It's time for my reality check

[rigsby]

I'd be surprised if that is true. Andy Swallow at Grays is handing over the club for others to run, he says he's had enough, and lost heart in lower League football. Just one of the things he's moaning about is that players at his club are on £75 a week, yet they have agents, that he has to deal with.
I would think Canvey would be nearer to that sort of pay than Southend's. How can Canvey pay good wages on tiny crowds of a few hundred, with cheap admission.

I'm talking about the Canvey of a few years back. Lee Boylan for example

 

[mrsblue]

I'm talking about the Canvey of a few years back. Lee Boylan for example

Boylan was on decent wages at Grays of £1800 per week !

 

[shrimperjon]

I like many agree, that finishing 10th or around there is more than creditable. What frustrates me is a performance like yesterday, we know we have a decent squad, they have proved that with recent wins over Burton and Barnsley, but then throw in a performance like that yesterday. To me it looked liked the players threw the towel in second half and that I do find unacceptable.

 

[LCBB72]

This summer will be a summer of transition. I'm almost certain Brown will leave and a few key personnel will follow suit.

With this in mind, I just hope a decent contingency plan is being put in place to deal with the change.

Paul Clements named as new manager .

 

[dloman]

I'm talking about the Canvey of a few years back. Lee Boylan for example

Exactly, you do know that Canvey are not the biggest on the Island? That would be Concord who went from senior league to conference south in very quick time under Danny Cowley, who has now now taken part-time Braintree into the play-offs.

 

[AndyT]

Before it all went pop at Hornchurch, I recall someone moving to them from us for more money, cant remember who though.



**Edit**just checked, Jamie Stuart

That Hornchurch thing was a bit nuts.

Remember Darren Caskey going there and playing half a season.

They started doing the same with the cricket club.

Signing the Rollins brothers and Chris Drum, who played Test Cricket for New Zealand.

 

[Tommy2holes]

Paul Clements named as new manager .

Where has that come from?

 

[AndyT]

Our results seem to drop into two camps.

Camp 1 - Games where we play with intensity and desire to win.
Camp 2 - Games where we seem a little off the pace and lacking desire, like it's another day at the office.

The interesting thing is that it's the big games we get results in : Wigan, Col Ewe, Coventry, Sheffield United, Barnsley, Burton and so on.

The Camp 2 games seem to be most of the rest : Rochdale, Port Vale, Doncaster, Chesterfield, Crewe and so on.

In short, when we have the desire, pace and energy, we get the results. Almost like we have to raise our game to compete.

Which is probably why our position next season, as someone said earlier, will more than likely be the reality check.

 

[Stuart W]

Without wishing to sound ageist, I wonder whether some of our younger fans think that it is mandatory to gain 2 promotions in successive seasons as per 1991 and 2006. I would imagine their are a number of league clubs who have not achieved it once, let alone twice.
Consolidation is the key here. Let's face it, if we did go up this season, I would expect us to have less points in the Championship than we got last time, and relegation would not be a good addition to the club's CV at a time of potential negotiations about the new ground.

 

[RHB]

Our results seem to drop into two camps.

Camp 1 - Games where we play with intensity and desire to win.
Camp 2 - Games where we seem a little off the pace and lacking desire, like it's another day at the office.

The interesting thing is that it's the big games we get results in : Wigan, Col Ewe, Coventry, Sheffield United, Barnsley, Burton and so on.

The Camp 2 games seem to be most of the rest : Rochdale, Port Vale, Doncaster, Chesterfield, Crewe and so on.

In short, when we have the desire, pace and energy, we get the results. Almost like we have to raise our game to compete.

Which is probably why our position next season, as someone said earlier, will more than likely be the reality check.

you're welcome to have your reality check wherever you like. I decided to have mine now rather than wait till next season. I'm impatient like that.:smiles:

 

[united we stand]

Our results seem to drop into two camps.

Camp 1 - Games where we play with intensity and desire to win.
Camp 2 - Games where we seem a little off the pace and lacking desire, like it's another day at the office.

The interesting thing is that it's the big games we get results in : Wigan, Col Ewe, Coventry, Sheffield United, Barnsley, Burton and so on.

The Camp 2 games seem to be most of the rest : Rochdale, Port Vale, Doncaster, Chesterfield, Crewe and so on.

In short, when we have the desire, pace and energy, we get the results. Almost like we have to raise our game to compete.

Which is probably why our position next season, as someone said earlier, will more than likely be the reality check.

it would be very interesting to know the stats for newly promoted teams being promoted again the next year. It would not surprise me to see that its not that unusual

 

[rigsby]

Boylan was on decent wages at Grays of £1800 per week !

He was on £2,000 a week at Canvey. Last season our maximum wage was £1500. Some of our players this season are earning less than £1,000.

Some of you on other threads want to off-load all but 6 or 7 of our squad. Just out of interest where are all these up-grades who will be only to happy to come to Southend for £900 per week.

 

[mrsblue]

He was on £2,000 a week at Canvey. Last season our maximum wage was £1500. Some of our players this season are earning less than £1,000.

Some of you on other threads want to off-load all but 6 or 7 of our squad. Just out of interest where are all these up-grades who will be only to happy to come to Southend for £900 per week.

Come on Riggers !

Hunt and Mooney are both on decent terms,I reckon the only players on less than a grand would be Payne,hence why he wants a far superior deal.

 

[mrsblue]

He was on £2,000 a week at Canvey. Last season our maximum wage was £1500. Some of our players this season are earning less than £1,000.

Some of you on other threads want to off-load all but 6 or 7 of our squad. Just out of interest where are all these up-grades who will be only to happy to come to Southend for £900 per week.

Oh and if the club hadn't had been silly in giving deals to the likes of Hunt and Mooney then there would be more money to go around.

 

[rigsby]

Oh and if the club hadn't had been silly in giving deals to the likes of Hunt and Mooney then there would be more money to go around.

They are definitely not on the money you claim. In our position our options are limited we have to take a chance on someone who is on the way down and taking a pay cut. Or a young player who hasn't made it else where or is showing promise but nobody with more money wants them. Which of course becomes harder the further up the league you go.

The safer option is of course the loan system. However a lot of fans don't like that for some reason. Yes its nice to say he's one of our own but in our financial state we simple have no choice unless your happy with mid table L2.

 

[mrsblue]

They are definitely not on the money you claim. In our position our options are limited we have to take a chance on someone who is on the way down and taking a pay cut. Or a young player who hasn't made it else where or is showing promise but nobody with more money wants them. Which of course becomes harder the further up the league you go.

The safer option is of course the loan system. However a lot of fans don't like that for some reason. Yes its nice to say he's one of our own but in our financial state we simple have no choice unless your happy with mid table L2.

We signed an ageing injury prone rarely scores player,who turned out to be an injury prone rarely scores player hmmm.

We do this same scenario time and time again,now either somebody is having a laugh or that don't know the game or it's something else,the else is the key which I won't say on here.

 

[SufcUpAndDown]

I'd be surprised if that is true. Andy Swallow at Grays is handing over the club for others to run, he says he's had enough, and lost heart in lower League football. Just one of the things he's moaning about is that players at his club are on £75 a week, yet they have agents, that he has to deal with.
I would think Canvey would be nearer to that sort of pay than Southend's. How can Canvey pay good wages on tiny crowds of a few hundred, with cheap admission.

you misread it, he used the word. Have .... And he is right, in the Jeff King days, Julian Dicks was on a mint.

 

[RHB]

Crikey, a thread on SZ after a 4-1 defeat that doesn't have people calling for the manager's head, a general slitting of wrists, delusions of grandeur, and a modicum of panic; I've had to pinch myself to make sure I'm awake. :unsure:

You forgot to mention what players earn here and everywhere else. Very important that.

 

[Tommy2holes]

I think losing Michael Timlin as a kep player this season has had an effect and also the loss of Ryan Leonard has been a blow in the last few matches. The fact the we beat Burton 3-1 Coventry 3-0 Bury 4-1 Col U 3-0 etc etc means we arent far from being a top 6 side but maybe just a few key players away.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I think our reality check may be next season ......

Sadly I agree

Historically, our first season back in the third tier , whether is as a result of a promotion or relegation, generally results in the best position for that spell . Only once,back in the early 70s, have we finshed higher in our 2nd season in T3, than our first.
We do not have a history of staying in this division very long.

For exactly this reason.

Regardless of manager, next season is going to be tough.

He was on £2,000 a week at Canvey. Last season our maximum wage was £1500. Some of our players this season are earning less than £1,000.

Some of you on other threads want to off-load all but 6 or 7 of our squad. Just out of interest where are all these up-grades who will be only to happy to come to Southend for £900 per week.

I'd reduce the size of the squad to increase the amount we can offer individually.

I think we've been carrying an unbalanced squad and need to trim the fat. How many midfielders have we got at the moment? Kamara, Deegan, Wordsworth, Atkinson, Payne, Hurst, McQueen, Weston, McLoughlin, Worrall, Bridge - and that's ignoring Leonard and Timlin who are injured. That's ridiculously overstaffed and a waste of budget.

We can only use 14 players a match. I'd be looking for a first team squad of 18 or so and supplementing the numbers with the kids like Bridge and Smith and using the loan system to cover for long term injuries when and where they crop up. But there's nothing wrong with giving the under 21s a match or two if someone's out for a game or two.

A smaller squad is a tighter squad and the more Tilly said we were down to the bare bones the better we did.

They are definitely not on the money you claim. In our position our options are limited we have to take a chance on someone who is on the way down and taking a pay cut. Or a young player who hasn't made it else where or is showing promise but nobody with more money wants them. Which of course becomes harder the further up the league you go.

The safer option is of course the loan system. However a lot of fans don't like that for some reason. Yes its nice to say he's one of our own but in our financial state we simple have no choice unless your happy with mid table L2.

I don't like the loan system because there's no long term upside to it.

I'd be very much concentrating on young players who are showing promise at a lower level. And I'd be pushing hard on the line that you'll get first team football opportunities here which you won't at a bigger club with a bigger squad. If you come here, you'll come here to play. Your agent might not initially like it, but you'll make up the shortfall from appearance bonuses and the like and you'll put yourself in the shop window in a way that you won't sitting in Barnsley's reserves.

I fully appreciate that for many players they'll only think of the money, but the ones I want are the ones who love to be played rather than paid, and have a point to prove. Big Bad Barry Corr is a great example of that - turned down more money from Rushden to stay at Southend and only left because another team was busting a gut to get him whereas our manager was indifferent.

I think losing Michael Timlin as a kep player this season has had an effect and also the loss of Ryan Leonard has been a blow in the last few matches. The fact the we beat Burton 3-1 Coventry 3-0 Bury 4-1 Col U 3-0 etc etc means we arent far from being a top 6 side but maybe just a few key players away.

What on earth has beating Col Ewe got to do with being a top side? Virtually every team in the country does that.