Southend United could be set to follow in the footsteps of National League champions Wrexham as their takeover talks continue, according to The Essex Echo.
Earlier this week, it was reported that a group of local businessmen had begun advanced talks to buy the club who are currently facing financial difficulties due to winding up orders from money owed to HMRC. This group brought about an unlikely name many believed will serve as director if the takeover deal is to be completed, legendary British actor Ray Winstone. Winstone’s name served as a shock for more than one reason, considering he is known to be a West Ham fan, who are local rivals of the Shrimpers, despite a competitive gap in the number of divisions between the two clubs.
And now another unlikely name is reportedly set to become part of this project, Hollywood superstar and former WWE icon Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. Johnson left WWE in 2004 to seek to add Hollywood fame to his resume and he has certainly been successful in doing so, making himself one of the most famous men on the planet.
Throughout his career, Johnson has made many investment decisions and one of those is his own production company Seven Buck Productions, reportedly, the group who are seeking to complete a deal for Southend have made contact with Johnson regarding the production of a documentary about the club.
Football documentaries within football clubs have begun to take a rise in recent years, Amazon’s All Or Nothing series proved to be successful which saw film crews document the seasons of football clubs such as Arsenal and Manchester City. A little closer to the Shrimpers level though saw Disney+ document Wrexham as their journey under Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney continued.
The exposure did wonders for Wrexham and can certainly be attributed to their success and the gap they left between them and the teams below them, with the addition of lucrative sponsorship deals such as the shirt sponsorship with TikTok.
Southend fell out of the Football League recently, as their run of 101 years in the league came to an end and recently finished eighth in the National League. That relegation saw fans direct anger towards current chairman Ron Martin and a winding up order of £2 million did not help his cause, shortly after that was paid off, the club were given until July 12th to pay another £250,ooo, which prompted Martin to take the decision to place the club up for sale. Not only the winding up orders but at the time of writing, full-time office staff at the club are also still waiting to be paid wages from March and April.
On Friday afternoon the club issued a statement regarding the discussions that have taken place about the purchase of the club.
“Following recent speculation surrounding the sale of the club, we can confirm that Non-Disclosure Agreements with three interested parties and Heads of Terms have been issued.
“However, at this time, none of the interested parties have been granted a period of exclusivity.”
Writer’s View
Southend United are currently facing a fight for survival and it seems the only way out is for Martin to sell up. With that being said, these talks are vital as the clock counts down with not much more than a month for the club to pay the money owed. Football documentaries have become very popular and at this level can work wonders, as they did for Wrexham, one other factor here is the prominence of the names involved, Reynolds’ name brought a lot in for Wrexham and hopefully, Winstone and Johnson’s names on this project can be the guiding light this club desperately needs.
