In the 20's of this division at this stage of the season

[Firestorm]

9 years ago
22nd place 13th of March Drew 0-0 at home to Exeter
in the next 11 games we drew 4 and won 2 to finish 23rd with 43 points8 points from safety


21 years ago,
Bottom of the table March 7th drew away at eventual Champions Watford, then 3 days later beat Wigan 3.1 at home to move up a place, then 4 days later beat Bournemouth 5-3 to climb to 22nd and we thought the revival was on.....2 pints from the last 7 games saw us drop , rock bottom 39 points , 9 points off safety


30 years ago Friday night March 10th , lying 20th we beat Wolves 3 1 at RH
we won 5 and drew 4 (19 points) from the next 14 games (42 points) , to finish the season on 54 points and go down because we had a GD of 9 worse than Northampton

31 years ago
Friday March 11th , lying 22nd we beat Bristol City 2-0 at RH,
In the next 6 games we won 3 and were lying 21st with 3 to go, we won them all scoring 8 and conceding 1 to finish 17th (it helped that 20 of the 3 were below us )

 

[Napster]

21 years ago,
Bottom of the table March 7th drew away at eventual Champions Watford, then 3 days later beat Wigan 3.1 at home to move up a place, then 4 days later beat Bournemouth 5-3 to climb to 22nd and we thought the revival was on.....2 pints from the last 7 games saw us drop , rock bottom 39 points , 9 points off safety

Compare that side with our current players from the last game (Im assuming a 5-3-2 for 98, with Stimson, Dublin and Coleman the back CBs)

S Royce or M Oxley (is it a real contest?)
S Coleman or M Turner (both old, both slow)
K Dublin or N Lennon (Lennon)
M Stimson or Kiernan (Kiernan)
P Gridelet or Hyam (Grids)
J Hails or Demitriou (?)
R Coulbault or Dieng (?)
K Maher or Mantom (Maher)
A Clarke or Hart (Clarke)
A Rammell or Cox (Cox)
A Thomson or Bunn (Thomson)

A Harris
D Whyte
P N'Diaye

Not sure what others think, bit of a mixed bag overall. Id say our defence/goalkeepers is better, our midfield is worse, and our attack about the same, but the subs bench is very poor.

With our best XI, if we're sticking like for like, I'd say that Coker > Clarke, and Hopper > Thomson, and even White or Moore > Coleman.

just need to sort the midfield out.

 

[South Bank Hank]

Compare that side with our current players from the last game (Im assuming a 5-3-2 for 98, with Stimson, Dublin and Coleman the back CBs)

S Royce or M Oxley (is it a real contest?)
S Coleman or M Turner (both old, both slow)
K Dublin or N Lennon (Lennon)
M Stimson or Kiernan (Kiernan)
P Gridelet or Hyam (Grids)
J Hails or Demitriou (?)
R Coulbault or Dieng (?)
K Maher or Mantom (Maher)
A Clarke or Hart (Clarke)
A Rammell or Cox (Cox)
A Thomson or Bunn (Thomson)

A Harris
D Whyte
P N'Diaye

Not sure what others think, bit of a mixed bag overall. Id say our defence/goalkeepers is better, our midfield is worse, and our attack about the same, but the subs bench is very poor.

With our best XI, if we're sticking like for like, I'd say that Coker > Clarke, and Hopper > Thomson, and even White or Moore > Coleman.

just need to sort the midfield out.

We don't have Andy Harris currently playing for us. That counts for a lot.

 

[Chairman Trigg]

9 years ago
22nd place 13th of March Drew 0-0 at home to Exeter
in the next 11 games we drew 4 and won 2 to finish 23rd with 43 points8 points from safety


21 years ago,
Bottom of the table March 7th drew away at eventual Champions Watford, then 3 days later beat Wigan 3.1 at home to move up a place, then 4 days later beat Bournemouth 5-3 to climb to 22nd and we thought the revival was on.....2 pints from the last 7 games saw us drop , rock bottom 39 points , 9 points off safety


30 years ago Friday night March 10th , lying 20th we beat Wolves 3 1 at RH
we won 5 and drew 4 (19 points) from the next 14 games (42 points) , to finish the season on 54 points and go down because we had a GD of 9 worse than Northampton

31 years ago
Friday March 11th , lying 22nd we beat Bristol City 2-0 at RH,
In the next 6 games we won 3 and were lying 21st with 3 to go, we won them all scoring 8 and conceding 1 to finish 17th (it helped that 20 of the 3 were below us )

The stuff of nightmares ......brought back the gut feeling of being relegated and the utter depression for weeks after.... took a long time for the optimism to return after each one......The trouble now for people of the North Bank/ PAK generation is that we haven't got the time now for all this ...we will bounce back ....we start afresh in league 2 rubbish .You have no guarantee of a return to this division and sucess and it could years to return to this level.
Having seen every relegation season since the mid 60s...it doesn't get easier when you see the likes of Bournemouth, Swansea,Brighton etc on a different planet and us just trying to survive where it all started for me all those years ago

 

[LBBlue]

Don't forget that we got relegated in 1979/80 -when the season was similarly blighted by the pre-season food poisoning- with this squad:

Cawston, Stead, Moody, Cusack, Yates, Pountney, Otualowski, Gray Dudley, Hadley all of who made more than 30 appearances together with Colin Morris and Derrick Parker who left mid-season to be replaced by Spence and Mercer. We ended with the equivalent of 52 points in 22nd place

The team we have put out for most of this season wouldn't get anywhere near that lot.

And in 75/76 Webster, Worthington, Ford, Moody, Little, Nichol, Stuart Parker and Sylvester all played 37 or more games with Brace ,Townsend Hadley and Foggo and a few others scored 65 goals but could only muster the equivalent of 49 points and end up 23rd. Conceding 75 didn't help.

Sometimes it's just fate.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

2 pints from the last 7 games

That sounds dire.

Don't forget that we got relegated in 1979/80 -when the season was similarly blighted by the pre-season food poisoning

How come I haven't heard this story before?

What happened?

 

[Chrisb]

Don't forget that we got relegated in 1979/80 -when the season was similarly blighted by the pre-season food poisoning- with this squad:

Cawston, Stead, Moody, Cusack, Yates, Pountney, Otualowski, Gray Dudley, Hadley all of who made more than 30 appearances together with Colin Morris and Derrick Parker who left mid-season to be replaced by Spence and Mercer. We ended with the equivalent of 52 points in 22nd place

The team we have put out for most of this season wouldn't get anywhere near that lot.

And in 75/76 Webster, Worthington, Ford, Moody, Little, Nichol, Stuart Parker and Sylvester all played 37 or more games with Brace ,Townsend Hadley and Foggo and a few others scored 65 goals but could only muster the equivalent of 49 points and end up 23rd. Conceding 75 didn't help.

Sometimes it's just fate.

When you look at the names in the 79/80 squad you realise just how bad our team choices are now - all gave 100% and more. I know we must remain positive but those old players are true Blues.

 

[LBBlue]

That sounds dire.

How come I haven't heard this story before?

What happened?

If I remember properly it was coronation chicken after the pre season friendly at Dover.
Quote from "The Official History of the Blues" page 71

"13 United players were struck down with severe food poisoning after a pre season buffet at Dover. Only Colin Morris was fully fit as the season began".

Basically they never really recovered properly and affected their stamina and they tired significantly at the end of games.

 

[Firestorm]

Yet we won our first 5 incl a league cup game
Only one win in the next 17 mind you....

 

[NZamba Legend]

Compare that side with our current players from the last game (Im assuming a 5-3-2 for 98, with Stimson, Dublin and Coleman the back CBs)

S Royce or M Oxley (is it a real contest?)
S Coleman or M Turner (both old, both slow)
K Dublin or N Lennon (Lennon)
M Stimson or Kiernan (Kiernan)
P Gridelet or Hyam (Grids)
J Hails or Demitriou (?)
R Coulbault or Dieng (?)
K Maher or Mantom (Maher)
A Clarke or Hart (Clarke)
A Rammell or Cox (Cox)
A Thomson or Bunn (Thomson)

A Harris
D Whyte
P N'Diaye

Not sure what others think, bit of a mixed bag overall. Id say our defence/goalkeepers is better, our midfield is worse, and our attack about the same, but the subs bench is very poor.

With our best XI, if we're sticking like for like, I'd say that Coker > Clarke, and Hopper > Thomson, and even White or Moore > Coleman.

just need to sort the midfield out.

Sorry Napster, this post is just too depressing for words. Mainly because you are correct, our current team is not markedly better than one of the very worst Southend teams I can remember. ****. I do think we have a better manager now though.