Xàbia Shrimper
Co-founder of ShrimperZone
Why can’t we go back to the North Bank?
The simple answer is: no-one really wants to.
The longer answer needs a cup of coffee and a comfy armchair ...
The North Bank debate has raged for many years, almost as soon as Vic Jobson kicked us all out in 1994 and “forced” us to use the new legoland-inspired two-tier stand at the southern end the ground (the one that everyone in the upper tier likes now).
At the time football was still undergoing great change and Roots Hall was no exception. The giant South Bank disappeared in the late 80s and was replaced by a row of Firholm apartments above the small caged shelf that remained for away fans. The North Bank remained pretty much as it was when I first started going in the 1970s with the exception of the fence that ran it’s length from the East Stand around “billy-no-mates-land” in the NE corner to join with the “members-only” club in the West Bank. It was noisy, it was fun, it was often dangerous to anyone under 5ft 6. This was our North Bank.
A quick glance at the record books seems to confirm what we always feared might happen when the fans were prised away from their “spiritual home”; the passion ebbed away from Roots Hall and the performance of the team on that hallowed turf suffered. Within four years the Shrimpers had crashed through the Football League to stand poised at the very edge of extinction and were it not for an initially-inspired appointment of ex-player Alan Little, the club could have started the new millennium playing the likes of Nuneaton Borough and Hayes. Was it really just coincidence?
In 2002, the Imps had managed to persuade their club to allow home fans back into their own “spiritual end” and set a precedent for Southend fans who longed to see packs of Shrimpers back in the North Bank. For six weeks late in the same year, fans lobbied the club for a return to the North Bank.
The campaign was launched at the beginning of October 2002, led initially by Dave Scriven and the team at ShrimperZone before the Southend Evening Echo applied its weight. “It was our end,” announced Dave. “It was a place where you used to go once a fortnight to worship. You stood side by side with complete strangers but you all had a common faith in Southend United.” The club reacted with predictable nonchalance, declaring that safety issues precluded any hope of a return. Southend Council, who administered the safety certificate that allowed the club to hold games at Roots Hall, admitted that there was little chance without re-building work.
Yet the campaign clung on to what little hope was left. The letters pages in the Southend Evening Echo filled with letters from fans who remembered the passion of the North Bank. The internet was awash with the memories of several generations. Eventually the club reacted. Co-owner Rob Martin announced that a special safety meeting had been called at which representatives from the club, the council and the police would discuss the possibility of allowing the move. “I understand that moving back to the North Bank is something very close to the hearts of a lot of our supporters and I am all for letting them back to create a better atmosphere at Roots Hall,” Martin told the Evening Echo on October 9th. Popular player Paul Clark also lent his weight to the campaign, revealing that the North Bank was where he first watched the team as a boy. “It was the first spot I stood on at the ground and was a welcoming place where you built up relationships with the people around you,” he told the Evening Echo. “The vocal support was always strong from that part of the ground and it seemed to make a big difference to the team – it would be great to hear that sound again!”
By mid-October the club announced that after lengthy meetings with council and police chiefs, the decision had been left in the club’s hands and that it would be carrying out a poll of its own to gauge the true support for a return before committing itself. Later it announced that the cost of allowing home fans back into the North Bank would be as much as £17,000, which would pay for new segregation barriers and gates plus ticketing and catering facilities. “The price wouldn’t be prohibitive to the scheme as we can accommodate it,” claimed Ron Martin, speaking to the Evening Echo on October 16th. But he warned that the club was unlikely to press ahead without strong support from the fans. “We need to know what the cross-section of the Roots Hall supporters genuinely felt about a North Bank return.” A slip was added to the matchday programme for the clash with promotion hopefuls Hartlepool United on October 25th and the price reduced by 20p to encourage as much feedback as possible. “If fans want to return to the North Bank then they need to come out in strong numbers and tell us through our poll,” warned Martin. The Shrimpers’ Trust also did their part, producing a tear-off slip in their October newsletter which asked whether fans would support a return.
As the campaign gathered speed, support came in from an unlikely quarter. Barry Fry had left the club under controversial circumstances in December 1993 to take over at “sleeping giants” Birmingham City, taking his coaching staff with him and later a few of the club’s better players. Southend United were in serious contention for promotion to the Premier$hite (it sounds incredible to think so these days!) when Fry jumped ship and the club never recovered from his systematic “asset-stripping” of players and coaching staff. The wound ran deep but the ‘Fat Judas’ was gracious enough to lend his support to the campaign. “We pulled off miracles when I was manager at Southend and the North Bank played its part,” he declared. “Those passionate fans behind the goal made a huge difference back then and they could make the difference again and help shout the Shrimpers back up the leagues.”
Almost 5,200 watched Southend lose 1-0 to Hartlepool at Roots Hall. Perhaps it was this defeat, the third in a row, coupled with the embarrassing 6-1 mauling at Swindon Town in the LDV Vans Trophy just a few days earlier that sparked lethargy amongst the faithful few. On November 7th the club announced that it had received just 50 replies to the poll and, of those replies, just 26 expressed a wish to return to the North Bank. “The response has been very poor and left me feeling disappointed,” admitted Ron Martin. “We realised that a lot of fans would like to back in the North Bank and we gave them a chance to show us that this was the general consensus. But the feedback we received is nowhere near enough to get the wheels in motion.” The campaign skidded to a halt. In the end just 77 people responded. It seemed that very few people were actually bothered. An equally disappointed Dave Scriven, who now works for the Commercial Department at Roots Hall, was fairly philosophical about the lack of success. “I don’t consider that it has been a waste of time as I feel there is still genuine interest in a move back to the North Bank,” he said at the time. “However, the way the poll was conducted wasn’t the best way to get a decent response.” Nigel Rickard was a little more scathing of the lethargy of fans in the Shrimpers Trust newsletter of December 2002: “A song and dance was made, but in the end only 77 people could be arsed to reply to United via the programme. Meanwhile, the Trust cut-out slip in number 41 hardly had members breaking a world record to get their scissors out.”
On April 1st 2003, after much lobbying from fans, the North Bank turnstiles were flung open to the Southend faithful one last time for Steve Tilson’s testimonial match. There was still much persuasion needed on the night to prise open the gates and return to the “spiritual home”, and rumour was that the stadium manager was making it as difficult as possible for fans to enjoy the homecoming. About 300 gathered in the centre of the stand behind the goal, joined by many others who transferred from other areas of the ground once they realised that the North Bank was alive again. The old songs emerged, the banter returned, and there were several misty eyes as heroes of old stood on the pitch and purposefully saluted the North once again. But, with seats bolted unceremoniously to the old terracing, it didn’t feel the same. You couldn’t sit down without kneeing the bloke in front of you in the back. As we walked reluctantly from the stand at the end of the evening, many stopped and took a final look. There were a few knowing looks, familiar glances exchanged, and there were plenty of smiles. But there was also sadness. For we knew then that the North Bank of old could never return.
WS
Sep 2005
Postscript: an online petition created last year attracted just 170 signatories, although closer inspection revealed that people like Tom Leftley and Simon Kirby were so passionate about a return that they signed the petition several times. Such blatent fraud often negates the validity of petitions so they really weren't doing the fans any favours. Additionally, Ash signed the petition commenting that we should "please donate food and shoes to Koling" so I'd wager he is probably not a real fan!
170 is not even nearly enough. I once spoke with Ron Martin and he would expect over 500 before he would consider a return and double that regularly using the stand if it were ever returned.
The simple answer is: no-one really wants to.
The longer answer needs a cup of coffee and a comfy armchair ...
The North Bank debate has raged for many years, almost as soon as Vic Jobson kicked us all out in 1994 and “forced” us to use the new legoland-inspired two-tier stand at the southern end the ground (the one that everyone in the upper tier likes now).
At the time football was still undergoing great change and Roots Hall was no exception. The giant South Bank disappeared in the late 80s and was replaced by a row of Firholm apartments above the small caged shelf that remained for away fans. The North Bank remained pretty much as it was when I first started going in the 1970s with the exception of the fence that ran it’s length from the East Stand around “billy-no-mates-land” in the NE corner to join with the “members-only” club in the West Bank. It was noisy, it was fun, it was often dangerous to anyone under 5ft 6. This was our North Bank.
A quick glance at the record books seems to confirm what we always feared might happen when the fans were prised away from their “spiritual home”; the passion ebbed away from Roots Hall and the performance of the team on that hallowed turf suffered. Within four years the Shrimpers had crashed through the Football League to stand poised at the very edge of extinction and were it not for an initially-inspired appointment of ex-player Alan Little, the club could have started the new millennium playing the likes of Nuneaton Borough and Hayes. Was it really just coincidence?
In 2002, the Imps had managed to persuade their club to allow home fans back into their own “spiritual end” and set a precedent for Southend fans who longed to see packs of Shrimpers back in the North Bank. For six weeks late in the same year, fans lobbied the club for a return to the North Bank.
The campaign was launched at the beginning of October 2002, led initially by Dave Scriven and the team at ShrimperZone before the Southend Evening Echo applied its weight. “It was our end,” announced Dave. “It was a place where you used to go once a fortnight to worship. You stood side by side with complete strangers but you all had a common faith in Southend United.” The club reacted with predictable nonchalance, declaring that safety issues precluded any hope of a return. Southend Council, who administered the safety certificate that allowed the club to hold games at Roots Hall, admitted that there was little chance without re-building work.
Yet the campaign clung on to what little hope was left. The letters pages in the Southend Evening Echo filled with letters from fans who remembered the passion of the North Bank. The internet was awash with the memories of several generations. Eventually the club reacted. Co-owner Rob Martin announced that a special safety meeting had been called at which representatives from the club, the council and the police would discuss the possibility of allowing the move. “I understand that moving back to the North Bank is something very close to the hearts of a lot of our supporters and I am all for letting them back to create a better atmosphere at Roots Hall,” Martin told the Evening Echo on October 9th. Popular player Paul Clark also lent his weight to the campaign, revealing that the North Bank was where he first watched the team as a boy. “It was the first spot I stood on at the ground and was a welcoming place where you built up relationships with the people around you,” he told the Evening Echo. “The vocal support was always strong from that part of the ground and it seemed to make a big difference to the team – it would be great to hear that sound again!”
By mid-October the club announced that after lengthy meetings with council and police chiefs, the decision had been left in the club’s hands and that it would be carrying out a poll of its own to gauge the true support for a return before committing itself. Later it announced that the cost of allowing home fans back into the North Bank would be as much as £17,000, which would pay for new segregation barriers and gates plus ticketing and catering facilities. “The price wouldn’t be prohibitive to the scheme as we can accommodate it,” claimed Ron Martin, speaking to the Evening Echo on October 16th. But he warned that the club was unlikely to press ahead without strong support from the fans. “We need to know what the cross-section of the Roots Hall supporters genuinely felt about a North Bank return.” A slip was added to the matchday programme for the clash with promotion hopefuls Hartlepool United on October 25th and the price reduced by 20p to encourage as much feedback as possible. “If fans want to return to the North Bank then they need to come out in strong numbers and tell us through our poll,” warned Martin. The Shrimpers’ Trust also did their part, producing a tear-off slip in their October newsletter which asked whether fans would support a return.
As the campaign gathered speed, support came in from an unlikely quarter. Barry Fry had left the club under controversial circumstances in December 1993 to take over at “sleeping giants” Birmingham City, taking his coaching staff with him and later a few of the club’s better players. Southend United were in serious contention for promotion to the Premier$hite (it sounds incredible to think so these days!) when Fry jumped ship and the club never recovered from his systematic “asset-stripping” of players and coaching staff. The wound ran deep but the ‘Fat Judas’ was gracious enough to lend his support to the campaign. “We pulled off miracles when I was manager at Southend and the North Bank played its part,” he declared. “Those passionate fans behind the goal made a huge difference back then and they could make the difference again and help shout the Shrimpers back up the leagues.”
Almost 5,200 watched Southend lose 1-0 to Hartlepool at Roots Hall. Perhaps it was this defeat, the third in a row, coupled with the embarrassing 6-1 mauling at Swindon Town in the LDV Vans Trophy just a few days earlier that sparked lethargy amongst the faithful few. On November 7th the club announced that it had received just 50 replies to the poll and, of those replies, just 26 expressed a wish to return to the North Bank. “The response has been very poor and left me feeling disappointed,” admitted Ron Martin. “We realised that a lot of fans would like to back in the North Bank and we gave them a chance to show us that this was the general consensus. But the feedback we received is nowhere near enough to get the wheels in motion.” The campaign skidded to a halt. In the end just 77 people responded. It seemed that very few people were actually bothered. An equally disappointed Dave Scriven, who now works for the Commercial Department at Roots Hall, was fairly philosophical about the lack of success. “I don’t consider that it has been a waste of time as I feel there is still genuine interest in a move back to the North Bank,” he said at the time. “However, the way the poll was conducted wasn’t the best way to get a decent response.” Nigel Rickard was a little more scathing of the lethargy of fans in the Shrimpers Trust newsletter of December 2002: “A song and dance was made, but in the end only 77 people could be arsed to reply to United via the programme. Meanwhile, the Trust cut-out slip in number 41 hardly had members breaking a world record to get their scissors out.”
On April 1st 2003, after much lobbying from fans, the North Bank turnstiles were flung open to the Southend faithful one last time for Steve Tilson’s testimonial match. There was still much persuasion needed on the night to prise open the gates and return to the “spiritual home”, and rumour was that the stadium manager was making it as difficult as possible for fans to enjoy the homecoming. About 300 gathered in the centre of the stand behind the goal, joined by many others who transferred from other areas of the ground once they realised that the North Bank was alive again. The old songs emerged, the banter returned, and there were several misty eyes as heroes of old stood on the pitch and purposefully saluted the North once again. But, with seats bolted unceremoniously to the old terracing, it didn’t feel the same. You couldn’t sit down without kneeing the bloke in front of you in the back. As we walked reluctantly from the stand at the end of the evening, many stopped and took a final look. There were a few knowing looks, familiar glances exchanged, and there were plenty of smiles. But there was also sadness. For we knew then that the North Bank of old could never return.
WS
Sep 2005
Postscript: an online petition created last year attracted just 170 signatories, although closer inspection revealed that people like Tom Leftley and Simon Kirby were so passionate about a return that they signed the petition several times. Such blatent fraud often negates the validity of petitions so they really weren't doing the fans any favours. Additionally, Ash signed the petition commenting that we should "please donate food and shoes to Koling" so I'd wager he is probably not a real fan!
170 is not even nearly enough. I once spoke with Ron Martin and he would expect over 500 before he would consider a return and double that regularly using the stand if it were ever returned.
