SOUTHEND United boss Ron Martin says a crucial council meeting tomorrow night will “determine the club’s future”.

Mr Martin published an update on club affairs on Friday, including an explanation of the circumstances around the departure of ex-manager Kevin Bond. 

He also outlined the latest on the club’s planned move to a new 21,000-seat stadium at Fossetts Farm alongside an entertainment complex and a residential development.

In a statement, Mr Martin said a scheduled council cabinet meeting tomorrow will determine the club’s future. 

T the chairman wrote: “I have said many times that the club have been working collaboratively with the council over an extended period and that continues to be the case.

“Those discussions throughout have been positive and now culminate in a council cabinet meeting [on September 17] that will determine the club’s future.

“These are changing times and the club’s financial model to enable a new stadium without debt have necessarily been amended to ensure our objective and vibrant future is achieved.

“What is planned represents a ‘win win’ for the club, town and its people.”

While there is no specific item relating to Southend United or the Fossetts Farm stadium on the agenda, there is an item relating to housing which affects Roots Hall and Fossetts Farm.

As previously reported in the Echo, Southend Council has made no secret of a plan to take a leasehold interest in the proposed development a the club’s existing Roots Hall home.

It would see the authority become responsible for the upkeep of the development and, after an “index-linked payment” to developers Citizen Housing, the council would then receive all the rent received from the scheme.

In papers set to go before councillors tomorrow night, it states: “There is potential for the same arrangement to be employed in relation to some or all of the residential element of the proposed Fossetts Farm development and that assuming the proposal can be made to be acceptable for Roots Hall, the work and the principles established in relation to Roots Hall will be portable to that scheme also.”

A planning application for the scheme was initially submitted to the council in April 2017 and the council had until September of that year to determine whether it should go ahead.

Since then the council has requested several extensions, with the last request taking it from a December 2018 deadline to March 31.