Chairman Ron: Just how much does he owe?
Just when you thought it was safe to buy a season card!
Another day, another doom and gloom financial story about the Shrimpers in a national newspaper.
Though this one on www.dailymail.co.uk/sport is sparse to say the least, it did have this interesting quote, if not unsurprising, from a 'source': 'It is obvious the chairman has questions to answer about the club's financial state. There must be a real danger of Southend going out of business.'
Oh, we've been living with this for weeks lads, and while Ron lies on his beach in Crete, one of his cronies in the form of financial director Nigel Brunning told the High Court last week: "The club chairman has agreed with Sainsbury's for it to provide support for the club to go forward. Fossetts Farm is such a complex deal it is taking a long time to conclude."
And with Ron insisting that with £7m of the £20m Sainsbury's have offered for the Roots Hall site to build a supermarket already invested in paying the club's unpaid taxes, and we hope very soon PFA loans so we can actually sign players, it's doubtful they will pull out now.
It's a shame that only bad news affecting basement clubs makes the national media, no world cup signings on there way to south east Essex, even Sainsbury's wouldn't allow Ron to get away with that, but we should have got used to it by now.
Anyway, two weeks ago over 90% felt chairman Ron Martin going was the best way forward for the club, and them over the last eight days the S24 poll query gave a wider option, and in the biggest return of votes ever seen on the site, Ron resigning is still seen as he most popular way for Southend to escape it's financial problems, just over bringing in the 'consortium', though of course the two are inescapably linked.
As this vote covered days before and after Paul Sturrock's appointment, we've started up a new one that sticks to how you feel after his week in charge, presuming Ron pays the bills and he actually stays to see in the start of the new season!
Vote here:
www.southendunited-mad.co.uk/polls/voting_polls.asp
| What is the answer to Southend United's current financial woes? | |||
| Ron Martin resigns | 36.0% | ||
| Call for the consortium | 32.0% | ||
| Sainsbury's take full control | 16.0% | ||
| Accept administration | 8.0% | ||
| Forget it, we're going under! | 8.0% | ||