Southend United’s Rebuilding Efforts Progressing Amidst Anticipated £2 Million Loss

Southend United anticipates a loss of approximately £2 million during the current financial year, even after a consortium led by Australian Justin Rees, co-founder of the Sydney-based company Eighty20 Solutions, completed its takeover last summer. The National League club was acquired by COSU (Custodians Of Southend United) from former owner Ron Martin, an acquisition that followed a period of prolonged financial instability at Roots Hall. Initially consisting of 10 members, the consortium has since welcomed US-based technology entrepreneur Shivaas Gulati and remains receptive to expanding its membership with additional stakeholders in the club. Rees informed BBC Essex, “No matter how many owners we have, we’ll always have a max of six or seven people on the board, because if you had 20, 30, 40 that would be a bit unruly.” He further stated, “There is space for more people who share our vision and share the values. It’s not for the fainthearted financially, not everyone would be up for it, but we’ve added Shivaas, and if the right person came along and wanted to join the team and share the load, why not?” Southend currently occupies the 14th position in the National League standings, having been prevented from reaching the play-offs last season due to a 10-point deduction stemming from previous financial difficulties. According to club chairman Rees, while on-field matters continue to be manager Kevin Maher’s “domain,” the board’s decision to enhance the squad is a contributing factor to the present financial situation. Rees elaborated, “The expected losses are just under £2m this year, similar to last year, but I think we’ve improved in certain areas. Instead of banking all that (money), we’ve invested into the squad and everyone is seeing that off the pitch as well with facilities and different things we’ve done around Roots Hall.” He added, “We’re moving training ground in the middle of the season which is quite disruptive but a lot of investment is going into the training ground. “We want to be an EFL club but that doesn’t just mean having a few EFL players, it means having EFL infrastructure, EFL training faciltiers, EFL sports science – we need to be an EFL club in every way, not just on a Saturday at three o’clock.” Rees indicated that the consortium is still in the process of refining its operational approach for the club. He further stated, “My background is project management. You set budgets, you set strategies, you stick to it – but it doesn’t mean you don’t deviate when you feel the time is right. We’re finding the right balance, structure versus flexibility.” Rees commented, “Getting the takeover done was particularly stressful, but we’re in the position we want to be in now and we’re doing a lot of work. Every day there is something going on, we’re trying to propel the club forward and getting the club where we all think it should be.” He concluded, “The scale of the rebuild of the club is pretty self evident to a lot of people but you can’t change everything overnight. “It’s going to plan, but maybe a little slower than I would have liked, such is the natural desire to do everything quicker. I’m sure all fans share that – everybody wants everything done yesterday.”