Last Resort
Words: Tom Reed
Images: David Shields
It’s a July Summer morning in very affluent road in South Benfleet, Essex. It’s more of an avenue than a road, lined with imposing gated mansions and Maseratis in the driveways.
Inside, smoked salmon is being applied to bagels, the orange juice is from Waitrose and comes complete with bits and none of that concentrate stuff, thank you very much.
It’s quiet, apart from the rustle of the Daily Mail and a knife cutting through toast and marmalade.
But then the noise of car horns breaks the Essex calm.
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep….beep, beep, beep, beep…beep beep.
©David Shields/ Terrace Edition.
“What the bloody hell is that honking” cries David to Patricia or could that be Dave to Patsy given some of the chaps done good who end up spending their weekends trying to figure out how to work the ride-on mowers of the massive lawns in Benfleet.
The Southend United fans have been there since early doors, bringing the fight for the future of their 117 year old club to the front step of Ron Martin, the owner of the club that has been described by the local reporter as being run into the ground.
Martin comes out to talk to them with his shirt unbuttoned like a pound shop Rod Stewart, except what we he is doing to the Shrimpers is anything but rock and roll.
Wake up Ronny, I think I’ve got something to say to you, it’s mid July and you really should have paid your tax bill.
That’s just the £275,000 outstanding HMRC bill that’s hanging over Martin and the club, who the High Court have given 42 days to finally be settled.
The old joke from football finance expert Kieran Maguire that Southend have a “have a season ticket with HMRC” the number of times they are up in the High Court, is now just a hackneyed quip, delivered in the tired manner of one of the comedy turns in the clubs of Canvey Island.
“Why does it keep getting adjourned?” asked former Southend striker Simon Cox, hitting the test your strength machine bang on the money with the mallet and donging the dong.
“Surely the fact the club has been in court over and over again over the past five to six years says that there needs to be a change”.
“The courts need to make the right decision and stop people’s lives being ruined by an individual unfit to run a club”.
Well said Mr Cox and a feeling backed up by the hundreds of Southend fans who rocked up to Mr Martins’ plush gaff in a showing of desperation as well as strength. There were mums and kids, grandads and grandmas and every facet of what makes a fanbase what it is.
©David Shields/ Terrace Edition.
You need the old ‘uns to tell the stories of the past and the young ’uns to replenish what came before.
All were united in a mantra of “Martin Out”.
The protest went on for as many hours there was in the day, and the beeping continued while Dave and Patsy tried to eat their Charlie Bigham’s Morrocan Chicken Tagine for two, passers by delivered the picketers bottles of water and the assembled agreed they’d come back every week till Martin is gone.
After all, they might not have many games to go to given the recent friendly at Billericay was cancelled with Southend “unable to fulfil a match day squad.”
"There is still a very real risk that the club will not start the season” said Sir James Duddridge, Conservative MP for Rochford and Southend East. The players seem to have been paid but other club staff haven’t, in four long months.
©David Shields/ Terrace Edition.
Meanwhile, the National League watch on at a club bringing their competition little but bad PR.
"At this late stage linking the deal to a new stadium or property development in Fossetts is flawed” added Duddridge, referencing the infernal site for a potential new multi-million stadium at Fossetts Farm, which seems moot with staff unpaid.
Supporters post photos of Roots Hall, which opened in 1955, upset at the state it is in.
Rod Stewart is one of the last of the old-school crooners and surely Martin is one of the last of his ilk to get control of a club.
There has to be another way to fund community football teams than by selling football grounds for real estate. The incoming Independent Regulator for Football (IREF) can use Southend as a test case.
©David Shields/ Terrace Edition.
It’s late before the hubbub and the hooting dies down in Benfleet and the fans filter away after carrying out a perfectly legitimate tactic which shows that club owners can never escape scrutiny.
Martin’s security detail finally step down and Dave and Patsy put their feet up, rubbing their heads at what is going on down the road.
“This place is going to the dogs Patricia”.
Few Shrimpers fans at the protest want Martin to have anything to do with anything to do with football in Southend anymore.
Sell up Ron, do the right thing and cut your losses. Do your shirt up.
©David Shields/ Terrace Edition.
©David Shields/ Terrace Edition.
©David Shields/ Terrace Edition.
©David Shields/ Terrace Edition.
©David Shields/ Terrace Edition.
Tom is Terrace Edition Editor and can be found on Twitter: @tomreedwriting
David is on Twitter: @davethephoto and Instagram: @footballstadiumphotography
