Ron Martin: Do you have this picture on your pub dartboard?
Next season will see Southend return to the League's basement division after five seasons, which included a year in the Championship which lasted just one, while, for example, Doncaster and Scunthorpe have survived.
Blimey Blackpool, who I saw Southend beat 2-1 only four years ago thanks to a last minute Freddy special at a dilapidated Bloomfield Road ground on our way to the Championship, could be a few matches away from the frigging Premiership.
Chairman Ron Martin has spent the week defending his position, both in the Echo and on the official site, has he got a case?
Morecambe's Globe Arena, opening July 2010, in time for our visit Ron!
Uncle Ron believes the future is bright, Tilly laments about off-field problems, Captain Adam wonders who will line up next to him next season, if he's still there, the Shrimpers faithful hold their hands up and wonder how it could have all ended up this way, and then go up the pub!
The nucleus of the squad that drew with Oldham last Saturday has been there for a couple of seasons, where we made the play-offs and then just missed out.
Franck Moussa, possibily the player-of-the-season winner, has actually come on since the season started and a blip in the middle.
We've all read Chairman Ron's 'it's just a blip' and his delusional utterings get more surreal with every posting.
The man is arrogance personified and the 'better the devil we know' argument is getting harder to sustain however much money he's got out of Sainsbury's to keep us going, he has to take the blame for the majority of what's gone wrong this miserable season.
While we'll hardly going to be the 'Leeds' of League Two Ron's ridiculous comments don't help.
As this Morecambe supporter reminded us on www.echo-news.co.uk: "Aaah Mr Martin, bless ya, another in the long line of 'we shouldn't even be in the same division as clubs like Morecambe' brigade. Bradford have been giving it us for a few years now, ditto some at Lincoln, Grimsby, Darlington and others who have found themselves on a downward spiral. Listen, good luck to you as you try to rebuild and there's no harm in being and sounding positive - but please don't come down with such a dismissive attitude about clubs with which you'll be sharing pitch-space next season. Our lovely new stadium will be ready well before yours and, with our upwardly mobile club backed by an ambitious and financially astute board, we may well not be in your league in a few years, you're right there!"
Apolgies mate, but we're used to it.
After the Oldham 2-2 draw Blues boss Steve Tilson, as well as wondering if the hamstring hell his squad are in at the moment will get any worse for the Stockport visit, took time to speak about the second relegation suffered under his watch in three seasons.
Tilly told www.southendunited.co.uk: "Lots have gone wrong this season, the problems off the pitch have been well documented and haven't helped and it is going to be challange to get players in next season. The fans were fantastic today though. They realise the problems we have and I can't praise them enough."
Quite right to mention the terrific away support the team has received, it's been great and congrats to all that have backed the side where they've only seen three victories all season, though one was against the Borient!
However, the interesting comment is about getting the right players in for any confident attempt to get back up at the first attempt. Would you wan tto come to a club that cannot guarantee you will get paid on time. Some lower league gems will have to be picked up, if they're out there, but John Still does a great job at Dagenham year after year.
On Facebook an alleged conversation between Ron Martin and Adam Barrett has surfaced: 'Barrett asked: 'What is happening with the wages?',
Martin replied: 'This is not the time or place Adam.' Barrett: 'When the f**k is it the right time with you Ron?! Martin: 'If you dont like it, you know where the door is, use it".
If it didn't happen it's bloody beliveable in the current climate, and if it did, love to have been there!
Captain Adam speaking to www.echo-news.co.uk: "Too much has gone on this year for us to be successful. Playing wise at times we've been unable to field a full bench, we've had loan players coming and going, there's been constant changes and there just hasn't been any consistency. I've had something like eight different partners at the back and that really doesn't help. Neither does everything that's gone on off the pitch which, in truth, has been the hardest and most stressful of my whole life. We've all grafted and done our best but there has just been too much going on."
Not a happy bunny, would expect someone to make a move for the Shrimpers skipper as well as some of that 'nucleus', let's face it to a midtable League One side, or a just promoted/relegated one into the third tier, with a bit more dosh to spare than our own Essex boys, there's one or two in the squad that would fit into their own sides very nicely, but that's another article!
I started by putting the blame squarely on the shoulders of our estemed chairman, and an excellent article found on the footy financial website, www.twohundredpercent.net, who I hope forgive me for printing more of it than I intended but as I tried to edit it down, I found it was impossible without cutting out a lot of what's been happening at the Hall.
If you've read it, it's worth another look; if you haven't grab a coffee and try and finish without wanting to throw something, or just have a good sob!
An accurate snapshot of Southend United's fortunes… in November 1998. Naturally, given that Southend are right back where they were in 1998, when he came in, I come to bury Southend chairman and majority shareholder Ron Martin, not to praise him. His spin on the events at 'his' club this season has been as annoying as it has been disingenuous. His club have been exposed as serial late-payers of players and tax authorities alike; "a habitual defaulter" was how the latter described them in court. Progress on the new stadium at "Fossett's Farm", still the panacea for all the club's financial ills, has been shunted and stunted by financial battles for which Martin and his club are getting blame from friends and foe alike. And, by the way, they're about to be relegated, which could make Fossett's Farm the biggest purpose-built stadium in League Two since Darlington's 'George Reynolds Arena', which needs no further comment.
It is possible to offer some mitigation. Not all the wounds to Fossett's Farm have been self-inflicted. Problems have emerged from out of nowhere, ranging from Bronze Age burial sites to government minister Ruth Kelly - a haphazard collection of useless bones… and a Bronze Age burial site. And given that he has been wrong, not evil, down the years, there is an admirable quality to his persistence in the face of setbacks and, occasionally, reality. But Southend are in a mess, and are currently only alive thanks to the goodwill of others, most notably 'supermarket giant' Sainsbury's, who have now bailed them out to the public tune of over TWO…AND…A…HALF…MILLION…POUNDS this season alone (it is believed Tesco are currently doing a roaring trade in Colchester).
Sainsbury's paid the £2.135m HMRC were asking after last November. If Southend had been as "solid" as Martin claimed at the time, they wouldn't have had any problems meeting this figure as it fell due and they could have walked it round to HMRC HQ, in Victoria Avenue…Southend. It is worth recalling Martin's take on this very last minute bail-out. "The debt was paid by Roots Hall Ltd, which is one of my group companies." This may have suggested that Martin had paid the bill. But Roots Hall Ltd received a substantial loan from Sainsbury's on November 7th, the very day of that very last-minute reprieve, secured against well over a MILLION club shares. The events were thought to be connected. Martin had to admit as much in a more recent blog, noting that Sainsbury's have no say in the running of the club, which may have disappointed his many critics among the Southend faithful.
While Sainsbury's have taken over HMRC's role as the club's 'bank', Southend have been borrowing money elsewhere…and struggling to pay it back. The Shrimpers Trust subbed the club to the tune of sixty grand just before Christmas and had to extend the deadline for repayment to the end of April. The delay was "due to the ongoing implementation of working capital investments by Southend United which had taken longer than previously envisaged," a gloriously credible-sounding piece of meaninglessness which the Trust had to accept, as "any demand for repayment" would "be unhelpful at this time" (trans: the club haven't got the cash).
Not wanting to feel left out, the Professional Footballers Association subbed the Shrimpers a few quid too, another example of the remarkable situation whereby the union pays the wages because the management are skint. The loan gave Southend "time to conclude" those pesky "longer-term working capital requirements." And Martin publicly demonstrated his gratitude thus: "These are not lowly paid players and they've always been paid in full. I know they haven't always had precise dates for payments but they always knew the money would be coming". "I know it wouldn't have affected me had I been a player," he concluded, breathtakingly. And I suppose it wouldn't have affected him if Sainsbury's had trolled into the High Court this week and said "the money's coming but we don't have a 'precise date for payment.' (?)
Martin's latest claim is that work on the stadium will start "in the summer" (he's been promising fans 'good news in May' for some time), with a view to playing in the stadium at or around Christmas 2011, by which time it might be vital for the facility to have an 'A-grade' to allow it to play Blue Square Premier football. But Southend fans could be forgiven for thinking they've heard all this before. Because they have. Martin has been various shades of confident about the new ground since the turn of the century, confidence which doesn't appear to have been shattered by some remarkable setbacks down the years.
In 2000, Martin justified the 'sale and leaseback' arrangement over Roots Hall which had been necessary to deal with appalling 20th century debts, saying that: "The rent (a tidy £400,000-per-annum) will come out of then property enhancements we receive as part of our relocation plans at Fossett's Farm, which will bring in substantial money for this club." These plans were scuppered because 'rival property developer' Lansbury actually owned three-quarters of the site, which somehow got overlooked during the alleged 'planning' process. Early the following year, Martin was confident that new plans would get past the council, a confidence which unfortunately wasn't shared by…the council, who "(did) not consider there is adequate information to put to members."
It took some months for Martin to admit these plans had stalled, which rather annoyed Lansbury, who said the plans had been flung out months earlier and accused Martin of "continued misrepresentation of what is happening" - if you can imagine such a thing. Martin's confidence unsurprisingly grew when he became club owner in 2006 and announced that work would a start on the 22,000-seater stadium that is still his (pipe)dream today. Original plans had been for a 15-16,000 stadium. But Southend were about to enter the giddy heights of Championship football and League Cup victory over an under-strength but still strong Manchester United. And Martin was "confident" that such a team would fill the stadium, claiming: "All new stadia attract people whether they are football fans or people who just want to see the new environment," an odd statement which on closer examination suggests that he was confident that the team would fill the ground…er…once.
Nevertheless, he was confident that "we would see turnover double, even in year one." About which he may be right, if we ever find out. And he's confident now, despite disputes with some vital human components of the stadium plans. A "huge part" of the funding will come from Sainsbury's development of the site of Southend's current Roots Hall ground. For this, Sainsbury's need the former site of Prospect College, a local vocational training centre. Martin announced in January that a deal was done. College Chief Executive Neil Bates said Sainsbury's recently put that deal on hold for about the 94th time. Sainsbury's gave no reason (perhaps the necessary funds were required elsewhere?) and Bates went public with his disaffection - for about the 94th time.
Martin has also been in lengthy negotiations with local shop and house/flat owners who have taken issue with the proverbial tuppence ha'penny he has offered them for their properties. But if anything else goes wrong, Martin will be confident that it will be someone else's fault. His report on last week's High Court appearance was far more about the Southend Echo's "sensationalist" coverage, than Martin actually missing the court's 'final' deadline and only getting extra-extra time on a technicality. And the obsequious interview the paper published in response to Martin's complaints was the usual mix of lame excuses, scattergun diversions of blame and variants on 'everything is lovely.'
They may be no nearer to rocking up at Fossett's Farm than ever. They may already have spent millions of the project's funding and be in hock to just about everyone that knows them. And they may be facing Stevenage Borough for league points next season. But as he said: "We are very entrepreneurial and innovative… we have paid our debts. While I'm in charge, that will always be the case. And, in the fullness of time, I will deliver all of what I have said. If I was going to give up the fight for the club's future, I would have done it long before now."
We have been warned.
We have indeed lads, we have indeed.
For the first part of the Evening Echo interview between Chris Phillips and Ron Martin in full, go here: www.echo-news.co.uk/sport/theblues/
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The second part, here:
www.echo-news.co.uk/sport/theblues/
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