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Brown on the summer

TrueBlue

SJP Taxi & Private Hire ⭐️
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Phil Brown has set a return date for players and the start of Southend United’s pre-season training.

The 61-year-old agreed a two-year contract to remain as manager of the club and has now set out his plans for the start of preparations ahead of the 2021/22 campaign.

And the Blues boss had a clear message for his players, for what he expects of them in the close season and also for what is in store when they return.


"We’ve already set a date, the second week in July, which is pencilled in the diary for the start of pre-season," said Brown.

"The 8th and 9th of July will be testing days with a view to getting work underway in earnest ahead of the start of the season which is the 21st August.

"That gives us a good six weeks of preparation and it’s going to be six weeks of, how shall I say it, organised pain.

"We’ve had enquiries about games too. We’ll have competitive games to get us ready for a battle next year."

Brown has been having talks with the players this week with regards to their futures.

And he outlined what is to be expected when they come back in July.

"We’ve had some very interesting conversations with some of the players and they will know in no uncertain terms what is required come that second week in July.

"What’s going to be required over the off-season is that they look after themselves sufficiently and come back with a reasonable semblance of fitness that we can go straight at it.

"In the last two or three days every player has been tested for fitness levels, aerobic and anaerobic, body fat and all different levels of what we can measure and when they come back on the 8th and 9th of July I want to see them very close to what they left us. If they’re not then I’ll know straight away what their intentions are; they want to take the easy route, which they won’t be allowed to.

"They might have been taking an easy route since I left the club, but I’ve got to put my mark back on this football club."

And Brown will also be making decisions on his backroom staff too in the not too distant future.

"I’ve been delighted with Ricky Duncan and Craig Fagan, and I’ll take this opportunity to give a special mention to them two in the face of a lot adversity.

"They have been sitting in the background going through what the club has been going through in the last couple of years and not being able to affect it.

"Then all of a sudden, with six games to go, they were in the deep end and standing shoulder to shoulder with me.

"I have to take my hat off to them because they were fantastic.

"They advised me about people like Matt Rush and what he’s capable of.

"Once you sign a contract at Southend United there seems to be something about that attachment to the football club that everybody performs, or tries to perform, to the highest level and that’s what I’m going to demand from everybody, backroom staff included."
 
Brown seems to have high expectations which is good however the club must also play it part and expect to treat people in a professional manner, I.e insure wages are paid on time.
 
As a point of interest does anyone know what dates the players returned for per season over the last couple of years?
 
As a point of interest does anyone know what dates the players returned for per season over the last couple of years?
A skim back through the threads from last year here, and the first day that players reported for training was 5 August.

Molesley was appointed on 13 August.

And it looks like the first "full" training session was on 17 August, and there were 2 training matches that week.

The first league game was 12 September.
 
I've been open about my reservations regarding Brown's appointment and his comments in the media. However, all of these comments chime very well with me. I hope it's more than media talk and is put into practice with a squad that is 'united'.

Until circumstances prove otherwise, I'll get behind Brown, his players and the management team around him.
 
A skim back through the threads from last year here, and the first day that players reported for training was 5 August.

Molesley was appointed on 13 August.

And it looks like the first "full" training session was on 17 August, and there were 2 training matches that week.

The first league game was 12 September.

This still makes me shudder.. What a mess we were
 
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He should be selling double glazing.....don't forget most of us wanted him out last time. It's only that we have had people like Kevin Bond and the atrocious Mark Molesley that we are listening to his shi te and believing it....bit like Ron for 20 odd years!
 
This still makes me shudder.. What a mess we were
The thing that makes me shudder a bit is that those first couple of weeks of training seemed to be not very intense. Obviously, that's an outside perspective. But my impression at the time was that it took a while for full training to get going. And I feel like it showed in our early season performances.

And it makes me recall when I played sport for organised teams - I played American football and rugby - and how I know performances were far better when we had had a full and physically demanding pre-season than when we had a short one.

In American football, we used to start pre-season in February and our first league games weren't until May. We were ready and fit as butcher's dogs by the time the season started.

I remember being very unimpressed by the level of fitness and preparation our team had after I switched over to playing rugby.

I got that same feeling about SUFC last year. It didn't feel like we had had proper preparation going into the season, for a variety of reasons.
 
National League kicks off on 21 August as Wor Phil says, that gives us 6 weeks to get into fighting condition


Be interesting to see who stays & goes, I’d certainly be tempted to clear the majority of the squad out & start from scratch but it all comes down to what budget PB has.
Let’s hope he recruits well & has learned his lesson from the previous dressing room mutiny that ultimately cost him the job.

I just hope to Christ that Ron has the tax bill money ready when it’s due or I can see a rinse & repeat on the horizon.
 
National League kicks off on 21 August as Wor Phil says, that gives us 6 weeks to get into fighting condition


Be interesting to see who stays & goes, I’d certainly be tempted to clear the majority of the squad out & start from scratch but it all comes down to what budget PB has.
Let’s hope he recruits well & has learned his lesson from the previous dressing room mutiny that ultimately cost him the job.

I just hope to Christ that Ron has the tax bill money ready when it’s due or I can see a rinse & repeat on the horizon.
It also depends what players he targets not ex old premier league players with 1 leg
 
Further to me wittering on about pre-season, I recall our American football coach - I played for Southend Sabres, sadly a couple of years too late to get to play at Roots Hall - being a stickler for us staying in good shape in the off-season.

Our first few training sessions would be tough physical training and he would be very disappointed if we came back in February a lot less fit than we had been when the previous season ended in early September.

I like that we're hearing the same sort of thing from Phil Brown now. Being fit and able to play at peak performance for as far into a game as possible helped us out so much when we played. In games when we weren't the best team, still being able to play hard in the last few minutes when the other team were tiring out won us a good few games.
 
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The thing that makes me shudder a bit is that those first couple of weeks of training seemed to be not very intense. Obviously, that's an outside perspective. But my impression at the time was that it took a while for full training to get going. And I feel like it showed in our early season performances.

And it makes me recall when I played sport for organised teams - I played American football and rugby - and how I know performances were far better when we had had a full and physically demanding pre-season than when we had a short one.

In American football, we used to start pre-season in February and our first league games weren't until May. We were ready and fit as butcher's dogs by the time the season started.

I remember being very unimpressed by the level of fitness and preparation our team had after I switched over to playing rugby.

I got that same feeling about SUFC last year. It didn't feel like we had had proper preparation going into the season, for a variety of reasons.

The COVID protocols played a big part of returning to pre-season. For the first week (could have been longer, I can’t remember), the players could only meet and train in groups of 5(?), over staggered times.

But essentially you’re bang on, our preparations were abysmal. We chose to come back on that date, whilst some other clubs had been back in training for two weeks by that point.

Add to that, the gym was still locked up, the pitches at B&L weren’t up to standard & we had no friendlies lined up at that point.
 
We seem to have a worrying propensity of doing the same thing and going back to the same people.

I can't help feeling a tad concerned right now with PB in charge, talk of Timlin and Cox returning, surely it's time for fresh blood and to move on.

All of these people left us for a reason so I just hope those who return are doing it for the right reason and we move forward and stop looking back ?
 
He should be selling double glazing.....don't forget most of us wanted him out last time. It's only that we have had people like Kevin Bond and the atrocious Mark Molesley that we are listening to his shi te and believing it....bit like Ron for 20 odd years!

Thats exactly what the club needs. Otherwise no one would sign for SUFC this summer, including the star non league mangers people think are the answer. No agent with a 15 plus striker would even talk to us. How about the family of the next Bentley, Payne or Dru. Come and sign for us because when we have to close our academy in 2 years we will get your lad a good move to better one.....If you think thats me going over the top then remember thats exactly what happened last summer. One of the main reasons we were unfit was half the players didn't want to be here. Even the people from Hullbridge picked that up from their friendly.

A lot of you wanted PB out from the day he arrived. You then spent 5 years claiming anyone but Brown. You want Ron to be honest how about you being honest because it was the people who had personal crusades that lead to Bond, Sol and MM.

The disgraceful contempt shown to CP was often due to the fact he let down the anyone but Brown gang....He had the same problems of late signings and agents unwilling to deal with him. So he had to take second best and some players with injury histories etc. CP had proved you right when he first took charge of a squad full of overpaid injury prone one last pay day Brown favourites. A few more summer signings like Lennon, Barrett and Hopper would prove to be the icing on the cake for the Brown out boys....Turns out players can get injured at any age.
 
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