Last night was a really good evening, so thanks to
@StanCollymore for facilitating it – I came away with positive vibes about the club and its future.
Here are some notes I took for the Mods. last night – not full minutes, just a few things to give a flavour of what was discussed. Apologies if I missed anything or got anything slightly wrong, was trying to listen and type notes at the same time.
Stan started by outlining his motivation for coming back to the club. Most of which we’ve heard from him previously – I underlined three words which he says he’s all about:
“Clarity, transparency and honesty”
Stan talked about what he’s done so far and what the problems were back in June 2021. Started with introducing Tom to Ron, then talked about the Maher recruitment process. One thing I’d not heard before was that a highly rated manager had been interviewed for the job and Stan thought he could be the favourite, however he “winged it” at interview whereas Maher had prepared thoroughly and clearly was highly motivated and very determined to succeed.
Next up - the moratorium on protests. Stan said thank you for it - it is important when players are low on confidence.
Embargo, he knew about it 3 days into his job. He says it made no difference even though we were all shouting about it. They were out and about making contacts, building bridges and watching games. Target list of up to 50 players so they knew where they were going when it was lifted.
John Still brought with him a group of scouts that watch games for fun.
Kev and Darren know a lot of U23 teams and their coaching staff around the country
There is a huge list of big clubs that have offered players to us. The final decision however is down to Kev who decides what he wants.
Just as an aside, Stan said that Carlo Cuddicini called him on the way here (Chelsea loan manager) as an indication of high level contacts who are interested in working with us
How does the football department work?
Between all of them they have contacts at over 100 clubs. On the board of potential targets (about 50 players), every player is watched 3 times
List is whittled down and Tom gives the yes or no on finances. Kev listens to all opinions.
The promised video about the football department is not happening now (moment has passed)
Stan has a role on the commercial side, in fact met sponsors today for lunch in Leigh. He can act as a point of contact for sponsors too.
Media - club can do better. Has got good contacts at Twitter and wants to do it better. Wants to roll out an inside Boots and Laces series on social media and working with the media manager on this
He hopes the club will make us very happy in the lead up to King’s Lynn but he can’t say any more or Tom will sack him!
Questions
Injured players - Bridge, nearly there. Sim probably not this season.
New stadium - not in his remit! But Tom is answering. Development should start in the not too distant future. Ron is leading on it.
Age profile of squad. Is there a long term pathway for young players? Talking about his document “Southend United the future”. Stan would like to see more players stay for longer.
Club Director Gary Lockett talked about the academy and the loss of funding - if we don’t get some funding we may have to make some tough decisions
Why are we different now? Will be facing another embargo in 6 months? Tom came forward to answer this
Tom starts off by talking about how unstructured we were when Phil Brown left. Structure was put in place. Tom did an audit of the whole business. Needed to create a better culture across the club. Creating an environment for success. Negativity doesn’t help.
Embargo came out of the blue, EFL gives you a phone call and a week to sort it out. Situation we were embargoed for was not new, it was historic debt and was the same situation when we did sign players so came as a bit of a shock.
We now have a 32-page business plan. We know what contributions are required from Ron and his companies. Although he can’t guarantee it he has no expectation that we will go into embargo again.Tom likes collaboration.
Without Ron’s financial contribution we would need to find someone else to make things work.
Stan was asked (by me!) about the well qualified recruitment specialist and what happened to him? Apparently John Still was brought in instead as Kev was keen to work with him. Anton Robinson is still involved to supplement the work that John Still does. Tom said he brings something different to what John and Stan bring.
We now have 12 scouts out on a matchday (compared to none when Tom joined)
How realistic is it for us to go up next year with so many big clubs in NL?
Progress is being made, need to have checks and balances for decisions on the footballing side. Better due diligence now taking place - we need to get about 75% of recruitment decisions right to be successful.
Players will come to Southend on loan who won’t go to the likes of Bromley and Boreham Wood because of the size of our crowds. Big clubs like that as they want their young lads to be tested.
Tom said we will maintain a competitive budget but will be slimming down the playing squad - 34 professionals at the moment - too many. Our current playing budget is top 4 in the division.
It was Benno who spotted Ollie Kensdale.
Elvis situation is discussed, we’re still paying him to preserve our compensation rights. Have tried to get him back in the building but agent and Elvis not interested. Stan said it will ring alarm bells with other clubs if a young player is not interested in playing football.
Stan was asked which current players had impressed him most - Steve Arnold, with honourable mentions for Demi, Clifford, Dalby, Murphy, Bridge.
He’d love to have some sessions with Sam Dalby to help him flick the ball on better! Jack Bridge is a quiet lad but has got great potential.
We're creating a better culture around the club for players, Zak Brunt and his Dad very complimentary after he left and nearly resulted us getting another player on loan because Zak had spoken about us positively.
Head of academy advert expires soon, will be further update after that (Tom)
Moving players on is something the football department are dealing with.
Does not paying players give a stigma? To a small extent- maybe 2 or 3 agents/clubs have mentioned it. Stan and the football department trying to talk them round regarding new positive regime.
Budgets already set for next year - we’re top 3 or 4 in terms of budget.
Harrison Neal a young boy with a man’s head on his shoulders, the kind of player Kevin likes – a leader in the dressing room.
In terms of our playing style Stan thinks we will continue to see more performances like Yeovil
Are we facing any sanctions due to pitch invasions or last Saturday? Not as far as Tom is aware
In the last couple of months Ron has been more calm and respectful. Stan doesn’t believe Ron wants to run the club into the ground.
Lots of talk about our potential to work in the community, Stan very complimentary about the Everton model.
All in all a good night, with fans being respectful and asking mainly intelligent questions (nothing about onions in burgers or when Stan’s going to put his boots on!).
Felt that a further night about none playing matters might be good too in order for Tom and the none football team to answer the questions about toilets, ticketing, new stadium, commercial stuff etc.
