Surely we must give COSU 5 years before we start doubting them.

[thenobster]

Why in earth would you doubt them? They have to be given time to change the direction of the juggernaut that is Southend United FC.
If after 5 years we are no further forward, or indeed in a lower division, then we should start to get restless

 

[Southend Elvis]

I'm sure no one doubts COSU, but 5 years without criticism is crazy for a football club. What if the worse happens and we drop a division or 2 within that 5 years, I think fans would have rather we go to the wall and a new Southend was born. For me everything depends on results, as bad results would mean a drop in income, whereas good results the sky's the limit.
Hopefully all this doom and gloom is a temporary blip, but I can understand fans negative feelings, as we are currently in the lowest position in our history.

 

[The Original Tribal Chief]

I don't have five years. And stop calling me Shirley.

 

[Crowstone Crevette]

Don’t know where we would be without the consortium coming in and the 3 amigos and the players at the time staying loyal and playing through those terrible dark days without payment

@annie1954

I do!

 

[Rob1920]

I don't think TL put a figure on the increase in cost of sales, but did say that they'd increased 'in line with' total sales. I took that to mean that sales had increased by **% with a similar increase of **% in the cost of sales.

As the total sales figure should always be greater than the cost of sales figure you would see an increase in the profit from sales if both total sales, and their associated costs, increased by the same percentage.

No expert though, so that may be total bollox.

Your thinking is sound. As long as the £750k increase in sales hasn’t cost £800k to achieve! Turnover and profit are two very different things. You can turn over £50m a year, but if it costs you £51m to achieve it, you won’t survive long. But these guys aren’t stupid, I’d be surprised if the extra £750k turnover didnt equate to a decent amount of net profit.

 

[GBJ]

Absolutely nobody should be slagging off COSU and from what I’ve seen, that hasn’t happened. However, there’s nothing wrong with feeling cautious or offering constructive criticism.

When Uncle Ron bought the club, the vast majority of fans were so happy that we’d just managed to survive that it took a very long time for that tide to turn. Too long.

I’m not suggesting COSU are even remotely the same as Ron by the way, and I do think we’re in very safe hands. But they shouldn’t be exempt from being held to account.

I think some fans are disappointed that we haven’t splashed loads of cash on the top players and stormed the league, but that’s more down to their own expectations than COSU doing anything wrong.

But so far I’m fairly impressed with that I’ve seen. We seem to be functioning like a normal club, which is a very welcome change to the past decade. We’re increasing revenue, we’re paying bills. Work is ongoing with the training ground and we’ve heard that the redevelopment of the East Stand is closer than we originally thought. Time and patience is required of course, but once we can solidify a base, I can only see our club growing under COSU.

 

[IloveShrimp]

2023 Revenue was £2.9m. £750k will be about 25% increase - still a great effort, although need more detail on the increase in costs.

Is the £750k an assumed figure for full financial year or just to Xmas?

More to the point where has the increase in revenue come from? If it is mainly ticket sales and they want that increase to be maintained/ increase, then performance on the pitch is crucial to further growth.
Plus, what is the cost of that increase, if the costs out way the increase then it equals a net loss?

 

[Thundersley Blue]

More to the point where has the increase in revenue come from? If it is mainly ticket sales and they want that increase to be maintained/ increase, then performance on the pitch is crucial to further growth.
Plus, what is the cost of that increase, if the costs out way the increase then it equals a net loss?

Just looking at what has happened, increased ticket sales will account for some. However, the major extrra source of income I would say is Sponsorship. We have a Sponsor for just about everything, even much of the content on the Scoreboard has a Sponsor.

 

[CaptainSmudger]

Some of us very old long term supporters may not have 5 years left, therefore can’t wait!
I am doing everything to stay healthy, support our team an look forward to the future.
#USAShrimper, your post and sentiments are all correct thanks for your post.
COYB, UTB

 

[Holy Joe]

More to the point where has the increase in revenue come from? If it is mainly ticket sales and they want that increase to be maintained/ increase, then performance on the pitch is crucial to further growth.
Plus, what is the cost of that increase, if the costs out way the increase then it equals a net loss?

This was the quote...

Lawrence also reveals that income is up by £750,000 mainly driven by ticket sales and commercial sales. He also confirms cost of sales has risen inline with the increase in sales


So ticket sales is partially it and whilst I'm sure they want to maintain this level of ticket sales, I think we've been told that this is above budget and hence a small reduction hopefully wouldnt scupper the plan. Hopefully the commercial sales stick as well.

Cost of sales have risen 'inline' whatever that means! Are players wages a cost of sale? They are the product?

 

[Rob1920]

More to the point where has the increase in revenue come from? If it is mainly ticket sales and they want that increase to be maintained/ increase, then performance on the pitch is crucial to further growth.

Absolutely. The 7000 crowds won't last if we have too many more seasons of mid-table averageness. Its a juggling act COSU will have to manage. Keeping the fans engaged will need some success on the field, at least regular play-off finishes, and you can't help feeling the playing budget is not yet at that level. Not saying COSU are right or wrong, we all want a stable club and appreciate other aspects of the club, particularly the infrastructure, need urgent investment. Just stating a fact that keeping the money rolling in will to a large extent depend on results on the pitch.

 

[BEERMONSTER]

We may not YET! have achieved economic sustainability but we now are living with the 'Blueprint' of sustainable ownership and long may it continue.

 

[Cockle43]

I think that anyone with their eyes open would have realised that the job of turning SUFC around, developing a refurbished ground with the facilities to earn income for more than 25ish days per year, putting the playing and commercial sides on an even and sustainable footing is/was not a one year job. Realistically I would be delighted if that was achieved inside 5 years, personally I reckon a timeline of 10 years would not be unreasonable.

COSU have picked some of the low hanging fruit initially but the moves made so far have been largely positive. Yes, there have been some trips but the encouraging thing is that there seems to be a genuine desire to engage, listen, and rectify with a group of people who do really care and want to achieve. That is so refreshing after the last 20+ years.
An example would be the raising of the older person's concession ticket qualifying age. A number of other clubs have had 65 or state pension age as the qualifier for some time and SUFC has been a bit of an outlier at still being 60. Others have just changed that in one hit but SUFC took the decision that the age would rise by one year each year to then match state pension age so no one who currently qualifies loses out. Compare that to the changes at some of the EPL clubs...

Will COSU be the total answer? The proof will come with the test of time but if things continue to move forwards rather than backwards then I feel success will be the result.

At present COSU seem to be taking a lot more forward steps than backwards ones, remember, two steps forward and one back is much better than one step forward and two back, or, as we've been used to constant backwards steps.

 

[defender05]

Overall I don't think there is much that COSU have done wrong. Personally I would have gone down a different route with a couple of things but it isn't my money being spent.

The fan park is the one thing that I don't understand why it isn't already in progress. The initial outlay could be made back this summer by showing the euros games and as others have said, screening the away games that are available along with premier league games etc.

 

[SUFCGoals]

Overall I don't think there is much that COSU have done wrong. Personally I would have gone down a different route with a couple of things but it isn't my money being spent.

The fan park is the one thing that I don't understand why it isn't already in progress. The initial outlay could be made back this summer by showing the euros games and as others have said, screening the away games that are available along with premier league games etc.

Would be interested to hear what you would have done different thus far.

On your point about the fanzone, I think the logistics of setting up a fanzone is less straight forward than putting a couple of tents/gazebos up. I.e has to comply with council regulations. Perhaps there are specific licenses that need to be accrued as well to sell food out there and perhaps alcohol too. By the time COSU took over there were probably much more pressing things that needed to be attended to. Perhaps by the time their workload shifted the weather isn't really 'stand in a car park having a beer' weather

 

[Crowstone Crevette]

Would be interested to hear what you would have done different thus far.

On your point about the fanzone, I think the logistics of setting up a fanzone is less straight forward than putting a couple of tents/gazebos up. I.e has to comply with council regulations. Perhaps there are specific licenses that need to be accrued as well to sell food out there and perhaps alcohol too. By the time COSU took over there were probably much more pressing things that needed to be attended to. Perhaps by the time their workload shifted the weather isn't really 'stand in a car park having a beer' weather

This^^^^

Also the sighting of the 'Fanzone' has to be right. It has been suggested it should be at the bottom of the sloping car park near the North Bank. Might that be too close to residential properties. Especially the new flats on the old college site. If placed there would it preclude it being used into the evening/night, would amplified music and/or commentary from live matches being screened be an issue?

Then, I believe, Tom stated the other day a new East Stand is at least 2 to 3 years away. Would the Fanzone then need to be torn down and rebuilt elsewhere?

As @SUFCGoals said it's not straight forward. And I'm sure there are many more issues around it coming to fruition than the two of us have put forward?

 

[CaptainSmudger]

Absolutely. The 7000 crowds won't last if we have too many more seasons of mid-table averageness. Its a juggling act COSU will have to manage. Keeping the fans engaged will need some success on the field, at least regular play-off finishes, and you can't help feeling the playing budget is not yet at that level. Not saying COSU are right or wrong, we all want a stable club and appreciate other aspects of the club, particularly the infrastructure, need urgent investment. Just stating a fact that keeping the money rolling in will to a large extent depend on results on the pitch.

Absolutely this Spot on fellow supporter #Rob 1920 COYB,UTB

 

[defender05]

This^^^^

Also the sighting of the 'Fanzone' has to be right. It has been suggested it should be at the bottom of the sloping car park near the North Bank. Might that be too close to residential properties. Especially the new flats on the old college site. If placed there would it preclude it being used into the evening/night, would amplified music and/or commentary from live matches being screened be an issue?

Then, I believe, Tom stated the other day a new East Stand is at least 2 to 3 years away. Would the Fanzone then need to be torn down and rebuilt elsewhere?

As @SUFCGoals said it's not straight forward. And I'm sure there are many more issues around it coming to fruition than the two of us have put forward?

If they hoped to do this before the lateness of the takeover then all of those problems would have been looked at beforehand so I don't see them as an excuse now.

 

[Shrimpergonzo]

This^^^^

Also the sighting of the 'Fanzone' has to be right. It has been suggested it should be at the bottom of the sloping car park near the North Bank. Might that be too close to residential properties. Especially the new flats on the old college site. If placed there would it preclude it being used into the evening/night, would amplified music and/or commentary from live matches being screened be an issue?

Then, I believe, Tom stated the other day a new East Stand is at least 2 to 3 years away. Would the Fanzone then need to be torn down and rebuilt elsewhere?

As @SUFCGoals said it's not straight forward. And I'm sure there are many more issues around it coming to fruition than the two of us have put forward?

Totally agree - below is the plan of the site from the previous planning application which is I assume all going over to COSU/POSU:


The most obvious vacant site to me is on Victoria Avenue between the Golden Lion and the abandoned house next to the club shop. I wonder what their plans are for this area? Could put a marquee in here for a fanzone if the site were cleared and a hardstanding put down.



There's also the question of the abandoned house itself. Surely they must be thinking of plans for this area, it's got development potential as has the area down the bottom of Roots Hall Avenue (which the previous planning application had 3 houses on).

 

[C'mon you Shrimpers]

Only trouble is Southend Council are under the impression that they own this land. I think several months ago it was one of the pockets of land earmarked for sale for housing. The map also seems to indicate that the ticket office is built on Council land.

ArcGIS Web Application

southend.maps.arcgis.com