Memory Lane Furious Southend United fans locked team out Roots Hall following big defeat at Colchester United (2020)

[Mr Browns Ghost]

I think locking the gates is quite funny, harmless and makes a point. Throwing things at anyone or anything is quite different though, I can imagine that being quite scary and it really is only a game. Hopefully MM is right, and Saturday will show him to be a master tactician.

eggsactly this ....

 

[Strykr]

All seems a bit juvenile to me,they should have gone the whole hog and got some stink bombs, itching powder and whoopee cushions.

Protest is fair enough, at least do it to ron and the 1st team though..

 

[Cultist of Sooty]

Pathetic and cowardly.

Not sure why Walsall would be arriving at Roots Hall at that time when they're meant to be hosting Southend 90 minutes later...

You're a genius! New tactical master plan - convince Walsall that the game is being played at Roots Hall.

We'll score goals for sure if all their defenders are hundreds of miles out of position. Right? Right?

 

[NZamba Legend]

Pathetic and cowardly.

Not sure why Walsall would be arriving at Roots Hall at that time when they're meant to be hosting Southend 90 minutes later...

That used to happen in kids football sometimes didn't it? You'd all turn up at the wrong park because your manager had got confused. Plus all kids football managers smoked. Those were the days.

 

[Oakley1]

lucky it wasn't the players throwing them at the fans...….they would have missed by a country mile

and I bet Oxley wouldn't have stopped any of them

to be honest if there had been supporters in the ground the dogs abuse from them would have been far worse to take than a few eggs at windows and a chained gate...…..

 

[ESG]

About time somebody vented some anger. Feel a bit for the very young lads on their first trip and the coach driver if it wasn't MM.

Maybe the anger should be more at a certain mansion on the Benfleet Road.

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

I fully understand the frustrations of these supporters.
There are clubs whose fans would have confronted staff and players, despite the lockdown, never mind locking the gate!

I take the point new players are on the receiving end of previous ills - but they still got beaten 6-1 by our bitterest rivals.
The minute I read the word 'kids' on SZ I know a get-out clause, an excuse, is sure to follow.

Sometimes it feels that our fans are all too compliant, and yeah, eggs and locking gates may seem childish to some, but enough is enough.

 

[Strykr]

We'll score goals for sure if all their defenders are hundreds of miles out of position. Right? Right?

I wouldnt bank on it.

 

[ol blue eyes]

I thought that happened, and instead they got a hour long cozy up with Martin??

I read that it was in fact 2 hours, also to help win them over they got to meet and chat with the latest manager.

 

[Supershrimper]

Someone knocks Ron's front wall down on a regular basis...

Is its knocked down on a regular basis or does it fall down on its own accord due to the cheap builder he uses. Hope he doesn't use the same builder for the stadium

 

[E for B and Billy Best]

The youngsters are the wrong ones to have copped the fans anger, but lets be honest we the fans are at boiling point now and fed up with performances on the field and mis-management off it. Something it has too change it has to change now.

 

[Benfleet A1]

And then when we're still terrible, because egging a bus does nothing, then what?

Waste of time and makes players have a disdain for playing for this club and its fans.

Playing!! You did say playing right?

 

[Mad Cyril]

About time somebody vented some anger. Feel a bit for the very young lads on their first trip and the coach driver is it wasn't MM.

Maybe the anger should be more at a certain mansion on the Benfleet Road.

That's hardly a mansion in Benfleet.

 

[gatecrasher]

And then when we're still terrible, because egging a bus does nothing, then what?

Waste of time and makes players have a disdain for playing for this club and its fans.

They already play like they do anyway - at least play with heart and effort - they cant even muster that

 

[CC51DAS]

I'm shell-shocked by this - I've been trying to resist posting my frustration but finally I've cracked.

Having finally poached Weymouth's manager and coach and whisked up some supporter enthusiasm, a few weeks pass and Ron Martin now finds himself in a scramble to avoid the drop otherwise he will be fried.

Said manager should have parked the bus at Colchester and locked their attack out to deprive them of the eggstacy of beating their local rivals.

This club is now rotten to the core and it leaves a bad smell everywhere.

 

[ESG]

That's hardly a mansion in Benfleet.

Fair point well made.

 

[SUBBlue]

Yes, I can imagine players and staff will really want to play for our club to get us out of this mess.

This achieves nothing but venting anger at players on the coach pushing 17 years old.

My first reaction was annoyance that some idiots had stooped to such pathetic lows & kicked a bunch of men that were already down.

Now the more I think about it I can understand the locking the gates bit. Can’t say I agree with egging the coach though.

We can’t attend games to show our displeasure at goings-on on the pitch so this is the next best thing.

I’m not going to condemn those involved as they speak for many many disgruntled peed off fans who have invested hard earned money & time in Southend United & now see the club they love on its knees.

 

[Jim Levenstein]

I understand the frustrations but doing that to what in essence was the youth / reserve team (a few exceptions) is not overly productive for ours or their futures. Some of those lads made the debut last night. The blame for what has happened the last 2 years isnt on them

Have you seen these lads play their futures are in the isthmian league and a bit of abuse from our fans is not going to change that

 

[Shrimper]

Sure that the protestors hadn't heard we were playing in the Papa John's Trophy and thought they were delivering some Pizza's? Might have been peckish...

 

[Medway Blue]

I am very much in two minds about this.

On the one hand I think the club and chairman are getting an easy ride from fans not being able to be in grounds to vent their anger. So something kinda needed to be done to show just how angry everyone is. Completely understand that.

On the other hand, I know things are bad but not sure I can condone lobbing eggs and abuse at a coach full of mostly 16-19 year olds who have been thrown under the bus. It might make a statement but also makes those involved look like juvenile yobs, and I'm not convinced it'll make any of the players involved last night, or even those who weren't, want to 'fight for the shirt'. Possibly quite the opposite, in fact. I can sympathize with a protest but I don't think this was necessarily the way to go about things. But heat of the moment and all that.

But it does show Ron Martin - in case there was any doubt left - that the fans are close to breaking point, and simply will not tolerate this for much longer.

You'd think so mate but I'm not sure that is the reality. I'm told that when informed this morning about what happened last night, our glorious leader's response was "why did they do that?". I get on reasonably well with RM on a personal level, but he had the gall to claim in a recent press release and then again at the Q&A that "this probably hurts me more than it does you".

Well I can call bull**** on that straight away because if that were the case, he wouldn't need to ask why that happened last night.

He just doesn't get it. He can claim all he wants that he has 'become a fan' but he still doesn't understand why fans feel this strongly, and therefore clearly this doesn't hurt him.as much as it does us. Well, maybe financially but certainly not emotionally. It comes from the same place as his comment to me that 'you don't need to worry about what's going on, it's my job to worry'. A complete pig-headed ignorance of how the fanbase feels. Crazy that he still doesn't understand football and football fandom after 20 years.of owning a club.