Ron Martin, the departing manager of Southend United, has stated that he anticipates the club being sold by mid-May following continuous delays and the filing of a new petition to “wind up” the organisation.
Before Christmas, the chairman of the Blues and a group led by Australian billionaire Justin Rees exchanged contracts.
But Southend Council’s due diligence and “the finance partner” of Ron Martin’s approval have delayed the takeover.
Now that a repayment deal has been approved by his bank, Mr. Martin told BBC Essex that the process is “moving in the right direction” and that he is 99 percent certain the club will be sold by mid-May.
“I think that’s realistic,” he stated. Justin is aware of this, and we are all following the same schedule. Nobody is putting anything off; on the contrary, the longer it drags on, the more expensive it is for me.”
Stewarts Law, claiming to be a creditor of the club, filed a winding up petition against the club as a result of the delay. April 17 has been designated as the day for the Insolvency and Companies Court.
The consortium have already invested £3million into saving the Shrimpers but are not willing to pay off historic creditors until the deal is completely done.
Mr Martin added that he believes Stewarts had “jumped the gun” but aims to settle with them before the court hearing.
He also apologised to fans and staff for the “tough time” they have been through, and assured that he believes next year will be a great season for the club.
The Blues lost 10 points in the first few months of the season because they didn’t pay off an HMRC debt by the National League’s deadline.
“I am sorry for the fans, it has been a tough time for them but my focus, as always, was making sure we did get to that safe harbour and passed the baton to someone else who was well funded,” he said on the programme.
