For the first time in 21 years

[Ricey]

Things will only get worse the more people don't turn up.

 

[united we stand]

Things will only get worse the more people don't turn up.

This

I go to football hoping to enjoy myself . A lot of the enjoyment comes from the atmosphere. We can be playing crap and 2.0 down but then if we score with 10 mins left everything changes and the last 10 mins generally will have a great atmosphere

The sad thing is that as more and more don't go the atmosphere gets worse and worse, and fewer people go and the downhill spiral continues. Added to that the club has less money coming in . therefore the type of player we can afford does not improve , and so we play badly . the atmosphere gets worse .......................

I got a season ticket for the first time this year (admittedly I have only been watching for 7 years which is very annoying) as I decided that the club needed me more than ever with the attitude that 'We can all make a difference'

 

[Beefy]

We're in a downward spiral at the minute. The football we're playing this season really isn't bad. The players are trying - I just think some of them are not good enough. The Morecambe game was the last I saw and we lost that because several League Two players made too many individual mistakes.

This is us for the next few seasons in all likelihood. Bumping around mid-table in the fourth tier. It has been us before and will be us again.

 

[Bolton Shrimper]

I don't go to football to watch Ron Martin be Chairman

I don't stay away because Ron Martin is Chairman

I don't sit in the stand thinking about the clubs finances

I don't begrudge the players a mistake as they are playing in league two for a reason

I love it when we win

It gives me the hump when we lose

I don't care whether we won or lost the last game, the next one starts at 0-0

I don't care whether we are championship, league one or league two - we can still just as easily beat Man Utd or lose to Accrington Stanley

I don't care whether we are playing at Roots Hall or Fossetts Farm

Football is my release from the daily grind of work. There are good days, there are bad ones. Always have been, always will be. There have been ups & downs from when I first went back in 1978 (in a dreadful home game against Grimsby of all teams)

If I can afford it then I go, If i can't then I don't.

To me, football really is a simple as that. Its only a game. Players, Chairmen, heroes and villians will come and go but I've made friends for life watching Southend.

My son started going just as we got bogged down for a long spell in division 4 around the end of the nineties. We've had some great times travelling all over the country meeting fantastic people following Southend.

Sometimes you just need to step back and enjoy it (or not) for what it is (or isn't).

Echo this, excellent post, although I do feel our club has lost some of it's soul over the past few years. Probably due to the weight of the s**t being piled on by Martin. Keep the faith.

 

[billy.allison]

surely the answer is that no one turns up and we play all our games behind closed doors like these meaningless friendlies and we will win!!

 

[Tampa Blue]

I started watching in 1971 and until a few years back, I could not imagine life without watching Southend.

I had the opportunity to move jobs a number of times, but as this would result in moving out of the area I never followed them through and believe it or not, missing the football was a major factor in those decisions.

Events in recent years however have left me so demoralised that the hold that Southend had over me loosened to such an extent that I took the next opportunity which involved moving away from Southend.

I fully understand how people have become disillusioned and less committed, and I also understand and admire those who continue to turn up and support my home town team.

I still get excited and upset in equal measure when we are playing, but my expectations are such that I will be content if we are still in buisness at the end of the season and still in the League.

The continued and unacceptable mismanagement of our Club is like Chinese Water Torture and is something that we as fans should not have to put up and the continual 'drip, drip, drip' of bad news has certainly made it's mark on me. My step father had business dealings with RM many years ago, and suggested that this would almost certainly end in tears - sadly I have seen nothing to suggest that he is incorrect.

Notwithstanding that, I still get excited when there is a match coming up and rely on the Internet for updates, plus emails from mates who have been at the match, and I still get upset when we lose - however, neither of these emotions is as strong as it used to be as I guess as a supporter I am sick and tired of being treated as a mushroom ie kept in the dark and fed on bullsh*t.

All I really would want is openess and honesty, I can ask for no more.

For the record, I have no issue with RM wanting to make money from FF, and I have no issue with RM changing Managers.

I will only ever support Southend United.

 

[Firestorm]

We find ourselves missing more games as each season passes, but I still get 2 season tickets each year so that I can still do my bit to support my club.

 

[IloveShrimp]

You are my Southend
My only Southend
You make me happy
When skies are grey
I hope you noticed
How much I love you
Please dont take my Southend away!

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Things will only get worse the more people don't turn up.

When we were last down in this division (ie around the Wignall era) crowds were lower, but there was a good social side to it.

This time that seems gone. The Spread use to be heaving, but people don't even seem to be drinking to take their mind off of the dross on the pitch.

Yeah, I know people have moved to drink in the Railway and other places because it's cheaper but the beer is ****.

 

[mrsblue]

It's been downhill for several years apart from Wembley and Luggys promotion which never was,Match day experience for us has become a chore spending hard earnt money on basically a pile of poo,The catering at the Hall is not edible and stinks making us feel queasy,Crazy fans screaming vile abuse at those on the pitch and not being allowed to have a fag drives me mad,Plus watching game after boring game is all too much.

Good on those who attend every game.

 

[james_c]

opposite for me im enjoying the football experiance much more than under sturrock and think results will come. also people having a pop at the catering rubbish the footlong hotdogs are better than the hotdogs at wembley imo.

 

[Smiffy]

Is it time for a proper organised fan protest?

Or is it a waste of time and we should just sit back and pray?

Just throwing it out there...

:whistling:

 

[mrsblue]

opposite for me im enjoying the football experiance much more than under sturrock and think results will come. also people having a pop at the catering rubbish the footlong hotdogs are better than the hotdogs at wembley imo.

The catering IMO is vile !..Buying food from manky old kiosks is never a good omen,Last time we purchased about 4 years ago it was nasty.

 

[james_c]

Is it time for a proper organised fan protest?

Or is it a waste of time and we should just sit back and pray?

Just throwing it out there...

:whistling:

NO NO NO not again please all this was stirred up few years ago does nothing but bad SUPPORT the team all protests do is split fans make atmosphere worse and effect the team.

 

[mrsblue]

Is it time for a proper organised fan protest?

Or is it a waste of time and we should just sit back and pray?

Just throwing it out there...

:whistling:

No point,

Its Rm's toy and he ain't going until the ft lady sings.

 

[Smiffy]

No point,

Its Rm's toy and he ain't going until the ft lady sings.

I agree.

However, it does strike me that a vast majority of our fans are a very lenient bunch.

What would it take for our fans to speak up in numbers?

Administration?....Liquidation?......

 

[mrsblue]

I agree.

However, it does strike me that a vast majority of our fans are a very lenient bunch.

What would it take for our fans to speak up in numbers?

Administration?....Liquidation?......

I think most of the fans are clinging on to the FF dream in the hope it propels the club onto bigger and better things.

 

[james_c]

I agree.

However, it does strike me that a vast majority of our fans are a very lenient bunch.

What would it take for our fans to speak up in numbers?

Administration?....Liquidation?......

yep one of them maybe untill then we have an ok squad and are still in the football league i support the team not the chairman ect dont get why people so negative.

 

[Fairport]

I have had a season ticket/card for over 30 years but although I attend the home matches I rarely go to away games anymore (used to go to about 8 each season). The whole club seems to be in a shambles under Ron Martin and watching Division 2 football away from home does not excite me anymore. To be fair to the club, the cost of a concession season card is very good, working out at just under £10 per game, very good for league football. Apart from that I cant think of many positive things to say about the club at the moment, its all very sad to see things going downhill.

 

[Dick Bate's Protege]

First walked through the turnstiles in the mid 80s and we were crap, skint and near the bottom of Division 4. Nearly 30 years later and not much has changed; IMO it comes with the territory when supporting a lower league club.

I don't have much respect for Uncle Ron, but I can't be bothered to get myself all bitter and twisted about the situation and in turn stop watching the club. The way I see it, our current plight has probably silently existed for decades, but the emergence of the Internet has taken rumour, financial wizardry and strategic business thinking out of the pub after the game and onto larger public forums.

Que Sera Sera...