Southend United on brink of extinction with club unable to pay players and staff amid seven-figure debt

SOUTHEND UNITED face the very real prospect of going out of business due to their perilous financial situation.

The National League outfit, who boast a 116-year history, are in serious financial trouble with unpaid players and staff and an outstanding HMRC bill.

A winding up order has been adjourned, but the club are continuing to lose £2million per year.

According to , chairman Ron Martin has until March 1 to find a seven-figure sum or risk the extinction of the club.

Back-to-back relegations in 2020 and 2021 have seen the Essex-based club drop from the third tier to outside the EFL.

And they have been placed under a transfer embargo due to their economic situation.

Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling brought the horrendous situation to the attention of viewers during Soccer Saturday over the weekend.

He said: "This is very much the crisis club, Southend United.

"A winding up order has been adjourned, but that debt to HMRC is described as large and the chief executive this week said Southend are losing £2 million a year.

"Some office staff have not been paid for December or January. They owe money to the St John’s Ambulance and are under a transfer embargo.

"Southend United are a football club on the edge of a precipice at the moment and I know all their fans want to make people generally aware of just what a situation they are in.

"It is a perilous situation, despite the fact that on the pitch, that intrinsically in the top nine of the National League."

Despite failing to pay players in the squad, Southend secured a third victory in four over the weekend as they beat York City 2-0 in front of 6,000 fans at Roots Hall.

The victory has remarkably elevated them into the play-off places amid unprecedented turbulence off the pitch.