Rusty Shackleford
Banned
I thought I would depart from the normal RSXF theme of carl, steveo and I arguing with all the Godless lefties and discuss something which really doesn’t belong in the Pub section – my view on the current state of Southend United, both on and off the field.
Steve Tilson has presided over one of the most successful periods in the club’s history, and his managerial achievements, coupled with his illustrious playing career make him an absolute certainty for any SUFC Hall of Fame. He also comes across as a thoroughly likeable sort of chap, who desperately wants the club to succeed. These factors make it very difficult to criticise the man, even when we are really struggling on the pitch, so you might imagine that frustrated fans would pour scorn on Tilson’s boss, Mr Ronald Martin.
However, within the precincts of Shrimperzone, especially among the more established Zoners, Mr Martin is almost as popular a figure as Tilson. I am sure we have all noticed that there have been a number of new members joining up in recent weeks, and some of them have been less than deferential to the Chairman. Almost without fail, their complaints and criticisms have been greeted with a flurry of red rep points from the seasoned Zoners.
Fans of Mr Martin will point towards the financial stability of the club compared with the dark days of Anton Johnson et al and the spiralling wage bills of the Jobson era. We are told that we are ‘living within our means’ and that fiscal responsibility will bring long-term benefits. These are all noble concepts within most business models, but are they really worthy of their proponent being canonised by many fans?
I would argue that another old business maxim merits consideration: ‘You have to speculate to accumulate.’ A conservative fiscal policy will always get my vote when you are running a country, but not when you are running a football team. The best way to improve revenue streams is not through the building of hotels and shopping precincts (although these will definitely help); it is the improvement of the on-field product offering. If the club spends more money on transfer fees and players’ wages, it can expect to improve its product, thus attracting supporters, but more importantly attaining higher league status with the associated benefits of television revenues and more lucrative sponsorship deals. If we are content to tread water in the lower two divisions with a loyal supporter base of five to seven thousand people, then strict financial conservatism is the way to go. If we are serious about having an established Championship club that can support a fan base of twelve to fifteen thousand, then we must be bolder in our dealings on the transfer market.
I am aware that my musings on this subject may be greeted as ‘naïve’, but I would argue that it is naïve to complain about reduced revenues after relegation from the Championship when we did not make the necessary investments that would have kept the club in this promised land. I firmly believe that a bold chairman would have done more to keep the club in the Championship – including offering our talismanic striker a better deal to ensure that we kept hold of him until the time was right to move him on and use the funds to rebuild the squad, as was the case when Stan Collymore was sold.
One obvious argument against my proposed strategy is that spending money doesn’t guarantee success. It is up to the Manager, the coaching staff and the scouts to ensure that we don’t waste money on poor players who aren’t committed, or are too fragile to play more than twenty games a season. When I spoke to Mr Martin, he made no secret of his dissatisfaction with Tilson’s transfer dealings, and made particular reference to Alex Revell, who he considered overpriced, and Richie Foran, where he shared much of the frustrations of fans who couldn’t believe significant wages were being paid to a player who contributed absolutely nothing.
I share Mr Martin’s dissatisfaction with the Manager’s transfer dealings. It’s been said time and time again, but he has made too many mistakes to continue living on the Eastwood coup. I didn’t see much in either Kightly or Hooper when I saw them playing in a blue shirt, but I’m not a football manager. Steve Tilson is our Manager, according to many, the greatest Manager we have ever had, and it is his job to recognise the talent in players – talent which was obviously present in Kightly and Hooper. How many of us, when not at the game, have watched Sky Sports on a Saturday afternoon and groaned as about half a dozen ex-Shrimpers hit the back of the net whilst our own attack draws a blank? I recognise that many of them are playing at a lower level (possibly the same level in which we will be playing next year), but I am convinced that players like Mitchell Cole, Lewis Hunt, Mark Bentley, Garry Richards and even Matt Harrold would be able to perform at least as well as our current crop.
After building a very decent side around Freddy Eastwood on our way to the Championship, Steve Tilson, Paul Brush and the Shrimpers’ scouting network have consistently released players who have gone on to prove themselves elsewhere, whilst buying players who are just not good enough. Bailey was definitely good enough, but couldn’t wait to jump ship. Freedman and Barnard are good enough but are far too injury prone. My main contention is that we have weakened our squad significantly over the last two seasons and we don’t have a lot of money to show for it.
So what’s the answer? The best we can hope for this year is mid-table obscurity, as even if Mr Martin decided to splash a ton of cash, the transfer window has closed. I would not support a change of Manager in midseason, but if the Chairman does decide to spend in the summer, I think he should have serious reservations about entrusting the cheque book to the current management team. There is a lot to be said for stability – look at Alex Ferguson in England and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL (they have had only three coaches in the last forty years and have won more Superbowls than any other franchise), but we should not be content with stability if it only brings mediocrity. What is the point of having a Championship stadium and League Two players?
Part of the enjoyment of supporting a lower league club is the camaraderie between the limited number of fans, the idea that we are the ‘real fans’ whilst the Chelsea/Arsenal/Man Utd fans are just prawn-sandwich consuming wannabes. However, I don’t think that’s a good enough reason to stop us from ‘daring to dream’ if you’ll excuse me the emotive Americanism. I want there to be 20,000 Southend fans at Fossetts Farm, even if some of them have never heard of Brett Angell, let alone Billy Best. I want our club to be a fixture in the Championship, even pushing for a play-off spot to the divine promise of the Premiership. When we were promoted to the Championship, I thought we had taken our first step towards that aim, but all we have done since is stagger backwards. Are we happy to live in lower league obscurity, or do we want a team that is worthy of the incredible support that we have always given, the commitment we have shown and the money we have spent? I will always be loyal to Southend United FC – I will never support another English team, even if we went out of existence. I want my club to grow, to achieve great things, and I want a Chairman who feels the same way. I also want a Management team that can deliver these great things, provided he is given the right financial backing. Do we have these components in place right now? I’m sure many of you will say yes, but I’m not so sure.
Steve Tilson has presided over one of the most successful periods in the club’s history, and his managerial achievements, coupled with his illustrious playing career make him an absolute certainty for any SUFC Hall of Fame. He also comes across as a thoroughly likeable sort of chap, who desperately wants the club to succeed. These factors make it very difficult to criticise the man, even when we are really struggling on the pitch, so you might imagine that frustrated fans would pour scorn on Tilson’s boss, Mr Ronald Martin.
However, within the precincts of Shrimperzone, especially among the more established Zoners, Mr Martin is almost as popular a figure as Tilson. I am sure we have all noticed that there have been a number of new members joining up in recent weeks, and some of them have been less than deferential to the Chairman. Almost without fail, their complaints and criticisms have been greeted with a flurry of red rep points from the seasoned Zoners.
Fans of Mr Martin will point towards the financial stability of the club compared with the dark days of Anton Johnson et al and the spiralling wage bills of the Jobson era. We are told that we are ‘living within our means’ and that fiscal responsibility will bring long-term benefits. These are all noble concepts within most business models, but are they really worthy of their proponent being canonised by many fans?
I would argue that another old business maxim merits consideration: ‘You have to speculate to accumulate.’ A conservative fiscal policy will always get my vote when you are running a country, but not when you are running a football team. The best way to improve revenue streams is not through the building of hotels and shopping precincts (although these will definitely help); it is the improvement of the on-field product offering. If the club spends more money on transfer fees and players’ wages, it can expect to improve its product, thus attracting supporters, but more importantly attaining higher league status with the associated benefits of television revenues and more lucrative sponsorship deals. If we are content to tread water in the lower two divisions with a loyal supporter base of five to seven thousand people, then strict financial conservatism is the way to go. If we are serious about having an established Championship club that can support a fan base of twelve to fifteen thousand, then we must be bolder in our dealings on the transfer market.
I am aware that my musings on this subject may be greeted as ‘naïve’, but I would argue that it is naïve to complain about reduced revenues after relegation from the Championship when we did not make the necessary investments that would have kept the club in this promised land. I firmly believe that a bold chairman would have done more to keep the club in the Championship – including offering our talismanic striker a better deal to ensure that we kept hold of him until the time was right to move him on and use the funds to rebuild the squad, as was the case when Stan Collymore was sold.
One obvious argument against my proposed strategy is that spending money doesn’t guarantee success. It is up to the Manager, the coaching staff and the scouts to ensure that we don’t waste money on poor players who aren’t committed, or are too fragile to play more than twenty games a season. When I spoke to Mr Martin, he made no secret of his dissatisfaction with Tilson’s transfer dealings, and made particular reference to Alex Revell, who he considered overpriced, and Richie Foran, where he shared much of the frustrations of fans who couldn’t believe significant wages were being paid to a player who contributed absolutely nothing.
I share Mr Martin’s dissatisfaction with the Manager’s transfer dealings. It’s been said time and time again, but he has made too many mistakes to continue living on the Eastwood coup. I didn’t see much in either Kightly or Hooper when I saw them playing in a blue shirt, but I’m not a football manager. Steve Tilson is our Manager, according to many, the greatest Manager we have ever had, and it is his job to recognise the talent in players – talent which was obviously present in Kightly and Hooper. How many of us, when not at the game, have watched Sky Sports on a Saturday afternoon and groaned as about half a dozen ex-Shrimpers hit the back of the net whilst our own attack draws a blank? I recognise that many of them are playing at a lower level (possibly the same level in which we will be playing next year), but I am convinced that players like Mitchell Cole, Lewis Hunt, Mark Bentley, Garry Richards and even Matt Harrold would be able to perform at least as well as our current crop.
After building a very decent side around Freddy Eastwood on our way to the Championship, Steve Tilson, Paul Brush and the Shrimpers’ scouting network have consistently released players who have gone on to prove themselves elsewhere, whilst buying players who are just not good enough. Bailey was definitely good enough, but couldn’t wait to jump ship. Freedman and Barnard are good enough but are far too injury prone. My main contention is that we have weakened our squad significantly over the last two seasons and we don’t have a lot of money to show for it.
So what’s the answer? The best we can hope for this year is mid-table obscurity, as even if Mr Martin decided to splash a ton of cash, the transfer window has closed. I would not support a change of Manager in midseason, but if the Chairman does decide to spend in the summer, I think he should have serious reservations about entrusting the cheque book to the current management team. There is a lot to be said for stability – look at Alex Ferguson in England and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL (they have had only three coaches in the last forty years and have won more Superbowls than any other franchise), but we should not be content with stability if it only brings mediocrity. What is the point of having a Championship stadium and League Two players?
Part of the enjoyment of supporting a lower league club is the camaraderie between the limited number of fans, the idea that we are the ‘real fans’ whilst the Chelsea/Arsenal/Man Utd fans are just prawn-sandwich consuming wannabes. However, I don’t think that’s a good enough reason to stop us from ‘daring to dream’ if you’ll excuse me the emotive Americanism. I want there to be 20,000 Southend fans at Fossetts Farm, even if some of them have never heard of Brett Angell, let alone Billy Best. I want our club to be a fixture in the Championship, even pushing for a play-off spot to the divine promise of the Premiership. When we were promoted to the Championship, I thought we had taken our first step towards that aim, but all we have done since is stagger backwards. Are we happy to live in lower league obscurity, or do we want a team that is worthy of the incredible support that we have always given, the commitment we have shown and the money we have spent? I will always be loyal to Southend United FC – I will never support another English team, even if we went out of existence. I want my club to grow, to achieve great things, and I want a Chairman who feels the same way. I also want a Management team that can deliver these great things, provided he is given the right financial backing. Do we have these components in place right now? I’m sure many of you will say yes, but I’m not so sure.
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