Ron Martin slammed by fans after speaking with talkSPORT on Southend situation

Ron Martin has again been slammed by fans after speaking with talkSPORT on the situation regarding the future of Southend United.

It comes just 24 hours after the club were deducted 10 points and issued with a final 42-day deadline to find new buyers, and now Simon Jordan has admitted he believes owner, Ron Martin is able to pay off the club’s £275,000 debt, but is choosing not to.

Debts total to £2.5m, were warned by the National League in July that failure to clear their tax liability before Wednesday’s hearing would result in a points deduction – irrespective of whether their case was adjourned for a third time.

‘I don’t know whether it’ll be sorted out by then but we’ll continue to do all we can to make sure it is’

Ron Martin on whether or not Southend United will be sold before their next court appearance https://t.co/dzl1hRGnM5

— Chris Phillips (@CJPhillips1982) August 24, 2023

Jim White: Do you have, to an extent, abunch of sympathy towards Ron Martin?

Simon Jordan: Yes and no. Having been in a similar situation, I know how difficult the job is. I know how difficult it is when you are endlessly having to bridge the gap for the decisions that you’ve made. You have to remember that we’re the guys that make these decisions. So if there’s shortfalls in our cash flow, then ultimately we’re the ones that created them. So it’s because all of a sudden you to go on a winning or losing run and fans stop turning up and all of a sudden holes in your cash flow suddenly materialise from the projections you put in place that you made your assumptions upon, that you signed players on. Because you thought your cash flow was going to achieve this. And ultimately it doesn’t. So I do have that empathy. I don’t necessarily agree with his position that the inner revenue are 100% secure, so thatmeans that ultimately they get every single penny that they’re owed, because that’s not the case. But I also think the argument about administration is more to do with protecting Ron’s position by having a debenture. He’s right, he needed a debenture in there to beable to be if he wants to put it into administration, he needs to have a lever to do it. And that means that having a debenture, which is a security of a debt, well, that debt mustbe to Ron and that must be part of the sell process that Ron wants repaid. And he knows that there’ll be a challenge about that if it goes into administration. But it’s not easy. Clearly he doesn’t want to be there, clearly he doesn’t want to fund it. And some would say, well, that’s too bad, you made your choice. The mistakes that you’ve made, by your own admission, have cost the football club league statuses and ultimate revenue streams that you can’t bridge the gap on. The revenue have given him times to pay, which means they’ve given him a deferral. If he owes him 1.9 million quid, they’ve given him, say, a year to pay it. And he hasn’t met those obligations, which means eitherthe club hasn’t generated the revenue and certainly he doesn’t want to put his hand in his pocket. And I have to say, I don’t blame him because it does come a point in everyone’s life where you go, well, that will do. I wish I’d had that attitude rather than keep on tipping money in until ultimately I ran out towards the end. But Ron doesn’t want to put himself in a position and I don’t blame him. But then the other side of the argument willbe that the Southend fans will say entirely, you’re the reason why the club can’t get sold. There was far more to it than what you’re suggesting that there is. And obviously, unless we live, breathe, eat, sleep andthe rest of it Southend, and look at every single nuance and every single fans forum. We’re not going to be able to avail ourselves of every single argument. But what I didn’t hear from Ron, and I think it probably was clear that this is not what he wants to do, is that if these deals fall through, where does this funding call come from to meet the obligations that the court have imposed upon them?

JW: So everything hinders in?

SJ: Well, it would seem to be, wouldn’t it? If the court is saying for 275, I would imagine that Ron Martin can fund 275,000 pounds. I’m thinking he chooses not to.

Ron Martin said via talkSPORT, as per Echo News: ““It was me that set the deadline for 42 days, six weeks, to allow the sale to go through.

“I don’t know whether it’ll be sorted out by then, but we’ll continue to do all we can to make sure it is.

“I’d like to have sold it when I put it on the market in March.

“I really wanted the sale to go through before the season started so the new buyer could put his mark on players and budgets and things like that, but I’m still here.

“For some ridiculous reason some fans think I don’t want to sell, which is utter nonsense.

“My life changed probably in the Covid period and I made that decision many, many months ago but didn’t announce it until March.”

On report the same day of the court appearance that Australian Justin Rees is heading a consortium so that he can buy Southend: “I’m not sure his name is not known, I thought it might be by now, but yes he’s Australian.

“He’s also putting together a small consortium of three or four people, all of whom are known to either myself or Tom Lawrence the CEO.

“We do have a second buyer.

“Similar terms but certainly the person from Australia is more advanced than anybody else.”

On why Kimura. who had been long interested in taking over before coming away, Martin said on talkSPORT, as per Echo News: “We had to deal with a company called Kimura but they straight up front said that they wanted to replicate the Wrexham model and make a documentary.

“They had Ray Winstone and also The Rock, they told us, in a frame to be heading it up.

“I’m not sure if The Rock was ever there, but Ray Winstone appeared to be.

“But when he pulled out because he was conflicted as he’s got an interest in a football agency, the deal fell apart.

“They didn’t actually say that to us, they said they’re still interested but if there’s anybody else that you’ve been talking to, we don’t think we’re going to get there by the adjourned court date, this was July, then you should speak to them.

“It’s got nothing to do with property.

“We’re happy to let people stay at Roots Hall, rent free for three years and buy the club for a pound.”

On what is putting potential bidders off, Ron said, as per Echo News: “I think what’s putting people off is the current debt and also much more importantly the cost of running the club going forward, but it’s nothing to do with property.

“I’ve spent £2.7million since February 27 in trying to save the club.

“My message is that I do want to save the club and I do want to sell it.

“I’ve got other things to do in my life, not least for my family, and I want to move on.

“I’m not just an owner of the football club, I’m an effin’ fan as well and I’ve been supporting this club, home and away, for 24 years, every single weekend.”

You can read what Ron said on the club’s financial struggles by clicking HERE.

‘We don’t believe that the National League has the ability to deduct 10 points, we think it’s contrary to the rules’

Southend United chairman Ron Martin explains why the club are appealing after being docked points https://t.co/vMOn51ZvXQ

— Chris Phillips (@CJPhillips1982) August 24, 2023

As mentioned, Ron Martin has been slammed by fans after speaking with talkSPORT on the Southend situation…

@bagpuss83: Never his fault. Always someone else who has messed it up. Only one common denominator in all this… Ron Martin. Get gone you parasite. #MartinOut

@robertkilcoyne3: Ron Martin told Judge Prentis yesterday that Southend United would be sold, now he is doubting whether it will be sold in time. If Martin had said yesterday what he has said today, would Judge Prentis have issued the winding up order yesterday?

@cheith_eugene: So RM’s admitting here that he’d rather see the club fold than reduce his terms to sell up! 🤬🤬🤬

@curtiz58: The man is a compulsive liar and making things up as he goes along and I hope for the sake of your supporters the sale does go through but in all honesty the chances of it happening look slim.

@JB_Allen: Changes his story every 2 minutes.

@paulhewitt75: That’s not what he said to the judge yesterday. Yesterday he said he was confident it would be done by the end of September.

@JacckCFC: It. Has. To. Be. Did he listen to the judge yesterday?

@ShaunMalone1997: So did he outright lie in front of the judge? Has to be a law against that surely? When he’s sold the club nick him for good measure.

@charlie28975873: So In the space of 24 hours, he’s gone from saying the club WILL be sold in 42 days, to now saying he hopes it will and it MIGHT be sold, surely this constitutes as perjury

@TrueColoursKits: What a truly appalling man. He’s lucky the club hasn’t been dissolved or kicked out of the league and he STILL can’t find the decency within himself to let it go. The club and its fans deserve SO much better.

@twhitehead1986: I hear Ron Martin lying through his teeth on TalkSport. Think Simon Jordon was holding back a bit as well. How do some of these chairman get away with it. Says property isn’t involved yet he will still own Roots Hall and rent it for free….