Battle Of The SUFC Legends - Semi Final - Stan Collymore vs Kevin Maher

[Hotman]

even though the Man is a dirty bugger if my sources are correct, I still voted for him as he was my hero and i had a poster of him.

And maher was **** for 5 years

 

[Beefy]

And maher was **** for 5 years

And really **** for the other five ;)

 

[Uncle Leo]

It's the Collymore problem again.
We all know Stan was a much better player.
But he was only here for half a season. Yes, he kept us up but Kev kept us up countless times and got us up twice.
So I guess its 33 very good games vs 386 good games giving 100%.

Rather fewer than that actually.

 

[phsend]

ooh yeah forgot about Preston, overshadowed by Macca's worldy. I agree, just think that Stan earnt 'legend' status by keeping a bad team up, rather than being a decent player in a decent team. Maher spent a long time at the club doing not a lot

We were not a "bad team", we had players like Ansah, Angell, Sammy, Edwards, Powell, Austin, Cornwell, Prior, even Sussex had his moments!

We should never have been in a relegation battle.

 

[Beefy]

Yeah, Stan shined in one of our best teams ever (we almost went down because of the pre-Collymore parts of the season).

Maher was the best player in some of the worst Southend teams I've ever seen. And whilst we were much better in his latter years I'd put Maher himself quite low down on the list of reasons for why that improvement happened.

 

[shooter mcgavin]

Maher may have given years of loyal service but I can think of many central midfielders that have played for SUFC that were far better players than him. In my opinion, length of service alone has got Kev this far. Certainly not enough to make him this much of a legend in this competition in my eyes.

Collymore was the nuts - end of story!! Probably the best 150 grand ever spent by Southend and had he not been completely unhinged mentally, would have gone on to have made many more appearances for England than he did.

 

[Ron Manager]

Maher may have given years of loyal service but I can think of many central midfielders that have played for SUFC that were far better players than him. In my opinion, length of service alone has got Kev this far. Certainly not enough to make him this much of a legend in this competition in my eyes.

Collymore was the nuts - end of story!! Probably the best 150 grand ever spent by Southend and had he not been completely unhinged mentally, would have gone on to have made many more appearances for England than he did.

Agreed, if Collymore had his head screwed on right then Alan Shearer would have only made a handful of appearances for England because Stan would have been our number one striker during those years....including at Euro 96!

 

[* ORM *]

I think people hav confused the best player ever to have played for SUFC with legend. If the former Maher wouldn't be in my top 5. If the latter no other player in my lifetime, 37 years of watching ha ever commanded the repect of so many players and a succession of managers. Paul Clark might run close. He was a great player in a poor team as well as a great player in a pretty tasty team. He was strong enough to have the belief in his own ability when some of the paying public refused to acknowledge the overall contribution he made to the team. He wasn't a Peter Butler a Mike Marsh or, if early signs continue, a Lee Sawyer or Moussa. His midfield qualities were of a completely different type. Going forward wherever the ball was Maher was often 10 feet away making himself available as an outlet. We miss that but we also have a combination of qualities in the current midfield which has resulted in us changing our style and the early signs are promising. We're two defenders and a winger or striker away from being remotely close to the last two promotion teams Maher was the pivotal force in.

 

[Ron Manager]

Agree with all that ORM, I think Maher was severly under-rated by a lot of fans and a lot of that was down to his playing style. He wasn't an all action, bustling midfielder or all silky skills. Much of his best work was done off the ball, making runs and positioning himself to make space for him and others. That type of player isn't neccesarily going to be a fans favourite but will command the respect of his fellow players and the coaches. That much is pretty evident purely by the number of appearances he made and the different lineups he played in.

Kevin Maher is undoubtedly a Southend United legend and deserves his place in this final 4. I still voted for Stan, largely a vote made with my heart, but that by no way means I don't appreciate what Kevin Maher contributed to my club.

 

[leeblue]

I think people hav confused the best player ever to have played for SUFC with legend. If the former Maher wouldn't be in my top 5. If the latter no other player in my lifetime, 37 years of watching ha ever commanded the repect of so many players and a succession of managers. Paul Clark might run close. He was a great player in a poor team as well as a great player in a pretty tasty team. He was strong enough to have the belief in his own ability when some of the paying public refused to acknowledge the overall contribution he made to the team. He wasn't a Peter Butler a Mike Marsh or, if early signs continue, a Lee Sawyer or Moussa. His midfield qualities were of a completely different type. Going forward wherever the ball was Maher was often 10 feet away making himself available as an outlet. We miss that but we also have a combination of qualities in the current midfield which has resulted in us changing our style and the early signs are promising. We're two defenders and a winger or striker away from being remotely close to the last two promotion teams Maher was the pivotal force in.

8th best post on SZ ever

 

[duncan bulgaria]

Never thought i'd see the day when i voted against Stan the man , although on thios occasion I am going to .

Absolutley no doubt that Stan is the greatest player i've seen at the Hall , but his lack of time at SUFC means for me he can't beat Maher , yes Collymore had more talent in his little toe than Kev , but to captain probably our most sucessful side and making so many appearances means that Maher is gonna edge it for me . A great servant to us and i don't think people realised how good he was until the gap he left when he moved on .

 

[leeblue]

Never thought i'd see the day when i voted against Stan the man , although on thios occasion I am going to .

Absolutley no doubt that Stan is the greatest player i've seen at the Hall , but his lack of time at SUFC means for me he can't beat Maher , yes Collymore had more talent in his little toe than Kev , but to captain probably our most sucessful side and making so many appearances means that Maher is gonna edge it for me . A great servant to us and i don't think people realised how good he was until the gap he left when he moved on .

Sorry ORM this is now the 8th best post on SZ ever..........end of

 

[number11]

I suppose the difficulty is in defining what a legend is. I was a big fan of Maher, especially during the later half of his time with us. However, yes he captained our promotions, but then so did Dave Martin who went on to also skipper us to our highest ever position. The difficulty with Martin, like Maher, is that they will both be replaced by players who can match or better their ability.

In 16 years time I doubt Maher would feature that heavily in a similar poll, yet Stan's legend will last. He was only here for 33 games (30 league 3 cup), but it's a due to the unique brilliance he showed that he has even made it this far. His record of 15 league goals in 30 games, plus 3 in 3 cup games is one of the few stats, like Bradman's average, that I don't have to look up. I feel honoured I got to see Stan play, yet whilst Maher was quality for us, I dont ever feel privileged to have seen him play, more that he was as good as we were going to get and served the club well.

 

[leeblue]

I suppose the difficulty is in defining what a legend is. I was a big fan of Maher, especially during the later half of his time with us. However, yes he captained our promotions, but then so did Dave Martin who went on to also skipper us to our highest ever position. The difficulty with Martin, like Maher, is that they will both be replaced by players who can match or better their ability.

In 16 years time I doubt Maher would feature that heavily in a similar poll, yet Stan's legend will last. He was only here for 33 games (30 league 3 cup), but it's a due to the unique brilliance he showed that he has even made it this far. His record of 15 league goals in 30 games, plus 3 in 3 cup games is one of the few stats, like Bradman's average, that I don't have to look up. I feel honoured I got to see Stan play, yet whilst Maher was quality for us, I dont ever feel privileged to have seen him play, more that he was as good as we were going to get and served the club well.

This is the stan dilema summed up nicely, I let my head rule my heart on this occasion, to see stan play was like we had just found the new pele, only better, it was the the most magical happening I have seen from one player in my life at the hall, but it was over so quickly, kev however was ten years deep in shrimperdom, endured terrible abuse from his own supporters, turned it all round so that he had us chantnig his name as he went to collect the play off winners trophy at the mill stadium, then bugger me he lifted the league one title the following season, this in my opinion fits the criteria for legend more than stan, dont get me wrong there are only two men I would let bum me and they are tilly and stan I love em that much

 

[Beefy]

I don't think it's just a 'quality vs quantity' issue (as it were), with this one. As MtS said earlier in this thread, I think a lot of people who voted for Collymore wouldn't have done if he was up against Steve Tilson or Chris Powell. Some people just don't consider Kevin Maher to be a legend.