• Welcome to the ShrimperZone forums.
    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which only gives you limited access.

    Existing Users:.
    Please log-in using your existing username and password. If you have any problems, please see below.

    New Users:
    Join our free community now and gain access to post topics, communicate privately with other members, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and free. Click here to join.

    Fans from other clubs
    We welcome and appreciate supporters from other clubs who wish to engage in sensible discussion. Please feel free to join as above but understand that this is a moderated site and those who cannot play nicely will be quickly removed.

    Assistance Required
    For help with the registration process or accessing your account, please send a note using the Contact us link in the footer, please include your account name. We can then provide you with a new password and verification to get you on the site.

Joined
Mar 6, 2004
Messages
4,686
Location
Suffolk 'em all
Right, now there are a few good reasons to be at Roots Hall on Saturday.

Helping to relegate MK and seeing SCP hopefully experiment a bit with players he wants to hold on to for the future are two reasons.

But the main one, in case you are not yet aware, is that we are having our first big SUEPA event at the game.

Under the banner 'Powell's Pals', at the game on Saturday will be a number of old team mates of our manager during his SUFC playing days (so, July '90 to Jan '96). They will all be introduced to the crowd before kick off and THEN afer the match in the Far Post Bar (behind the East Stand) at circa 5.15 pm there will be a FREE meet the players session hosted by David Crown. The plan is, after introductions, to have a Q&A session and then to allow all the chance for pics and autographs. I am expecting SCP to be there at some point too.

One of the ex players who is helping me get some of his fellow team mates along wants it to be a surprise for SCP re who is turning up so we are going with that as far as possible. However, if all come along who say they are then the combined total Shrimper appearances of all is around the 2,000 mark, so there are some serious legends coming along! One of the players who will be there has certainly had an interesting life!

One or two will have been to Roots Hall since they left, but a number have not been back this century, so it will be great to see them again.

Now, I must say that organising all this has been a bit of a challenge, getting footballers to commit to something I'm finding can be a bit like cat herding, but if promises are honoured then this should be very good, so do get yourself to the Far Post Bar after the match. If this works well then we will do more of it, there are some cracking ideas in the pipeline.

The whole idea of SUEPA is to reunite ex players with each other, the club and the fans. It is a fun thing. There is no hidden agenda, and the club should love it as it is all good PR. It is not for profit too, so again I underline that this is a FREE event. Above all, I hope it is something the fans want to see and see more of. We can improve how we do this, and no doubt there will be some lessons to learn from it all after Saturday. Ideas, suggestions, and even offers of future help, are welcome.

The bar will be open until 6.30 pm which is when I expect it all to wrap up by.

The Far Post Bar is not Wembley Arena, I hope it will be well enough attended so that the place is full, and if this interests you then I suggest you aim to get there asap after the match. If you are in the West Stand you can avoid walking all the way around the outside of the ground by cutting through the South Stand.

The event has today been publicised on the club website, I've been plugging it for a couple of days now on the SUEPA Twitter and Facebook pages, and there will be posters around the ground on the day. There is also a feature on it in the club prog.

There is a thread on this under the Ex Shrimpers forum under the SUEPA thread at the top of that. But not everyone looks at that forum hence my blurb on it all here which I hope the mods are ok with

Any questions, just ask.

Oh, and please give ALL of the ex players a great welcome both on the pitch before KO and in the Far Post Bar afterwards. Some may be heroes for all, some you might think are a little controversial, but they will all have made a great effort to be there so lets give them all an equal cheer.

UTB
 
Well, for our first big SUEPA event we were pleased overall!

Steve Tilson, Dave Martin, Ricky Otto, Paul Sansome and Julian Hails came along (Paul Byrne was meant to be there - still trying to find out what happened to him!).

They were all thrilled with the welcome they got on the pitch - Ricky was last on and he was a bit nervous, like Julian it was his first visit back since leaving as a player and he thought he might not get a great reception but I reckon the cheer for him was the loudest

After the match we made it to the Far Post Bar but apols, the lack of a PA system wasn't great and we had to abandon the Q&A (lesson learned) but the players hopefully made themselves available to all who wanted a pic with them or autograph. They did have to dash off to see Chris Powell in his office before he left as otherwise they would have been around longer. We had at that stage lost Dave Martin, not sure where he went! Herding footballers is a challenge, if anyone has a sheepdog to loan out next time let me know.

Some great reactions though none more so than from the disabled fan that Ricky came out to see after the match as I think it really made his day and if we can give even just a few folk some special memories like that then SUEPA is working.

David Crown was a great support throughout the day and thanks too to Rhys/Matt at the club for their support. We've got commitment too from the club to do more of this next season, mostly in smaller groups I think but we'll review and see. Any suggestions welcome.

I've posted up some pics on our Twitter and Facebook pages if you want to see them.

For the last game of the season v The Gas we've got Tony Bentley coming along - fourth in our all tme apps list. He'll be on the pitch with his friend 90 year old Ray Sorrell who first saw us play at The Kursaal in 1933!

UTB
 
Thought Ricky Otto was looking very stylish. :smile: Didn't recognise Sammy ..... and Dave Martin still looks as hard as nails. :thumbsup:
 
Top effort yesterday, Andrew. :thumbsup:

It was great to see the old players again and I really think they loved being back, as well.
 
Dave Martin still looks capable of having a tear-up in an empty house. With him and Paul Roberts on the pitch it was a definite case of "One made of iron, one made of steel, if the right don't get ya the left one will. That is, of course, if Paul Clark, who is made of tungsten, didn't get there first.
 
Last edited:
I hear Ricky Otto is doing good work with youngsters these days. Good for him. It was slightly controversial when Barry Fry signed him but my son loved the guy and loved watching him play being totally unaware of his past.
Nice to see Dave Martin and from what I was told yesterday is still the same sounding man.

Good work in all this Andrew - it has certainly brought back some memories for me and has made me look for my old football album where I used to get pics of the players especially in the 80’s
 
 
Yep as has kindly been posted up above. If you like our SUEPA Facebook page and/or follow our SUEPA Twitter page you'll see regular pics including every time a new member joins SUEPA (two new joiners today to take us to 122 in 93 days)

Facebook (and other organisations) don't have a very good reputation and their failings are well documented (and in the news again today). Many of us choose not to support or use them because of their "profits for shareholders first" policies.

Would it possible to post more on here please?
 
Facebook (and other organisations) don't have a very good reputation and their failings are well documented (and in the news again today). Many of us choose not to support or use them because of their "profits for shareholders first" policies.

Would it possible to post more on here please?

Will try, our SUEPA thread has been hived off by the Mods to the ex players thread (its logical home but much lower foot fall) and I try to keep that up to date. Appreciate your views - with nearly 1,000 followers on Twitter and 500 on FB there are plenty of folk who are ok with it and keeping those pages lively to maintain interest takes a bit of effort and that has to be the main focus but will see if I can put more on SZ if time. It may go quiet for a bit tho on all sites, moving to Dorset in the morn, then re-establishing my gardening business plus need to source a flat rental for two of my sons. And then I need to find out the biggest issue of all - how do I go about modifying my SZ name?!
 
I am sure there will be more photos from the Club put up today as well. Good luck with the move Andy!
 
Back
Top