I have sent a letter to the Echo

[Guest]

Not speaking for anyone other than myself I said.

 

Jeff King please come clean.

 

I am a Canvey Island supporter, not an occasional supporter but one of those that attends all home games and most of those away.

 

I have always supported the clubs management and think they have done a fantastic job over the years bringing us from obscurity to the top of the non league tree. While our support is small it is passionate, that has been demonstrated by the group walking to Dagenham & Redbridge on Monday.

 

Mr King has decided that his companies will not fund the club any further, that is very sad but that is also his prerogative and I like most fans would like to thank him for all he has done and wish him well in the future. We can all understand his reasons and the only real surprise could be why he carried on for so long, without sufficient backing from the local politicians and residents. My biggest disappointment about his announcement is that it was done at the wrong time of year, if he announced at the start that this was his final year we could have maybe come up with a sponsor, now things are very worrying.

 

I have a request, please put us out of our misery by making a formal public announcement of how you see the future.

 

Are you going to keep ownership, are you as you hinted going to hand over the club to the supporters, are you taking all the players to Chelmsford or where ever else you are going, these and many questions need to be answered and soon.

 

I have always seen Mr King as the type of man who likes to play straight and fair, we have been presented with a host of one liners on the radio and in the press some saying he will continue involvement others indicating the opposite. This is very confusing, frustrating and upsetting to all of us.

 

On Monday we were being told by players at Dagenham that some of the current Canvey squad are going with Jeff to his new club, we are suffering gossip and those real supporters who follow you home and away singing your name are being taunted, by other supporters and players.

 

We do not want to drop into the Essex Senior League, when we look at other clubs with small gates surviving comfortably in the Conference South, then that is where our aspirations must lie, without Jeff’s money.

 

We were told we need to get organised, all we ask is to be told what we need to do and the goodwill to be allowed to do it.

[ronin]

MOB i guess there may be legal reasons why Jeff can`t announce his footballing future.

 

Forget about the players, they won`t be here next season so it doesn`t matter what club they go to.

 

As i`ve said in other threads i don`t see how we can afford to play Conf South next season and if that posting the other day is correct we have already applied to enter the Ryman, can anyone confirm this?

[Yellow Bungle]

MOB's point is that no-one will confirm anything. How can any plans be made until we no what the position is?

 

If decisions are being made about our future by people who may not be involved then that can't be good.

[Guest]

Exactly, actions are louder than words, I have heard lots of words about home much Jeff loves the club and he is leaving blah! blah! bla!

 

If Jeff whats his name (see forgotten already)has left we need to move on fast or are we gonna be dumped in the ESL with big, debts a lease we cant afford, while crocodile tears wash into the chelmer.

[thomarocky]

Quite right MOB, we have been left high and dry, if Jeff, who is an honourable man I thought and ive known him for 25 or so years, knew what he was gonna do and announced this 6 months ago we supporters could have sorted something out regarding sponsorship and consolidated our playing future whatever level would be appropriate to funds. Jeffs timing could not have been worse and it is the loyal supporters who have been made to suffer not the stay away Islanders, cheers jeff !

[cangull]

MOB you mentioned lease, and that worries me! Rumour went arround the other day that on the monday after Jeff King announced his withrawal from the club, he re-newed the lease on Park Lane for 15 years, just how true that is I dont know but worrying all the same!!

[Guest]

The rumour is, Jeff wants to keep the controlling interest in the club in case things do not work out elsewhere, however there will be no financial investment.

 

This will mean gate reciepts will have to cover wages meaning a total maximum wage bill of £35,000 per year.

 

At that rate we are looking Essex intermediate league.

 

The current bar stock all comes from Kings and this will all stop.

 

We really need Jeff to speak up!!!!

[Gully]

Quote:

MOB said:
The rumour is, Jeff wants to keep the controlling interest in the club in case things do not work out elsewhere, however there will be no financial investment.

This will mean gate reciepts will have to cover wages meaning a total maximum wage bill of £35,000 per year.

At that rate we are looking Essex intermediate league.

The current bar stock all comes from Kings and this will all stop.

We really need Jeff to speak up!!!!

we desperatly need to know what the hell is going on.without knowing what is happening about the ground we cant do anything.how much is it going to cost to lease the ground from jeff?what will that leave us with?what about the bar/bars?will the takings go in to jeffs pocket,or to the trust?
as for other investors,if jeff is going to keep a controlling interest in the club,will that happen?
all these rumours are very unsettling for the fans.but are bound to continue till the real facts emerge. - hopefully soon!

[mr c gull]

well it does look like sidney was right all along,i'm sure this chelmsford investment was a done deal all the time,so it seems that jeff still wants an interrest in canvey to fall back on if things go wrong elsewhere,this rubbish about attendaces was just an excuse

[Matt H]

We should do a pool on how many of the out of contract players he takes with him.

[sidney]

I also got slagged off for saying what was going to happen

[Yellow Bungle]

If he has a significant stake in Chelmsford, won't he be prevented from have a significant stake in another club or does that rule only aply to League clubs?

[ronin]

Quote:

MOB said:
The rumour is, Jeff wants to keep the controlling interest in the club in case things do not work out elsewhere, however there will be no financial investment.

This will mean gate reciepts will have to cover wages meaning a total maximum wage bill of £35,000 per year.

Sorry do you mean gate reciepts will have to cover the cost of the lease?

The club would need to pull in at least £4k every home game to pay the wages of of a Conf South side, then you`ve got the everyday running costs on top of that.

As you say we will lose some of the profit on the clubhouse bar takings which won`t help

[Yellow Bungle]

If Jeff keeps a controlling interest will people continue to go after what has happened?

[The Great Eckscape]

All depends on how his interest is publicised I suppose.

[jack_cifc]

I thought the echos coverage of our walk was very poor, should have least been a two page spread, seeing as there normally is so much crap in the centre pages of that paper.

[thomarocky]

Jeffs continued interest in the club is surely only the extended lease of the ground, come on man, hold a public meeting, this aint fair on us supporters who spend thousands every season following the club, i am quite happy to publish what i spend every year on the club, i bet in real terms its a lot less than Jeff

[The Great Eckscape]

Quote:

jack_cifc said:
I thought the echos coverage of our walk was very poor, should have least been a two page spread, seeing as there normally is so much crap in the centre pages of that paper.

To be honest I think any press is good press. Dick has said that he will do everything in his power to help us via the media, as has Dabid Baker at Classic Gold Breeze. We've definately got friends in useful places.

[Leo]

Quote:

MOB said:
Not speaking for anyone other than myself I said.

Jeff King please come clean.

I am a Canvey Island supporter, not an occasional supporter but one of those that attends all home games and most of those away.

I have always supported the clubs management and think they have done a fantastic job over the years bringing us from obscurity to the top of the non league tree. While our support is small it is passionate, that has been demonstrated by the group walking to Dagenham & Redbridge on Monday.

Mr King has decided that his companies will not fund the club any further, that is very sad but that is also his prerogative and I like most fans would like to thank him for all he has done and wish him well in the future. We can all understand his reasons and the only real surprise could be why he carried on for so long, without sufficient backing from the local politicians and residents. My biggest disappointment about his announcement is that it was done at the wrong time of year, if he announced at the start that this was his final year we could have maybe come up with a sponsor, now things are very worrying.

I have a request, please put us out of our misery by making a formal public announcement of how you see the future.

Are you going to keep ownership, are you as you hinted going to hand over the club to the supporters, are you taking all the players to Chelmsford or where ever else you are going, these and many questions need to be answered and soon.

I have always seen Mr King as the type of man who likes to play straight and fair, we have been presented with a host of one liners on the radio and in the press some saying he will continue involvement others indicating the opposite. This is very confusing, frustrating and upsetting to all of us.

On Monday we were being told by players at Dagenham that some of the current Canvey squad are going with Jeff to his new club, we are suffering gossip and those real supporters who follow you home and away singing your name are being taunted, by other supporters and players.

We do not want to drop into the Essex Senior League, when we look at other clubs with small gates surviving comfortably in the Conference South, then that is where our aspirations must lie, without Jeff’s money.

We were told we need to get organised, all we ask is to be told what we need to do and the goodwill to be allowed to do it.

Saw your letter printed in the Echo tonight. Top class indeed and let's hope we get some answers to the very rellevant points you made.

[thomarocky]

Yes excellent letter, lets have more, sorry last nights post shouldve read that in real terms, the regular fans who go to home and away games put in more than Jeff does, those pre-fabs on newlands are going for over 100 grand now for Chrissakes !