Message to fans

[GBJ]

I wonder how you would deal with someone coming up to you at work and shouting abuse in your face whilst working, my guess is you wouldnt like it

I'll tell you what, all those that think it's their prerogative to call a player a ****ing useless **** tell me where you work and I'll pop by and hurl the same invective at you. I'm sure you'll appreciate it.

If I was earning £50k upwards, i'd gladly accept all the abuse you wanted to throw at me.

Paramedics, firemen, the armed forces all have intensely difficult jobs, and put up with a lot worse than a few naughty names, but get paid considerably less than what one of our players will no doubt earn.

 

[chadded]

What would we rather have, 9000 in RH with 20% abusing players or 4000 with a similar amount of abuse ?

If the moaner decides not to come we would never be able to get hold of players who are good enough to encourage him back, at least whilst he is paying his entrance fee we have some hope.

I am all for trying to get fans behind the team, but if its between not showing and having a moan ...give me the money anyday

But what would you rather- 9000 fans and 20% (1800) moaning, or say, 5000 fans and no moaning (no moaning at a Southend game, yeah right)?

I'd guess you'll say show me the money, and yea, I'd be inclined to agree, but then how much does the moaning and negativity affect the players? If there was no negativity, but a slightly smaller crowd, then perhaps the players might be under less pressure, play better, and then after a few weeks of this, we then get bigger crowds...... It's a vicious circle, and if we're honest, I think we all moaned when Rhys conceded the second, but the difference between calling him crap at the top of your voice and muttering to the bloke next to you is different. I'm in favour of sacking off the announcement of who scored the opposition goal and replacing it with some words of wisdom from the legend that is Mr Motivator.

 

[chadded]

If I was earning £50k upwards, i'd gladly accept all the abuse you wanted to throw at me.

Paramedics, firemen, the armed forces all have intensely difficult jobs, and put up with a lot worse than a few naughty names, but get paid considerably less than what one of our players will no doubt earn.

Whilst I sort of agree, if you were not bothered about receiving the abuse, your attitude would be one of 'I'm earning mega bucks, so I don't care,'which if applied to SUFC would reignite the age old discussion of whether or not the players care enough....

 

[Beefy]

If I was earning £50k upwards, i'd gladly accept all the abuse you wanted to throw at me.

Paramedics, firemen, the armed forces all have intensely difficult jobs, and put up with a lot worse than a few naughty names, but get paid considerably less than what one of our players will no doubt earn.

I'm sure it's an occupational hazard for some footballers. Especially non-scoring strikers.

Do you think you'd perform your 50k per year job better with someone screaming abuse at you, or not?

 

[GBJ]

Whilst I sort of agree, if you were not bothered about receiving the abuse, your attitude would be one of 'I'm earning mega bucks, so I don't care,'which if applied to SUFC would reignite the age old discussion of whether or not the players care enough....

Loyalty is non-existent in football nowdays. Money talks. All/most footballers want to win games, but the majority won't bleed for the cause like us fans would.

I'm sure it's an occupational hazard for some footballers. Especially non-scoring strikers.

Do you think you'd perform your 50k per year job better with someone screaming abuse at you, or not?

Of course if I had someone screaming at me for 9 hours a day, 5-6 days a week, i'd get annoyed and it would effect me. But if i had a few minutes of chanting, some indistinct angry shouts and some sarcastic applause, which totaled to 5-10 minutes every (other) week, then I honestly don't think i'd care too much. Would it encourage me? No. Would my pain be eased on payday? Yes.

Sometimes I think they deserve it, other times they don't. Afterall they are grown men, earning a decent wage, and booing/criticism comes with the job.

 

[Firestorm]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aldershot/9336928.stm

 

[MrB]

Loyalty is non-existent in football nowdays. Money talks. All/most footballers want to win games, but the majority won't bleed for the cause like us fans would.

To be fair, I'd say quite a number of players have bled during the course of a game more than I have. I don't recall bleeding during matches that often, other than from my ears due to having Barry Harris sat behind me.

 

[shrimperjon]

I think the point also is that all the negativity and abuse clearly does affect players, weve seen it before with certain players. But the results dont lie and our home form over the past few years even under tilson was shocking. i think back to some of the big games towards the end of our promo season to the championship and then the games we needed to win during the relegation that followed and i could be wrong but when it really mattered, apart from bristol city we really struggled. what someone said to me on saturday was this is a new management with new players and a new season yet the same old roots hall problems occur, where as our away form particularly this season is pretty good. the one thing consistent in this is the home support. yes i moaned when the goals went in on monday as a i do with all goals we concede, its a natural reaction, the abuse that follows, sarcastic cheering is not a normal reaction it is premeditated. i just want someone to explain to me how they think it can possibly help!!!

 

[GBJ]

I think the point also is that all the negativity and abuse clearly does affect players, weve seen it before with certain players. But the results dont lie and our home form over the past few years even under tilson was shocking.

We've got a better home record than away record though

What someone said to me on saturday was this is a new management with new players and a new season yet the same old roots hall problems occur

The branches have been trimmed away, but the root is still there.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

That I'd say is the whole point. I would wager every fan would have groaned, moaned or thrown a few ****s about at such incidents. However to resort to some of the abuse that has occurred is a negative in my view. I'll tell you what, all those that think it's their prerogative to call a player a ****ing useless **** tell me where you work and I'll pop by and hurl the same invective at you. I'm sure you'll appreciate it.

Yep, have your 30 second anger moan, but leave it there and get behind the team after

 

[They Call It Madness!!!]

Personally for what it is worth, i dont beleive in booing players as it is not going to suddenly make them play any better! It will just bring that players confidence down, put added pressure on the other players as they dont want the same reaction and hey presto - you got a full team low in confidence playing krud football.

To be fair, this argument has come about year after year since forever at all clubs across the country. It is not a problem unique just to us. The annoying thing for me though, is that he (Blair) gets booed for trying!!! If he just strolled across the pitch and didnt give a flying monkeys about what he was doing then i would feel the booing was justified and would join it - however, this is clearly not the case. He does work hard, always tries to make himself available and works for the team also, not for himself like the big prima donnas. Surely you cannot boo him for that?

He is not the most gifted player we have ever had but certainly not the worse. Remember, we are in League Two. We didnt even have a team at the start of the season. These players joined knowing what problems the club had had with the previous personnel - lets give them a little bit of credit for actually coming here in the first place. Most of these players were unwanted by previous clubs dont forget!

I agree that people are entitled to express their views certainly as they have paid to do so but just think before you act. That chant was disgusting - why swear in it. Great advertisement for the younger fans as well. Thats another thing that people have said they wouldnt mind having 1500 out of a 9000 booing if it meant money into the club - as if families will make up that 9000 if the booing and chanting is that sort of abuse on Monday. Pathetic chant.

This post isnt a dig at anyone but i just wanted to put my point across, only another 4699 fans to go!

 

[Jai]

These players joined knowing what problems the club had had with the previous personnel - lets give them a little bit of credit for actually coming here in the first place.

Very good point. I personally have found myself enjoying this season more than last, mainly because we do have players who look like they will put in the effort. And I can accept, in the hugely difficult financial situation we find ourselves in now, that we will sometimes have to make do with journeyman players who haven't cut it elsewhere. But as long as they put the work in, I'll be fully behind them.
The fact that our chairman has alienated most of the fans and ex-players is not their fault. The fact that Tilson is not the manager is not their fault. The fact that our new stadium is no closer to fruition than the next ice age is not their fault. So let's cut them a bit of slack, shall we? Personally, like Wino says, I'm thankful I still have a team to watch, even if it's not a particularly good one.

 

[Smiffy]

Very good point. I personally have found myself enjoying this season more than last, mainly because we do have players who look like they will put in the effort. And I can accept, in the hugely difficult financial situation we find ourselves in now, that we will sometimes have to make do with journeyman players who haven't cut it elsewhere. But as long as they put the work in, I'll be fully behind them.
The fact that our chairman has alienated most of the fans and ex-players is not their fault. The fact that Tilson is not the manager is not their fault. The fact that our new stadium is no closer to fruition than the next ice age is not their fault. So let's cut them a bit of slack, shall we? Personally, like Wino says, I'm thankful I still have a team to watch, even if it's not a particularly good one.

Very true.

But as I have said before. It is always the one's in the public eye that will take the flack, rightly or wrongly. Even if it is not their fault.

For instance: Your train is late. You have a moan to yourself, but you deal with it and wait patiently. Ten minutes later and the train has still not arrived, despite the board saying it arrived 10 minutes ago. You start getting the hump and make your frustrations a little more audible. Another 10 minutes pass and the train has still not arrived and a message comes over the tannoy announcing it is cancelled.

Q. What do you do?

A. Have a pop at the nearest member of staff (probably a ticket office member) even though it is nothing to do with them. Probably demanding a refund and a word with the superior.

Unfortunately the wrong doing's of the person in the background (The one we do not see or hear from. But ultimately makes all the decisions on how thing's are run) have caused the customer's to take their anger out on the staff lower in the hierarchy...

Q. How can it be resolved?...

A. The man in charge makes sure there are no more delays and cancellations. Issues a statement to the customers apologising and how they will learn from their mistakes. Also giving the customers a bit of good news on how the service is due to improve in the future.

Don't get me wrong. I am not condoning the boo's/abuse directed towards the players. Especially during the game. I think most no my stance on that. But, as with any business with paying customers. The one's within earshot will always take the blame regardless, if anything is wrong/going wrong with the service. Especially if it is an "entertainment" based service and the customers are not getting what they feel they have paid for.

 

[southend4ever]

I haven't posted for over a month now. I still 100% support the Blues and have followed the results whilst I have been in bed with the flu. Nothing has appealed to me about checking Shrimperzone in the last month because I didn't want to bring on further aches and pains!

Feeling a bit better now but still off work, so all I would say that at least one thing is for sure we all remain Southend supporters and regardless of the disputes we have we all want Southend to win and do their best so whilst we have this common denominator intact let's continue on our Merry way and support the Blues.

Happy New Year to all.

 

[grassroots]

From what I've seen this year, the fans on the whole have been very patient with PS and the team. I cheer, I moan, I even laugh out loud at the at some of the efforts, but there will always be a loud mouth who picks on certain players for no apparent reason and there always will be. Mayer, Gower, Francis all went through it didnt they. But seriously, 2-0 down after 5 mins, 2 apparently glaring keeping blunders, am I supposed to be kind to the man thats just ruined my afternoon? This is professional football and he will get stick until he's earned a cheer.......which he did, good man!! Now lets move on to the next game.

I would say that 90% of fans are behind PS..................somewhat less are backing our Chairman however!

 

[Shrimperforlife]

I'm sure it's an occupational hazard for some footballers. Especially non-scoring strikers.

Do you think you'd perform your 50k per year job better with someone screaming abuse at you, or not?

That depends on your character, if it was me, being moaned at would amke me want to play better to allow me to go back at the person giving me grief, and say ''up yours''

 

[OldBlueLady]

EAST ON....

I hope you all had a great Christmas and a good New Year albeit one with less football than usual.

It was still a busy time for the squad as we were preparing for the cancelled fixtures as normal, so we didn’t really get a chance to properly relax over the festive period. I’m not complaining as I’m used to the hectic schedule at this time of year, but had the Barnet game been called off sooner I definitely would’ve had a bit more turkey and trifle! With only a few games surviving in League’s One and Two on the days surrounding Christmas it might have been better to have had a total break. There used to be a winter break in Scotland and it was always nice as you got to spend a bit more time with the family but it sometimes proved a bit pointless as the weather would usually be worse in February. The other problem was that it could take away the momentum of the team. I remember being in third position in the league and still involved in both cups when playing for Dundee United then, after the two week break we hardly won a game, lost our top goalscorer and ended up only just staying up!

It was a brilliant start to the New Year, beating Oxford pretty comfortably. The support away from home was once again fantastic and spurred us on to victory. I felt we could’ve scored more but it was a hard working team performance with Kane Ferdinand doing very well on his debut in the middle of the park. It was a pleasure to play alongside him and I thought he played with maturity beyond his years. Hopefully we’ll see more of him and maybe some of the other youth team players making the step up this season. It was also good to see Matt Paterson coming on and nearly getting a goal after Barry Corr had run himself into the ground.

Unfortunately we didn’t build on our last two victories with defeat coming two days later against Cheltenham at Roots Hall. Where we have started well in the previous two matches and kept clean sheets in both those away games, we couldn’t have started any worse if we’d tried. We gave ourselves a lot to do after going behind 2-0 in the first five minutes but I felt we dug in and deserved at least a draw after putting Cheltenham under pressure for most of the match. The game-plan goes out the window after a start like that and it was unfortunate for Kane as he was sacrificed in order for us to try and get back into the game with Granty being a more attacking option. I also felt for Rhys Evans as he was gutted about the way he conceded the first goal, especially after not putting a foot wrong and making a couple of decent saves against Oxford. He also made a couple of important stops later in the game which is testament to his character to keep going even after being jeered by a small minority of our own crowd. I was really disappointed with that, the lad knows he could have done better and felt bad enough and it also gives the opposition a boost, as if Cheltenham needed that. I’ve also got to mention Blair Sturrock as along with Barry, he has worked his socks off for us in the last couple of games. He gives everything and sometimes it doesn’t come off so it was poor to hear the reaction when he got substituted on Monday. I know we haven’t given you much to shout about at home but it’s not for want of trying. If we come off the field and haven’t given everything we can, and even in some cases just been really bad then we can accept and deserve the criticism as a team. It’s part and parcel of football, but when individuals are getting an unfair amount of stick then we have to stand by them because we’re in this as a team. No-one tries to make a mistake and there will be a lot more made before the season is over. It’s how we react to them that matters and that means players and fans sticking together.

We’re really kicking ourselves as we could’ve jumped a few places and put ourselves in the mix with a victory. We’re still not far away and a couple of wins can take us closer to the play-off places, so the next three games are really important. If we play like we did against Oxford and Cheltenham first time round then we’ve got a real chance of getting the points we need.

Up The Blues

Easty

Hmmm........................has he been reading some of the stuff on here?

 

[Beefy]

That depends on your character, if it was me, being moaned at would amke me want to play better to allow me to go back at the person giving me grief, and say ''up yours''

But what if you were giving your all and doing your job to the best of your ability?

Sure, we've had a few good players who have had stick from time to time (Maher & Gower spring to mind) but the real abuse has often been directed towards the likes of Harrold, Revell and now Sturrock - all of whom are hard-working players who would run through walls for the team/manager.

I'd agree that character plays a real part in how a player deals with it. I'm sure Sturrock is used to it from his other Clubs, and it never seemed to bother Revs. Harrold was destroyed by it though.

 

[West Stand Benfleet Blue]

As I have said on other posts on this subject it is a democratic country everyone can express an opinion BUT personal attacks go to far. The players are not the best in the world but they are here they are SUFC and we should support them NOT slag them off. Everyone makes mistakes,. You only have to look at results we do better away from hom why? simple the so called fans (mainly day trippers at the Hall) do not get on their backs!!
Come on lets give them ALL a chance to show they can salvage the season.

 

[chadded]

I wasn't there, but I remember the positivity on this board when talking about the Norwich game in August 2006 I think, where we were 3-1 down with 20 odd minutes to go and we drew 3-3. Just imagine what 90 minutes of positivity could do.....