Friday Freebie: Is time finally going to catch up with Southend Utd?

The clock keeps ticking, but for how much longer.

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Here we are again! Southend Utd. But by now what appears to be hanging on by the thinnest of threads. The question is where do you begin? Or do you cut straight to it and lambast the owner whilst feeling for all the staff, management and players along with the supporters who quite frankly have had enough.

And who can blame them, it’s like the never ending story that just keeps coming at you one nightmare after the other. So, lets have a little recap. The Shrimpers were up in court once again with a tax bill to pay to HMRC. Now, how they’ve survived time after time is anyone’s guess, it’s quite clear he either doesn’t have the money or has no intention of paying, I’m going 50-50 on that.

The club had by the skin of their teeth started the National League season but under quite strict rules of only 16 registered players due to the unpaid tax bill enforcing a transfer embargo that extends to over a year along with the owner being told that should they fail to keep up with paying creditors or not clear the tax bill ten points will be winging their way off the club’s tally so far.

Given they actually broke one of the league rules of being solvent to start and assurances they will complete the season, they were pretty lucky to get going amid some murmurs from other member clubs of their status.

On Wednesday they failed to pay the tax bill in full leading to an adjournment of a further 42 days in which to clear the debt. That in turn leaves the embargo in place still, hampering the management team to bring in any bodies to bulk out their squad, one of which is currently injured.

In those 42 days the team have 10 fixtures to fulfil, that’s a huge ask with 15 players and very little scope for rotation, players who aren’t yet at full pelt after a disrupted pre-season for various reasons.

As mentioned above failure to keep with any payments would see a point deduction, sure enough by 5pm that evening Southend Utd dropped to the bottom of the table on minus four points.

Where to from here? Well, it’s hard to find that light at the end of the tunnel. The judge on Wednesday has only kept the club alive because of the fans and those involved in the club struggling to keep it going from day to day, but the one man who can make a difference is not making any inroads to change the situation. If that had been mine or your business it was gone, he should have been down on his knees thanking the court for not calling it a day.

Supposedly there is interest to buy the club once again, no one believes it exists given that most of what come out of the owner’s mouth amount to a series of words that hold no substance.

Only today whilst going through Twitter/X previous interested buyers Kimura came out to say the previous day’s statements from the man in charge were false and breaking a non-disclosure agreement between the two, you can’t really say more than he doesn’t seem to care one iota, it’s almost as if he believes he exists in his own world and all follow him, rubbish.

What is the way forward? Well, in a few days’ time wages are due for all, now should that not happen in full then I believe another deduction could be coming their way. If that is the case then nothing other than survival will be the aim for Kevin Maher and his team on the pitch.

Off the pitch there is very little to convince most that they will survive beyond the next hearing on 4^th  October, others think he will pay the bill which then begs the question why not just get it sorted out now?

He’s making the club very unattractive, his sale offer is poor and an understanding that he’ll move the goal posts if he doesn’t like the offer, especially to get as much out of it as he can.

The fact he believes that the level of debt is putting off prospective buyers is laughable, who has managed to work the club into the levels of debt they’re in? No one else to blame here, he’s been in charge long enough to understand how much it costs to run a football club and if you really don’t want to do it any more then accept a sensible amount to walk away and cut your losses.

Why he feels he can play ‘God’ for the lives of those staff, players and supporters to go through the worst every day, mental health on the decline with no good news on the horizon, even the joy of the team being back on the pitch will be tempered with that deduction and the threat of more that could come their way.

He’s certainly outstayed his welcome at Roots Hall, I still hope there is a positive outcome for those I know connected with the club in various factions, it’s the most unpleasant situation to be involved in and there is no need for it, it’s made fans turn against each other at a time when they need to be united as a front to force him out.

While 4^th October might seem a long while away, we’re almost at the end of August and can a sale realistically be done within that timeframe having done the maximum due diligence needed to ensure there are no skeletons to jump out the closet, the majority of the football world holds their breath once again…..