Memory Lane Old Photos of Southend United.

[Elmsleigh shrimper]

It is a shame that Southend could not make the big step up after the 1971/72 promotion . Southend had a ground that was on par with a lot of 2nd Division teams , we also had a great team who played some of the best football ever seen at Roots Hall , also the club had great supporters and if Southend had been pushing for the 2nd Division crowds would of been pushing 18,000/20,000 .

Missing out in 67/68 in the catastrophic collapse at the end of the season which still haunts those of a certain age , was probably more damaging. We were primed and ready for lift off and Luton who did go up that year pushed on to the 2nd tier and beyond . Much of it, of course, is down to the financial stability of the clubs so we may have always been hampered by the lack of that but I always felt that we missed the boat back then.
I guess we'll never know!

 

[westie]

Missing out in 67/68 in the catastrophic collapse at the end of the season which still haunts those of a certain age , was probably more damaging. We were primed and ready for lift off and Luton who did go up that year pushed on to the 2nd tier and beyond . Much of it, of course, is down to the financial stability of the clubs so we may have always been hampered by the lack of that but I always felt that we missed the boat back then.
I guess we'll never know!

Remember it only too well. Having beaten Workington 7-0 in front of 14,000 delirious fans, promotion was virtually assured (or so we thought). However, our last nine games resulted in six defeats, two draws and one win on the last day of just about the most disappointing season I can recall.

 

[ozzie]

Remember walking around the ground(i was 12) just after we messed that 67/68 season up
I saw Tony Bentley and another player,so i asked him if it was true what the people were saying at school ,that was .."Southend did not want to go up because they get more money at the top of the fourth than they would bottom of the third"
He was shocked that schoolkids thought that......but i will never understand how we messed that season up so badly

 

[Mick]

Remember it only too well. Having beaten Workington 7-0 in front of 14,000 delirious fans, promotion was virtually assured (or so we thought). However, our last nine games resulted in six defeats, two draws and one win on the last day of just about the most disappointing season I can recall.

On the plus side, the disappointment of 1967/68 led to the tremendously entertaining 1968/69 !

 

[Chairman Trigg]

Remember talking to Andy Smillie a few years back that players wages could include bonuses on gates being above certain levels .Seemed that Rubin was liked and the quality of some of the players we signed makes it a more of a mystery why we didn't do better.Still think that Ernie Shepherd produced the most exciting football to watch in all my years of support of the club and who could forget those Friday night games under the lights.

 

[LCBB72]

Remember talking to Andy Smillie a few years back that players wages could include bonuses on gates being above certain levels .Seemed that Rubin was liked and the quality of some of the players we signed makes it a more of a mystery why we didn't do better.Still think that Ernie Shepherd produced the most exciting football to watch in all my years of support of the club and who could forget those Friday night games under the lights.

Bill Rubins must of been the last Chairman at Roots Hall who did not want to sell the ground off and move somewhere else .

 

[Crowstone Crevette]

I think, under Bill Rubin's chairmanship the idea of a supermarket was first mooted. I remember it as Sainsburys but ive been told via SZ it was another. It was to be built at the back of the South (Kop) Bank.

It never happened and many years later Vic 'sold off' the car park behind and the back of the terrace and had the flats and latterly the Frank Walton South Stand built.

 

[fbm]

I think, under Bill Rubin's chairmanship the idea of a supermarket was first mooted. I remember it as Sainsburys but ive been told via SZ it was another. It was to be built at the back of the South (Kop) Bank.

It never happened and many years later Vic 'sold off' the car park behind and the back of the terrace and had the flats and latterly the Frank Walton South Stand built.

I thought it was Tescos?

 

[Special Blue]

Hi good people of SZ, this was a charity game played 1977 at Southchurch Park!
Can anyone tell me the guy on the right probably obvious but in my defence I was only 8.

 

[Suffolk Shrimper In Dorset]

Lets change the mood a little for a bit
We love it when we (SUEPA) get pics sent to us, and the babe in this snap from 1971 has just sent us this one, taken when his dad (and recent SUEPA joiner) Mick Harmston joined Southend for a loan spell in 1971. Oh that North Bank. Happy days ...............

 

[HUMBLEPIE]

Lets change the mood a little for a bit
We love it when we (SUEPA) get pics sent to us, and the babe in this snap from 1971 has just sent us this one, taken when his dad (and recent SUEPA joiner) Mick Harmston joined Southend for a loan spell in 1971. Oh that North Bank. Happy days ...............
View attachment 24420

To think the toddler is now over 50 years old and it was taken the year before I started following the mighty blues where has the time gone.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

Lets change the mood a little for a bit
We love it when we (SUEPA) get pics sent to us, and the babe in this snap from 1971 has just sent us this one, taken when his dad (and recent SUEPA joiner) Mick Harmston joined Southend for a loan spell in 1971. Oh that North Bank. Happy days ...............
View attachment 24420

Must admit i don't remember him?. But seeing the shrine of The North Bank in it's past glory & reflecting on the countless times i stood there over the years, has made me feel a little moist!.
At my age, probably due to my prostrate??.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Must admit i don't remember him?. But seeing the shrine of The North Bank in it's past glory & reflecting on the countless times i stood there over the years, has made me feel a little moist!.
At my age, probably due to my prostrate??.

He came on loan from Sheffield United, but I think he only played one game?

 

[Suffolk Shrimper In Dorset]

He came on loan from Sheffield United, but I think he only played one game?

Correct. Spoke to him a week or so ago - he loved it at Roots (brought here by his former Sheff Utd manager Arthur Rowley) but it never quite worked out and his playing career drifted a bit after that. The babe in the pic is now a conditioning coach at Sheff Weds - it was sussing out (via a bit of work on Ancestry site) that a Paul Harmston on Linkedin could be his son that led us to tracking Mick down.

 

[LCBB72]

He came on loan from Sheffield United, but I think he only played one game?

He played one game in the same team as Jimmy Lumsden who we had on loan from Leeds and Geoff Barker from Hull City .

 

[ozzie]

Thought J.Lumsden was a decent player..but Barker,was he a central defender who never made it with us?

 

[LCBB72]

Thought J.Lumsden was a decent player..but Barker,was he a central defender who never made it with us?

A stroke of genius from Arthur Rowley was to sign Brian Albeson from Darlington who was one of Southends greatest defenders . Who did Darlington sign to replace Albeson a certian player from Hull City named Geoff Barker .

 

[Chairman Trigg]

A sign of just how far we have fallen 1992 posted on another site old grounds Newcastle v SUFC

 

[Whispering Bob]

Great picture!

 

[Cricko]

I never really noticed this hanging in the West Stand bar before.