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A Match for James (Walker)

This was truly an amazing day, and as stated previously, what football should be about, looking out for someone who gave his all for the club.
I couldn’t help though from getting a tad emotional in seeing the superb athlete that James was a shadow of his former self, it really brings it home how treasured life is, and if you haven’t done already, donate whatever you can.
Well done SUEPA and all the organisers.
 
To all involved with the organisation of this I can only congratulate you on what was a fantastic effort. It was a very enjoyable day & a great credit to B&P for their efforts as well.

The SUEPA Oldies put on a real show. A few of the highlights were
Francis Laurent - tricky & quick though constantly derided by Brushy for being slow.
Matt Harrold - who knew he could shoot with that belter in the top corner as he never did when the played for us
Duncan Jupp - making the point that he was nearly 50, well he is 48, when Tilly asked him for a few minutes more in the 2nd half
Nicky Bailey - the op must have gone well as he was non-stop, absolutely brilliant
Kaptain Kev - another 90 minute man & goal of the game with a delightful chip
Anthony Grant - I'd still have him in the team he was sheer class, great energy
Kevin Betsy - well I was told that's who the 7 was as I struggled to recognise him as he looked younger now than when he played for us, hope I look that good when I'm 45 :Smile2:, again I'd have him back
Adam Barratt - just did what AB always did & rampaged all over
Paul Byrne - Warmed up for about 40 mins before coming on but looked like he needed to! 😀
All the others - respect for the show you put on.
Farke Knights - great effort & the young lad who came on & scored with that top corner curler, well just wow!!

Until I saw the photo I didn't recognise Fabrice Muamba but after the initial presentation of the teams & James Walker he came over towards the dugouts where I was. He was looking very emotional & sat quietly for a while with a couple of the Farke Knight guys on their bench.

I won't say what I'm really thinking as I don't want to upset anyone. But as a fan of many years I was surprised to only see one person I knew in the ground who was the great Nobbler. What I would say is that if this happens again do try to go if you can as it was a fantastic occasion & SUEPA deserve the support.

20230528_152610.jpg
 
To all involved with the organisation of this I can only congratulate you on what was a fantastic effort. It was a very enjoyable day & a great credit to B&P for their efforts as well.

The SUEPA Oldies put on a real show. A few of the highlights were
Francis Laurent - tricky & quick though constantly derided by Brushy for being slow.
Matt Harrold - who knew he could shoot with that belter in the top corner as he never did when the played for us
Duncan Jupp - making the point that he was nearly 50, well he is 48, when Tilly asked him for a few minutes more in the 2nd half
Nicky Bailey - the op must have gone well as he was non-stop, absolutely brilliant
Kaptain Kev - another 90 minute man & goal of the game with a delightful chip
Anthony Grant - I'd still have him in the team he was sheer class, great energy
Kevin Betsy - well I was told that's who the 7 was as I struggled to recognise him as he looked younger now than when he played for us, hope I look that good when I'm 45 :Smile2:, again I'd have him back
Adam Barratt - just did what AB always did & rampaged all over
Paul Byrne - Warmed up for about 40 mins before coming on but looked like he needed to! 😀
All the others - respect for the show you put on.
Farke Knights - great effort & the young lad who came on & scored with that top corner curler, well just wow!!

Until I saw the photo I didn't recognise Fabrice Muamba but after the initial presentation of the teams & James Walker he came over towards the dugouts where I was. He was looking very emotional & sat quietly for a while with a couple of the Farke Knight guys on their bench.

I won't say what I'm really thinking as I don't want to upset anyone. But as a fan of many years I was surprised to only see one person I knew in the ground who was the great Nobbler. What I would say is that if this happens again do try to go if you can as it was a fantastic occasion & SUEPA deserve the support.

View attachment 26501
Lee Barnard hat-trick - get him back 😁😁
 
To all involved with the organisation of this I can only congratulate you on what was a fantastic effort. It was a very enjoyable day & a great credit to B&P for their efforts as well.

The SUEPA Oldies put on a real show. A few of the highlights were
Francis Laurent - tricky & quick though constantly derided by Brushy for being slow.
Matt Harrold - who knew he could shoot with that belter in the top corner as he never did when the played for us
Duncan Jupp - making the point that he was nearly 50, well he is 48, when Tilly asked him for a few minutes more in the 2nd half
Nicky Bailey - the op must have gone well as he was non-stop, absolutely brilliant
Kaptain Kev - another 90 minute man & goal of the game with a delightful chip
Anthony Grant - I'd still have him in the team he was sheer class, great energy
Kevin Betsy - well I was told that's who the 7 was as I struggled to recognise him as he looked younger now than when he played for us, hope I look that good when I'm 45 :Smile2:, again I'd have him back
Adam Barratt - just did what AB always did & rampaged all over
Paul Byrne - Warmed up for about 40 mins before coming on but looked like he needed to! 😀
All the others - respect for the show you put on.
Farke Knights - great effort & the young lad who came on & scored with that top corner curler, well just wow!!

Until I saw the photo I didn't recognise Fabrice Muamba but after the initial presentation of the teams & James Walker he came over towards the dugouts where I was. He was looking very emotional & sat quietly for a while with a couple of the Farke Knight guys on their bench.
I'm still not sure how Granty played as I think he's still under contract at Crawley, but, hey, I'm glad he did! You've missed out Barney with his hat trick at a stroll, and a banger from John White, who still showed that willingness to get forward even from the LB role as Juppy was RB. Yes, it was Kevin Betsy - saw him last year at the Barker game, and I swear he looks younger again this year! All of them top blokes, big smiles, big hugs (never had so many hugs!), and great humour.
 
I'm still not sure how Granty played as I think he's still under contract at Crawley, but, hey, I'm glad he did! You've missed out Barney with his hat trick at a stroll, and a banger from John White, who still showed that willingness to get forward even from the LB role as Juppy was RB. Yes, it was Kevin Betsy - saw him last year at the Barker game, and I swear he looks younger again this year! All of them top blokes, big smiles, big hugs (never had so many hugs!), and great humour.
Granty has been released by Crawley -
 
Granty has been released by Crawley -
Would have Granty back all day long. He looked great on and off the ball, and even at what must be the back end of his career, he could still teach our current midfield a thing or two!

It was an incredible day yesterday, and what a fantastic effort from all concerned to get the game on and organised so beautifully. To Kay and all the team at the Shrimpers Trust, hats off, it must have been a superhuiman effort to get everything set up and sponsored so that the game could go ahead so seamlessly. That was a magnificent job! Also, what a fab little ground and set up they have at Bowers and Pitsea FC. I wasnt sure what to expect, but I preferred their bars to Roots Hall! One thing made us laugh though, the tannoy is obviously pointing the wrong way because we didnt catch a thing from the dugout side of the pitch, but it was load an clear from the other end of the car park :-)

Also amazing to see so many of our Southend boys back on the pitch, giving their time so willingly to come along and play during their limited downtime, and a huge round of applause for the Farke Knight Rises team. Well done all, looks like you had a blast!

It was good to see James looking so happy yesterday, but at the same time it is heartbreaking to see what has happened to that strong, vibrant and healthy young man he was. I hope that yesterday, and ongoing efforts to help him, with the suport of his family to start to rebuild his life again. Also lovely that Fabrice Muamba was able to come along to offer his support. Must have been an emotional and poignant day for him too!
 
To all involved with the organisation of this I can only congratulate you on what was a fantastic effort. It was a very enjoyable day & a great credit to B&P for their efforts as well.

The SUEPA Oldies put on a real show. A few of the highlights were
Francis Laurent - tricky & quick though constantly derided by Brushy for being slow.
Matt Harrold - who knew he could shoot with that belter in the top corner as he never did when the played for us
Duncan Jupp - making the point that he was nearly 50, well he is 48, when Tilly asked him for a few minutes more in the 2nd half
Nicky Bailey - the op must have gone well as he was non-stop, absolutely brilliant
Kaptain Kev - another 90 minute man & goal of the game with a delightful chip
Anthony Grant - I'd still have him in the team he was sheer class, great energy
Kevin Betsy - well I was told that's who the 7 was as I struggled to recognise him as he looked younger now than when he played for us, hope I look that good when I'm 45 :Smile2:, again I'd have him back
Adam Barratt - just did what AB always did & rampaged all over
Paul Byrne - Warmed up for about 40 mins before coming on but looked like he needed to! 😀
All the others - respect for the show you put on.
Farke Knights - great effort & the young lad who came on & scored with that top corner curler, well just wow!!

Until I saw the photo I didn't recognise Fabrice Muamba but after the initial presentation of the teams & James Walker he came over towards the dugouts where I was. He was looking very emotional & sat quietly for a while with a couple of the Farke Knight guys on their bench.

I won't say what I'm really thinking as I don't want to upset anyone. But as a fan of many years I was surprised to only see one person I knew in the ground who was the great Nobbler. What I would say is that if this happens again do try to go if you can as it was a fantastic occasion & SUEPA deserve the support.

View attachment 26501
Maybe you didn't go around the whole pitch. There were several longstanding Blues fans there, including Nobbler's era 😉
 
Just catching up on posts after a day on some of the remaining admin of it all. Thank you all for your appreciation, yes it was (and still is) hard work but just so worth it for seeing the fabulous smiles on peoples faces not least of course that of James and all of his family

Thanks too to the many of you who have donated, and for those that sponsored shirts some will go in the post tomorrow and the rest will go out later in the week once I get a new supply of padded envelopes!

The Trust donation link will remain open for a while yet.

The raffle too was a bit of a surprise reaching a four figure sum re its takings alone, indeed we did not bring enough tickets. A couple of the prizes remain unclaimed - see earlier post today re the winning tickets.

More stuff went on eBay today - another signed Kane Spurs shirt (this time away) as obtained for us by Chrissy Powell, a signed Spurs pennant (they may have under-achieved by their standards on the pitch but off it they put the vast majority of other clubs to shame), a signed Bournemouth shirt obtained for us from Simon Francis by Tilly, and a signed 2022 FA Cup final Liverpool shirt which the wonderful Mark Gower got for us. All are advertised on SUEPA social media with the links, I won't further gum up the SZ airwaves with all of the info about them. They are available for one week.

Plenty more still to do in the next week or two to tie all things up and then we'll let you know the final figure raised, but suffice to say our initial expectations have been exceeded.

We also won't then just pay the cash and draw up the bridge, we will be involved re some ongoing work to settle the bills of the additional therapy sessions that James needs and also we sincerely hope continue the friendships we have built up with the Walker family and of course James.

Thanks to the SZ mods for allowing us to post all this on the main forum, we ain't quite finished yet as I am sure you will all like to know the final details, but it all will in more detail with pics too go up on SUEPA social media so do follow us there if you don't already.

Another match? Hmmm, not for a long while I hope, but never say never.
 
did Wordsworth turn up?

There were a few who didn't/couldn't come. Woody tore his calf muscle on Saturday, he was gutted to miss out as he'd been at Charlton Academy with James. Macca was another who couldn't make it due to a bereavement in his wife's family. Leon Cort and Leo Roget didn't come, I believe Andy may have known about these but I don't know why.
 
Also amazing to see so many of our Southend boys back on the pitch, giving their time so willingly to come along and play during their limited downtime, and a huge round of applause for the Farke Knight Rises team. Well done all, looks like you had a blast!

They really were a great bunch, said that was one of the hardest games they'd played.

As for Lee, he is an absolute nutter, he's off to climb Kilimanjaro for breast cancer in a few months, so if you see him pounding Leigh stairs over the next few weeks, you'll know why. Link to his Just Giving page if anyone fancies showing him a bit of support is here:

 
Taken me a while to find the words after Sunday, so I'll post now.

A really good day, well done to all the organisers and volunteers for making it happen. Props to Farke Knights for putting up a good fight against some great players.

An emotional day in some ways, but also really pleased that James is still with us and reading about his determination to recover and relearn skills is really inspiring.

Made me so happy to see him smiling and enjoying his day, I hope it raised plenty of funds needed for further rehabilitation.

James and Barney were the strike partnership in my first full season watching Southend as a kid. Very fitting that Barney rolled back the years for his former teammate.
 
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