Southend United – a membership staring into the abyss. Are these their closing days?

Craig Tanner and his dad, Richard, are stood ready within the Essex solar. Ready in a crowd. Ready for an indication to maneuver ahead.

It’s matchday in Southend. Behind them are the River Thames’ estuary and town’s pier, the longest on the planet. In entrance, a one-mile protest march to Roots Corridor: the house of Southend United, a 117-year-old soccer membership which will not exist come Wednesday.

“We’ve to observe the court docket dates greater than the fixtures,” Craig tells The Athletic. “It’s simply horrible. I come to video games with my dad. I used to come back with my nan and grandad.

“Tuesday evening, we play Oxford Metropolis. Then on Wednesday, we have now a court docket date. That Tuesday could possibly be our closing recreation at Roots Corridor. Tuesday could possibly be the final time I sit in my seat, subsequent to my dad… I’m sorry.” His eyes are crimson.

An environment of disaster is nothing new to Southend.

It’s all there over the previous 25 years. Accusations of mismanagement by proprietor and property developer Ron Martin, 18 winding up petitions since 2009, a brand new floor that’s but to materialise, pockets of land primed for housing, unpaid tax payments, mounting money owed and the stadium and coaching base taken out of the membership’s possession.

Martin and Southend had been contacted for remark earlier than the publication of this text.

It has felt like demise by a thousand cuts. The ultimate second could possibly be simply hours away.

“We would like Martin out!” booms a voice from the entrance of the group.

The tons of gathered take part instantly and the march begins.

“If this was not a soccer membership with the attachment of its followers, I’d be winding you up at present. You’ll be wound up on the subsequent date if it’s not sorted,” mentioned Choose Sebastian Prentis on August 23, the day Southend had been granted a 42-day adjournment.

By Wednesday, they should have handled the newest unpaid tax invoice. It stood at £275,000 however has been diminished by £80,000 because of the Nationwide League — the extent the place Southend now play after their 101-year spell within the EFL ended with relegation in 2021. The league agreed to advance Southend’s subsequent instalment of central broadcast and sponsorship income, offering it might give the cash on to HMRC.

It was the third adjournment of the membership’s 18th winding-up petition over the previous 4 years. The extra time was granted to permit Martin to promote the membership. A consortium led by Australian businessman Justin Rees is the primary hope. Optimistic talks have taken place between the events up to now week, with important motion in direction of a takeover. Regardless of time working out, there may be real perception a deal can be accomplished forward of Wednesday’s deadline.

Supporters don’t have any choice however to hope it does.

Martin has repeatedly discovered a technique to elevate the cash wanted up to now, albeit in reply to issues usually perceived to be of his making.

In August the tax invoice remained unpaid and sporting sanctions arrived. The Nationwide League deducted Southend 10 factors. With that, hopes of a promotion marketing campaign after an unlikely and promising begin had been dealt a physique blow. On Wednesday, it could possibly be administration and an additional factors deduction that may make one other relegation extremely possible — and even liquidation and extinction.

For the reason that finish of final season, it has felt just like the membership are dying.

Southend completed eighth then, simply two factors off the ultimate play-off spot, however their licence to compete had come beneath severe risk — they wanted to clear their soccer collectors and persuade the league they’d see out this season.

The membership had hoped to be of their new coaching floor at Fossetts Farm, which is owned by Martin. There have been plans for a brand new stadium there too, alongside housing and industrial growth, in flip permitting Roots Corridor to be become housing. In November, the membership’s web site posted footage of 4 “Championship-quality” coaching pitches being created.

By summer season, the work had lengthy since stopped after the cash ran out. Southend’s current coaching floor close by had been ignored within the expectation it might not be wanted. The water had been reduce off. No bogs, no showers, no unusable pitches. They’d nowhere to hold out their pre-season preparations. The gamers refused to coach till June wages had been lastly paid.

Southend United U19s 3
Oxford Metropolis U18s 3

Respectable recreation nevertheless it was the venue that grabbed my consideration.

Boots and laces coaching floor is in a very surprising situation. The deal must be carried out, we’d like individuals who will take satisfaction in our membership!#martinout pic.twitter.com/vzUljQEwDR

— Stadium Pictures (@davethephoto) September 27, 2023

Ultimately, workers managed to get half a pitch watered and reduce so it could possibly be educated on. However a six-week pre-season programme was reduce down. A schedule of seven warm-up friendlies turned two — performed over 4 days inside a fortnight of the season beginning.

Southend additionally had a switch embargo in place. It meant no new signings, an incapability to re-sign out-of-contract gamers and a restrict of 16 registered gamers. Solely those that nonetheless had contracts remained.

Regardless of the chaos and commonly having not more than 13 gamers accessible, Southend could be on the fringes of the play-off locations once more now if it was not for his or her factors deduction.

Of simply three substitutes named for his or her 2-1 dwelling defeat to Fylde on September 23, one was affected by meals poisoning and unable to come back on. Wesley Fonguck lasted 60 minutes after beginning with a good quad muscle in his thigh. The one accessible goalkeeper is 37-year-old goalkeeping coach, David Martin. He signed short-term phrases to play however these must be cancelled as quickly as injured gamers are in a position to return. Jason Demetriou, 35, is a contemporary Southend icon — he has been with the membership since 2016. He added teaching duties to his taking part in duties in the summertime. He’s nonetheless beginning in defence.

Employees are more and more involved for participant welfare. They’re taking part in via minor accidents and with out the remainder that may include an even bigger squad. The workers may also see that gamers’ endurance ranges are in need of the place they’d be had a full pre-season programme taken place. There was an expectation outcomes would dip as soon as Southend’s schedule hit two video games per week.

Gamers proceed to play in unfamiliar positions — captain Cav Miley has moved from midfield to central defence. Employees wish to develop younger gamers together with 20-year-old ahead Jack Wooden, however concern the need of the state of affairs could have a detrimental impact. Oli Coker, additionally 20, performed in opposition to Fylde regardless of health considerations.

Earlier than Maidenhead United’s go to in September, head coach and membership legend Kevin Maher was coping with the prospect of getting solely 10 gamers accessible. There was a sense contained in the membership that the sport would have gone forward even when there had solely been seven, the minimal permitted, due to the eye in direction of their plight.

“They’re all carrying issues and their our bodies are knackered,” Maher mentioned. “They’re shattered. And we’ve obtained no assistance on that. We’ve obtained some our bodies in there which can be breaking.

“My concern is participant welfare, as a result of we’re going into video games with 12, or 13 gamers. The gamers, workers, we’re those who get punished on the pitch, and it’s none of our doing. They’re giving completely every part.”

Maher is working wonders as supervisor (Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside through Getty Photos)

This June, two months earlier than the season was attributable to begin, Roots Corridor was in peril of not being match for goal.

The checklist of to-do duties approached 400, with simply two groundsmen to hold them out. There have been holes within the pitch after lacking deadlines to pay a contractor to organize it for the brand new season. There have been points within the stands too.

A number of photos from The Large Clear Up at @SUFCRootsHall earlier at present with a large turnout at Roots Corridor from loyal followers together with Southend West MP @Anna_Firth Effectively carried out to all people involved. #LovePhotography pic.twitter.com/EcsRfVaSHv

— NickyHayesPhotos (@NickyHayesPhoto) July 30, 2023

Led by supporter Lawrence Austin, the ultimate Sunday in July noticed 165 folks flip up with buckets, brooms, mops and spades.

Together with the groundsmen, they fastened seats, cleared gutters, eliminated weeds, reseeded the pitch and stuck flooded bogs — the place fungi was rising. One supporter paid the £600 invoice to exchange smashed home windows. Railings had been repainted with folks’s personal paint and ceilings had been replastered. Chief government Tom Lawrence, who has paid some of the club’s bills, rendered elements of the stadium. Hearth exits had been cleared. Chook faeces needed to be cleared to keep away from the chance of contamination and permit the council to approve its public use.

Roots Corridor, just like the coaching floor, would have had its water reduce off however there was a van parked over the entry manhole to the mains. Authorities might due to this fact not shut down the availability in response to unpaid payments.

The tidy-up day was successful however the full work took greater than two months. Six days earlier than dealing with Oldham Athletic within the opening recreation, Southend obtained the inexperienced mild and security certificates wanted. They then beat Oldham 4-0.

Roots Corridor was constructed and paid for by supporters, then gifted to the membership in 1955. Once more, the followers had taken issues into their very own fingers.

Roots Corridor earlier than the clean-up (Carl Courtroom/Getty Photos)

Austin mentioned: “There have been a variety of tears within the floor that first recreation. Lots of people had been emotional based mostly on how a lot work had been carried out to get it prepared.”

Some elements of the stadium stay closed. Supporters within the south west nook of the stadium can not get a drink from the closest bar after the roof fell in. The scoreboard isn’t working.

Power provider Npower had taken authorized motion over unpaid payments and requested entry to the stadium. That case was set to be heard on Tuesday at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Courtroom, 20 miles away, however The Athletic understands that case is now prone to be adjourned.

When the bottom was donated to the membership, a covenant was put in place stopping planning permission that may demolish it with out there being a brand new dwelling for Southend to maneuver into. This led to twenty years of discuss constructing a stadium at Fossetts Farm, a website on the northern fringe of town.

Southend acquired their licence to play after clearing football-related money owed. Some workers had gone 4 months with out being paid.

The buildup of many small issues created “a state of affairs you possibly can by no means do justice to”, in accordance with one supply who wished to stay nameless to guard their relationship with the membership.

Gamers really feel they’ve identified little greater than supporters all year long. The temper contained in the dressing room has been at its most indignant when gamers’ wages haven’t been paid. Maher has, although, maintained a concentrate on soccer.

Midfielder Fonguck instructed the Beyond The 92 podcast: “Our gaffer all the time says, ‘Management what we will.’ We are able to do one thing about what’s on the pitch and that’s introduced us collectively.

“The realism is there’s nothing we will do about that, so we’d higher simply get the rattling wins as quickly as attainable as a result of that’s all we will management.”

There was hope film actor Ray Winstone — born in east London, lower than an hour’s drive away — might assist lead a takeover that may lead to a Wrexham-style documentary and comparable success on the pitch, though a concrete provide by no means materialised.

5 golf equipment now within the Premier League — Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Brighton & Hove Albion, Bournemouth and Luton City — have confronted monetary break solely to bounce again and climb up the divisions.

“I’ve put cash in a bucket for Brighton,” says Southend fan Piers Hewitt. “I’ve watched them play dwelling video games in three completely different venues. I’ve put cash in a bucket for Bournemouth too. This 12 months, we’ve had different golf equipment’ followers put cash in a bucket for us — however not for the membership; for our workers who haven’t been paid.” The Shrimpers Belief, a supporters’ group, raised a £40,000 hardship fund through the summer season for unpaid membership workers who wanted assist. The vast majority of that cash stays accessible.

Protests outdoors Martin’s dwelling in close by Benfleet have continued, with followers making themselves heard — and drawing horn honks of help from passing site visitors.

“Ron would’ve cherished us to be a Swansea or a Brighton,” added Hewitt. “I gave him the advantage of the doubt. I had him down as a businessman who obtained concerned with out having a lot affinity with the membership after which obtained caught up in it.

“However he’s all the time been chasing this new-ground imaginative and prescient and he’s bought us the road we can not exist at Roots Corridor anymore. He’s needed to be the proprietor of a second-tier soccer membership. He’s chased that to a degree the place he can solely have spent past his means for a very long time, and that’s mismanagement. There are methods of working golf equipment our measurement with out shedding the cash he claims to have misplaced.

Martin has turn out to be deeply unpopular (Pete Norton/Getty Photos)

“It looks as if nobody leaves the membership and talks about Ron in a constructive mild. I look fondly at different golf equipment and want we had an proprietor who we could possibly be as pleased with as we’re of the workforce. We haven’t had an proprietor to be pleased with for a very long time.”

Martin has mentioned since March his time is finished and that he desires to promote.

Nonetheless, there’s a lot to unpick. Belongings and the loans secured in opposition to them, 24 years of debt restructuring, housing growth plans and the small matter of sustainably working a soccer membership have confirmed an excessive amount of to beat. Subsequently, ideas have turned to different choices.

The belief and native politicians have utilized for a £2million grant from the UK authorities’s levelling-up fund which, if efficiently match-funded, might take Roots Corridor into neighborhood possession. Analysis is being carried out into creating an identical framework to Chelsea Pitch House owners and with it, defending Southend’s future at their current dwelling. There are discussions about making a phoenix membership, ought to the worst occur.

“Who’s going to purchase us? Why do it with all these money owed? You may as nicely let the membership fold and purchase a membership you’ll be able to steam via the leagues,” Shrimperscast podcast host Paul Hill tells The Athletic. “The stadium is a shambles. This wants redeveloping; overlook Fossetts Farm. That is our dwelling, constructed for the followers and the membership. We don’t want a shiny new stadium, we simply want a membership.

“This membership means every part. My dad took me right here within the late Eighties. I regarded on the Roots Corridor pitch and I assumed, ‘That’s for me.’

“I’ve seen us go up the leagues and down them. I’ve seen us beat Manchester United (within the League Cup in 2006), seen nice gamers play right here and are available via the ranks to depart and have nice careers within the Premier League.

“It’s going to be a crying disgrace if 117 years simply will get deleted due to one man’s drive to construct homes.”

There have been nearly 1,000 supporters marching by the point the protest obtained to Roots Corridor on September 23. The topic of their ire was not there. Martin has not attended a house recreation since final December.

Chris Phillips, correspondent for the Southend Echo and a lifelong fan of the membership, instructed The Athletic: “You’ve obtained a stark distinction in feelings as a result of the workforce has been unimaginable. That does fill you with a way of satisfaction.

“I’ve had tears rolling down my face. I really feel dangerous saying this, nevertheless it’s like visiting an aged relative in end-of-life care. To assume, realistically, this membership received’t be right here anymore, it’s so upsetting. It ought to have by no means come to this.

“A number of my pals aren’t going (to matches) in the mean time. They don’t really feel it’s proper to maintain placing cash into the chairman’s pocket. If it was a standard relationship, you’d’ve walked away a very long time in the past however so many can’t when it’s soccer.

“It’s horrifying the few instances we’ve been in court docket. You’ll be able to actually really feel your coronary heart beating out of your chest. Your membership’s future is on this cut up second of no matter this decide goes to say.”

Makes an attempt to purchase Southend from Martin have been likened to untangling headphones which were in a pocket for 25 years and are on a cable 100 metres lengthy. The Shrimpers Belief has met with these trying to introduce impartial regulation, placing ahead Southend as a case research of why it’s wanted.

“My eight-year-old has been telling pals her favorite participant isn’t Harry Kane or Bukayo Saka however (Southend midfielder) Jack Bridge, and he or she’s nonetheless harmless sufficient to be bemused they don’t know who he’s,” provides Hewitt. “I don’t need her to see how shut we’re to her not having the ability to inherit what I inherited from my dad. That hurts a lot. Every thing hurts extra via your youngster’s eyes.

“I keep in mind trying on the Bury state of affairs nearly in disbelief and pondering, ‘How can it get so far?’. Now individuals are saying that to me.

“I see so many individuals (at video games). I like saying hi there to all of them and I haven’t obtained a clue what their identify is. I’ve seen them for years. We’re all a part of a household and I don’t need that household to disband — it’s my household. You assume it’ll all the time be there and the specter of it not being makes me sick.”

The hope is just not killing Southend — proper now, it’s the solely factor protecting them alive.

(High photographs: Getty Photos)