http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/ ShrimperZone: Shrimpers chat forum for Southend United fans en Fri, 18 May 2012 00:05:11 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/images/misc/rss.png http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/ http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72061-Other-Recent-deaths&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 20:22:35 GMT Not just Donna Summer, but also: Chuck Brown http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Brown and Donald Duck Dunn from the MGs... Not just Donna Summer, but also:

Chuck Brown
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Brown

and

Donald Duck Dunn from the MGs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_%22Duck%22_Dunn ]]> Napster http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72061-Other-Recent-deaths http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72060-The-Queen-of-Disco-Dies&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 16:18:41 GMT Donna Summer one of The Disco Diva's died today. Very sad, one of my favourite ladies of the 70's.:(

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...s-aged-63.html


]]> Cricko http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72060-The-Queen-of-Disco-Dies http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72059-First-Post-Take-a-step-back&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 15:26:23 GMT Have been a supporter of the club for about 40 years and now attend with my 10 year old son. Have been a passive SZ member for a while but felt the... Have been a supporter of the club for about 40 years and now attend with my 10 year old son. Have been a passive SZ member for a while but felt the need to add my thoughts after this season so this is my first post.

Like everyone was bitterly disappointed not to seal a Wembley spot last night but thought at least we gave a pretty good account of ourselves, especially in the second half of each game, creating numerous chances.

Admittedly we are not the finished article but if we took a step back and looked at where we were 20 months ago with 4 professional players on the books a few weeks before the season was due to start and progressing to achieving 83 points and missing out on promotion by 1 point this is surely progress in a fairly quick timeframe.

I think Sturrock and Coughlan are a good combination. He has built a half decent squad in a short period of time. Personally I think we should keep faith with them and hope he can retain the critical members of the squad such as Grant, add one or two others such as Belford, Hills and then push on to achieve a top 3 finish next season. Then we can judge him after a third season.

UTB ]]> Shrimpers Chit-Chat MR G http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72059-First-Post-Take-a-step-back http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72058-We-were-beat-by-a-good-young-team&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 14:56:19 GMT Give credit to Crewe we were beaten by a good young team who are know 18 games unbeaten. We had our chances more than enough to beat them,weve got... Give credit to Crewe we were beaten by a good young team who are know 18 games unbeaten. We had our chances more than enough to beat them,weve got another year in the same drab league.:omg: ]]> Shrimpers Chit-Chat CHEMICO FC http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72058-We-were-beat-by-a-good-young-team http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72057-Blues-tears&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 14:50:08 GMT SOUTHEND United’s promotion dreams ended in tears at Roots Hall last night. More...... SOUTHEND United’s promotion dreams ended in tears at Roots Hall last night.

More... ]]> Shrimpers Chit-Chat The Echo RSS Feed http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72057-Blues-tears http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72056-Mark-Philips-Fine-Lines&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 14:12:12 GMT I am really pleased that Philips put most of his bad luck behind him and had a solid season. This season, Philips as lost the ball 3/4 times to an... I am really pleased that Philips put most of his bad luck behind him and had a solid season.
This season, Philips as lost the ball 3/4 times to an attacker when trying to beat them being last man.
To which, the one on ones with the keeper were missed every time.
I wonder if just 1 or 2 were scored, whether you would all still be singing his praises.
A very fine line between success and failure as a Player.
Good luck for next season Mark, a great professional ]]> Shrimpers Chit-Chat Muttley http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72056-Mark-Philips-Fine-Lines http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72053-A-New-Manager&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 11:45:03 GMT Ok, so many have advocated that Sturrock should cop for the Spanish Archer. As I've stated on these pages often enough I've not really warmed to Sturrock, but do recognise that he has taken us from a position of having next to no players to the play offs. That I'd suggest is a fair achievement, and if most of you are honest would probably have taken 4th back in August.

So has the time come for a change at the top, and if so who would your choice be? You can't have Sean O'Driscoll who has taken over at Crawley, he would have been near the top of my list.

I'm not opening this because I want Luggy out on balance I think he's still the man for the job.

Over to you lot.

Oh, and anyonre suggesting Martin Allen gets automatic red and a ban for life. :smile: ]]> Shrimpers Chit-Chat canveyshrimper http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72053-A-New-Manager http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72052-So-what-exactly-DO-we-want-then&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 11:38:39 GMT This board is about opinions and this is mine. It is clear to me that there is an enormous amount of people on here that have not got a clue what... This board is about opinions and this is mine.

It is clear to me that there is an enormous amount of people on here that have not got a clue what it is they actually want. Well, let me rephrase that; they do, but can't see they what they actually want is impossible. They are all like one of my step daughters who is a typical teenager. Here is a fairly common conversation style -

Her - "Ohmigod I'm so tired."
Me - "Well go to bed then"
Her - "Don't wanna go to bed"
Me - "Well, you're standing up, so why don't you sit down?"
Her - "Don't wanna sit down"
Me - "Ok, stay standing up then"
Her - "Don't wanna stand up either"
Me - "What are you going to do then, float?"

I'm sure the above won't come as too much of a surprise to people who have teenagers. But it makes the point - she doesn't want to do anything that is possible and only wants something else. She doesn't know what it is, but it's not any of the choices available.

Southend fans are just the same.

Let's look at a few things here.

What league do we want to play in?

For quality of football, surely the Premiership. We'd get to see all those top players and sides and even if it only lasted a season, we'd have parachute payments and would be set up financially. Or would we? Look at Swindon, Bradford, Oldham, Hull, Crystal Palace and Portsmouth... examples of ex Prem teams that have had financial struggles since getting relegated. Bradford have been in the bottom division for a few years and dropped like a stone through the leagues. Swindon and Oldhams were more gradual declines and whilst Oldham haven't plumbed the depths, Swindon have but as we know to our detriment are now on the way back up. The only way Prem quality players would play for these less fashionable teams would be on long contracts which took the place of the exhorbitant wages other Prem teams pay. So whilst the wages were more manageable, the length of time the had to be paid for was like a millstone. We know from our experience what that means as we had Harrold and Foran on the books for a whole season and got nothing for them. Paterson is another example. Plus we would have all these odd time kick offs. Bloody hell, Southend have been playing football on Friday nights since I was a kid in the 1960's and yet STILL people moan every season when the Friday games are announced. If we ever got to the Prem, we'd be playing anytime from Saturday lunchtime to Monday night. There are 7 popular kick off slots in there. And would we be happy to pay £40-odd to watch a game? Because that's how much we'd need to pay to stand any chance of competing with our fanbase.

So, the Championship. That was a great season when we were in it but we got relegated. We are still dealing with the financial fallout from that and it nearly killed the club. We can't compete in that league until FF is built and we can sustain 15-18000 people per game. Even then, it would mean financial disaster after an inevitable relegation, however long that may take to happen. Plus we have the extra ticket costs, probably £30 per game that would go down a storm with the fans who seem to think we should watch Championship quality players but only pay 1990 admission prices.
What about League 1? Yes, this is where we traditionally belong an we are still so gutted about last night. But the consensus is that there is such a gap between L1 and L2 now that we'd suffer the same fate as 3 of the 4 sides promoted last season and come straight back down again unless we developed the squad, and we don't have the cash for that. This means that a promotion may see us struggle and we would have lower crowds, meaning lower income, yet the players wages would be higher. That gap won't be bridged by the additional TV and appearance money although we could get better players in, meaning better football... but with a higher wage bill.
League 2? What a dross league. But we stand more of a chance of financially surviving in this division and yet even now seem to be losing money. We have (apparently) made a huge investment in order to go up and failed; so we're stuck here for another year at least, despite many people claiming they won't come back and watch this rubbish again. This means lower income, possibly having to sell our assets like Hall and Mohsni and only attracting cast offs or lower quality players. This could mean a drop to...
The Conference where, like the Prem, the club have never been. But, ironically, being a conference team gives us possibly the best chance of financial stability. But we do not, absolutely do not, want to drop into that league which makes this one look like La Liga. Plus it will be years before we get out. Just ask Stockport, Mansfield, York, Cambridge, Luton, Grimsby, Lincoln, Wrexham, York, Newport, Barrow, Darlington and Halifax where they would rather be.

So actually, there isn't one division we'd be comfortable being in.

The manager

Despite Paul Sturrock taking a squad of just 5 registered players, three of which were youths, and adding a collection of cast offs and misfits to make a team and within 2 seasons challenging at the top of the league, amassing the second highest points total in our history, scoring the most goals and getting the most away wins ever, almost getting automatic promotion and then almost making it to Wembley, there is clearly a growing number who think he has failed and needs to be sacked.

There is no feeling as to who would take over but I'm not sure if there would be anyone with his experience available. This means another teeth cutting appointment of a novice, who may be as lucky as Tilly, or who may be as unlucky as Bate, Moore, Whelan, Martin or Clark. It must have been luck, because none had any prior experience to draw on. Incidentally, only Tilly went on to manage another club as an "experienced" manager and look what happened - Lincoln dropped out of the league into the Conference.

So do we want a novice manager? Not really... so let's have someone with a good record of getting teams out of this league and plenty of contacts in the game, who's prepared to go without wages for a while if necessary and give his all to the club at the same time.

That'll be Paul Sturrock then... but we don't want him, do we?

I'm not even going to start about the players and owners... but I have concluded that a Southend fan will only be happy when the team are playing scintillating football in League 1, not always winning as whilst we want to go up we don't want all the problems that come with promotion and the additional costs PLUS we don't want to lose our best players to the bigger teams, but we don't want to lose either because that's failure and could mean relegation into dross league 2 again. Drawing games is a bit dull unless they're exciting 2-2, 3-3 or 4-4 draws but at the same time we don't want to concede too many goals as then we might lose so we'd best have a tight defence and keep clean sheets.

The manager needs to have the contacts and CV of Sturrock, the tactical nous of Mourinho, the fortune of Tilson (early years), the attacking mentality of Fry and the popularity of Webb.

We also want to be owned by someone with the pockets of Abramovich, the philanthropy of David Whelan, the generosity of Sheik Mansoor, the popularity of Al Fayed and for them to be a Southend fan and write all the money they ever put into the club off.

Can't see a problem with any of that personally... ]]> Shrimpers Chit-Chat fbm http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72052-So-what-exactly-DO-we-want-then http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72051-Squad-for-next-season-(-amp-where-to-strengthen)&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 10:58:39 GMT For me we have a great nucleus of players but need to get rid of a few (Mohsni first) and bring in a couple that can play football on the ground. ... For me we have a great nucleus of players but need to get rid of a few (Mohsni first) and bring in a couple that can play football on the ground.

GK:
New signing [Daniels / Belford / another (in that order)]
[Backup] Dan Bentley 2013

RB:
Sean Clohessy
Ryan Leonard

LB:
New signing [Lee Hills?]
[Teddy Nesbitt - loan out]

CB:
Mark Phillips
Pat Baldwin
New signing [Rory McArdle?]
Luke Prosser

RM:
Ryan Hall
Ryan Leonard

LM:
Dave Martin
New signing (youth with potential) / George Smith (can he play there? Has he got potential?)

CM:
Jean-Paul Kalala
Anthony Grant / New signing [if he leaves]
Kane Ferdinand
Michael Timlin
Lee Sawyer / New signing
James Stevens (has always seemed good technically, would like to see him given a chance)

ST:
Neil Harris
Elliot Benyon
Liam Dickinson
New signing (Would obviously love Eastwood)

Unsure:
Chris Barker [If we can replace then do so but no immediate capt choice (Harris?)]
Barry Corr

Loan out:
Luke Chambers
Teddy Nesbitt
George Smith (if not good enough backup lm)

Depending on whether they have a future, keep if the management see something in them but otherwise release:
Merrick James-Lewis
Alex Woodyard
Kyle Asante

Release:
Peter Gilbert
Glenn Morris
Bilel Mohsni
Christian Dailly
Harry Crawford
Matt Paterson
Blair Sturrock

Become Assistant (retire from playing):
Graham Coughlan

In summary, to sign:
A keeper
A left back
A centre back
A youthful left mid
An attacking central mid
A striker.

What do you guys think? ]]> Shrimpers Chit-Chat fredheim_holm http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72051-Squad-for-next-season-(-amp-where-to-strengthen) http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72050-My-view-on-the-season-as-a-whole-and-those-83-points-gained&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 10:49:14 GMT There's lot of talk on here that we got 83 points which should/would have been enough for promotion in other years. A points tally in itself is meaningless, if you have a lot of strong teams consistently winning and picking up points you will need more than average to gain automatic promotion. Just look at League 1 where Sheff Utd missed out on the autos despite racking up 91 points. You just need to concentrate on winning your games and if you do that you will go up.

The season in (a very brief) summary:

When Luggy took over he was exactly the man we needed at that time and how he managed to persuade the caliber of players to stay/join in the summer i will never know and he deserves a medal for doing that. He assembled a squad that on paper is full of talent and promise.

By assembling these players so late on in the pre season preparation we essentially put together a "complete unknown" as far as other teams were concerned. What were our strengths? Who were our danger men? How could our weaknesses be exploited?

We utilised this advantage in the first part of the season by playing effective football for this level and picking up points on a regular basis with Ryan Hall, Moshni, and others proving to be real threats to teams. After the first 4 months (19 games) of the season we had amassed an excellent 42 points and were amongst the pace setters in the League, and even leading the way.

This for me is where the season changed. It started to become apparent to everyone that we played a direct style and looked to get the ball forward quickly, then use Ryan Hall to provide to provide pin point crosses from which we looked dangerous. This game plan was beginning to be nullified as teams marked our dangermen out of the game and expected the ball to be delivered long which they could combat by ensuring those areas of the pitch were marshaled by their players with aerial prowess. This happens at all levels of football and as with all teams it was now the time for the manager to earn his corn and make subtle changes to the style/formation of play to come up with a new tactic to keep the opposition guessing and use your lofty league position to enable you to be positive and try to win every game rather than being negative and inviting teams to come at you.

This is where PS came unstuck. We just seemed to carry on doing the same thing each week because it had worked in the past despite the fact it was clearly not working now. This is born out by the fact we managed only a further 41 points from the remaining 27 games.

I do also feel that the players did not step up to the plate at certain pivotal points in the season and to a certain extent that is out of PS's control but they looked disillusioned to me, almost as if they were looking for leadership and advice but to no avail.

In summary i believe it was our total failure to adapt tactics as he season progressed that ultimately cost us promotion and i fear the current squad will be mainly disbanded during the close season as the obvious financial constraints begin to take their toll.

On a personal note I have decided not to renew my season ticket next year after having one for 23 years and the wife is also not renewing. This is mainly due to the fact we now have a family and my time and money are better spent elsewhere. However i will pick and choose my games next year so will still hope to be at the Hall to cheer on the boys whoever is in charge. I just hope the manager and the club as a whole learn from this heartbreak and comeback hungry for success next year whoever maybe in charge or playing!

UTB

I've waited until today to post much as i was too angry last night! ]]> Shrimpers Chit-Chat GNH http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72050-My-view-on-the-season-as-a-whole-and-those-83-points-gained http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72049-Well-done-Crewe&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 10:08:54 GMT They played some excellent football, and in a league full of ageing cloggers (Guy Branston) it was really refreshing to see a team of young technical... They played some excellent football, and in a league full of ageing cloggers (Guy Branston) it was really refreshing to see a team of young technical players expressing themselves. Shame it was against us, but they were an impressive outfit. ]]> Shrimpers Chit-Chat Pubey http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72049-Well-done-Crewe http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72048-How-s-everyone-feeling-and-what-effect-will-this-have-on-you&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 09:19:40 GMT I feel worse now than I did last night. I would say this is my personal worst feeling in supporting sufc. Much worse than donny and getting relegated... I feel worse now than I did last night. I would say this is my personal worst feeling in supporting sufc. Much worse than donny and getting relegated from championship and league 1 for me.

I'll still be there next season although I'm not sure if I will get a season ticket for the first time in god knows how many years. I miss about 4 home games a season so theres not a lot of saving in having one anyway. I've also decided that I won't be doing many away games next season in order to save to move out. This decision was made even if we went up.

Totally gutted about last night.

Whats everyones thoughts? ]]> Shrimpers Chit-Chat mattytheshrimper http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72048-How-s-everyone-feeling-and-what-effect-will-this-have-on-you http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72047-Final-whistle-last-night&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 09:15:25 GMT said it all.
We have seen images of despairing fans in tears applauding relegated teams and those that lost in play-off's.
Last night there was mild applause from a few but mainly silence as people just turned their backs and left. ]]> Shrimpers Chit-Chat Kevin Hogg http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72047-Final-whistle-last-night http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72046-Bluetooth-Light-Switch-Dimmer-Switch&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 09:12:14 GMT Would love to be able to control my home lights by my IPhone. I have seen a few things that use Wifi, but the initial unit is quite expensive. Does... Would love to be able to control my home lights by my IPhone. I have seen a few things that use Wifi, but the initial unit is quite expensive. Does anyone know, or anyone have a light switch that can instead be controlled by bluetooth, or some other means without the use for wifi? ]]> TechnoZone - Hardware, Graphics and Games Davros http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72046-Bluetooth-Light-Switch-Dimmer-Switch http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72045-Should-the-Zone-be-turned-off-for-a-couple-of-days&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 09:10:37 GMT I feel sick to my stomach after last night, and I think emotions are rightly running high. Would it be best to have a little bit of a cool down... I feel sick to my stomach after last night, and I think emotions are rightly running high. Would it be best to have a little bit of a cool down before thinking about football and the future? ]]> Shrimpers Chit-Chat Pubey http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?72045-Should-the-Zone-be-turned-off-for-a-couple-of-days