EXCLUSIVE: Ron Martin goes to jail

Controversial Southend United Chairman Ron Martin sensationally has gone to jail, the Southend Afternoon Echo Sportsdesk can exclusively report.

The immacutely haired club owner who has been interviewed by the police over allegations made by his cleaner and also on suspicion of money-laundering and corruption
- although the Southend Afternoon Echo is eager to add no charges were brought on either occasion - sensationally went today to Chelmsford Prison to collect disgraced winger Ryan Hall, who was released on bail pending an appeal over his 20 week sentence for affray.

Ryan Hall will now reportedly be available for both Saturday and Tuesday's crucial encounters for the promotion chasing League Two side.

Ron Martin has been convicted of no offence.

Ron elected to League Board

Southend Chairman Ron Martin has been elected to the Football League Board.

Whilst the move will come as a shock to many who will question the wisdom of appointing a man whose club may be wound up before the season, the Southend Afternoon Echo has learnt there were good reasons behind Ron Martin's appointment.

With no London clubs in the division (except Barnet, and if you've ever tried to get there on the Northern Line you'll know they are hardly London) Southend, who will be in town anyway for their weekly appointment at the debtors' section of the High Court, were the natural choice.

The move also negates any concerns over claiming back SUFC's share of Board Members 'travel expenses.

It is unknown whether Mr Martin put himself forward for this prestigious role, or whether he was nominated in his absence when no-one else wanted to do it and someone had the bright idea of giving the role to the bloke who was still on holiday.

Bin Martin: Ron issues Bin Laden style video tape

A tape said to be from the bunker of Martin Dawn chairman, Ron Martin, has been aired on www.southendunited.co.uk, a web-site with known links to Martin Dawn.

Directly addressing supporters losing the faith, the tape is seen by analysts as a direct response to rumours that have been circulating for months that the club was as good as dead. In it Martin offers words of hope and vows to continue the struggle.

The authenticity (of his answers) remains unverified.

Martin, whose health has been in question, has seemingly been laying low of late, reportedly hiding from creditors who seek him high and low. It is believed that he is hiding with his head in the sand.

Ron Martin kneecapped over debts

Southend Chairman Ron Martin was yesterday forced to issue a statement in response to growing rumours circulating around South East Essex.

The news emerged after Martin, 57, admitted providing a statement at Rayleigh Police Station following what he described as an "incident".

During the statement Martin confirmed that he had operations on both knees during the last month, for reasons that were described as "necessary as a direct result" of his "commitment to sport over many years".

This is believed to be a thinly veiled reference to his financial commitments in Southend United over the last 12 years.

Whilst Martin has been reluctant to comment on the League Two club's financial difficulties, it has been common knowledge that the club has been in a precarious financial situation. Faced with not one, but two winding up orders over the last season, Chairman Martin was forced to arrange some desperate last minute loans (and we're not just talking about Roy O'Donovan and Jabo Ibhere, although their loan performances were most certainly desperate). It would appear that one of the club's creditors may have taken action into their own hands - and Ron Martin's knees.


WHO MIGHT WANT TO KNEECAP RON MARTIN? - YOU DECIDE!

A - Jamie Oliver, the fat-lipped face of Sainsburys, a major creditor of the club.

B - A disgruntled unpaid former player, such as Alan McCormack.

C - Trevor Bashford of the Trust, whose £60,000 loan remains unpaid.

D - His missus.


Get well soon Ron.

Club act to ensure positive approach

The club today made another decisive step towards maintaining an UPWARD SPIRAL and having a POSITIVE APPROACH with an announcement sent to fans on their mailing list.

This news follows the sacking earlier this month of popular assistant Paul Brush because of perceived negativity. In his justification of the move, Chairman Ron Martin claimed he wanted to bring about a fresh outlook to the struggling League One side. The sacking of Brush was followed by the hiring of legendary manager Dave Webb, a move that was condemned by some as cosmetic, but one which did bring about a revival in fortunes as Essex's finest went on a three match unbeaten run, including their first win of 2010.

However in the aftermath of Saturday's devastating defeat at Bristol Rovers, the club moved quickly to emphasis how much worse things could be, by promoting tickets to hear Alvin Martin talk about football. The former Hamster scum is the last manager to have relegated Southend from this division. Under Martin's mismanagement the club slid from the third tier of English football to the verge of the conference - a depth the Blues are proud to have never sunk as low as, unlike their inbred neighbours.

The relief that the inept Scouser Scummer is no longer in charge is likely to be just the boost Southend need ahead of their do or die Easter weekend meetings, as the Blues seek to come back from the dead in a manner not seen since Nicky Bailey died of shame after being tapped in the chest by JFC. For as bad as things may appear at Roots Hall at the moment, at least we haven't still got Alvin Martin in charge.

Southend to appoint legend as assistant

SOUTHEND United are set to react to yet another devastating away defeat by appointing a legendary former manager as assistant to manager Steve Tilson.

The Southend Afternoon Echo Sportsdesk understands that chairman Ron Martin will appoint the former Southend and Torquay manager as assistant manager on Tuesday as he seeks to stave off relegation, an outcome he described as "fatal".

It is hoped that the former full-back will be the man to shore up United's shaky defence that has been leaking goals at an alarming rate and led to assistant manager, Paul Brush being sacked.

When Southend last slipped to an away defeat and into the relegation zone, chairman Ron Martin pulled the trigger and sacked Tilson's long term assistant, Brush. Martin, who promised Tilson would get to choose his own number two, was quick to appoint the sexagenarian Dave Webb as Tilson's assistant until the end of the season, despite Webb having been out of football for some time.

The legendary Webb's return, for no less than his fifth stint, provided a short term boost to the struggling League One side, who drew two and won one of their next three games. However the Webb effect appears to have worn off as the team surrendered an early two goal lead at Bristol Rovers and slumped to a 4-3 defeat.

Now Martin is hoping to capture lightning in a bottle twice - and for Southend to win twice in 2010 - by appointing the septuagenarian Dave Smith as assistant assistant manager.

It is hoped that the dream team of the three most successful managers in Southend United's history will save Southend, or at the very least placate fans. Chairman Martin though refused to be drawn on speculation that such appointments were gimmicks to cover over the fact that the club is subject to a transfer embargo and are unable to bring in any new signings and therefore have to make do with populist appointments of pensioners who have been out of football for years. However a source, who did not wish to be named, revealed that plans to attract the legendary Bob Jack back had to be dropped once Ron Martin saw the price mediums were charging these days.

Breaking News: Assistant Manager Sacked!!!!

'Drastic times call for drastic measures' appears to be the message coming out of the chairman's office at Roots Hall.

With the spectre of relegation looming over the South East Essex club, the Southend United Chairman took the highly unusual step of sacking not the manager, but rather his experienced assistant. The move has caught many by surprise in Southend, who have been struggling for much of this year without seemingly any concern from up high.

However another away defeat on Saturday - the team has yet to pick up a point on the road this calendar year - appears to be the final straw for the assistant, if not the manager. The team now lies firmly ensconced in the relegation zone and the historic ground-breaking success of six years earlier seemingly set to unravel.

Relegation is likely to be financially disastrous for the club, and if the chairman - who despite overseeing consecutive promotions and second tier football remain deeply unpopular - couldn't afford to sack a manager who remains popular from his playing days, he couldn't afford  not to take any action either.


So with his hands financially tied - although many would suggest by his own doing - Chairman Vic Jobson had nowhere else to turn but to sack Ronnie Whelan's assistant manager, Theo Foley in an attempt to break out of the downward spiral that threatens to send the club to the bottom of the bottom tier of the Football League and a depression that could last a generation.

Will selling star striker hurt Southend's chances of staying up?

Southend chairman Ron Martin is coming under increasing pressure not to sell the relegation-threatened side's want-away leading scorer.

A number of bigger clubs are thought to be sniffing around the 24 year old Essex based forward whose goals have made him one of the hottest properties in the January window. With the striker making his desire to move on from his local team known and with his valuation being only likely to drop before the summer chairman Ron Martin must be sorely tempted to sell high.

However whilst many fans concede that their top asset's value has never been higher, supporters argue that selling during the January window would condemn the club to relegation. Fans claim the highly sought-after hot-shot's goals will fire the Blues to safety and that those goals will be worth more than any transfer fee received.

Those protestations are likely to be all the louder if Southend were to cash in and that striker was to finally get off the mark for his new club in his sixth appearance.

Freddy Eastwood is currently Southend's leading goalscorer with 13 goals.


From our January 2007 archive.  

Freddy Eastwood was not sold that transfer window, but he only managed a further three goals that season and Southend were relegated. Whilst Eastwood was sold that summer, it was for less than he was being valued at during January and the Essex side proceeded to struggle financially.

Hiatus Appeal Latest

Most of you will already be aware of the news of the hiatus in wages in January that has shocked the world.

News spread quickly, much of it by modern social networking sites, such as Alan McCormack's facebook account, whilst others will have only found out later by more traditional means such as the Southend Afternoon Echo.

News of this has hit many hard, with many people's belief in Ron Martin in particular badly hit. Whilst people come to terms with the scale of this, we ask you to think of this hardest hit. If you could spare some loose change, you could make a difference in the lives of those less well off than yourself.

What your money could buy:

£7.99 - buys a KFC bargain bucket to feed the malnourished Anthony Grant as he recovers from injury
£1.99 - would get some Werther's Orginals for Dougie Freedman to suck on whilst on the bench (300g pack, so should last for multiple games)
£5 (and upwards)- a proper footballer's haircut for Scott Spencer
£3.50 (approx) - a pint for Alan McCormack at Varsity/Mayhem etc to help ease the pain
Undisclosed (but quite possibly free) - Matthew Paterson 
£1 - a novelty comb for Adam Barrett to remind him of better times

Please give generously.

Donate now by clicking here

Martin's Ambitious (Tax) Return

Southend United Chairman Ron Martin has urged Blues fans to boycott their taxes as he tries try to bring about his dream of a shiny new stadium.

All but a few of the final building blocks (although sadly still no literal ones) are in place for Southend to begin work on their new stadium this year.

However, it appears Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs is trying to stall the whole development and Martin is urging them to be less taxing on the league one side's cash-flow.

"Everybody has been working so hard to try and get the new development going it's frustrating that its being held up by the tax man expecting us to pay our tax" said Uncle Ron.

"As soon as the stadium gets going I will have the funds to really improve the squad and authorise the signings of more Alex Revells and Kevin Betsys (as maybe even pay our tax bill!) and then the future will start to look really bright.

"A real PAYE tax system would be one that I actually pay!" quipped Martin.


NEXT WEEK: Ron Martin calls for fans to boycott winter, as fixture cancellations stretch the Blues' cash-flow even further and threaten to delay the new stadium.

http://www.southendunited.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10444~1927211,00.html
http://www.southendunited.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10444~1932006,00.html

Revell returns and Betsy's back as Blues' bosses back down

Kevin Betsy and Alex Revell are back at Roots Hall, in a move that will cause acute embarrassment to the Southend hierarchy.

The duo were controversially shipped out on loan in September to league one rivals Wycombe and Swindon respectively in a move that definitely wasn't about wages and Southend's impending financial crisis/winding up order, and was purely because they had underperformed. The move, first reported in All at Sea by Southend Afternoon Echo Sportsdesk's Phil Christophers, was dubbed Southend's Night of the Long Knives for the way it controversially wiped out all competition.

That lack of competition was to prove costly and helped contribute towards some particularly lacklustre showings over the festive period. The return of Revell and the competition he brings however, is hoped to sharpen Chairman Ron Martin's blogging efforts after those rambling efforts that offered little in the way of new information and bizarrely blamed the pizza man.

Meanwhile the Southend Afternoon Echo Sportsdesk can confirm that it will be publishing an Alex Revell exclusive: his first blog back; so watch this space!

Exclusive: embargo lifted

The embargo preventing Ron Martin from blogging looks finally to have been lifted, the Southend Afternoon Echo can eventually report.

Southend manager Steve "Tilly" Tilson was able to name more than three subs on the bench for the first time in months on Saturday, including reserve goalkeeper/comedy American Ian Joyce. It is believed that Joyce had previously been unable to be named on the bench as part of the terms of the Sean Morrison loan, although the club never actually got round to officially admitting this, much like they never got round to paying their taxes.

A blog from Ron Martin explaining away talk of transfer embargoes in the past tense as a "minor inconvenience" and saying that we should have trusted him all along is expected imminently.

That Ron Martin statement in full

A few – not many in truth – have commented that I have “gone quiet” over the past two or three weeks whereas supporters would have expected me to obfuscate “as you always do”.

I do not know whether those sentiments are echoed by the majority but I should not like my devout followers to think that the “drama out of a crisis” surrounding HMRC had, in any way, diminished either my enthusiasm for the Club or determination to deliver the “promised land”!

I said at the time of discharging the payment to the “tax man” (on the day of the Gillingham FA Cup game) that a fuller statement would follow. Some of you may have therefore been surprised when the same statement was repeated - albeit with the words about a "fuller statement would follow" deleted.

Some might have even interpreted my next statement that "this brings the matter to a close" as somehow suggesting that this brought the matter to a close, that I would not - unless events conspired to force me to - comment further on the matter in hand, and that things like a transfer embargo were a thing of the past. Such misunderstandings are to be expected by football fans, who lack the business acumen to fully comprehend such matters.

The transaction to enable the £2m payment to HMRC was part of a larger arrangement which “simply” (understatement!) accelerated its conclusion. Like all legal/banking matters there are often complexities that one can hide behind, which provide time to conjure up a suitably plausible explanation. Obviously I am still working on this. [Marissa - is this 500 words yet?]

The period leading up to making the funds available was an intense three, maybe even four years, and the last couple of weeks have been only a little less so. If the club was caught by surprise by its centenary anniversary, which it had only one hundred years to prepare for, I'm sure you can appreciate that HMRC's unwelcome, devastating and entirely justified action left little time to prepare. Therefore please accept my apologies for not keeping you in the loop which I plan to rectify over the next few day, once I work out suitable excuses to explain it all away.

I shall, next week, or quite possibly the week after, be issuing a series of blogs to cover-up such subjects as:

· HMRC – how precisely did the position arise whereby we did not pay tax for three years

· How was the debt paid like I assured you it would be

· The “consortium” and why selling to the devil you don't know (literally in this case, given the "anonymity" and secrecy they managed to hide behind - in stark contrast to my transparent and open dealings regarding the various winding up and administration orders faced) would be less than desirable and how their offer was completely unacceptable and showed a lack of faith in the future of the club.

· My thoughts about the current squad size being far from ideal and how the manager - who has my full and undivided support - must bear responsibility for the failures of his signings. I shall however wait until certain matters have been resolved so that I can refer to delicate matters such as transfer embargoes in the past tense - a luxury I can not currently indulge in.

· The future (apologies if this section seems a little short)

So once again, sorry if you think that supporters have been kept in the dark but that was certainly not the intention for you to realise you had been kept in the dark. Some matters must take priority, others are commercially sensitive and there are only so many hours in the day and my home was on the line.

I look forward to opening up the airways however there are one or two items you can be assured of. Recent events did not “creep up” unnoticed - HMRC wrote at least three warning letters - and whilst the inadvertent advertent “use” of HMRC Bank Plc may not have been well received in all quarters the Club’s approach was one of trying to delay payment to the last possible moment and exaggeration of policy promoted by the Football League in discussion with HMRC. In the event, HMRC had the Government coffers to protect and in doing so had no regard for the fact that my home and business was on the line and all the stress that this caused.

If I can paint this as the gods are looking down from Olympus and competing with each other to see who can screw our Club the hardest, and therefore something completely out of my control, and not at all my fault, then all the better. As football supporters we (see - I am one of you!) are all cursed with a genetic propensity for moaning but the tax man’s efforts to make us obey the law and pay tax like any other person or business was beyond the pale. Not just the passion that is created during 90 minutes on a Saturday, or as with today on a Friday night, but the outstanding contribution the Club makes to the community, social inclusion, charities (because I paid Spencer Prior's money to Little Havens), civic pride and the children of our Town. Do not tell me this would not have been unravelled if HMRC had “won”. And I'd hate to see unravelled children.

I know where I am taking this Club and will not be distracted by the detractors.

To be continued…

Official: it is on

After days/hours/minutes of intense speculation, it as been confirmed that this afternoon's big event will be staged in Yeovil as planned. Rumours had been circulated that it might be called off, however officials at Huish Park have confirmed that the Southend United annual panto, Snow White and the Four Dwarves, is still on.

The news will come as a disappointment to panto director Steve Tilson. Tilson would dearly have liked more time to prepare and to find another three dwarves. He already had to abandon attempts to stage Jack and the Beanstalk after his giant, Jean-Yves M'voto had to withdraw through injury and Baron Hardup (Ron Martin) sold the cow to Sainsburys and then handed over the magic beans to HMRC.

Martin is likely to be a central figure, along with Geoff King who is set to once again perform the role of the pantomime baddie with such sketches as:

GK: "I never said anything bad about Revell"
Everyone else: "Oh yes you did"

RM: "Who has the warchest?"
GK: "You've got it"
RM: "Oh no, I haven't"


and

GK: "What's happened to our financial difficulties"
RM: "They are behind us"
Unpaid players: "Oh no they are not"

Club embrace technology: is Ron Martin a twit?

After a turbulent couple of weeks - if not months - Southend chairman Ron Martin, appears keen to look to the future.

The former Olympian has, despite recently spurning the media, previously been keen on embracing new media - such as his ill-advised venture in blogging culminating in the transfer deadline Night of the Long Knives, now he appears to be set to move into the world of twittering.

Whilst Ron has still officially to sign up for an account - tellingly "becauseImworthit" has still to be taken - the club's latest statements have all been provided in twitter compliant format.

Phil Christopher's Southend Afternoon Echo Sportsdesk blog can exclusively reveal that this is the reason behind the lack of explanation regarding the financial turmoil that has been causing much anguish at the club of late. Instead of a proper explanation fans were told:

"For completeness we can confirm all action by HMRC was dismissed at this am's hearing following release of funds by the Club's Chairman over the weekend. This brings the matter to a close. Love Ron xxx"

Anonymous sources at the club confirmed "Ron is keen to explain all but he finds the 140 character limitation precisely that: a limitation. That sentence alone is over 100 characters so that really doesn't leave much space to blame all the people that Ron wants to blame, so for now Ron will just say nothing."

For now Southend fans will have to do with explanations shorter than Derek Payne and just as frustratingly inept.

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Whilst Ron Martin is still to provide his twitter details, you can follow the Southend Afternoon Echo Sportsdesk's star reporter, Phil Christophers at http://twitter.com/pchristophers. You know it makes sense.

Did Prince Rajcomar run off Ron Martin's war-chest?

After a week of intense investigations, the Southend Afternoon Echo Sportsdesk is ready to exclusively spill the beans on the story behind why triallist Prince Rajcomar might have failed to turn up for a reserve team game against Northampton.

The trail began last week when the club's official web-site announced Prince in Trial to Become King. For once scooping rather than copying the Echo, the club web-site named Prince Rajcomar, a former Holland u21 international, in the starting XI to play Northampton Town Reserves at Roots Hall that afternoon.

However come game time, it was Blues youngster, Harry Crawford playing in his place. This set tongues wagging and sparked a Southend Afternoon Echo Sportdesk investigation that has produced some astounding findings.

• Prince Rajcomar's full name is "Prince Linval Reuben Mathilda Rajcomar".

• Prince Linval Reuben Mathilda Rajcomar is the type of exotic name used by Nigerian 419 scammers.

• 419 scammers are skilled at writing letters offering extravagant promises that are too good be to true, such as their client played for the Dutch u21 side.

• Southend chairman Ron Martin has experience of being an entirely innocent victim in a fraud case - remember that Gloucestershire Councillor when Chairman Ron was innocent but was arrested and questioned. This suggests that he might be easily duped. As does that Richie Foran transfer fee and contract.
  

• Sources (wikipedia, no less) suggest this is not the first time that Rajcomar has failed to turn up, following an incident when he failed to play at Carlisle due to "visa" problems. This pattern of unreliability is probably consistent with that of a 419 scam artist.

• "Sorry I got the wrong airport" is a particularly lame excuse.
  

All the above evidence leads the Southend Afternoon Echo to fear that Southend United may have fallen victim to an elaborate hoax. Did Ron Martin provide details of the club's bank account and non-existent overdraft? Has Prince Rajcomar siphoned off the infamous war-chest? Will this Rajcomar character ever be seen again? Will the war-chest ever be seen again? How exactly does one manage to turn up to the wrong airport? What has been stolen from a garden shed in Southchurch? [Ed - that's been answered it's lead story on page 4]

At the time of going to print, the Southend Afternoon Echo had been unable to receive reassurance that all this was made up nonsense, probably because we did bother to contact the club, who we are no longer speaking terms with, following an article which libelled Ron Martin's hair.

I'm a Shrimper through and through

Southend bagged their first win of the season last Friday, but Lee Barnard's hat-trick against our local rivals Leyton Orient was overshadowed by far more serious concerns.

I'm talking about the players' body language which suggested extreme concern over the finances at the club, the sort of concerns that might have been provoked by inflammatory pieces in the local newspaper by their intrepid sports reporter and that the club would categorise as irresponsible.

Chairman Ron responded scathingly about both the newspaper and me.

What I will say is that nobody is a bigger fan than me (well actually, that guy in the West Stand who sometimes takes his shirt off and dances is definitely bigger than me). I go to every Southend game home and away, that's how dedicated I am. I even go to the games that Paul Clark doesn't go to, that's why I sometimes do the radio commentary on BBC Essex. That makes me a bigger fan than Paul Clark and he played 300+ times for the club and always gave 100%.

This is my 20-somethingth season following the Shrimpers. I was here before Ron Martin and I'll be here after Ron Martin. Yes, that is a sly dig at Uncle Ron to suggest that I don't think he's here for the long term, whereas I'll be here even after I ditch the notepad - if there's still a club to support.

What is clear is that there are serious questions to be asked about the club's finances. And who could be better qualified to answer those serious questions than an uber-fan? Because if you need someone to guide you through the intricate world of business, finance and planning, someone who can tell if Ron Martin is fobbing you off with a bull**** answer or has a genuine point, you don't need business experience or qualifications, you need passion. I'll tell you this much: Ron Martin wouldn't sack me for a lack of passion in the eyes.

[Original article is here]