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Harry Lennon

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The difference is that Kevin always had talent, its just as an ex Spud he thought he was a big cheese when he came to us. When he saw he had to earn his spurs (apologies for the pun) with us Shrimpers he became a player we all loved and respected. He used his talent to win us over. One thing I always saw in Maher's face and demeanor was how much he hated to lose!
I'm afraid that's in your DNA
Actually Wildheart did he think he was big cheese?
I remember when my son was mascot and I spoke to him and Barry Conlon who’s abuse was toxic especially from South Upper, banners displayed constant booing and abuse
Didn’t come across as Billy big boots, just a young man trying to get into the team
Much like a few of our kids
Not saying your wrong but didn’t come across that way when I had the pleasure, same as Barry Conlon was hated the moment he came to us and was young and destroyed by the atmosphere
 
The criteria for the audit process is based very much on admin, facilities and paperwork. A large part will then be based on minutes of academy products gaining first team minutes....a stat which can be very misleading as it’s based on total minutes.....much of Southend’s will be based on minutes by Yearwood who's no longer here, Bishop as a GK and Hutchinson who joined as an u19.....

The audit process has nothing to do with results of the teams or league positions.

Cat 3 is the lowest level of academy football exclusively for pro clubs. You’re right there are Cat 4 but these clubs don’t have schoolboys academy players and in most cases only run 18s OR a 23s. The cat 4 clubs also include non league clubs that run academies as government funded education programmes.

Look I’m not knocking Southend’s academy system I’m saying those of you that keep saying play the youth team need to look a little closer.....yes we have had some very good and notable successes but that doesnt mean 6/7/8/9 of them could progress at the same time!!!

Look at where they are on loan.....in most cases the very best ones are getting out to non league clubs but the 18/19 year olds are only going to the level below where Goodship came from...and look at the opinions on him and he blew that level away for a long period....one or two of our older ones are going to clubs a little higher but that’s it.

There are still people questioning if Hutchinson is good enough and he came from Cat 1 academy and literally tore the 23s up last season and he’s found it tough and only recently made any real impression.....Hamilton comes from Man U and is 21 and found it hard....

Players in our 18s and 23s aren’t even winning every week or excelling week in week out at that level....let alone bouncing into a struggling side with no leaders and barely a sound influence among them!

To be clear, I’m not advocating that we throw the youth team or U23s in en bloc, although I appreciate some posters have suggested it. I think it’s detrimental to those players’ development to throw them into a struggling side like this.

For example, everyone talks about how well Dru Yearwood played alongside Michael Timlin. That’s because Timlin has the experience to let him express himself and learn his craft. Playing Matt Rush and Emile Acquah together up front won’t help their development in the long-term.

However, to suggest that the club doesn’t have a high-performing Academy for the level we play at would also be wrong.

You are correct in suggesting that the auditing process is varied; there are ten different criteria. I think we can all agree that Boots & Laces isn’t going to be a high-performing area, which means we’re doing well in regards to the areas concerning player development and coaching.

Looking at the league table, you might think we’re not performing well results-wise. But that ignores the fact that the U18s are a very young squad. Charlie Kelman has progressed beyond the youth team environment; Sam Brogan and Freddy Eastwood have regularly trained with the U23s and missed U18s matches because of that.

For the record, that’s exactly what we want. Youth team football isn’t a completely results-driven industry. Actually, our coaches do realise that it’s good to develop a winning mentality (the U18s won the Merit League One title last season, which is for the leading teams in the south of England and Wales and reached the area final of the Youth Alliance League Cup). But it’s not the be-all and end-all.
 
I don't think the huge issue here is that he went out. The part that's bothering me is he's ****ting on his own doorstep wearing the club tracksuit and we've just been humiliated on the tele, he could have stuck his hand up to the camera "leave me out of this mate" but no, he sticks his gormless looking face right to the forefront of the vid. He just comes accross incredibly thick.

There is honestly no way he can ever come back from this and I really dont think I'm over reacting, I can never look at that bloke wear a Southend shirt again and feel anything other then sheer disgust

So the fact he was out in a club tracksuit fills you with sheer disgust. But you don't feel you are over reacting? Each to their own I guess.
 
To be clear, I’m not advocating that we throw the youth team or U23s in en bloc, although I appreciate some posters have suggested it. I think it’s detrimental to those players’ development to throw them into a struggling side like this.

For example, everyone talks about how well Dru Yearwood played alongside Michael Timlin. That’s because Timlin has the experience to let him express himself and learn his craft. Playing Matt Rush and Emile Acquah together up front won’t help their development in the long-term.

However, to suggest that the club doesn’t have a high-performing Academy for the level we play at would also be wrong.

You are correct in suggesting that the auditing process is varied; there are ten different criteria. I think we can all agree that Boots & Laces isn’t going to be a high-performing area, which means we’re doing well in regards to the areas concerning player development and coaching.

Looking at the league table, you might think we’re not performing well results-wise. But that ignores the fact that the U18s are a very young squad. Charlie Kelman has progressed beyond the youth team environment; Sam Brogan and Freddy Eastwood have regularly trained with the U23s and missed U18s matches because of that.

For the record, that’s exactly what we want. Youth team football isn’t a completely results-driven industry. Actually, our coaches do realise that it’s good to develop a winning mentality (the U18s won the Merit League One title last season, which is for the leading teams in the south of England and Wales and reached the area final of the Youth Alliance League Cup). But it’s not the be-all and end-all.

Yes I agree with that completely and it’s a great post.

My point would be more aimed at, let’s be realistic. There’s a gulf in actual standard of the talent of the players from cat 3 to cat 2 and there’s an even bigger gulf from cat 2 to cat 1....and a huge gulf in all areas in terms of coaching hours, coaching quality and coaching facilities.

Colchester are a league 2 club but with a cat 2 academy....to put that into perspective any player playing for us would be playing a lower level of academy football than his Col u counterpart but if he were to play first team football he’d be expected to play a higher level than the Col U player.....a huge jump.

Colchester’s U18s are very low down (3/4th bottom) in their cat 2 league (albeit they also loan out to non league - 2 of their 18s played against Orient Saturday!) which features the likes of Charlton, Palace, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield United, Burnley, Ipswich, QPR etc ie Championship Club’s and Premier League Club’s......they recently comfortably beat Northampton Town in then FA Youth Cup who are top of our 18s league and who beat us 8-5 last week!!!

Again I’m not knocking our academy - it’s in great shape. But there has to be some context to the level of the lads in it and coming out of it....it’s ludicrous, like you say, for some to suggest we “play the youths for the rest of the season”, “because they care”!!!!

If I’m honest it itches my ****
 
So the fact he was out in a club tracksuit fills you with sheer disgust. But you don't feel you are over reacting? Each to their own I guess.
I’d be embarrassed to show my face in public after we’d been beat by a non league side ESPECIALLY when I was at fault for their goal but each to their own
 
Neither Elvis or Hutch would be here if Bond got his way. Along with Dru he told Ron to get what he could for them as none of them could play.

That’s simply not true.

It may be in Drus case but not in Elvis or Hutchinson’s. They both featured heavily pre season.

Elvis then played every game under Bond. Hardly that of someone he didn't rate or wanted rid of.

He also gave Hutchinson a half time and first sub v Coventry at 0-0 and then started him and left him on for full games for the next 4 games. Publicly saying how well he’d done particularly v Blackpool. Not the actions of someone who didn't want or rate a player.

Realistically no one was ever going to buy Hutchinson at that stage and Bond or Ron would’ve been a fool to even think it was possible.

If he didn’t fancy Elvis he’d have gone. He was very very close to going to a championship side in January last year. He’ll go in the two windows no matter what.
 
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Have Michael Timlin and/or Ryan Hall been mentioned yet? I'm not condoning Lennon's behaviour, which was idiotic, but it's not a sacking offence is it? Yet Timlin, who committed a real crime, was largely backed by fans, and he allegedly assaulted Ben Clarkson too. He should have been sacked.

I trust Sol to sort this out. My guess is he and the club will punish Lennon in a professional manner, whether a fine or freezing him out of the squad, for the time being anyway.

Thing with Timlin was he shed blood for this club and played when he really shouldn't have bandaged up with a a huge chunk of head missing. He gave everything for the club and the fans so yes he was forgiven because the fans loved him for it. Oh, and he could play a bit as well. Lennon on the other hand has been injured from nearly the minute he arrived and when he isn't injured he certainly isn't setting the pitch alight with his performances.
Rightly or wrongly I'm afraid that's one of the reasons he getting both barrels at the moment and frankly, rightly so.
 
This is an interesting post.

Although I appreciate what you're saying I think at the very least this incident screams a lack of care and/or judgement.

Lennon is currently part of the worst side and worst defence in the country - statistically factual.

He has now been part of a cup upset, and has chosen to go out with some of the oppositions players involved in his team tracky, fairly locally. He has run the risk of exactly what is happening. The fans have had enough, and rightly or wrongly he has put himself in the firing line,

It is just brainless behaviour.

Thank you, and I don't disagree with you about the lack of judgement. But for me it is just that.

As a Southend fan I want what is best for the club. Lennon has his limitations as a player but we are not exactly blessed with quality defenders at the moment. I don't see how abusing a player on social media helps the player in question, and by extension, Southend United.
 
That’s simply not true.

It may be in Drus case but not in Elvis or Hutchinson’s. They both featured heavily pre season.

Elvis then played every game under Bond. Hardly that of someone he didn't rate or wanted rid of.

He also gave Hutchinson a half time and first sub v Coventry at 0-0 and then started him and left him on for full games for the next 4 games. Publicly saying how well he’d done particularly v Blackpool. Not the actions of someone who didn't want or rate a player.

Realistically no one was ever going to buy Hutchinson at that stage and Bond or Ron would’ve been a fool to even think it was possible.

If he didn’t fancy Elvis he’d have gone. He was very very close to going to a championship side in January last year. He’ll go in the two windows no matter what.

Now I'm suffering from Brexititus.

My source was one of the players parents.
 
I can also tell you he went down the coach after the Walsall game picking players out and telling they were ****. Mainly the young ones.

Again that's from the horse's mouth.
 
Lennon on the other hand has been injured from nearly the minute he arrived and when he isn't injured he certainly isn't setting the pitch alight with his performances.
Rightly or wrongly I'm afraid that's one of the reasons he getting both barrels at the moment and frankly, rightly so.

This is an issue though, that the more moderate find difficult to understand. This guy who is being subjected to some very OTT comments, broke bones for us, and tried to play on the 2nd time!
 
Thing with Timlin was he shed blood for this club and played when he really shouldn't have bandaged up with a a huge chunk of head missing. He gave everything for the club and the fans so yes he was forgiven because the fans loved him for it. Oh, and he could play a bit as well. Lennon on the other hand has been injured from nearly the minute he arrived and when he isn't injured he certainly isn't setting the pitch alight with his performances.
Rightly or wrongly I'm afraid that's one of the reasons he getting both barrels at the moment and frankly, rightly so.

Lennon tried to play on with a broken leg v Walsall. He played on with a broken toe v Doncaster. How is that not commitment?

It seems Timlin's injuries are a badge of honour but Lennon's are a badge of weakness!

I agree he hasn't set the pitch alight with his performances but I don't see how castigating him for a lack of commitment is going to help.

ps Whilst I was a fan of his, Timlin wasn't universally loved. Much of the appreciation of him seems to have come after he left.
 
Now I'm suffering from Brexititus.

My source was one of the players parents.

And he’d know the situation of the other players?

My bet is your source is Drus parents and like I say I have no doubt it was true in his case.

But also like I say Elvis would only have been sold as a financial gain because Bond played him in every single game.

Bond would not have been foolish enough think Hutchinson would generate any interest at that point and he played him regularly which dismisses that he didn't rate him anyway.
 
I can also tell you he went down the coach after the Walsall game picking players out and telling they were ****. Mainly the young ones.

Again that's from the horse's mouth.

The Walsall game was last season. Dru and Elvis played but Hutchinson wasn’t even in the squad, Kelman was a sub and Bishop didn’t even come on.....

You need a new horse. Or was it the horses parent that said this?
 
And he’s know the situation of the other players?

My bet is your source is Drus parents and like I say I have no doubt it was true in his case.

But also like I say Elvis would only have been sold as a financial gain because Bond played him in every single game.

Bond would not have been foolish enough think Hutchinson would generate any interest at that point and he played him regularly which dismisses that he didn't rate him anyway.

Let's not play the one-upmanship game.

I won't post anything on here of that nature that isn't properly verified.
 
One upmanship game? I’m not even sure what you mean by that.

Maybe Drus parent said that and grouped young players in with his comment broadly speaking.

But no matter what else people think Bond was guilty of, he has been in the game long enough to know that Hutchinson had nowhere near enough appearances or experience to generate any kind of interest from clubs willing to buy him and a comment to Ron like that would’ve made him look very foolish.

Again, if he wanted rid of Elvis there would’ve been lots of interest and they would’ve got a reasonable fee for him so why didn’t it happen like it did Dru?

And come on the word of a disappointed parent is hardly top verification.....
 
The Walsall game was last season. Dru and Elvis played but Hutchinson wasn’t even in the squad, Kelman was a sub and Bishop didn’t even come on.....

You need a new horse. Or was it the horses parent that said this?

Yes. I know I was at the Walsall game was last season. I was there. So was Kevin Bond. And a squad of players. Some played. Some didn't. Some were youngsters.

Sometimes just accept that someone knows stuff you don't and it might contradict what you think.
 
Yes. I know I was at the Walsall game was last season. I was there. So was Kevin Bond. And a squad of players. Some played. Some didn't. Some were youngsters.

Sometimes just accept that someone knows stuff you don't and it might contradict what you think.

We both know the young players that were there but unless you were on the coach or the players parents were you are speculating. If it was Drus parents, love them or not you have to accept there could well have been a degree of bitterness towards Bond on how he treated Dru
 
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