Tilly on BBC Essex this morning

[Somerset Ex-TTB]

I heard Tilly this morning saying that we will not be bringing anybody else in on loan as we don't have the money.

Now I am not blaming him, but 6 weeks with only 1 fit centre back in the squad is shocking.

As well as Grant did against Bristol Rovers, to play the next 7 or 8 games with him in that position is just total suicide. I really hope that I am wrong and that we mange to at least keep in the top half.

The squad is now tiny, and consists of :

2 GK (Midy and Joyce)
4 Defenders (Barrett, Francis, Herd, Sankofa)
7 Midfielders (McCormack, JFC, Grant, Scannell, Moussa, O'Keefe, Laurent)
2 Forwards (Barnard, Freedman)

We have 2 in on loan, and 3 out on loan, so in effect we are paying 14 players. (assuming we pay the wages of those in on loan, and not the wages of those out on loan).

Of those 14, Herd and O'Keefe are fresh out the youth team. We all assume that Joyce, Sankofa and Scannell are probably not on huge wages.

How on earth can we not afford to take a championship or premiership youngster on loan for a month is beyond me, especially as O'Donovan has gone back.

Maybe the rumours are true, and that we are days from going belly up, as to not be able to survive operating a first team squad of 14 (at least 6 players less than even a small squad), something must be seriously wrong.

 

[shrimperton]

We can only speculate, we will never know the truth but from the outside looking in things aint good and Ron has gone awfully quiet.

With such a small squad inc some very average players, if Tilson steers this club away from relegation this season it will be a miracle and a massive + on his CV that other clubs are bound to look at.
I know Tilly is Southend to the core but how much more can a talented manager take?

We have gone from a warchest to not being able to afford a loanee, Ron is the captain of the ship and has to be held 100% responsable imo.

 

[McNasty]

God help us if we have any more injuries or when the inevitable suspensions kick in.

 

[palexander]

Glenn Speller posted on Twitter yesterday that the Friend deal still isnt done - and ended his post with a '...hmmm...'.

I cannot see any confirmation that this is a done deal, so we may have Herd playing. Might be why he didnt make the reserve game either...

EDIT: Just watching Tilly's pre-Carlisle interview - and he said Friend is travelling they are just waiting for the paperwork. Might not be too sinister then...

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Francis is one booking away from suspension isn't he ?

I might be bringing my boots to the Gillingham game.

 

[DTS]

I am really starting to loose all faith in Ron Martin's running of the club.

I have tried to have faith, I have brought into him as an individual and I have tried to understand the pressures and constraints of running the club.

However the following worry me like ****

SQUAD -

As stated by Ex TTB we basically have a paper thin squad of 15 at the moment. If you can include O'Keefe who i think has one pro start to his name. We cant actually field a defence at the moment, we only have one winger, we are relying solely on one man for goals. This is like a ****ing pub side.

I am not asking for £100,000 singings left right and centre but when I pay my £380 (Not a lot I know) a season I at least expect a few new players that might possibly boost the squad. All I can see at the moment is what was left of a once talented squad.

Players have left and never been adequatly replacements - blame Tilly, blame Ron I dont know but end of the day Hammell, JCR, Gower and to a lesser degree Bailey - Never really got reaplaced.

On saturday we will if what i hear is correct only be naming three subs. Make of that what you will be no pro club should be down to these numbers

STADIUM

Again can fault Ron for effort, can blame him for the credit crunch and I dont doubt his intentions but at the end of the day what is going on? We seem to have been waiting forever?

I want to believe it happening, I am not an unreasonable man and I know planning etc takes a long time but how many times have we been given a starting date for the project only to have it pushed further and further back?

TAX BILL

Again worries the **** out of me? On one hand I start to think Ron must have it covered and then on the other hand we hear story after story of unpaid debts, players no being paid etc. I am sure a lot of it is Echo bollocks but end of the day the bill speaks for itself.

I dont think Ron is in this for anything other than the good of the club and to line his own pocket which I dont mind if the club is moving forward. But at the end of the day I can see no positives at all at the moment other than a fairly decent league position which can lets be honest change over the course of two weeks.

Personally I am worried.

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Hmm. Has anyone got a spare £660K down the back of the sofa?

I can only presume that the essence of Ron's appeal to HMRC to allow us to reschedule the debt will be on the basis that we have cut spending to the very barest of bones, and we can therefore maximise the monthly payments to HMRC of the outstanding debt.

One can only hope that HMRC is feeling in a charitable mood, otherwise the propsects of administration and a 10 point deduction are looming ever larger.

:(

 

[palexander]

Overnighting to Carlisle too, so that will cost a fair whack. If things were THAT bad, then I would think we'd go Saturday morning - no matter how bad that would be.

 

[DTS]

Overnighting to Carlisle too, so that will cost a fair whack. If things were THAT bad, then I would think we'd go Saturday morning - no matter how bad that would be.

What the article dosent tell you that the players are camping.

 

[GNH]

Appologies for reposting this but i think its more relevant here

A brief history of time (AKA the SUFC saga) as I see it from my uneducated point of view!

A Football club, as many do, finds itself in financial trouble. A property delelopment company looks into procuring the football club and sees that a plans for a new ground could be submitted to help the club achieve long term sustainability. This would mean initially investing millions of pounds into the club to stabalise the finances which they would not realistically not expect to see repaid, however this stability would allow for the plans for a new ground to be drawn up and eventually approved. By undertaking this building work and redeveloping the current site occupied by the club the developers would stand to make a substantial profit making the initial decision a sound business plan.

An unforseen chain of economic circumstances lead to the delay and even possible postponement of the new ground and the cost of this redevelopment spirals. On top of this the debts owed by the football club to various parties mount up and require another substatial investment from the parent company. Now without the guarantee of making a return on your investment the developers are reluctant to plough more money into the club to continue its liquidity and survival and a decision has to be made whether to cut your losses before it becomes a vast money pit, which translates into no money to invest in players or pay staff wages or even the taxman thus putting the existance of the football club in jeopardy.

= where we are now

 

[EastStandBlue]

Overnighting to Carlisle too, so that will cost a fair whack. If things were THAT bad, then I would think we'd go Saturday morning - no matter how bad that would be.

I wouldn't read too much into that... Keeping the squad settled is Numero Uno in terms of the position we find ourselves in. Keeping them in a familiar routine is key, as if they were to feel unsettled with things being cut to keep costs down, they'd be the first to jump ship.

 

[palexander]

I agree with all posted here though - the situation is looking very dire. For Tilson to come out and say we are still battling financial problems, says to me its very dire.

The lack of news from Martin is worrying and his excuse will be 'there will be news when there is something to say' - which is fine, but he made this rod for his own back - wanting to be in spotlight and shout about how great things are gonna be. We have got used to it and now need some news to calm the waters.

I think there is no news because he CANNOT report how bad the situation is.

I go back again to the AGM, where I am sure (someone who went could back this up), that he said Sainsburys had paid the amount due earlier, so we could settle the HMRC bill. That was months ago and if they had paid up, would we be leaving the payment to the last minute? I dont think so - look at the unrest it has caused for the fans and no doubt the staff.

I do wonder if the players are getting paid?...

 

[palexander]

I wouldn't read too much into that... Keeping the squad settled is Numero Uno in terms of the position we find ourselves in. Keeping them in a familiar routine is key, as if they were to feel unsettled with things being cut to keep costs down, they'd be the first to jump ship.

No way!! Keeping the club alive is the number one priority!!!

Players come and go - and nobody can 'jump ship' anyway as the window is closed.

Bit naive...

 

[EastStandBlue]

No way!! Keeping the club alive is the number one priority!!!

Players come and go - and nobody can 'jump ship' anyway as the window is closed.

Bit naive...

I was thinking aside from keeping the club in business, but then again I thought that would be obvious...

And people can 'Jump Ship' if they're not being paid.

 

[Crawliano]

I go back again to the AGM, where I am sure (someone who went could back this up), that he said Sainsburys had paid the amount due earlier, so we could settle the HMRC bill. That was months ago and if they had paid up, would we be leaving the payment to the last minute? I dont think so - look at the unrest it has caused for the fans and no doubt the staff.

But then, if someone gave you 660k and said there you go, there's the money you don't have to pay for 2 months, you'd hardly just give it over straight away, you'd put it in the bank to make interest/invest in a new range of salon products...

 

[palexander]

But then, if someone gave you 660k and said there you go, there's the money you don't have to pay for 2 months, you'd hardly just give it over straight away, you'd put it in the bank to make interest/invest in a new range of salon products...

Damn... keep forgetting about the bouffant. :(

 

[Andy_S]

Perhaps when next Wednesday comes and goes and we still exist we'll be able to bring someone in? It makes no sense though considering most Premiership clubs will allow their kids out and pay their wages, so we wouldn't be paying for anyone.

One thing is for sure, we are in deep, deep trouble at the moment and we need something to save us. This problem isn't going to go away. It's ironic that if we hadn't have done all this with the stadium, we'd probably have a better team and be in a better financial position. And it was all supposed to improve things. Pah.

 

[weststander]

I go back again to the AGM, where I am sure (someone who went could back this up), that he said Sainsburys had paid the amount due earlier, so we could settle the HMRC bill. That was months ago and if they had paid up, would we be leaving the payment to the last minute? I dont think so - look at the unrest it has caused for the fans and no doubt the staff.

I do wonder if the players are getting paid?...

When I asked the question at the AGM, Ron stated that we didnt have the money but he would see us at next years AGM. As far as i remember there was no mention of Sainsburys having given us any money at all.

As for the players not getting paid then the PFA would have been involved the minute that they werent paid and on top of that we would have had a transfer embargo placed on us, which means that we wouldnt have been able to bring in any palyers at all, including loan players.

 

[weststander]

It makes no sense though considering most Premiership clubs will allow their kids out and pay their wages, so we wouldn't be paying for anyone.

But we'd still have to pay hotel/lodging/travelling bills for these players, even if they're put up in a travellodge at £49 a night then thats £350 per week. And i bet they're staying somewhere slightly more plush than one of those.

 

[Andy_S]

But we'd still have to pay hotel/lodging/travelling bills for these players, even if they're put up in a travellodge at £49 a night then thats £350 per week. And i bet they're staying somewhere slightly more plush than one of those.

True, but if we can't afford that as a League 1 football club then we are in a hell of a lot of trouble.