When will the takeover go through? The Waiting Game...

[in the know]

There’s quite a few players as well whose contracts were paid up early - Kightly, Kiernan come to mind

If I recall correctly kightly or his agent had to take action to get paid what was owed. No doubt many others had to as well.

 

[LBBlue]

City law firm hits Southend United owner with lawsuit over unpaid £400,000 legal bill

City-based law firm Taylor Wessing has launched legal action against the owner of Southend United over a near £400,000 unpaid legal bills

www.cityam.com

Not a very well researched article. There is no longer a connection between SUFC Ltd and Martin Dawn PLC as Martin Dawn no longer has any shares in SEL. And as for Harry Phillips …..

 

[Cricko]

Not a very well researched article. There is no longer a connection between SUFC Ltd and Martin Dawn PLC as Martin Dawn no longer has any shares in SEL. And as for Harry Phillips …..

Well that's good news then I guess.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Kevin Bond, Mark Molesley, Sol Campbell, Phil Brown along with all the coaches can't have been cheap to get rid of

Agreed they won’t have been cheap to pay off but the legal advice related to it shouldn’t have been particularly complicated. Also I’d be surprised if this was related to legal advice from 5 years ago (Bond went in 2019). I know Ron takes his time to pay but if the bills weren’t being paid law firms are unlikely to then take on additional work.

Believe me it’s easy, Senior partner could cost you £500 p/h Barristers and KC’s skies the limit.

For M&A work, for big ticket litigation I could understand it.

But why are we paying Premiership legal fees when we are a National League club?

Sacking managers is extremely common. Drawing up a compromise agreement is stuff you could get the trainee to do most of. Alternatively you just find a firm outside London to act. This isn’t something you’d instruct City partners on.

I think there has to something more to it than just legal advice relating to paying off ex-managers and staff.

 

[Sleaford Shrimper]

I might be a million miles wide of the mark here but might this latest news influence the more sceptical Southend City Council elected Members to come to the firm conclusion that the Council should pull out of any project involving the Martin family?

 

[Dutch Branch]

Agreed they won’t have been cheap to pay off but the legal advice related to it shouldn’t have been particularly complicated. Also I’d be surprised if this was related to legal advice from 5 years ago (Bond went in 2019). I know Ron takes his time to pay but if the bills weren’t being paid law firms are unlikely to then take on additional work.





For M&A work, for big ticket litigation I could understand it.

But why are we paying Premiership legal fees when we are a National League club?

Sacking managers is extremely common. Drawing up a compromise agreement is stuff you could get the trainee to do most of. Alternatively you just find a firm outside London to act. This isn’t something you’d instruct City partners on.

I think there has to something more to it than just legal advice relating to paying off ex-managers and staff.

Unfortunately, the legal profession doesn’t give discounts depending on what level of football you play.

Not sure what this new lot did even at a reduced rate of £250 p/h is only 1,600 hours work for one person but I’m guessing it involves multiples of people, also that it includes VAT.

All the same it’s another hammer blow for us lot all thought this was done and dusted.

Not really sure how much of a problem this is right now but I guess we will find out fairly soon.

 

[Colblue]

I might be a million miles wide of the mark here but might this latest news influence the more sceptical Southend City Council elected Members to come to the firm conclusion that the Council should pull out of any project involving the Martin family?

That and the fact the DD will report not only on the prospective deal but also the credentials of any partner you are entering into an arrangement with.
The DD is not a given to come down on endorsing the deal, in fact the opposite conclusion is possibly favourite if you were a gambling man

 

[Hadleigh-shrimper]

So when’s the take over happening?

 

[dusterman]

So when’s the take over happening?

That's the £500m Q…

 

[Strykr]

So when’s the take over happening?

Weeks not months....

 

[Holy Joe]

I might be a million miles wide of the mark here but might this latest news influence the more sceptical Southend City Council elected Members to come to the firm conclusion that the Council should pull out of any project involving the Martin family?

The council has already voted on it and agreed the deal subject to DD. If DD throws up issues we might be in trouble else should be fine. Ron, as far I know, is not in control/owns any of the companies involved in the deal, so this may not come into DD

 

[Colblue]

The council has already voted on it and agreed the deal subject to DD. If DD throws up issues we might be in trouble else should be fine. Ron, as far I know, is not in control/owns any of the companies involved in the deal, so this may not come into DD

He may or may not have in his name any of the companies but make no mistake FF is all about him clearing his millions of debts and creating his families generational wealth. He is the ring master and every thread of every part of the FF deal winds back to him!!
DD will no doubt uncover so many twists and turns of hidden debt and cross company moving of assets attached to Martin, I just can’t see it all going back as a clean bill of health recommendation to the council

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Unfortunately, the legal profession doesn’t give discounts depending on what level of football you play.

Not sure what this new lot did even at a reduced rate of £250 p/h is only 1,600 hours work for one person but I’m guessing it involves multiples of people, also that it includes VAT.

All the same it’s another hammer blow for us lot all thought this was done and dusted.

Not really sure how much of a problem this is right now but I guess we will find out fairly soon.

In the legal profession you can chose to do your weekly shop at Harrods or you can chose to do it at Lidl. If you shop at the former it is going to costs a lot more than at the latter. Most people on a budget would chose to do the bulk at Lidl but the occasional special item at Harrods.

For some reason we were choosing to shop for all our legal services somewhere near the top end of the market.

I seem to recall several local solicitors sponsoring the club over the years - on advertising hoardings, in the programme and the like. Any of these should have been able to handle straight forward employee terminations.

To give you an example Tom Lawrence first got involved in football doing Gillingham’s legal work. The firm he worked for would have been a damn sight cheaper than a City firm like Taylor Wessing.

I’m beginning to see how the club has been operating at such a huge loss.

This level of legal expenditure is staggering for such a small business.

The lack of a CEO has almost certainly cost us more than it saved but I’m also wondering what the board were doing. Surely this level of expenditure went through the board? Between Stewarts LLP and Taylor Wessing we’ve racked up legal fees getting on to a fifth of our turnover. That’s insane.

 

[Shrimper]

In the legal profession you can chose to do your weekly shop at Harrods or you can chose to do it at Lidl. If you shop at the former it is going to costs a lot more than at the latter. Most people on a budget would chose to do the bulk at Lidl but the occasional special item at Harrods.

For some reason we were choosing to shop for all our legal services somewhere near the top end of the market.

I seem to recall several local solicitors sponsoring the club over the years - on advertising hoardings, in the programme and the like. Any of these should have been able to handle straight forward employee terminations.

To give you an example Tom Lawrence first got involved in football doing Gillingham’s legal work. The firm he worked for would have been a damn sight cheaper than a City firm like Taylor Wessing.

I’m beginning to see how the club has been operating at such a huge loss.

This level of legal expenditure is staggering for such a small business.

The lack of a CEO has almost certainly cost us more than it saved but I’m also wondering what the board were doing. Surely this level of expenditure went through the board? Between Stewarts LLP and Taylor Wessing we’ve racked up legal fees getting on to a fifth of our turnover. That’s insane.

Paul Robinson rings a bell?

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

In the legal profession you can chose to do your weekly shop at Harrods or you can chose to do it at Lidl. If you shop at the former it is going to costs a lot more than at the latter. Most people on a budget would chose to do the bulk at Lidl but the occasional special item at Harrods.

For some reason we were choosing to shop for all our legal services somewhere near the top end of the market.

I seem to recall several local solicitors sponsoring the club over the years - on advertising hoardings, in the programme and the like. Any of these should have been able to handle straight forward employee terminations.

To give you an example Tom Lawrence first got involved in football doing Gillingham’s legal work. The firm he worked for would have been a damn sight cheaper than a City firm like Taylor Wessing.

I’m beginning to see how the club has been operating at such a huge loss.

This level of legal expenditure is staggering for such a small business.

The lack of a CEO has almost certainly cost us more than it saved but I’m also wondering what the board were doing. Surely this level of expenditure went through the board? Between Stewarts LLP and Taylor Wessing we’ve racked up legal fees getting on to a fifth of our turnover. That’s insane.

This is another of the many mysteries at SUFC. The directors seem to be non existent in all this mess. They are hardly ever mentioned in the Thousands of pages on Fossetts, the takeover, the court cases, etc. They seem to let him have a free reign to financially cripple this club, and run it into the ground. Yet we know he has gone to them a few times, and they have put their hands in their pockets. It's like enabling and giving treats to a naughty child. They should have stepped in years ago and been more hands on. They must of known some of the things he was getting up to.

 

[Shr1mperBlue]

Well that's good news then I guess.

As someone who works in finance for a top city law firm, this one actually worries me just as much as everything else that is going on. If Martin Dawn goes under / struck off / dissolved then Taylor Wessing will come knocking back at SUFC. The Club appears to be the client here, and Martin Dawn guaranteed the fees as a third party payor. Taylor Wessing have clearly decided to go after Martin Dawn as they feel they have a better chance of being paid by them than a cash strapped football club. Now, there is nothing stopping them coming after the club is Martin Dawn dissapears from existence. They can choose who to sue.

 

[Hadleigh Blue]

As someone who works in finance for a top city law firm, this one actually worries me just as much as everything else that is going on. If Martin Dawn goes under / struck off / dissolved then Taylor Wessing will come knocking back at SUFC. The Club appears to be the client here, and Martin Dawn guaranteed the fees as a third party payor. Taylor Wessing have clearly decided to go after Martin Dawn as they feel they have a better chance of being paid by them than a cash strapped football club. Now, there is nothing stopping them coming after the club is Martin Dawn dissapears from existence. They can choose who to sue.

Not sure you can file a claim against SUFC if you are instructed by Martin Dawn to carry out works on behalf of SUFC. It’s like a supplier suing a building firm for not paying for bricks, and if the builder goes bust simply decide to sue the home owner whose house he built?

 

[The Eternal Optimist]

Paul Robinson rings a bell?

Wasn’t he the entrepreneur in Neighbours?

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Paul Robinson rings a bell?

He was a member of the board around 2001 to 2010. I also think he joined a couple of years earlier, but resigned over something. RM was using City Lawyers even then, instead of Paul Robinson's solicitors.

 

[Shr1mperBlue]

Not sure you can file a claim against SUFC if you are instructed by Martin Dawn to carry out works on behalf of SUFC. It’s like a supplier suing a building firm for not paying for bricks, and if the builder goes bust simply decide to sue the home owner whose house he built?

The article states ‘Taylor Wessing was engaged by Southend United Football Club on a longstanding retainer to provide employment legal services to the club, which was agreed to be paid by Martin Dawn Pl’

Therefore the club is the client. The club signed the engagement letter. The club receive the benefit of the law firms advice. The club remain ultimately liable for the expenses if Martin Dawn does not pay. Personally I believe that if they don’t get their money, we’ll be next on the claim form. They are simply trying the guarantor first. Worrying.