March 2017 AGM .

[bwildered]

Anyone who is attending and can give a brief of the vitals - thanks in advance .

[squarelegumpire]

Not a lot really. Lot of back-slapping ..... deserved .... on promotion, aims for cups as well as doing well in Div I. The development is stalled; there must be some firm plans and committment to action by April next year or we find new partners.

Essex is opposed to the City t20 plans. There'll be a vote to 'allow' it shortly, and the Chair wants as many views as possible.

Olympic stadium games haven't gone away, but they don't seem likely at the moment.

We're trying, financially to live within our means, but it's not easy! We have no debt, which sets us apart from most counties, and we are paying players competitive rates.

[jimmy]

Real shock about the development hey ! Never saw that coming. Same arrogance , stupidity and indifference to the views of the cricket public as displayed by the ECB right now.

[squarelegumpire]

Real shock about the development hey ! Never saw that coming. Same arrogance , stupidity and indifference to the views of the cricket public as displayed by the ECB right now.

I don’t think’s entirely fair Jimmy. That many people saw the problems ahead, and warned the club is undeniable, but at some point they had to sign a contract. If the other side aren’t up to it that’s not entirely the clubs fault. Maybe they should have picked better partners, of course, but IIRC, the partners had a reasonable track record.

I have to say I’m beginning to get the feeling that Plan B is an exit strategy.

If it isn’t, we must be near the place where it ought to be.

[alji]

Clearly bad decisions were made at the start of the project but we have to remember that the Fat Controller was a key player in this fiasco of a redevelopment in the beginning and the current CEO and Chairman are left to pick up the pieces.

[Blocky]

I reckon you're way off the mark Jimmy.  The ground needs sorting out.  We have no debt, but unlike some of the other counties, we've been sensible and chosen to continue debt free, guaranteeing the survival of the club whilst we are still a 1st class county.  Some of them are absolutely knackered in this respect, hence Graves has had to invent some fantasy competition to get them out of the mess.

The club got offered the opportunity to get the ground upgraded in return for the give up of some space, which was basically a car park.

Current economic climes mean the Developer seems to have an unfulfilled obligation.  Plan B has to be an exit, and the release of the £600k in Escrow to the club. I doubt anyone is totally happy but we are where we are.

[squarelegumpire]

I'll go with that, Blocky.

Are you going on Sunday? If you are, where will you be. I'm planning to be in my usual place, top of the Tom Pearce, more or less over long on...... if you're batting at the Hayes Close end.

[jimmy]

I reckon you're way off the mark Jimmy.  The ground needs sorting out.  We have no debt, but unlike some of the other counties, we've been sensible and chosen to continue debt free, guaranteeing the survival of the club whilst we are still a 1st class county.  Some of them are absolutely knackered in this respect, hence Graves has had to invent some fantasy competition to get them out of the mess.

The club got offered the opportunity to get the ground upgraded in return for the give up of some space, which was basically a car park.

Current economic climes mean the Developer seems to have an unfulfilled obligation.  Plan B has to be an exit, and the release of the £600k in Escrow to the club. I doubt anyone is totally happy but we are where we are.

From your reply I wouldn't say I was way off the mark. Of course we are where we are and will need to make the best of it but that doesn't mean that the scheme wasn't ill conceived or poorly handled from day one.

[Andy]

Trouble is, the plan always seemed unclear and nebulous. Seemingly grandiose at the start, in terms of lots of new apartments yet somehow completely revamping the stadium. In the end, it appears to have been a half hearted attempt to capitalise on some car park space.

Presumably there was a need to fool the ecb into thinking we'd bought into their ludicrous attempts to rebrand cricket, which has nearly bankrupted some big names. Managing expectations with less PR puff at the start and no one would complain - this club has always had to grab opportunities to keep afloat financially and this was one of those.

Personally I'd have thought moving out of the city centre would've made more sense in terms of developing a large well appointed ground, but would've been a major risk: we should've done that in the early 1990s crash when we still had the support, the media coverage and the quality squad. Hindsight is a wonderful thing...

[squarelegumpire]

To be fair, Andy, there was a suggestion around 2000, or perhaps before to move out to somewhere in Sandon. However, IIRC the sums didn’t add up.

[Andy]

To be fair, Andy, there was a suggestion around 2000, or perhaps before to move out to somewhere in Sandon. However, IIRC the sums didn’t add up.

That doesn't usually stop eccc...!

[squarelegumpire]

To be fair, Andy, there was a suggestion around 2000, or perhaps before to move out to somewhere in Sandon. However, IIRC the sums didn’t add up.

That doesn't usually stop eccc...!

Be fair; we're one of the few clubs without a massive debt, and in fact if the plug is finally pulled on the development there £600k in the bank which which to go forward.

[Andy]

To be fair, Andy, there was a suggestion around 2000, or perhaps before to move out to somewhere in Sandon. However, IIRC the sums didn’t add up.

That doesn't usually stop eccc...!

Be fair; we're one of the few clubs without a massive debt, and in fact if the plug is finally pulled on the development there £600k in the bank which which to go forward.

Well, I hope tha
t we can get the £600k back. I remember when some 'advisor' disappeared with over £100k...

[Blocky]

Square..sorry old chap, only just seen your comments about attending yesterday, which I did and thoroughly enjoyed actually.  Sat myself on the benches at Backward Square leg, next to the hospitality boxes.  out of the wind, in the sun..couple of San Miguel's and a Wheater ton..lovely sunday!

I have every intention of attending on Friday and at least some of Saturday, so may well pop over and say hello if you're up there as usual.

Best wishes to the TPU!  Andy

[Blocky]

I seem to recall an offer to relocate us to Boreham services (or a test sized arena up that way) about 20 years ago, but not sure how near the truth that was.  Having spent a lot of time in the past 30 years travelling to football matches, as well as following Essex and England, the horrendous difficulties of travelling to grounds relocated out of towns and cities leads me to believe that we did exactly the right thing in staying central.  I'm fairly sure that half the reason we lost the Southend festival was that Garons Park was more or less impossible to get to unless you drove.