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I also don't buy all this "we have to keep Oxley" nonsense. It's a bit like the world ending if Ryan Leonard leaves - we're arguably a more fluid team since he's gone and his replacement has taken his chance with both hands. I'd certainly like to keep Oxley but if what he wants and what we're offering don't match up, there will be plenty of others out there. Equally Ted Smith is a year older than when he last played so it must be time for him either to claim his place or move on?

Which one of the 4/5 players who have played in his place would that be. Dru would get my vote to take Wordsworths place but we certainly haven't found a replacement for Lenny yet
 
Agree, but not sure any manager will ever get that luxury of a whole season to consolidate again. Sturrock got away with it but only because he genuinely started with nothing - and some "fans" were still critical of him for finishing us mid table. Either Powell will have us in the upper half by Christmas or learned voices on here will want him gone. Our club is no different to the majority though - we all saw what happened at Scunthorpe recently.

That's where the cup run comes in.
 
Consolidate our place in the division and have a cup run, whilst bringing through the youth and developing them into first team regulars.

YB and I always sing from this hymn sheet but it bears repeating. A run in either of the two major cups would be great - not just for the coffers but for us as fans. Wouldn't it be fantastic to have more stories we can look back on in 10/20/30 years time?
 
I also don't buy all this "we have to keep Oxley" nonsense. It's a bit like the world ending if Ryan Leonard leaves - we're arguably a more fluid team since he's gone and his replacement has taken his chance with both hands. I'd certainly like to keep Oxley but if what he wants and what we're offering don't match up, there will be plenty of others out there. Equally Ted Smith is a year older than when he last played so it must be time for him either to claim his place or move on?
More fluid midfield since Lenny left, what games have you been watching, it has left a gaping hole in midfield and zero defensive cover. Dru has been good, but a different player entirely.

Oxley I agree with, poor coming off his line and doesn't command his defence, good shot stopper...but replaceable.
 
Yesterday further highlighted precisely what this team needs. Dismantling. There are a few fairly good individuals but as a team it has proven, time and again, it cannot be relied on. The Jekyll and Hyde performances are shameful. Players in this team contributed to the demise of our last manager but, happily, they will be the master of their own downfall well before it can impact on the present boss. There will be a lot of goodbyes this summer!
 
Yesterday further highlighted precisely what this team needs. Dismantling. There are a few fairly good individuals but as a team it has proven, time and again, it cannot be relied on. The Jekyll and Hyde performances are shameful. Players in this team contributed to the demise of our last manager but, happily, they will be the master of their own downfall well before it can impact on the present boss. There will be a lot of goodbyes this summer!

Agreed. This has been the least enjoyable season for a few years. The players haven't endeared themselves to me. Don't really have favourites etc. I'd be happy for an 80% turnover and start again with a younger and fitter squad.
 
Team spirit is not as good as it's been in the past, they're not as close a set of players as not so long ago. Whether that can be attributed further to the fallout from the Nile Ranger stuff, I'm not sure - it is certainly possible.

All sorts of dilemmas for the management team to handle quite soon, personally, of those out of contract, I'd keep White (his versatility in being able to cover any position across the back 4, or sit as a defensive midfielder in front of a back 4 make him a huge asset); Wordsworth (still our most creative player) and Cox. I love Tims to bits and would love to see him offered another year, but not sure that would be enough for him.
 
Most Managers have by this point in the season identified the players they wish to keep, then usually its over to the likes of Ron and the player/agents to negotiate the contracts. Sir Chris has not had a lot of time unfortunately but must have a pretty good idea by now.
Trouble is many a negotiation takes some time and the best possible position to be in is to have sorted the retained list just before the end of the season ( i.e, by the 5th May, ) which is just over 3 weeks away, to enable planning for next season through the summer. Sadly we have something of a track record for being consistently behind the action to produce the best opportunities.
I think having Sir Chris in place long term should help particularly with players we see who like playing for him and this will have some influence on negotiations. I hope we can move on contracts quickly and dream even more of our new recruitment team being well ahead in the future planning stakes and somewhat more successful
 
I think a lot depends on what is reasonable.

We are historically a third / fourth tier team who've been lucky enough to spend 8 seasons punching above our weight. At the beginning of this season, all the noises were of "promotion", "play offs" and "Premier League standard players". In fact, a more realistic assessment would have been:- we did really well last year, we will do well to repeat that, we need to consolidate in this division and a mid table finish is likely. But we didn't get that, and a reasonable mid table finish is going to be seen as a failure. What is clear though, this is a Phil Brown team, playing Phil Brown football and it needs a complete overhaul.

So, firstly, define "success". Next season we need to consolidate our position in this division and be aiming for a top 10 finish.

To do this we must improve our away record considerably, strengthen our defence and score more regularly. Yeah, that sounds basic, but anyone of us who've been on the road this season will point these areas out as problematic. To do that the new manager will be making some fundamental, and possibly unpopular, choices.

My view is our entire season will be based on SCP's ability to bring the correct players into club, move those he doesn't want out of the club (and I accept there are going to be some contractural difficulties) and oversee the development of our youngsters into either first team prospects or saleable assets. I have a feeling he will look to build a midfield around Dru Yearwood, so he'll be looking for the best option to play alongside him. That's not Wordsworth or Wright, and long term I am not sure it's Timlin either. He'll need to find a permanet partner for Turner, that's not Anton. Love John White, but probably not him either. Might be Kiernan, who knows? He'll need to find a goalscorer that can play in a system he wants to play. If that is one up top, we don't have anyone who can play in that role.

We need to move away from buying players who are the wrong side of 28.

We also need to avoid all those injuries we had piling up. I don't think its a co-incidence that players returning from injury quickly got injured again. But then again I gather training was a bit of a shambles.....

So all in all, a major overhaul is coming, not just in personnel, but in training, recruitment, development and attitude.
 
To quote CP yesterday “I’m still assessing what we are and who we are and they’ve given me real food for thought now." I'm guessing that some have signed their own exit warrants after the display at Oxford as, at this time of the season, one would think they'd be playing their socks off to impress the manager. Unless of course, they realise their own future(s).....
 
Wordsworth has to go for me. His wages could be spent elsewhere on someone who can play the majority of the season and doesn’t go missing more often than not.
 
Agreed we need a mass cull of the crap that Brown has brought in.

Sorry but I don't agree with that. So to balance the discussion I will say why.

We have a team that can (at home at least :smile:) match any of the teams in this division ........... and then we have a team that can't win for toffee when away. Performance levels have been erratic to say the least.

Clearly more consistency is needed. I would ask only a few players to pursue their careers elsewhere and look to bring in a central defender, a tough central midfielder, a creative midfielder and 2 strikers.

Then I would look to the manager to manage the team - make the right team selections, get the balance right, get the tactics right and bring home the bacon more often ........... then we would be in the top 1/3rd of the table.

In summary, wholesale change is not for me.
 
Unfortunately there will still be at least 10 teams with more to spend than us next season. There will also be some interesting clubs coming up, so it all depends on what you deem a success.

Far to many Southend fans are now sounding like PL glory hunters and see anything less than promotion as a failure., wasted season etc. The fact that we were booing our own payers half way through August and demanding the manager be sacked meant we were guaranteed failure.

Lets hope CP and who ever he signs aren't targeted long before we finish this years cricket season
 
Realistically, we are once again only going to bottom to mid table in terms of spending power during the summer which I completely accept, as many have already said we aren’t a big club so consolidating in this league for another season is by no means a bad thing. In terms of ins and outs? How many do we think will leave this summer? Between 8 and 10 is my guess. We already have a small squad so it would worry me if we didn’t bring in a similar amount in. That said, what sort of players so we target? I’m sure CP has many contacts with clubs, agents and players up and down the leagues but I wouldn’t want to see to many premier league youngsters come in on loan.. which was the last one that actually turned out to be a success? I think free transfers will once again make up the bulk of our signings, I just hope they are young hungry players with a point to prove rather than old journeyman looking for one more pay day before hanging their boots up.
 
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