The clear out

[BP Blue]

Out of the loan players I think the only one we may see next year is Harrison Neal and that would be a small chance at that. Logic is that he will have only played half a season at National League level and if we continue to develop him as a player, they may see benefit in giving him a full season with us if he is going to be a key player rather than a squad player at say L2 level.

 

[Flinty]

Of the current loanees I think Lopata is the one we will miss the most and is currently irreplaceable from the current squad. We have already shown without Neal & Dennis we can cope. And I’m not saying the team isn’t improved with them in it just that we have cover when not…not sure we have for Lopata so centre half’s must be high on the list. I would be worried about Arnold being poached in the summer and potentially Husin if he continues the way he has

 

[fredheim_holm]

Of the current loanees I think Lopata is the one we will miss the most and is currently irreplaceable from the current squad. We have already shown without Neal & Dennis we can cope. And I’m not saying the team isn’t improved with them in it just that we have cover when not…not sure we have for Lopata so centre half’s must be high on the list. I would be worried about Arnold being poached in the summer and potentially Husin if he continues the way he has

I'm intrigued where we see Kensdale lining up for us next season, is he Lopata's replacement as he's a tall quick centre back? Or do we see him more as one to play as one of the outside centre backs who can overlap?

He's just unfortunate currently that we're on such a good run and have an outside shot at the playoffs, I'd hope to see him given more game time if we dropped off.

 

[Leigh_Seasider]

On the 'which of the loanees can we keep' argument. I believe the coaching team want to adequately cover for all positions. I'm sure they have a long list of targets to pick from.

Neal/Dennis/Lopata are very much stopgaps and short term solutions (til the end of the season). They're filling huge gaps that were left by past regimes and doing a great job at helping us stabilise and create a platform we can build on. Likewise the older heads like Atkinson and Demetriou who have stepped up. I doubt if many (any) will be here, at least in the first 11 as players, beyond summer.

Kev & Co are building for the future. With any luck the players we are raving about next season are Southend players, not someone else's. Hopefully the likes of Powell/Wood/Walsh etc will be well and truly blooded in the run in. Safety and stability was first priority.

 

[Cricko]

I can see Murphy being let go if the club can find somebody who wants him To me he might score a few but misses more and spends to much time on the deck. He does not seem to fit the current game plan either.

 

[CanveyCastle]

Still wouldn't make our bench at the moment.

His Holiness Sir Lord John Still is about seventy --- wouldn't expect him to make the bench at his age.

 

[overseas shrimper]

His Holiness Sir Lord John Still is about seventy --- wouldn't expect him to make the bench at his age.

Earlier this season he would have done.

Edit: Silly comment by me, really. He would have started.

 

[bluesfansince1952]

I can see Murphy being let go if the club can find somebody who wants him To me he might score a few but misses more and spends to much time on the deck. He does not seem to fit the current game plan either.

It might be just me but that our recent signings seem to share the attributes of having pace and being 'busy' players.
Neither description fits Murphy (and a few others on the books to be fair) which is why I agree with the above and suspect he might be moved in the off season.

 

[Holy Joe]

I think loanees could play a big role next season. We can see the quality that is potentially available - why wouldn't you want 2 or 3 of them next season?

 

[Rob1920]

I think this is the whole point of the 'football department' i.e. the likes of John Still, Stan and to a lesser extent the other guys. They will have new loanees lined up for when the others go back, hopefully of a similar quality or who knows, even better..

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

A very large number of recent graduates from our academy have played in the first team but only one, Tom Clifford has been worthy of a place in the team, and that is in a non-league squad don't forget. The academy has not been as successful as many claim. A good yardstick is if you have a decent crop of youngsters then you will have a decent run in the FA Youth Cup. We have been eliminated in the early rounds on a regular basis over the past few years, often by teams from clubs no bigger than ourselves.

Dru Yearwood, Charlie Kelman, Nathan Bishop, Isaac Hutchinson are all u23 and playing first team football at a level above the NL, whilst teenagers Kenny Coker and Charlie Sayers were snapped up by Premier League clubs, after having made their first team debuts for Southend whilst still academy players.

That’s not including Tom Clifford, now established at left-back and former player of the year Elvis Bwomono, who played over 100 times for us.

Plus we may see some more of Lewis Gard, Matt Rush etc.

That’s a pretty good haul for the last handful of years before even including the likes of Finlay Burns, George Murray-Jones etc who got poached at a younger age (and for whom we will have been paid)

On the 'which of the loanees can we keep' argument. I believe the coaching team want to adequately cover for all positions. I'm sure they have a long list of targets to pick from.

Neal/Dennis/Lopata are very much stopgaps and short term solutions (til the end of the season). They're filling huge gaps that were left by past regimes and doing a great job at helping us stabilise and create a platform we can build on. Likewise the older heads like Atkinson and Demetriou who have stepped up. I doubt if many (any) will be here, at least in the first 11 as players, beyond summer.

Kev & Co are building for the future. With any luck the players we are raving about next season are Southend players, not someone else's. Hopefully the likes of Powell/Wood/Walsh etc will be well and truly blooded in the run in. Safety and stability was first priority.

The thing is with Lopata, Neal and Dennis is that it is our spine straight down the middle. They are arguably our 3 most important (or maybe hardest to replace) players.

For that reason I wouldn’t be surprised if we try and replace them with loans next season as we can probably loan in a higher standard of payer than we can buy.

The good news is that we won Saturday without Dennis, with Powell showing that maybe his pace can replace Dennis’ up front. Either way we need that injection of speed else we’re very one paced.

 

[stewart]

I think we will be following the Brentford model meaning we will lose our u/23s etc and be looking at just having a squad of 25 plus players, Im sure we will keep our mst promising youngsters, but the rest will be farmed out to lower league clubs .We will rely on signing some decent talent from non league and above should the neccessity occur.

 

[Jai]

I gather Phil Brown may be about to take the reins at Oxford City, so that might help us shift a bit of deadwood, especially the more senior ones.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

Was strange only clicking 14 players although I would of clicked more if we stood a chance of keeping some of the loanee's but sadly I can't see us having a chance of keeping any of them.

There's some good club legends that I'll be sad to see go such as John White but there will also be players I won't such as Coulson and hopefully Ogogo and Dunne. There's also lots of youngsters such as Egbri who, sadly, just aren't good enough and it's best for everyone that they move on.

A month or two ago I would said Demi and Atkinson would 100% need to go but now, as it stands, I would keep them. Atkinson has been outstanding recently and Demi, who I've never been a fan of, I'll admit has done well.

Another big summer with lots of decisions to make but my god do I feel better about Maher, Currie, Bentley making those decisions. I fully trust them and will back whatever they decide.

 

[stewart]

i dont know much about the ability of some of those academy players so i choose not to make any predictions on who will be released ,i trust Kev and co to do that ,they are the ones coaching them and seeing their attitudes each day .

 

[bluesfansince1952]

Having signed no less than six players (Kensdale, Davies, Cardwell, Husin, Wood and Powell) since the embargo was lifted it would be very strange indeed if there not significant incomings during the close season.
I suspect most on this site can only guess at how many targets we will have, and, in what positions they play.
If some or most of the are now playing at a level below us it is entirely possible that some kind of agreement has already been reached with them. Although this is not supposed to happen it is part and parcel of football, especially at the lower levels.
In his interview our 'Si Foo' John Still made more than one clear reference to the fact that many of the present squad would be moving on.
My own viewpoint is that while we can try to guess who might be released or retained it might be impossible to answer that question unless it was known who exactly they are planning to bring in.

 

[NZamba Legend]

I gather Phil Brown may be about to take the reins at Oxford City, so that might help us shift a bit of deadwood, especially the more senior ones.

Very handy from his Cotswolds base

 

[hlane17]

I gather Phil Brown may be about to take the reins at Oxford City, so that might help us shift a bit of deadwood, especially the more senior ones.

It's the least he could do after the 2nd time debacle.

Thought he did well 1st time round though.

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

I gather Phil Brown may be about to take the reins at Oxford City, so that might help us shift a bit of deadwood, especially the more senior ones.

A few ex Southend players there. Harry Kyprianou, Dan Matsuzaka and Elliott Benyon are all there.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I gather Phil Brown may be about to take the reins at Oxford City, so that might help us shift a bit of deadwood, especially the more senior ones.

In the unlikely scenario of Brown signing Dunne for a transfer fee (rather than us having to pay up Dunne’s contract) I believe it would be the first time in Brown’s managerial career one of his signings has been sold for a transfer fee.