SUFC: The Future SUFC up for sale

[Shrimp and two veg]

16,024 posts and now it’s about to get interesting only at Southend United!

Its never, ever, boring at Southend United.

 

[bazzashrimper]

Post 15000 was “who knows?”

 

[Ex-SouthendUnitedEmployee]

I maybe wrong, but I’m sure once upon a time someone has said it would be cheaper and easier to build a new ground than to redevelop Roots Hall.

If there was an opportunity to do so, I’d personally knock down the East and have a complete rebuild to incorporate the ‘corporate and hospitality’ areas required for commercial income, alongside adding in restaurants and other areas of non-match day revenue streams. - as well as increasing capacity of this stand by moving the stand back and higher.

You’ll end up with a bit of an Upton Park mishape stadium where one stand it huge and stands out a bit to the rest.

The only issue is RH car park is on a hill, so that’s a fair about of ground that would have to come out.

North Bank would be next, alongside creating a North East Curve to join the two stands and again creating more capacity. The North Bank could double Tier or there is a tiny amount of room create a new stand.

West Stand - This would require a huge facelift being there’s no room behind to extend height / capacity - however more modern catering / beer facilities 100% required.

The only way to increase the West really is to move the stadium over 100 or so metres to allow for a build. Again it’s more to hill to dig into and costs of doing this etc

South - as much as I grew up in the South Lower and Upper, this stand could have been made so much better.

Roots Hall space wise lacks areas though that modern grounds now have like big concourse areas with multiple concession stands around the ground and commercial areas.

Or you do a Spurs and build a whole new stadium on the site - but you would have imagined over the years this has initially been explored

 

[Kat_r]

So whoever is offered the hall will be allowed to develop it into flats once the new stadium is built?

And how did the Gould family get dragged in?

 

[Prawn]

Well, after reading what I have this morning, all I can see is the club going under.

There seems no certainty is there are bidders or not. If there are, are these bidders only coming in to pick over the carcass of Southend United?

People have mentioned that the Roots Hall site is worth a lot of money. Now if an investment company took over they wouldn't give a toss about the footballing side. There only in it to make money. As people have mentioned earlier about the covenant, if there is no football club the why the need for the stadium? Maybe a smaller stadium could be built in the area.

I think if there's no movement on the takeover this week we'll be expelled from the NL. As it has been eluded to earlier, where would we wind up? As all the leagues have been confirmed. A year in the wilderness would not help.

A phoenix club could be the best option.

The longer this goes on the more I worry.

Take your mind off of things for a few minutes and join the fabulous World Cup prediction league.

No. 1 fixtures for the WOMEN'S WORLD CUP PREDICTION LEAGUE

1 of 13 PREDICTIONS OF THE SHRIMPERZONE WOMEN'S WORLD CUP PREDICTION LEAGUE Thur 20 July 8.00 ko - New Zealand v Norway........................1-0 Thur 20 Ju;y 11.00 ko - Australia v Republic of Ireland.......................1-0 Fri 21 July 3.30 ko - Nigeria v...

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[JAL]

Well, after reading what I have this morning, all I can see is the club going under.

There seems no certainty is there are bidders or not. If there are, are these bidders only coming in to pick over the carcass of Southend United?

People have mentioned that the Roots Hall site is worth a lot of money. Now if an investment company took over they wouldn't give a toss about the footballing side. There only in it to make money. As people have mentioned earlier about the covenant, if there is no football club the why the need for the stadium? Maybe a smaller stadium could be built in the area.

I think if there's no movement on the takeover this week we'll be expelled from the NL. As it has been eluded to earlier, where would we wind up? As all the leagues have been confirmed. A year in the wilderness would not help.

A phoenix club could be the best option.

The longer this goes on the more I worry

How is a phoenix club the best option when a large majority of SUFC’s fans would not support it?

 

[LeedsSUFC]

Genuine question for all those saying that any consortium or person or group looking to purchase the club will be looking for a return in their investment. Could you please let me know what club has been brought where there has been a return from the investment? I’m not talking premier league but champ down?

I don’t recall many clubs breaking even or making a profit, I can think of a handful where this has maybe occurred but usually most owners of clubs don’t do it for a return on the investment per say.

They make their money by offsetting their losses from their other business. If we take Wrexham for example purchase for £1. They needed £2m invested straight away, in addition Hollywood invested substantially in the playing staff, obtained significant sponsor deals etc, however still saw a £2m loss. With all due respect to Wrexham their ground isn’t much better than the Hall.

Yes there is investment going into the stadium at the moment to improve the capacity and match day experience.

We can do the same at Roots Hall. Anyone looking to buy the club will already be in a stronger position then with Martin at the helm for the following reasons:

1. Negatives of Martin ownership will be gone from local business that have been screwed over before and will be hopefully willing to do business with the club again

2. Increased sponsorship opportunities, number people don’t want to sponsor at Southend because of Martin and the way the club is run. Midexpro said they would return if Martin was gone, Stan said he has number of potential partners ready when Ron is gone. It’s the supply and demand element, more people want to sponsor the more we can demand for the privilege (within reason obviously)

3. Better contract terms for players, as in Agents won’t demand such high wages or fees for their services because we will be reputable again and negative view of players diminished. I’m sure we have paid over the odds because of our reputation.

4. Improved Matchday experience because investment will be made to entice people to the ground before and after. Potentially even during the week.

5. Increased ticket sales, number of people staying away due Martin ownership will return. Possible increased season ticket sales.

6. Better merchandise opportunities that could utilise local companies and the community.

7. Improvements on the pitch may lead to promotion which in turn sees addition revenue from TV rights and Matchday spend and ticket sales/increased attendance (yes playing budget would increase also but increased revenue to offset this partially)

If the right owner invests smartly and sees us return to league 1 or higher then yes they may have the opportunity to see a return from their investments. But in the lower leagues it is unlikely any club is sold with a return from the investments made this generally only happens in the prem and even then not always. So please let’s get off this return for investment argument as football isn’t like any other business is it.

There is a potential for a deal that is simple and clear (as it can be without knowing the finer detail) that could see us survive and stay at RH for the time being either long term with opportunities discussed on here and explained by @Sherif H with great insight and knowledge. Or we have potential of moving somewhere in the future (don’t know here but who knows what the future holds)

Let’s try and look at this as a positive and potentially a sign that things could change quickly and we start 5th of august with a team still that will be invested in and positive future to look forward to.

The thing about Wrexham is:

The two owners have fans who don’t even give a **** about football. They will buy any random **** attached to them.

The documentary made at least £4million. Immediate money back for R&R.

The racket they’ve made in the states has gotten them some insane sponsorship deals. Tiktok. United airlines, Stok coffee.

Because of the above, they were able to arrange friendlies with the likes of Man Utd and sell tickets at ridiculous prices ($200+).


Any new owner for us wouldn’t touch anywhere near Wrexham’s rise.

For every Wrexham takeover, there is a few Crawley Town takeovers.

 

[Prawn]

How is a phoenix club the best option when a large majority of SUFC’s fans would not support it?

Well it's better than having no club.

People say that they won't support a phoenix club now but over time the majority of those will warm to the idea.

 

[fredheim_holm]

Well, after reading what I have this morning, all I can see is the club going under.

There seems no certainty is there are bidders or not. If there are, are these bidders only coming in to pick over the carcass of Southend United?

People have mentioned that the Roots Hall site is worth a lot of money. Now if an investment company took over they wouldn't give a toss about the footballing side. There only in it to make money. As people have mentioned earlier about the covenant, if there is no football club the why the need for the stadium? Maybe a smaller stadium could be built in the area.

I think if there's no movement on the takeover this week we'll be expelled from the NL. As it has been eluded to earlier, where would we wind up? As all the leagues have been confirmed. A year in the wilderness would not help.

A phoenix club could be the best option.

The longer this goes on the more I worry.

Take your mind off of things for a few minutes and join the fabulous World Cup prediction league.

No. 1 fixtures for the WOMEN'S WORLD CUP PREDICTION LEAGUE

1 of 13 PREDICTIONS OF THE SHRIMPERZONE WOMEN'S WORLD CUP PREDICTION LEAGUE Thur 20 July 8.00 ko - New Zealand v Norway........................1-0 Thur 20 Ju;y 11.00 ko - Australia v Republic of Ireland.......................1-0 Fri 21 July 3.30 ko - Nigeria v...

www.shrimperzone.com

I wouldn’t worry about no interested parties this week, I think you’ll be reading your updates tomorrow morning with more hope.

 

[GSW Shrimper]

I wouldn’t worry about no interested parties this week, I think you’ll be reading your updates tomorrow morning with more hope.

I can see why people are fearing the worst but I genuinely think this new revised public offer from Martin is a good one (because he’s desperate) and a deal could well get complete soon

 

[Prawn]

I can see why people are fearing the worst but I genuinely think this new revised public offer from Martin is a good one (because he’s desperate) and a deal could well get complete soon

I hope there is good news. There has been good news over the past six week's but we're still no closer to a sale. It's been a very bad roller coaster ride so far.

May be Sir Jim Ratcliffe will think hard about us after being rejected by Man U.

 

[Ian Benjamin]

RM must be getting some serious grief at home to have taken this route! Well done everyone.

Just because he wants £4.5m for RH doesn’t mean he is going to get it. Clearly now there is a price that he will sell at and maybe someone can get it for a bit less than he wants.

Going to be virtually impossible for us to start the season on 5th August, unless this happens in a matter of days.

 

[rigsby]

RM must be getting some serious grief at home to have taken this route! Well done everyone.

Just because he wants £4.5m for RH doesn’t mean he is going to get it. Clearly now there is a price that he will sell at and maybe someone can get it for a bit less than he wants.

Going to be virtually impossible for us to start the season on 5th August, unless this happens in a matter of days.

Either that or the two Tory MP's have guaranteed the will use their 'influence' to make sure the 500 houses transferring to FF will sale through with ease. Will work at local level and national level.

Ron could then fund any build with the payment scheme he has set out for anyone buying RH. He would have his pay day much earlier, without any of the stadium build nonsense. In fact he could have his houses whilst a new owner is still trying to get his "Fratton' style project started. The 800 car overflow carpark would not be needed at FF but its a nice plot to build another few hundred houses.

Still us fans really don't have a choice at this stage. Lets hope there really is a couple of serious buyers. What if at this late stage its just someone funding Ron for another 12/24 months......Just enough time to start house building at FF and make that covenant worthless.

I have number of questions for Sherif, in a positive way. But right now I'm probably going to wait a few days as they may never need asking.

 

[sufcnum1]

what happened to this army of people that would help revamp parts of the stadium that need urgent work .I would have thought there are many fans that have a trade to do some work to bring it up to sratch .Or maybe saving the club was all talk .But i doubt thats the case .

That's all well and good, but we currently don't have a team to play there.

 

[Prawn]

Well I'm going to the Spuds v Wet Spam game here in Perth this evening. It'll take my mind off of what's going on here for a few hours.

I'll wear my Southend shirt and take both sets of fans on.

 

[KiwiRob]

RM must be getting some serious grief at home to have taken this route! Well done everyone.

Just because he wants £4.5m for RH doesn’t mean he is going to get it. Clearly now there is a price that he will sell at and maybe someone can get it for a bit less than he wants.

Going to be virtually impossible for us to start the season on 5th August, unless this happens in a matter of days.

Just to clarify. When RM says he is prepared to sell Roots Hall for 4.5 million, does that include everything on the site ie the land as well as the stadium and the car park?

 

[CRATE]

For everyone who asked RM has responded to the email regarding Roots Hall. The valuation of £4.5M includes all of the surrounding land up to the boundary lines.

This makes it a very attractive proposal.

 

[CRATE]

For everyone who asked RM has responded to the email regarding Roots Hall. The valuation of £4.5M includes all of the surrounding land up to the boundary lines.

This makes it a very attractive proposal.

With the fact RH has previously been approved for development. It would make complete common sense for a buyer to fulfil the idea of @Sherif H and also develop around RH in a similar way to how they have Wembley.

Good opportunity for the right person, group of persons. IMO.

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

Let's just hope that the background checks are thorough on the potential new buyer. What kind of security will the club have? Many have said that they are buying land for nearly half price. What's to stop the new owner knocking the stadium down and building flats anyway? Whatever we think of Ron, he has put 25 years into the club and does have some form of attachment. A new owner doesn't have that and may not think twice about just building on said land. Although desperate at the moment, we have to make sure we are protected before any sale happens.

 

[CRATE]

Let's just hope that the background checks are thorough on the potential new buyer. What kind of security will the club have? Many have said that they are buying land for nearly half price. What's to stop the new owner knocking the stadium down and building flats anyway? Whatever we think of Ron, he has put 25 years into the club and does have some form of attachment. A new owner doesn't have that and may not think twice about just building on said land. Although desperate at the moment, we have to make sure we are protected before any sale happens.

No they’re not. But the F&P documents are close to going in!