Jeroen Boere

[McScriven]

For years we have read that Jeroen told a Blues supporters to f**k off after they sent well wishes to him in Japan following a stabbing in his eye that left him blind.

However, talking to Helen Giles last night about the Dutchman (apparently he's been rated Southend's worst ever play in a new book out about bad footballers - anything to do with you Matt?) apparently Boere phoned Helen from Japan to say how made up that Southend fans had sent him the most messages and how he was so touched that they'd remembered him.

Seems to blow this one out of the water?

 

[Andy_S]

Worst ever player? Was Matt the only one allowed to vote!? There have been far worse!

I'm glad that has been proved to be false though. Can't imagine any player saying that.

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Quote[/b] (McScriven @ Dec. 09 2004,16:19)]For years we have read that Jeroen told a Blues supporters to f**k off after they sent well wishes to him in Japan following a stabbing in his eye that left him blind.

However, talking to Helen Giles last night about the Dutchman (apparently he's been rated Southend's worst ever play in a new book out about bad footballers - anything to do with you Matt?) apparently Boere phoned Helen from Japan to say how made up that Southend fans had sent him the most messages and how he was so touched that they'd remembered him.

Seems to blow this one out of the water?

Hmm... Ok, let me get a few things straight here:

1. This "worst ever player" thing definitely wasn't down to me (or at least I don't think it was)!

2. As to the worst ever vote... whilst I agree that, in terms of ability alone, there are plenty who have been worse (Rio Alderton, Gordon Connelly, Simon Livett and Graeme Jones leap instantly to mind), I prefer the "pound-for-pound" rating.

In terms of the "ability showed/effort given/wages paid" ratio, I guarantee that you will struggle to find someone worse than Boere.

As an example: Boere was on £3,500 a week (I'm fairly sure of that). Let's say Connelly was on £700 a week. Would you say Connelly was 5 times as bad as Boere? I wouldn't. 4 times as bad... maybe...

(Bear in mind, after all, that it's wages like Boere's that have caused this club to be so royally f**ked over the last 7 or 8 years)

3. The eye incident. OK, so this appears to change things. All I - and indeed anyone who read the message - could go on was the word of someone on the Shrimpers List, the e-mail precursor to the Zone. I vividly remember a Shrmpers Listee posting on the list to the effect that he had gone to see Boere in hospital, and that on presenting our condolences, received the relpy, "what, those sad w***ers?"

I therefore have relied on the word of a Listee who was in Japan. If it transpires that he has been lying, then I feel pretty upset about that, since my views about Boere have (understandably) been heavily coloured by that account.

Perhaps I'm more than prepared to reassess his character; but I'm still not prepared to change my view that, in many respects, he remains the worst ever footballer we've had. "Worst ever" is not merely demonstrated by ability... after all, the likes of Boere's wages have done far more damage to this club than Gordon Connelly's ineptitude ever could.

Matt

 

[footymad13]

Surely though Matt, its the chairman who pays the £3500 for Boere and the blame lays at his door.

 

[Sussex Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (footymad13 @ Dec. 12 2004,17:41)]Surely though Matt, its the chairman who pays the £3500 for Boere and the blame lays at his door.

I agree, anyone who criticizes a player for accepting a certain wage offer should ask themselves whether they would have rejected it.

Whether Boere worked hard enough to justify the money is another matter, but again you'd hope that management would do something to address that too.

 

[TheLittleGazette]

I was under the impression Boere was on £2,500 a week.

However, remember that majestic ex-Borrussia Dortmund (C team?!) midfielder Lars Unger? Apparently he was on £3,000 a week!

 

[Beefy]

Its not the money that Boere was on as such that got me. It was the total lack of effort that he put in considering we were paying him such a huge wage. I'm with Matt on this one. Boere is clearly not the least talented player we've had, in fact he's probably one of the most talented really, but that just makes the appalling performances and workrate all the more unacceptable.

In the 15 or so years I've been going to Roots Hall theres been very, very few players who I've ever shouted abuse at, and only one who I look back now and can honestly say that they deserved it and thats Jeroen Boere, and that had nothing to do with what he did or did not say about our fans in Japan.

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Beefy, I always knew you were a man of great wisdom!

Luke - whilst it was Jobson / Chipmunk's fault for paying that much, my point is that if he was being paid that much, he should have sweated blood for us on a weekly basis. Fact is, in the effort stakes, I struggle to think of a single afternoon on which he put in more than 50% effort - and it's that that I detest him for.

The likes of Connelly and Campbell may have been total bloody donkeys, but at least they usually gave 100%. That's why I can't hate them as players.

It's almost certainly the reason behind my strong dislike of Barrington Belgrave... another player who very rarely gave 100% whilst wearing the blue of Southend. And that, frankly, is a far, far worse crime in my view than being merely talentless.

Matt

 

[Upminster Blue]

Can we have a reality check here? Whilst he may not have been known for his Adam Barrett style work rate, which is, afterall, not untypical for overseas players, he did have a very good goal scoring record of approaching one every two full appearances. Not at all bad in a very poor team. His goals were also scored in what is now the Championship. Poor work rate does not make a poor player!

As for the money, would you turn down £3,500 a week if offered it? The blame there can be laid squarely at Jobson's door for paying wages the club could not afford. Therefore this is an irrelevant point, in my view.

Don't get me wrong, Boere ceratinly wouldn't get any where near my all time team and I can see how his body language could upset fans (personally I took it as a sign of frustration at his teammates shortcomings). At the same time, he would be no where near the worst eleven. Can you honestly say Richard Young, Mario Walsh, Sada N'Diaye were better players?

 

[palexander]

I agreee - it puzzles me what people have against Boere (as a player anyway). I actually thought he was a decent player and was excited to have another 'big name' playing for us.

He scored some cracking goals too and always put himself about. All about opinions I suppse!

 

[HUMBLEPIE]

Quote[/b] (pboreham @ Dec. 13 2004,15:38)]I agreee - it puzzles me what people have against Boere (as a player anyway). I actually thought he was a decent player and was excited to have another 'big name' playing for us.

He scored some cracking goals too and always put himself about. All about opinions I suppse!

blimey and I thought I was in a minority of one....I rated him as a goalscorer and his link up play.....and when you look at what replaced him Barry Conlon and I heard he was on £1900 a week and Neil Campbell 50p a week....they weren't cheap options.

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Quote[/b] (HUMBLEPIE @ Dec. 13 2004,16:10)]Neil Campbell 50p a week....they weren't cheap options.

We were diddled!

As for Boere, well it is all about opinions. I always got the impression that Boere couldn't give a flying fcuk about us, went through the motions in a reprehensible manner, and whose return for a man of his skills and wages was unbelievably poor. I'm thinking of his "League 1" stint, more than anything here... don't forget, he was an average/poor Prem striker, plying his trade two divisions below his capabilities. That makes his return of 14 goals look pathetic, IMHO.

Anyhow, let's not dredge this one up again. Boere will remain, I guess, a man on whom opinions are bitterly divided. For me, he embodied everything that was wrong about the club - p*ssing money against the wall, didn't care about the fans, no effort or heart, took the pay-cheque and p*ssed off when we got relegated twice in a row.

In the wider scheme of things, he did a lot more damage to the club we love than (say) Neil Campbell.

I guess that's why I dislike him so intensely.

Matt

P.S. Conlon on £1,900 a week... jeez, and there was me thinking that my opinion of the Chipmunk had reached its nadir. Time to adjust those sights downwards again. When you learn about things like that, surely that must mean that he's the worst manager there's ever been in football, not just the worst manager of SUFC? What a fcukwit.

 

[footymad13]

Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ Dec. 13 2004,11:30)]Beefy, I always knew you were a man of great wisdom!

Luke - whilst it was Jobson / Chipmunk's fault for paying that much, my point is that if he was being paid that much, he should have sweated blood for us on a weekly basis.  Fact is, in the effort stakes, I struggle to think of a single afternoon on which he put in more than 50% effort - and it's that that I detest him for.

The likes of Connelly and Campbell may have been total bloody donkeys, but at least they usually gave 100%.  That's why I can't hate them as players.

It's almost certainly the reason behind my strong dislike of Barrington Belgrave... another player who very rarely gave 100% whilst wearing the blue of Southend.  And that, frankly, is a far, far worse crime in my view than being merely talentless.

Matt

I understand that Matt, but come on his not the only footballer ever to be payed a great deal of money and act like he couldn't give too tosses. If Jobson was stupid enough to pay out £3500 a week for him then no wonder this club went down the pan.

 

[Hong Kong Blue]

Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ Dec. 13 2004,17:52)]P.S. Conlon on £1,900 a week... jeez, and there was me thinking that my opinion of the Chipmunk had reached its nadir.  Time to adjust those sights downwards again.  When you learn about things like that, surely that must mean that he's the worst manager there's ever been in football, not just the worst manager of SUFC?  What a fcukwit.

I think this may be a first, but I might stand up for Chipmunk on this one point.

Conlon has actually done alright for himself since leaving Southend and has proved to be a decent player (albeit a cheating ******* as well). I would guess that he is currently on more than £1900 a week at Barnsley. In his spell at Roots Hall you could see that Conlon had some talent, but he was too inconsistent, probably due to his youth.

Although compared to Neville Roach, George Parris, Simon Livett, Ben Lewis and a few other Chipmunk transfers he looked a fair signing, ultimately you can't class Conlon as a success at Southend, but we endured much worse during the Chipmunk reign.

 

[HUMBLEPIE]

Bloody hell you must be his agent he might of not of been the worst but he was a portent of what was to come. As for talent I must have been getting a burger when he showed this. My two abiding memories of him was for such a big bloke he couldn't head the ball, it hit him on the head but he could never get any direction on it and him and Campbell looked so alike even down to footballing ability....

 

[Hong Kong Blue]

I think the problem with both Campbell and Conlon was that we never played to their strengths. Conlon was wrongly used as a targetman. He might have been a tall bloke but that doesn't mean you can head the ball (Leon Constantine is 6 ft 3 but never wins a header). Conlon's good games were far too infrequent, but I at least felt he had some talent although on his bad days he did a very good job of hiding it, mainly by falling over. I think his subsequent career since leaving Southend shows that Conlon has talent, and he has almost certainly been the striker to have done the most after leaving Roots Hall since we came back down from the then first division.

IMHO the correct stick to beat Alvin Martin with is his use of Conlon, not the fact that he signed him.

ps I think Eastwood would score very heavily playing alongside Conlon.