nickbennett_blog

Tag: Southend

  • Follow Up

    In my last post I mentioned someone whose season card was confiscated. That person wishes to remain anonymous but here is Bob’s update.

    Chaps,

    To save me explaining it 10 times later, see below.

    I had a letter from Nigel the Finance Director of SUFC on my doorstep when I got in last night. It said that I owe them £305, that they did not know why I hadn’t paid and that if I didn’t pay within 7 days then I would be taken to court. It also said “The club depends on debts being paid on time” (which is presumably why they didn’t set up the direct debit as instructed and never pay the government when they owe them).

    Spoke to Nigel who apologised for threatening to take me to court and said that the ticket office hadn’t done the handover properly (shocker). I told him that I’m not paying because it’s their mistake and the whole way this matter has been handled has been (at best) amateur. Nigel didn’t like this. Nigel said that the club has acknowledged that it made a mistake and that I was “screwing them into the ground” over it. I explained to Nigel that if I make a big mistake at work then I get the sack. I got the impression that Nigel’s arris is on the line over this balls up. Nigel said that he couldn’t let me off because it would be unfair on the other 3449 season ticket holders. I told him that I was told that I wasn’t the only one this had happened to and that the only way the club would learn was to be hit in the pocket. Apparently there are ‘about half a dozen’ others that are also doing the same as me and Nigel is sending the bailiffs round to get the money. What utter nonsense.

    I told Nigel that he had a decision to make – he can dig his heels in and take me to court and, in all honesty, probably win the £305 and lose me and Fred as fans – or – they can put this down to experience and not ask Doris the tea lady to do the direct debits set-ups next year when I renew my season ticket and continue to take Fred for the rest of his/my lives.

    About 10 minutes later he called to say that he had referred it up to Tara Brady and that I’d be getting a call some time that evening.

    Tara called – “Ello issat Robert?”…… “I think you mean Robin?”…….. “Oh yeah, sh*t, sorry Robin it’s Tara here”. Basically, Nigel hadn’t ‘referred it to Tara’ – he had ‘Blacklisted’ me so that I was not able to go to any more games and that gets referred immediately to Tara with no explanation so I had to explain the whole thing again.

    He followed up his opening gambit with the revelation that the club had indeed “F**ked up big time” and that he “had to have something to go back to the boys with” and could I spread £120 over 12 months? I said that it is now not about the money but about the principle of the way I’ve been treated and he could do one for his £120. Apparently I’ll hear from “the boys” soon. I also told him that I thought I’d had fair value for money so far. How we laughed.

    Apologies for the essay, but hey, what else have you got to do on a Friday?

  • Letter to the Chairman

    Dear Ron Martin, Have you heard this one? A guy walks into a bar and asks the barmaid for a pint of bitter. ‘Sure’ she replies. ‘With every pint of bitter we are giving away a free bottle of champagne and a full steak meal!’ ‘Wow’ replies the startled man ‘..and how much is that?’ ‘That’ll be 50p’ replies the barmaid. ‘I need to come here more often, so are you the landlady?’  asks the man ‘No, I’m the land lords wife. The landlord is upstairs doing to the barmaid what I’m doing to his business’

    The question is Ron, who is upstairs with your wife?

    This can be the only reason why you are dealing with our finances in such a nonchalantly inept way. Our club is haemorrhaging money. The current figure is a staggering £100k a month. A £100k A MONTH LOSS? To run a league 2 football team? It sounds like a task that even Richard Prior in Brewster’s Millions would turn down. Yet you manage it on a monthly basis. Impressive!

    Here are a few starters for you to perhaps plug the holes in this sinking ship. You’ve managed to sell off the programme vendors for what I can only assume is a quick short-term financial gain. Why would any 3rd party want to take up this venture unless they’d worked out that in the long run there’s money to be made? While we are on the subject of a quick buck the brewery-run bars in the ground should also be run in-house. With a bit of imagination, I’m sure we could work out a way of monetising a bar in a football ground. Currently to ensure you receive a pint before the end of the season you have to head to the bar 15 minutes before the end of the 1st half. If you are unlucky you may get the sweet but slightly senile barmaid. Who even with the aid of the calculator and an epoch of time, will try to fleece you out of change. Here’s an idea, tills and more bar staff! Speculate to accumulate Ronald.

    Hospitality: Cordial and generous reception of or disposition toward guests.

    Maybe you should explain this definition to the staff in ‘hospitality’. David Crown does a fantastic job comparing the day but is let down by the rude and obnoxious staff that surrounds him. On the LAST occasion in ‘hospitality’, my friend asked the woman carving the meat if he could have a bit more. He didn’t ask if he could shove his fist in her arse which the look she gave him would suggest. She proceeded to turn the meat around so she could trim the arsehole off and put it on his plate. This with the constant bickering of the bar staff took the gloss, the undercoat and the wood off an otherwise lovely day. Repeat custom unlikely.

    This is the big one Ron so listen and listen hard. Don’t let people in for FREE for months. I know, pretty drastic huh! It turns out some season card holders’ Direct Debits haven’t gone through. Surely some kind of clerical error? OK, so you’d think the best way to sort this would be to ring the cardholders immediately to get this resolved?  Apparently not. I’ll tell you what we’ll do instead, we’ll wait until midway through the season and then demand £300 by confiscating their season card! I can only assume that the meat carving lady is also in charge of customer relations.

    Ron, treat people in this way and they won’t be coming back and more importantly, they won’t be paying the £300 we so desperately need. The Direct Debit debacle happened to my mate although they actually tried to charge him £305 as there was a £5 admin fee. A fee they were willing to waver if he settled up there and then. How preposterous is this! Just when I think nothing could surprise me anymore the club manages to pull another outrageous stunt. It’s almost a test to see ‘how much they’ll put up with’. Not much more I’m afraid Ron. Until you buck up your ideas you’re going to be a very lonely man sitting in an empty new stadium staring out at fields where the main stand should be.

    Kindest regards,

    Len

    P.S. please please please stop!

  • We’re all in the Gutter

    I’ve just read my prediction post for last season. ‘This season’s goal will be the same as last year…survival. Plain and simple. Survival is not just in footballing terms but also in financial terms’. Well, 1 out of 2 ain’t bad as Mr Meatloaf might say. So my hopes for this season are exactly the same. Boring eh, for the third season on the trot.

    These recent months have been the hardest months to endure as a football fan. I’ll take the Pepsi test with any other football fan that reckons they’ve had it worse. Man City got relegated years ago yet still gloat to this day at how hardcore they were when they were in the second tier of English football…yawn! Portsmouth is looking at administration in the face…at least you got something for your money. And finally, Chester City who went completely out of business… erm alright bad example. So to demonstrate the past few months in as brief a way as possible…

    Southend was relegated to league 2
    Me : ‘Still, at least it can’t get any worse’
    Southend release 90% of playing staff
    Me : ‘Erm now it can’t get any worse’
    Southend sack long serving manager Steve Tilson
    Me : ‘Ok, this is it now the lowest of the low’
    HMRC take Southend to High Court for administration hearing
    Me: ‘Right, baring a Tsunami this truly cannot get any worse’
    Southend Chairman questioned on sexual assault charges
    Me : ‘Fine, I give up’

    This week though something amazing happened. I actually received some good news. The HMRC dropped its case against us after it was proven that (with the help of Sainsbury’s) we were a viable business that could meet all future tax bills. Hooray! I don’t know how we did it! We don’t (as far as I can see) have any viable assets. Apparently, even the programs have been sold off to another company.

    Things may be bad at the moment but we’re still alive…just. Our team is made up of all new faces and there is a tried and tested manager at the helm in Paul Sturrock. So I’m making 2 predictions, my head prediction says relegation and administration while my heart says playoffs and a lovely new stadium for next year. So we may currently be in the gutter let’s just hope we’re looking up at the stars!

  • Out with a shrimper!

    So another rubbish season, slightly more rubbish than last as this year we were relegated. You look at the League 2 fixture list for good weekends away ‘Bournemouth has a good nightlife…oh no wait..they went up’. A depressing conclusion to an absolutely crushing year. This time last season we were the in-form team, if our run of wins started just slightly earlier we could have made the playoffs. How does this momentum turn so dramatically? I believe it all started with the departure of Peter Clarke, our player of the season for an outstanding year at center half. We’ve tried to replace him but just have not found anyone even close. Last year we also had a defender called Dervite on loan from Tottenham, who again seems to have been irreplaceable.

    Let me tell you about a guy called M’Voto. He’s the guy that was brought in on loan from Sunderland to fill in this massive void. Unfortunately, his best spell at the club was when he was injured. This man was substituted after 12 minutes during a RESERVE match, having scored an OG and set up a second for the opposition. After such an illustrious start we decided to extend his contract for the remainder of the season. He’s now what you would call a regular.

    Ok, I’m probably being a bit harsh. All the blame can’t be placed on this one player but it demonstrates the difference in quality from this year to last. Poor players with high morale should definitely be good enough to stay in league 1 (think Oldham). The morale of the team was probably a little bit dented by the fact they were always being paid late. The old ‘too good to go down‘ adage was banded about by quite a few of the faithful but I don’t know what games they were watching. Yes, we can keep the ball and play nice triangles and even play a great long pass every now and then. Can we keep a clean sheet …erm No! Can we score at the other end…scratching my head? A lot of teams can win dirty which sometimes is the key, especially at home. We may have been alright if our top goal scorer stayed, but you can’t seriously rely on a single person to get all of your goals.

    So, the last game of the season Southampton away. A brilliant turnout by the blues fans, and the effort on the fancy dress front was great. I spotted a Father Christmas, a Darth Vader and the worst drag act since Tarzan went through Jane’s purse and ate her lipstick (kudos Blackadder). Amusing chants of ‘Where ever we’ll be we’ll be, we’re going to Shrewsbury’, after another wayward strike ‘that’s why we’re going down’, and the same chant again when our physio lost the race with his counterpart to the other side of the pitch. Southampton fans were applauding our crazy antics, twice we’ve been relegated at St Mary’s and celebrated like we’ve won the league. What must they think?

    Looking to the future then. Well, I can’t see the situation changing at the club anytime soon. The economy seems more uncertain than ever, so loans for Football stadiums are not top of everyone’s agenda. So the aim for next year is to stop the rot. If we can hang on to our better players then we should try to do so. If we can’t afford them then we have to let them go. The turnover will be less next year so the player’s wages will be even more of a struggle with gates of just 3500. I remember a dreary cold Tuesday night loss at home to Boston thinking can it get any worse than this. I suppose we’ll see next year, won’t we 🙁

  • Land of Hope and Glory?

    Have the English teams been overachieving recently? Of course, they have! You speak to anyone in Europe and they’ve spoken about the English game as if it’s the zenith of football. This year’s Champions League campaign just proves what can be achieved if you give your opposition the respect they deserve and not what you think they deserve.

    How many top stars does the premiership have? I mean top stars, stars that attract Pepsi. Precisely, last year as a neutral I enjoyed the Ballon d’Or as I had someone to cheer. Love him or hate him Christiano Ronaldo did his bit to promote the English game. Why didn’t we attract more top stars when our league was perceived to be the best? Simple, the weather. I’m sure you get to a point with your ludicrous wages that you can afford to take a 20k pay cut for a bit of sun and glamour. Man U, Man City, Liverpool, and even Arsenal will never be able to compete with the lure of playing for Barcelona, Real Madrid, or even AC Milan. I would have loved to have seen Ronaldinho in England but Milan or Manchester. If my knees were in better nick, my lungs weren’t that of a pensioner’s and I was any good at football I’d know who I’d pick. Well until Southend could afford me that is!

    What about Southend United I hear you shout. Well, relegation is looming and it looks as though our worst nightmares have come true. Depressing as it is watching League 1 on a Tuesday night over Champions League games, League 2 football is a whole new kettle of fish. If we survive financially in the coming months I’m sure we’ll be back. We have a great fan base and I’m sure we’ll keep the faith. Our latest court appointment with the tax man has been delayed by another week. To me, this makes no sense. I’m sure the ‘paid by the hour’ lawyers would be able to explain why it’s beneficial for the club to delay paying the tax man for as long as possible. I think the damage to morale, the further legal fees and the worry of the fans isn’t worth the week’s worth of bank interest. That is if we actually have the amount due of course!

    On lighter news Player are going to do one-off gig this summer so keep your diary free. I’ll keep you posted!

  • Ron’s Q and A

    Arrogant, condescending, and rude, but also determined and loyal. After Ron Martin’s Q and A on Monday I personally feel at least a little reassured. The answers Mr Martin gave weren’t always what the fans wanted to hear but came across very honestly. My key fear was that we’d pre-sold assets from the new stadium to Sainsbury’s. Assets which without would mean the club would not be self-sufficient in the future. These fears were laid to rest as it was explained that Sainsbury’s loan was secured against other land held by Ron Martin’s company.

    According to the chairman we haven’t been self-sufficient for a while and it’s only due to some generous handouts from himself that we’ve managed to remain debt free. We’ve never been asked to pay rent on Roots Hall and we wouldn’t for the near future in the new stadium. Ron couldn’t guarantee for how long this would continue. If he was to sell it who knows what the new owners would do.

    This precarious reliance on a benefactor to financially support a club isn’t new. It’s not just at this level either and in fact, I think clubs in the lower leagues are at slightly less risk than Premier league teams. Look at Chelsea and Manchester City. If their playboy owners ever get bored and decide to move on they may struggle to find someone with enough capital to take on all of those expensive player contracts. Fans are sometimes put in a difficult situation where they want to make their feelings known but why bite the hand that feeds you. The financial potential of Southend United currently isn’t a great one. This means that a potential buyer to replace the current chairman isn’t an option.

    If the goals that Mr Martin has set out are accomplished then a Championship side, in a new stadium/retail park with a solid 15,000-20,000 fan base would be a tempting viable investment. This would be good news for everyone involved in the club, including Mr Ron Martin. This dream is a long way off for a team currently in the relegation zone of League 1 and the inability to pay its playing staff. The 14th April deadline set by HMRC could ultimately be the end of the line. So in Ron we trust. Let’s hope he’s a man of his word.

  • Martin’s Shaken and Stirred

    It seems that my pre-season pessimism was not completely unfounded. The Chairman has since proved to be the swindling swine I’d hoped he wouldn’t be. It turns out you do need to replace your defenders if they leave. And not paying any of your staff does wonders for morale. With relegation looming there are few positive notes to take from this season. Supporting a team at this level really is a rollercoaster ride, but I don’t remember it being much lower than this.

    Let’s start with the off-the-field shenanigans shall we? The troubles seem to have come from trying to get the finances together for a new stadium. The Chairman has my sympathies here as no one had predicted how much the economy would slump. However, there are examples of other teams that seemed to have coped perfectly well in these conditions and have actually thrived in them. It pains me to say it but we need to look at Colchester United as an example of how to run a club. With half the gate we get they’ve managed to build a new stadium, get a play-off challenging squad together and have enough surplus playing staff that they can bail out their local misfits by loaning players out.

    I love my club to bits but as an organisation it’s a complete mess. From Season Cards not functioning correctly to the failure to organise eight people around a table in the Blues lounge. All these basic things that shouldn’t be an issue always have been. It needs someone with a bit of know-how to come in and review everything the club is doing and turn it on its head. On Saturday I learned that The Groundsman’s bar is actually run by the brewery, another revenue stream turned away. Everything at the club seems to have been done to make a quick buck without any forethought into long-term revenue!

    They’ve made some good marketing campaigns. I loved the shareholder brochures and the season card renewal booklets. And the little things like the Christmas Card and the Birthday letters are all nice touches. This year’s birthday letter wasn’t on the usual nice-headed paper though, which to be honest I’d rather they saved their stamp money. I’ve recently started following the club shop on Twitter. On the first game they were meant to send a half-time offer, I didn’t receive this because of ‘technical difficulties’. It’s a Tweet for crying out loud! It takes literally 3 seconds to do from any smartphone.

    I showed my concern after the game on Saturday by joining the 100-strong protests. Ron Martin has since organised a Q & A this Monday. I fear that this PR Guru will manage to avoid any of the meaningful questions by spinning some legal/financial spiel.

    Martin out!

  • Beloved Blues Saved!

    Talk about last-minute reprieve. On the doorsteps of the courtroom, it was announced that the chairman Mr Ron Martin would settle the outstanding tax bill this Friday. Ron had promised that it ‘would go down to the wire’ and he wasn’t wrong. The more cynical side of me is thinking that maybe our media-hungry chairman had the money the entire time and the last-minute shenanigans were a bit of a PR stunt. The fans were not happy with Mr Martin being in this predicament in the first place. Especially as there was a promise made earlier in the year that we would have no problem in settling this bill. I’m hoping that this will be an end to the matter and that after Friday we can close this chapter on Southend United’s darkest hour….watch this space.

    Southend join several other clubs named recently as being taken to court by HMRC. Is it just the current global economic climate that so many clubs find themselves in this situation or is this the Government being tougher in an attempt to re-coop funds to make inroads in the country’s huge deficit? Either way, I believe although on the face of it football could be seen as a luxury item, it needs to survive for the sanity of everyone. With nothing but doom and gloom on every corner, it’s great to spend at least an hour and a half every week away from it all.

    As a club, we’ve never been excessive in any way. Our biggest-ever signing was Mike Marsh from Galatasaray in 1995 for £500k, we’ve been at the hall for over 30 years and have a history of selling on our biggest assets (most recently Freddie Eastwood and Nicky Bailey). The only reason we’ve come to this is that we’ve been trying to move the club forward into a new stadium. Then the economic meltdown happened…typical. The next hurdle for us is survival which even with our 10 points intact is still going to be a big test. Our fragile squad was tested last week, with Steve Tilson (our manager) dusting off the boots to take part in a mid-week Essex Senior Cup tie.

    Friday’s showdown with Gillingham was always going to be an uphill struggle. For once though luck was on our side. The Gills had a shot cleared off the line (which looked dubious) and a perfectly good free kick chalked off for pushing. The second half was completely dominated by Gillingham who brought on 3 subs and looked the fresher side. Then in the 92 minute, an intricate control/shot from Lee Barnard lifted all the blues supporter’s spirits, and the administrative hearing was forgotten (well at least for a brief moment). This blogger started hugging the old man next to him and it seemed appropriate at the time. So the FA cup is next up but we need something nearing a miracle as without top scorer Barnard and midfield lynchpin Alan McCormack I cannot see us getting anything at Gillingham. A real shame as the money from a Cup run could be very handy at the moment.

  • Sinking Feeling!

    The topsy-turvy season is never truer than at this level. On paper this week should have been our big push toward the playoffs, instead, we are lingering in the bottom half. Things started badly on Saturday with another laughable decision by the inept officials. I wish someone could clarify what the referee’s assistant can and cannot make decisions on. Here is the way I see it. The linesman seems to have incidents that happen near them which they don’t even act upon. Is there a look toward the referee to see if he shares the linesman’s opinion? Or is he/she acting as another set of eyes altogether? The game against Oldham left me none the wiser. A lunge by an Oldham player (removing half the Roots Hall turf) was ignored by the referee’s assistant despite it happening under his nose?!? Say or wave something man!!

    The very same assistant took it upon himself to give a penalty that was missed by the referee, all playing staff, and 6000 of the Southend faithful?!? The resultant penalty was scored so the blues dropped a point. There’s quite clearly a case of sour grapes about this blog (rant) but it’s because I don’t quite understand the duties of the linesman. They should either be assistants and give their opinions when asked or be more headstrong in their decisions. I’m assuming the first of these two options is true, in which case how can a linesman have the authority to give penalties against the judgment of the referee?

    Next up was Brentford away. My only away game so far this campaign. Griffin Park is a typical old-school ground with seats that are clearly designed for people under 5 feet tall. I settled in nicely squeezing my head between my knees. Early on in the game came the strangest goal I’ve ever seen. A free kick about 25 yards out was curled under the post by Simon Francis. The keeper caught the ball above his head and seemed to drift backward with the ball still in his hands. The linesman gave it as a goal! The crowd and the Southend players were stunned. It was only when the players started to huddle that the fans accepted it was a goal and started to celebrate. The linesman had clearly got the memo about our previous experience with assistant referees.

    Two penalties in the second half put a dampener on proceedings especially as the second was given in the 94th minute. Brentford weren’t particularly good but then neither were we. A draw would have been fair, but Southend decided to self-destruct…again! Looking at the positives though, we are on target with my pre-season target of ‘avoid relegation’!

    Crossed the line?
    Crossed the line?

  • Blues halt rampant Leeds

    Another Friday night at the Hall, and another entertaining game. Despite there being no goals the game itself was as exciting as they come. Great saves, missed penalties, last-ditch challenges, and friendly crowd banter. Captain Adam Barrett was immense at the back with countless Bobby Moore’esq tackles keeping us in the game. The main talking point happened in the 66th minute when a hopeful ball played into the Leeds area forced a reckless challenge, Penalty!

    Lee ‘Barney’ Barnard had scored 2 penalties at the same time last week (the first having to be retaken) so the crowd was full of confidence when he stepped up. Unfortunately for us the keeper guessed the right way and managed to get an outstretched hand to the ball. On the face of it, a great point but can’t help but feel disappointed to let them off the hook. Next up Brighton away!

    Just like to congratulate the England team who did a fantastic job in qualifying. Just shows what some technical know-how and a strict approach can achieve. I like to believe the rumours that John Terry asked permission for the team to have some nuts on a flight to an away game. Capello simply shook his head….brilliant!