Martin: 'I don't want to put false hope in people's minds'
He's been very quiet but Shrimpers supremo Ron Martin is as confident as he's ever been, and that's very confident, that after three years since being given permission to construct a new ground, it might happen sooner rather than later, maybe.
Martin told BBC Look East: "I don't want to put false hope in people's minds but we are 90% through the processes we have to do. We're just tying up a couple of loose ends and it's looking good."
Retail giant Sainsbury's will get a store built on the hallowed turf of Roots Hall in exchange for keeping Ron's plans afloat over the years, but for Uncle Ron it's not only about them.
Martin said: "We've been out to tender and have those tenders back from four contractors. We've selected two. We're now conducting interviews with those two and hope to be through that process within the next three to four weeks. I don't want to put a date on it but we're very advanced. We've had a lot of properties to buy in and around Roots Hall and Fossetts Farm. Everything is at a very advanced stage. We're building not just a Sainsbury's store and a stadium but 30 flats for the local authorities."
Finally, Ron couldn't help but remind how grateful we all should be for his continued presence at the club, and how the 14,000 stadium is crucial if we are going to move forward, promotion to League One would help!
Martin concluded: "The stadium is critical. I still subsidise the club. It still needs seven or eight hundred thousand pounds put in this season, which we do month on month. That will continue until the income streams improve. Hopefully that will be through promotion but also through the stadium."
Well, we will wait and see, again.
See the whole interview here: http://news.bbc.co.uk
Further delays for Fossetts Farm: www.southendunited-mad.co.uk
In July, looking at October: www.southendunited-mad.co.uk
FF approved, July 2008: www.southendunited-mad.co.uk