• Welcome to the ShrimperZone forums.
    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which only gives you limited access.

    Existing Users:.
    Please log-in using your existing username and password. If you have any problems, please see below.

    New Users:
    Join our free community now and gain access to post topics, communicate privately with other members, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and free. Click here to join.

    Fans from other clubs
    We welcome and appreciate supporters from other clubs who wish to engage in sensible discussion. Please feel free to join as above but understand that this is a moderated site and those who cannot play nicely will be quickly removed.

    Assistance Required
    For help with the registration process or accessing your account, please send a note using the Contact us link in the footer, please include your account name. We can then provide you with a new password and verification to get you on the site.

Australia captain Mark Milligan signs - and home kit sponsored by Shrimperzone

I think it's really simple with Milligan, he was totally misused by Bond and has been trying to cover the ground of 2-3 players. Unless we get the combination right in midfield it's going to be a very frustrating season for him. What we really need is a Will Atkinson type player who can do most of the running so Milligan can use his brain.

What a mess we are in !!!!
 
And just to add to what Rootshallbloke said above in his reply to you.

Milligan was to be signed by a couple of Championship clubs over the past few years but was unable to join either due to work permits being denied. He has said many times his dream was to play in Europe and especially in England but all previous attempts to do so were dashed due to work permit issues. He didn't play in China or Australia or the Middle East as an easy option. His last stint in Australia was a last minute decision after another move to Europe fell through.

He finally got his chance in Scotland last season before jumping at the chance to play in England. To my surprise it was with Southend.
Wonder why there was a work permit problem, other Aussies seem to have succeeded in making it in Europe. Of the current Australian International squad of 23, five are playing in the English leagues and a further nine in various European leagues.
 
If the insinuation is that he is so good by the Scottish press, and we know Nathan Ralph won player of the season in the same league with Shaughnessey also taking similar plaudits (again in the same league). We know our front line is top notch, so why are we doing so dreadfully bad? That's 5-6 players right there who you would think might have helped us perform to a better standard.

He's not got any assists, so I would assume from that he's not an offensive midfielder. We've leaked in 24 goals in 8 games as well, which indicates he isn't helping out the back line either...
 
Let us remember that Dundee, for whom Ralph was player of the year, finished bottom of the Scottish premier league. Recruitment from the SPL is not to be recommended.
 
I wonder why Milligan,
I have of course read it, but this journo's view wasn't the manager's. How do you think Hibs would fare in league 1 as a matter of interest?

A lot better than Southend United, that's for sure.

The fact is Milligan, Ralph, Shaugnessy and Hamilton were better in their first few games than their last.

They have found out the hard way, we don't like new boys at Southend and now the Bond excuse has been used up we will turn on them.

Even when Theo, like many a Southend forward before him, goes and scores at other clubs we dismiss them along with Hibs, Australia and everyone else.

Some of you should look at the all time league table over 100 years. You would be surprised who is above us. It turns out we aren't good enough for a lot of the players we have had.

Right now we are a club heavily in debt with a valuable home ground. It has planning permission for 500 homes that take the pressure off of a council with no land.

The only problem is they haven't given us permission for a new stadium. So that leaves us in a vulnerable position. We are just a few councillors and brown envelopes away from......."You were going to build a hotel and flats at FF anyway.....It would work for all of us if FF become all residential."......."With a Sainsburys local of course, after all is was their idea in the first place."......" Solves the Seaway conflict of interest and keeps the high street mafia off our backs"......"Come on Ron you have tried your best. I have a friend in the building game if you need to unload FF fast You can walk away debt free and very wealthy"
 
Wonder why there was a work permit problem, other Aussies seem to have succeeded in making it in Europe. Of the current Australian International squad of 23, five are playing in the English leagues and a further nine in various European leagues.
They changed the rules a few years ago so that unless your nation averages the top 50 in the FIFA rankings over the last 2 years then you've basically got no chance of getting a permit, Australia had a period where they dropped outside the top 50 for a couple of years, which was when Milligan wanted to move to Bolton. As a result his permit was denied. Australia are back in the top 50 so it's not as much of an issue now. (There are also other ways to get a permit but realistically only rich clubs would be able to afford players that met that criteria.)
 
I wonder why Milligan,


A lot better than Southend United, that's for sure.

The fact is Milligan, Ralph, Shaugnessy and Hamilton were better in their first few games than their last.

They have found out the hard way, we don't like new boys at Southend and now the Bond excuse has been used up we will turn on them.

Even when Theo, like many a Southend forward before him, goes and scores at other clubs we dismiss them along with Hibs, Australia and everyone else.

Some of you should look at the all time league table over 100 years. You would be surprised who is above us. It turns out we aren't good enough for a lot of the players we have had.

Right now we are a club heavily in debt with a valuable home ground. It has planning permission for 500 homes that take the pressure off of a council with no land.

The only problem is they haven't given us permission for a new stadium. So that leaves us in a vulnerable position. We are just a few councillors and brown envelopes away from......."You were going to build a hotel and flats at FF anyway.....It would work for all of us if FF become all residential."......."With a Sainsburys local of course, after all is was their idea in the first place."......" Solves the Seaway conflict of interest and keeps the high street mafia off our backs"......"Come on Ron you have tried your best. I have a friend in the building game if you need to unload FF fast You can walk away debt free and very wealthy"
I think generally people have respect for Milligan and his career, would you agree or disagree that he was used poorly by Bond ?
 
I wonder why Milligan,


A lot better than Southend United, that's for sure.

The fact is Milligan, Ralph, Shaugnessy and Hamilton were better in their first few games than their last.

They have found out the hard way, we don't like new boys at Southend and now the Bond excuse has been used up we will turn on them.

Even when Theo, like many a Southend forward before him, goes and scores at other clubs we dismiss them along with Hibs, Australia and everyone else.

Some of you should look at the all time league table over 100 years. You would be surprised who is above us. It turns out we aren't good enough for a lot of the players we have had.

Right now we are a club heavily in debt with a valuable home ground. It has planning permission for 500 homes that take the pressure off of a council with no land.

The only problem is they haven't given us permission for a new stadium. So that leaves us in a vulnerable position. We are just a few councillors and brown envelopes away from......."You were going to build a hotel and flats at FF anyway.....It would work for all of us if FF become all residential."......."With a Sainsburys local of course, after all is was their idea in the first place."......" Solves the Seaway conflict of interest and keeps the high street mafia off our backs"......"Come on Ron you have tried your best. I have a friend in the building game if you need to unload FF fast You can walk away debt free and very wealthy"

Much of this post has,of course,no relevance whatsoever (though I don't necessarily disagree with it), to Milligan.
 
They changed the rules a few years ago so that unless your nation averages the top 50 in the FIFA rankings over the last 2 years then you've basically got no chance of getting a permit, Australia had a period where they dropped outside the top 50 for a couple of years, which was when Milligan wanted to move to Bolton. As a result his permit was denied. Australia are back in the top 50 so it's not as much of an issue now. (There are also other ways to get a permit but realistically only rich clubs would be able to afford players that met that criteria.)
Thank you for explaining it. With a qualifying group in the World Cup that includes Kuwait, Nepal and Jordan they should have no trouble maintaing a top 50 ranking.
 
I think generally people have respect for Milligan and his career, would you agree or disagree that he was used poorly by Bond ?

Only when he put him on the right of 3 man midfield v Rochdale......The first an only time we have ever kicked off with 3 forwards, playing as 3 forwards.

Bond picked a fans favourite formation and listened to the 'best form of defence is attack nonsense'. Still Bond knew he was off so maybe he just tried to prove a point to some.
The best form of defence is when players aren't downing tools, like Cox and Humphrys were.

I would be hard pushed to think of a worse performance at RH. Seen worse Southend teams but for attitude, they get the prise.

Milligan was injured in that game, trying to make a tackle out on the wing, Hamilton was lost on the left. Mantom was probably looking at the Bluebells......Either way not a game to judge ability.

As I say Milligan had some very impressive and busy games at the start. Certainly one of the best at Cov and looked like the captain we were missing form last season. I think he will come good for us because of his character, lets hope he can drag a few of the sulkers up to his level. Because right now they are dragging others down......The best bit is the fans blame everyone else.
 
Much of this post has,of course,no relevance whatsoever (though I don't necessarily disagree with it), to Milligan.

It was a reminder to some that beggars cant be (lets cancel contracts, have 8 players signed in January and sack all the backroom staff including the physio because our players have been injured) choosers.
 
Thank you for explaining it. With a qualifying group in the World Cup that includes Kuwait, Nepal and Jordan they should have no trouble maintaing a top 50 ranking.

I don't think that makes it any easier as the FIFA ranking system is very complicated and takes into account the quality of the opposition when awarding points. So, for example, wins against Belgium, France and (dare I say it) England would gain you more points than wins against Kuwait, Nepal and Jordan.

Click here for the details.
 
Last edited:
Only when he put him on the right of 3 man midfield v Rochdale......The first an only time we have ever kicked off with 3 forwards, playing as 3 forwards.

Bond picked a fans favourite formation and listened to the 'best form of defence is attack nonsense'. Still Bond knew he was off so maybe he just tried to prove a point to some.
The best form of defence is when players aren't downing tools, like Cox and Humphrys were.

I would be hard pushed to think of a worse performance at RH. Seen worse Southend teams but for attitude, they get the prise.

Milligan was injured in that game, trying to make a tackle out on the wing, Hamilton was lost on the left. Mantom was probably looking at the Bluebells......Either way not a game to judge ability.

As I say Milligan had some very impressive and busy games at the start. Certainly one of the best at Cov and looked like the captain we were missing form last season. I think he will come good for us because of his character, lets hope he can drag a few of the sulkers up to his level. Because right now they are dragging others down......The best bit is the fans blame everyone else.
I would agree with his performance at Coventry but after that i've seen very little other than running around trying to cover for others. Needs to get a grip on those around him and give the likes of Hamilton very clear instructions, the lad constantly ball watches then Milligan gets dragged out of position.
 
I don't think that makes it any easier as the FIFA ranking system is very complicated and takes into account the quality of the opposition when awarding points. So, for example, wins against Belgium, France and (dare I say it) England would gain you more points than wins against Kuwait, Nepal and Jordan.

Click here for the details.
Yes, I understand that and that really underlines the point that with what on paper should facilitate qualification to the finals by quite an easy route they then get the opportunity to improve their ranking by playing against higher quality opposition where one good result could dramatically affect their position.
 
I would agree with his performance at Coventry but after that i've seen very little other than running around trying to cover for others. Needs to get a grip on those around him and give the likes of Hamilton very clear instructions, the lad constantly ball watches then Milligan gets dragged out of position.

The haven't played that much together and were 60 yds apart at all times v Rochdale.

The games we have looked like we could win. Posh, MK from 2-0 down and Wycombe. Then Hamilton has played well and was the one picking the passes or shooting at goal. He has actually won some very good lose balls in the final third but now there is the usual 'hes no Timlin' accusation.

Dru was at his best going forward and looked poor when asked to cover for defenders who can't defend. I see Hamilton in the same mode. We just need the players who job it is to add strength to the midfield to do that job. By that I don't just mean win the 6 tackles you make in a game. I mean show yourself for your own team and take the ball in tight situations. That can be 60 times a game. Yes working off the ball and not turning your back on shots is important but in a midfield with no dangerous passes in them, all last season......Then 'allowing' the likes of Hamilton the luxury of going forward is important for us.

After all we rarely score form corners or crosses. Cox is no fox and Hump is more bull in the, I'm not passing to anyone else, china shop. So we are unlikely to have Fleetwood rebound of the keeper type goals.......So maybe someone who can pass and scored goals for Rochdale last season might be better off around their area than ours.....Just a thought.
 
Yes, I understand that and that really underlines the point that with what on paper should facilitate qualification to the finals by quite an easy route they then get the opportunity to improve their ranking by playing against higher quality opposition where one good result could dramatically affect their position.

But if they qualify for the World Cup Finals and do badly they lose points, and they could lose more points than they gained in qualification.

Moreover, they have more than one round of qualification in that part of the world.
 
Yes, I understand that and that really underlines the point that with what on paper should facilitate qualification to the finals by quite an easy route they then get the opportunity to improve their ranking by playing against higher quality opposition where one good result could dramatically affect their position.

You don't seem to have any idea about the qualification system for Asia to get to the World Cup.

The current group stage is the second stage of four stages to qualify for the World Cup, hence nations like Nepal, Mongolia, Sri Lanka etc. are "still in the running" for qualification at this stage after getting through the first stage which was a 2-leg knock out stage for the nations ranked 35-46 in Asia.

I'm not going to go any further into the system but to suggest that all Australia has to do to get to Qatar in 2020 is beat Nepal, Kuwait and Jordan is ridiculous. If you want to know how it all works then follow this link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_(AFC)

I doubt you have any interest in anything other than slagging off Milligan and Australian football, however.
 
Playing or even captaining an international side currently ranked 48th in the world is not setting the bar very high. He has never played in a European league apart from last season at also rans Hibernian, who were happy to let him go after one season. Most of his career has been spent in Australia or China, where he might have been a big fish in a small pond, but a soft option for any player with aspirations to make it to the top. We have seen with other Scottish Premier League signings like Shaughnessy, Ralph etc what a huge gulf there is between that league and the EFL, once you get past Celtic and Rangers, who themselves would probably struggle to get into the English Premier League. At his age Milligan has left it too late to make the grade, perhaps 10 years ago, he might have made it but not now.

How about playing well against the likes of Mbappe and co in a World Cup?

That's got to be at least the quality of an upper half Ryman Prem game hasn't it?
 
You don't seem to have any idea about the qualification system for Asia to get to the World Cup.

The current group stage is the second stage of four stages to qualify for the World Cup, hence nations like Nepal, Mongolia, Sri Lanka etc. are "still in the running" for qualification at this stage after getting through the first stage which was a 2-leg knock out stage for the nations ranked 35-46 in Asia.

I'm not going to go any further into the system but to suggest that all Australia has to do to get to Qatar in 2020 is beat Nepal, Kuwait and Jordan is ridiculous. If you want to know how it all works then follow this link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_(AFC)

I doubt you have any interest in anything other than slagging off Milligan and Australian football, however.
I know how it works thank you and as Australia are the fourth highest ranked team in their grouping they should qualify for the final stages even if that involves a play off as it did in 2018. I have no interest in 'slagging off' either Milligan or Australian football but a sense of perspective seems in order when assessing the merits of either or both. Having watched every game in which Milligan has featured I would judge him as one of those players who has the knack of looking comfortable on the ball with the ability to pick out a pass and who has not been personally involved in any of the disastrous individual errors that have led to goals against. Against that, I have not seen any evidence that he has had, or has the potential to have, a decisive effect on the game.
 
I know how it works thank you and as Australia are the fourth highest ranked team in their grouping they should qualify for the final stages even if that involves a play off as it did in 2018.

This is in complete contrast to what you posted earlier:

"With a qualifying group in the World Cup that includes Kuwait, Nepal and Jordan they should have no trouble maintaing a top 50 ranking"

which quite clearly shows you believed the current group Australia was in was the last stage in order to qualify for the World Cup.

You claimed this "should facilitate qualification to the finals by quite an easy route" and concluded that because Australia had such an easy path they should be permanently in the top 50 of the FIFA rankings and therefore Australian players that are fixtures in the national team should have no issues getting work permits and citing other Australian players playing in Europe.

A lot of Australian players in Europe are playing outside the UK and those countries have less stringent requirements to obtain work permits to play football. Also, quite a few Australian players are dual nationals via their parents or grand parents so have EU passports which means they avoid the top 50 nation requirement to play in the UK. For example, Aaron Mooy, now at Brighton, has a Dutch passport.

I have no interest in 'slagging off' either Milligan or Australian football but a sense of perspective seems in order when assessing the merits of either or both. Having watched every game in which Milligan has featured I would judge him as one of those players who has the knack of looking comfortable on the ball with the ability to pick out a pass and who has not been personally involved in any of the disastrous individual errors that have led to goals against. Against that, I have not seen any evidence that he has had, or has the potential to have, a decisive effect on the game.

I have no illusion about Milligan's ability, I don't think anyone thinks he is a world beater. He is a dedicated and hard-working player from the years I have watched him play for and captain Melbourne Victory.

I think he can be a very good player for Southend in League One given the chance to play in a role that suits him in a team that is far more organised than our team is at present.

I don't think past work permit issues or the fact he came to Southend from the Scottish league is a legitimate reason to question his ability.
 
Back
Top