Rattus Norvegicus
Dullard
You can look at it two ways, from what I hear (and again I don't know how true this is) Hunt was on a whopping £25k per week at Leeds. Whatever way you look at it he'd be on a mere fraction of that at Roots Hall. If this was a problem you could understand it, he'll know he needs to accept less but it may be a question of how much lower he would accept. By flipping it on its head though you could look at it another way and think that with those astronomical wages at Leeds (and most probably Reading as well) at this stage of his career money may not be as important a factor as it once was, he's got to be extremely comfortable financially. That doesn't mean he'll accept any old contract, but it may be that other factors affect his decision rather than just Chicago (probably) offering a higher wage than Southend.
As you say. A good synopsis of the situation.
You wonder sometimes how much some players want to keep playing. There are those who hang up their boots once their career has peaked. And there are players that will play for as long as they can as long as they can find a team such is their love of the game.