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Blues boss Brown hoping to make double signing

Err or they've just been delayed and could be completed next week. Chill out. It's June!

Yes it's June, and we're one of the only if not THE only EFL club not to make a signing. You might be skipping in the meadows but it worries me.
 
Has he, hasn't he? Will he, won't he? This potential signing malarkey pushes the adrenalin level to new heights and leaves barely visible finger nails after the biting. Oooh, I love the close season. :nope:

Come the start of the season we will field a team. It may well have some new faces in it but I can guarantee we will still be waiting on tenterhooks for yet more signings. It happens every year so I don't quite know why anybody should think this year will be different.
 
No point in reading your posts. You have a hatred for a most successful Southend United manager and never miss any opportunity whatsoever to have a pop. COMPLETELY ignoring the fact that every year PB gets us higher in the league with higher crowds.
I am sure you will moan about PB if he were to win the Champions League..you can always search for something.

Whatever Trevor..You know what I am saying rings true
 
It's always hoping. How about he keeps his trap shut until a player actually signs for us. It's the same every year.

And every year we actually do sign players , good players ! We've already said we are having a smaller squad, meaning the emphasis is on quality rather than quantity ! But yep, lets instead just sign 6 players nice and early , just so we can say we've signed 6 players regardless if they are players wanted ... , but then you'd moan about how rubbish the players are .. but with PB that's all you want to do anyway isn't it .. boring to the extreme
 
Yes it's June, and we're one of the only if not THE only EFL club not to make a signing. You might be skipping in the meadows but it worries me.

We're slow to make signings every single summer. Do u think that's purely coincidence? You can't blame PB for this coz we've always been the same in my 17 odd years supporting Blues.

I don't know the exact reasons why because that sort of info never becomes public knowledge but I suspect it's a combination of things:

- As much as we love our side, to your average lower league footballer, there are more glamourous sides to sign for in June. We're trying to compete with Portsmouth, Charlton, Blackburn to name but a few to sign players capable of getting us promoted. If you were a pro player, where would you rather play every week - Ewood Park or Roots Hall.

- Our transfer strategy - Ron Martin is the common denominator in those 17 years of my support and as I said above we've always been slow out the blocks. So I strongly believe Ron has realised that some Championship standard players will start to consider our beloved club as an option after moves to remain in that division don't materialise. Sometimes patience pays off. Would you rather put up with a few more weeks of transfer frustration if it meant we sign more Simon Coxs than Frank Noubles?

On a similar vein, I strongly believe Ron holds back some of our transfer budget for the season from being spent in the summer. Have you noticed how we always start the season with a weaker squad still missing a couple of key players. Then it gets to January and we finish the season with decent players not even making the bench?

We simply can't afford to have a 25 man squad for an entire season full of top quality players. So we clearly get by for the first few months with the bare minimum and then if we're competing at the right end of the league come January then there's further investment in the squad. That's a good strategy in my opinion.

A lot of this is purely my own opinion so pull it apart if you want but it makes sense to me.
 
And every year we actually do sign players , good players ! We've already said we are having a smaller squad, meaning the emphasis is on quality rather than quantity ! But yep, lets instead just sign 6 players nice and early , just so we can say we've signed 6 players regardless if they are players wanted ...

Spot on.

I'd rather we sign 3 good players than 6-7 average ones.

We all know that PB hasn't got a great deal to negotiate with, financially. If we offer someone £4,000 a week, for example, the first thing that player's agent will do is say to any other club who is interested that if they offer £4,500 they can outbid us.

In the end, it will come down to the player wanting to be here, because of PB and what he is trying to achieve with this club.

We'll rarely win a wages race and with agents pushing for the best deal for the player and ultimately themselves, we're just part of the negotiating cog in the wheel of fortune for the player.

Frankly, I don't care if we haven't signed anyone on 31st July, because if a Cox & Ferdinand come here by the end of August, I'd take that.

Oh and PB HAS improved our position year on year. Anyone who sees that as a failure, isn't being honest with themselves, in my view.
 
Oh and PB HAS improved our position year on year. Anyone who sees that as a failure, isn't being honest with themselves, in my view.

Success and failure are very subjective. There can be no argument that our position has improved consistently under PB. Some, and I rank myself among the number, question whether the success we have had is as good as the success we could have had with the squads we put out. Our promotion under PB was by the skin of the teeth and in a season where it appeared we could have done more. The 2015-2016 season ended competitiveness at Christmas and the freefall from January onwards was alarming. The 2016 - 2017 season, with eight games to go, looked as though anything less than the play-off's would have been a failure.

On the reverse side of the coin I liked the upturn in entertainment and applauded a number of very decent signings (slightly offset by a few poor acquisitions). So on paper we have improved, season on season, and that can be considered success. To some, and their view is just as relevant, the squad underachieved in terms of ability season on season and that is failure. What could of, or should of been, can never be proven but that does not undermine the viewpoint.

You finished your post with 'in my view.' Therein lies the rub. with thousands of supporters there will be alternative views to yours and mine. In my view the rest of your post was, as you say, 'spot on.'
 
No point in reading your posts. You have a hatred for a most successful Southend United manager and never miss any opportunity whatsoever to have a pop. COMPLETELY ignoring the fact that every year PB gets us higher in the league with higher crowds.
I am sure you will moan about PB if he were to win the Champions League..you can always search for something.

David Webb and Steve Tilson were more successful and on less budgets
 
Success and failure are very subjective. There can be no argument that our position has improved consistently under PB.

Fair comment.

I think I would always judge success on whether the team, over a season, have improved in quality and league position, particularly versus financial constraints and genuine expectation.

There have been peaks & troughs under PB throughout all the seasons in charge, but the upturn in points achieved, year on year, suggests an upward curve.

2014-15, did end in a nervy last-gasp way, granted, but we also only missed out on automatic promotion by the skin of our teeth, as well and finished higher in 2014-15, than the season before, so that was still a year on year success, for me.
 
Spot on.

I'd rather we sign 3 good players than 6-7 average ones.

We all know that PB hasn't got a great deal to negotiate with, financially. If we offer someone £4,000 a week, for example, the first thing that player's agent will do is say to any other club who is interested that if they offer £4,500 they can outbid us.

In the end, it will come down to the player wanting to be here, because of PB and what he is trying to achieve with this club.

We'll rarely win a wages race and with agents pushing for the best deal for the player and ultimately themselves, we're just part of the negotiating cog in the wheel of fortune for the player.

Frankly, I don't care if we haven't signed anyone on 31st July, because if a Cox & Ferdinand come here by the end of August, I'd take that.

Oh and PB HAS improved our position year on year. Anyone who sees that as a failure, isn't being honest with themselves, in my view.

Problem with signing players once the season has started means that they might take longer to get match fit and blend into the squad, exactly like last season, and ultimately the start to last season certainly cost us a play off place
 
Personally, I think losing the home game to MK Dons was the killer. We'd have made it, otherwise.

The slow start, was outweighed by the long run of success from Chesterfield at home to Oldham at home, some 6 months of consistent results.
 
Spot on.

I'd rather we sign 3 good players than 6-7 average ones.

We all know that PB hasn't got a great deal to negotiate with, financially. If we offer someone £4,000 a week, for example, the first thing that player's agent will do is say to any other club who is interested that if they offer £4,500 they can outbid us.

In the end, it will come down to the player wanting to be here, because of PB and what he is trying to achieve with this club.

We'll rarely win a wages race and with agents pushing for the best deal for the player and ultimately themselves, we're just part of the negotiating cog in the wheel of fortune for the player.

Frankly, I don't care if we haven't signed anyone on 31st July, because if a Cox & Ferdinand come here by the end of August, I'd take that.

Oh and PB HAS improved our position year on year. Anyone who sees that as a failure, isn't being honest with themselves, in my view.

This, whilst 90% spot on, has one flaw.

As we found last season, because we didn't have a Ferdinand or Ranger or Wordsworth we effectively lost out on a play off (or better). One of the keys is to get your players in so they can acclimatise to their new surroundings and players during pre season.

So, I am not panicking at a lack of transfer activity I wouldn't want to be in this position on 31 July - especially if Leonard (as I suspect he will) has gone to pastures new.

But similarly, let us not forget, we've probably made the most important signing of the summer by ensuring we kept Anton here.
 
Ive tried to stress the value of the occasional late Gamble in the market form a financial perspective. Equally it can be known to also be costly
Just a reminder that the main Man firmly extolling the virtues of getting the squad in early is one Philip Brown. He couldnt of said it more clearly , referencing his belief that it has cost us otherwise.
Heres a few more helpful quotes, but what these blokes know is nothing of course compared to our ability to expand on the virtues of buying late
WENGER = " All told I believe the earlier you settle your team for the new season the better it is and the LESS anxiety there is" PEP GUARDIOLA = It is important to have a settled squad BEFORE THE FIRST DAY OF PRE- SEASON. For many seasons we have dithered in the past in the Summer transfer market, leading to players arriving to late. Spurs Manger = " If players arrive late it is unsettling and effects things on the training ground" " The IDEAL situation is that for the next season you get your squad settled early to WORK WITH ALL the players PRE-SEASON.
Fulham Manager , " The importance of getting the squad in nice and early ahead of the new campaign is VITAL "

Just saying, I think Phil knows this too somehow ?
 
Agreed. PB will be the first to say that he wants the players he needs in early. Of course, if he identified Rory McArdle as someone he wanted and we offered him the deal he wants, he would have signed on May 19th or whenever.

We really don't have any aces when it comes to getting players. If Southend are keen, then any agent will say "I can get you a better deal than going there. Leave it with me" and so the process begins.

The only players we would pick-up by getting in early are the ones who think they can't do any better and we really don't need those, as has been proved with the players we shipped out in May.

For every Pep or Arsene, there's a whole heap of clubs grabbing any old turkey in the shop and trying to gel them into a winning team in June. Plenty of those will fail, as they did last season.

It's not all about strengthening early. You have to get the quality you need and PB has one hand tied behind his back at every turn, in that regard.
 
Whatever Trevor..You know what I am saying rings true

We are always slow in transfer window - we also always achieve more than previous season under PB. To your horror I presume.
Name any other manager in the Football League who has improved his club's league position - in the last four seasons. Name one!!
 
Spot on.

I'd rather we sign 3 good players than 6-7 average ones.

We all know that PB hasn't got a great deal to negotiate with, financially. If we offer someone £4,000 a week, for example, the first thing that player's agent will do is say to any other club who is interested that if they offer £4,500 they can outbid us.

In the end, it will come down to the player wanting to be here, because of PB and what he is trying to achieve with this club.

We'll rarely win a wages race and with agents pushing for the best deal for the player and ultimately themselves, we're just part of the negotiating cog in the wheel of fortune for the player.

Frankly, I don't care if we haven't signed anyone on 31st July, because if a Cox & Ferdinand come here by the end of August, I'd take that.

Oh and PB HAS improved our position year on year. Anyone who sees that as a failure, isn't being honest with themselves, in my view.

THIS!!
Well said Andy T
 
This, whilst 90% spot on, has one flaw.

As we found last season, because we didn't have a Ferdinand or Ranger or Wordsworth we effectively lost out on a play off (or better). One of the keys is to get your players in so they can acclimatise to their new surroundings and players during pre season.

Wordsworth was already our player and Ranger signed on 3rd August. Not ideal, I grant you, but I'm sure the club had to be 100% confident that they were making the right decision with him on personal and fitness levels.

I'd also wager that we got Anton actually BECAUSE of our poor start. PB could well have gone to Ron after the Fleetwood match and said something along the lines of "Unless we crank up the offer, we won't get Anton. You can see we need him after today" and so we got him to sign, when we might not have been able to, back in June/July.
 
Wordsworth was already our player and Ranger signed on 3rd August. Not ideal, I grant you, but I'm sure the club had to be 100% confident that they were making the right decision with him on personal and fitness levels.

I'd also wager that we got Anton actually BECAUSE of our poor start. PB could well have gone to Ron after the Fleetwood match and said something along the lines of "Unless we crank up the offer, we won't get Anton. You can see we need him after today" and so we got him to sign, when we might not have been able to, back in June/July.

Just like to add that Ranger had been training with us most of the summer before he signed

Anton signed before the Fleetwood game and was presented on the pitch before KO. Good job he did because he sat with his family in the Directors box and was visibly shocked at the foul abusive language aimed at PB after less than 15 minutes. His family have never sat there since. Of course those idiots will tell you they have paid their money so their "entitled to"
 
MO, 'Rigsby'.

I must admit, I was surprised when I checked and saw that Ranger officially signed on 3rd August, as I had thought he was here before then. I guess that was the period where his fitness and personal circumstances were being checked out.

Good point on Anton. I wasn't at the Fleetwood game, but I remember now your post from the time, regarding the abuse. Sounds like we had identified him after the three opening defeats, rather than after the Fleetwood match.
 
David Webb and Steve Tilson were more successful and on less budgets

True but you can't knock the job Brown has done in his time here. When he arrived we were mid-table in L2, last season we were just 5 minutes away from a L1 play-off place and our league position has improved every season. I've never been Brown's biggest fan (although last season I did warm to his more positive approach to games) but even before last year I certainly wouldn't have been of the opinion that he'd done a bad job at this football club.
 
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