he still sell roots hall for housing.

Id say a very high probability that he would be able to.

The current planning permission on Roots Hall has a condition that new stadium needs to be completed, but in circumstances where there is no club, I suspect new permission could be obtained without the conditions

 

[stewart]

People mention the Dellals ( sorry if i spelt it wrong ) and them being Billionaires ,also is a director of the club,, May i ask what is their stake in all of this as so many times they have been mentioned ,but ive never heard a word from them. Just asking, not trying to open a can of worms.

ls

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Wow. As @GDP posts it is TEN weeks from the "sale, investment " announcement by Ron.

Only two definitely happened things in that time are Karl (Carl) and the Nash "no deals".

Everything else seems over 4000 postings of not a lot but guessing and hoping.

 

[Smiffy]

People mention the Dellals ( sorry if i spelt it wrong ) and them being Billionaires ,also is a director of the club,, May i ask what is their stake in all of this as so many times they have been mentioned ,but ive never heard a word from them. Just asking, not trying to open a can of worms.

ls

The Dellals have nothing to do with the club. Neither are any Dellals directors of the club. The involvement they may have is to do with the residential/stadium development at FF and RH via their companies Allied and Citizen Housing of which they are directors.

 

[Tommy2holes]

So no updates at this point.

I was hoping to hear rumblings of a deal being finalised in the coming days or weeks.

 

[Prawn]

if the new owners don’t purchase Roots Hall but buy FF, training pitches etc…. If Ron wants too much to play at Roots Hall, what’s stopping the new owners deciding we’ll ground share until FF is built?

Would that mean the covenant is now void?

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

if the new owners don’t purchase Roots Hall but buy FF, training pitches etc…. If Ron wants too much to play at Roots Hall, what’s stopping the new owners deciding we’ll ground share until FF is built?

Would that mean the covenant is now void?

Geography, time scale, costs, league approval, viability, logistics

#franchisefc2

 

[South Bank Hank]

if the new owners don’t purchase Roots Hall but buy FF, training pitches etc…. If Ron wants too much to play at Roots Hall, what’s stopping the new owners deciding we’ll ground share until FF is built?

As others have said, if the buyer and seller can agree on a price, of all the terms up for discussion, a lock in on rent for the interim period would not only be just about the easiest one to achieve, but also the most likely to come with an enabling (or reasonable) price tag. All relevant to the discussion, but barely worth a moment’s concern IMHO. This is the easy stuff.

 

[Medway Blue]

I assume you don't know the terms of any offer MB?

From my POV the guys linked with this purchase are no mugs. While they might not buy RH, surely the terms of any lease to be discussed would be repairing/ renewal but at a peppercorn rent?

No mate, most of that stuff is under an NDA, aside from the fact that it appears the deal would include at least the new stadium and new training ground if successful.

So no updates at this point.

I was hoping to hear rumblings of a deal being finalised in the coming days or weeks.

I can't see anything being finalised this week. Possibly not even next week. There's a chance that we will hear this week whether or not RM has accepted the Kimura-led group's offer which would be good, but all accepting the bid would mean in reality is that a period of exclusivity for that party to complete their DD and finalise the deal will begin.

How long that DD takes is anybody's guess. Depends how much the books are opened and whether the unpublished accounts have at least been audited. By all accounts, RM wants money and to get out ASAP but who knows whether he is actually doing everything he can to speed up the DD process and make it run smoothly, or whether it is just an arrogant and potentially unrealistic expectation on his part that the buying party will be happy to rush the process without giving them absolutely all of the necessary access and information - i.e. cutting corners.

I'd certainly feel a little uneasy if I were them about rushing the process, but it's possible for it to move apace if RM is a completely open book.

"If" always being the operative word when it comes to Ron Martin.