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buffalowolf

Director
Joined
Sep 1, 2012
Messages
2,918
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ON MY *** IN FRONT OF COMPUTER
Now as far as im concerned this season is over , we are safe from relegation ,so what is my view on this season, Well as far as im concerned its been a disaster,so much preseason hope,was it ruined by so many injuries and the absolutely bad pitch , yes too an extent,but even if we had no injuries and a decent playing surface ,i still think we would have only finished mid table.Is SCP our saviour, mmmm juries still out on that one,i realise since he became manager our results improved ,but i think they would have no matter who was put in charge,it was very clear to me from afar that PB had lost the confidence off the players.To be a force next season what do we need most of all, well lets be honest ,there is nothing more exciting than a striker who regularly scores goals,ala ,Eastwood, Best ,etc etc etc , but where do we find one and at what cost.Its clear to me that we definitely havent got one on our books unless one of the youngsters can step up,WE need some CDs,well we need a good clearout and a lot of fresh blood to my way off thinking if we are to be a force next season,Anyway i believe SCP really is in for a busy off season if he is to be what many think he is and thats our saviour,I hope he can be but have my doubts ,what do you think .
 
"Now as far as I'm concerned this season is over"

It is for us spectators, but for the club, the hard work starts here.
 
The title of one of my favourite Jimmy Nail songs sums the season up for me. And as it's getting towards the end of the season I shall reward you with the video of the track from Still Crazy.

[video=youtube;MVJzJlMTdgY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVJzJlMTdgY[/video]
 
Get realistic people who do we think we are!! We are about where we belong mid table in lge 1 anything higher would be great!! 12th place isn’t a disaster for us prob going to be hard for some to take but we really are what we are and it’s a bang average lge 1 club, just support it love it and follow it! Utb
 
Get realistic people who do we think we are!! We are about where we belong mid table in lge 1 anything higher would be great!! 12th place isn’t a disaster for us prob going to be hard for some to take but we really are what we are and it’s a bang average lge 1 club, just support it love it and follow it! Utb

Ron ploughed a lot of money in at the start of the season and we signed some (at least we thought) good players. If we're not going to push for promotion and have bit of a cup run, then what's the point?

If you're happy languishing in mid-table Division 3 then good for you. Am I wrong to want a bit more?
 
You're not wrong to want more, of course not but its a danm sight better the lge 2 thats for sure.I can't face that dross again.
 
Now as far as im concerned this season is over , we are safe from relegation ,so what is my view on this season, Well as far as im concerned its been a disaster,so much preseason hope,was it ruined by so many injuries and the absolutely bad pitch , yes too an extent,but even if we had no injuries and a decent playing surface ,i still think we would have only finished mid table.Is SCP our saviour, mmmm juries still out on that one,i realise since he became manager our results improved ,but i think they would have no matter who was put in charge,it was very clear to me from afar that PB had lost the confidence off the players.To be a force next season what do we need most of all, well lets be honest ,there is nothing more exciting than a striker who regularly scores goals,ala ,Eastwood, Best ,etc etc etc , but where do we find one and at what cost.Its clear to me that we definitely havent got one on our books unless one of the youngsters can step up,WE need some CDs,well we need a good clearout and a lot of fresh blood to my way off thinking if we are to be a force next season,Anyway i believe SCP really is in for a busy off season if he is to be what many think he is and thats our saviour,I hope he can be but have my doubts ,what do you think .

Not sure where you have got that idea from. We were struggling back in January and looking like a club that could slide into L2 for all sorts of reasons. Infighting amongst players, Lenny sold, Ranger sacked and a manager who had clearly had enough. FF delayed yet again meant the chairman could not afford to buy his way out of trouble in the transfer window.

When CP arrived we were looking at our home fixture list and knowing our away form, many thought we would be going down for certain. 10 games later we are safe......If thats not job done and lets be happy when will some of you ever be.

Terms like 'disaster' when describing a season should be saved for when we get relegated and players aren't being paid. For a traditional bottom of L1 club we haven't done to bad in the last 4 seasons. Last year the total loss over income was about £175,000.....That does not include Transfer fees....The lad to Man City would cover that alone. Now compare that with our recent financial history and you can see we are having a great time at the moment.

So my questions to you lot is.....Which clubs with less money are doing better than us?.
What clubs have made a profit over the last few years?
 
Just because you want it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen we all have a dream but that’s exactly what it is a dream yes of course we could push for playoffs and maybe with some luck sneak through to the championship but at this moment in time mid table lge 1 is where we are at! Don’t have a melt down or think we are a powerful club even at this level because we are not! 14th 7th 12th maybe in the last 3 seasons is a established lge 1 side. It’s our level
 
Just because you want it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen we all have a dream but that’s exactly what it is a dream yes of course we could push for playoffs and maybe with some luck sneak through to the championship but at this moment in time mid table lge 1 is where we are at! Don’t have a melt down or think we are a powerful club even at this level because we are not! 14th 7th 12th maybe in the last 3 seasons is a established lge 1 side. It’s our level
I think both sides of this discussion have merit. You make a perfectly valid case except the Chairman, Manager etc made it very clear at the start of the season we had invested with the belief and intention of being promoted. This is why the supporters are so disappointed. Also no set of supporters will tolerate lack of effort from players and we have witnessed this too often.
 
Not sure where you have got that idea from. We were struggling back in January and looking like a club that could slide into L2 for all sorts of reasons. Infighting amongst players, Lenny sold, Ranger sacked and a manager who had clearly had enough. FF delayed yet again meant the chairman could not afford to buy his way out of trouble in the transfer window.

When CP arrived we were looking at our home fixture list and knowing our away form, many thought we would be going down for certain. 10 games later we are safe......If thats not job done and lets be happy when will some of you ever be.

Terms like 'disaster' when describing a season should be saved for when we get relegated and players aren't being paid. For a traditional bottom of L1 club we haven't done to bad in the last 4 seasons. Last year the total loss over income was about £175,000.....That does not include Transfer fees....The lad to Man City would cover that alone. Now compare that with our recent financial history and you can see we are having a great time at the moment.

So my questions to you lot is.....Which clubs with less money are doing better than us?.
What clubs have made a profit over the last few years?
quality post this spot on
 
If you compiled a table of the average position of every league club over all past seasons we are perhaps bang on average or maybe even a little bit above. Hardly a disaster. Look back to the mid '80's and gates of less than 2,000, surviving re-elcetion by the skin of our teeth, if you want to find one of those seasons.

The pitch has been rubbish, the end of PB's reign was woeful, and the treatment by a few of the fans of one or two of our players (Ferdy) has been woeful, but if there wasn't something going wrong it wouldn't be right! On the plus side there have been some top performances mixed in with it all, and the joy of seeing CP punch the air after we won at Posh was priceless. We should enjoy League One, as Benfleet A1 says League Two is dire. Yes we can have dreams of the Championship, but that comes with a cost where, unless extremely careful, the mercenaries can pile in and drain the club and from there it can take years to recover - we've seen it before. For me the one real downside has been the lack again of a decent cup run - oh how I'd love one of those.

And following the club is more than the match and the results anyway - make the most of the build up, meeting your mates, a pre-match beer, cheering on your team to help build up the atmosphere, travelling away and new experiences, etc. You'll then enjoy most seasons more whatever happens on the pitch I think you'll find. Maybe even get involved with The Shrimpers Trust, helping out with one or two events, or even just coming along to some of the socials raised.

The Moody Blues campaign, the RTT92 Xmas fund raising, starting up SUEPA - I've quite enjoyed this season.
 
Yes, reality bites I guess. We are, I agree, a mid-table League One club so in that sense if we finish around 12th-14th then we've done OK. We can't have realistic hopes of survival in the Championship until we have a bigger stadium.

This season started with high hopes because we had only just missed out on the play-offs last season and we had bought in quality players who should have strengthened the team. We still had Lennie. The season started brilliantly with our demolition of Blackburn Rovers and everything seemed great - we were in for a tremendous season and the automatics were within our capability. But then it all went wrong. Why? I don't know. PB didn't suddenly become a bad manager overnight (don't say he always was - he got us promoted and improved every season), he was full of hope and confidence and so were we.

But by December some of our players were clearly not really trying. If he hadn't "lost the dressing room" PB had certainly lost one or two key players and it was obvious that he had lost confidence, lost hope and was, in my opinion, showing signs of mental distress. It was a kindness when he was placed on gardening leave. SCP came in like a breath of fresh air an we went on a great run of four wins on the trot. Suddenly the play-offs became a possibility again! And then the team started to revert to its disappointing performances of earlier in the season. No sign that SCP has lost the players' confidence, but clearly this team just isn't good enough. Plymouth Argyle made us look like a pub side; they must have wondered who these imposters in orange shirts were.

As John Cleese said "It's not the despair, I can take the despair.... it's the hope."
 
If you compiled a table of the average position of every league club over all past seasons we are perhaps bang on average or maybe even a little bit above. Hardly a disaster. Look back to the mid '80's and gates of less than 2,000, surviving re-elcetion by the skin of our teeth, if you want to find one of those seasons.

The pitch has been rubbish, the end of PB's reign was woeful, and the treatment by a few of the fans of one or two of our players (Ferdy) has been woeful, but if there wasn't something going wrong it wouldn't be right! On the plus side there have been some top performances mixed in with it all, and the joy of seeing CP punch the air after we won at Posh was priceless. We should enjoy League One, as Benfleet A1 says League Two is dire. Yes we can have dreams of the Championship, but that comes with a cost where, unless extremely careful, the mercenaries can pile in and drain the club and from there it can take years to recover - we've seen it before. For me the one real downside has been the lack again of a decent cup run - oh how I'd love one of those.

And following the club is more than the match and the results anyway - make the most of the build up, meeting your mates, a pre-match beer, cheering on your team to help build up the atmosphere, travelling away and new experiences, etc. You'll then enjoy most seasons more whatever happens on the pitch I think you'll find. Maybe even get involved with The Shrimpers Trust, helping out with one or two events, or even just coming along to some of the socials raised.

The Moody Blues campaign, the RTT92 Xmas fund raising, starting up SUEPA - I've quite enjoyed this season.

Top post, 100% agree!
 
If you compiled a table of the average position of every league club over all past seasons we are perhaps bang on average or maybe even a little bit above. Hardly a disaster. Look back to the mid '80's and gates of less than 2,000, surviving re-elcetion by the skin of our teeth, if you want to find one of those seasons.

The pitch has been rubbish, the end of PB's reign was woeful, and the treatment by a few of the fans of one or two of our players (Ferdy) has been woeful, but if there wasn't something going wrong it wouldn't be right! On the plus side there have been some top performances mixed in with it all, and the joy of seeing CP punch the air after we won at Posh was priceless. We should enjoy League One, as Benfleet A1 says League Two is dire. Yes we can have dreams of the Championship, but that comes with a cost where, unless extremely careful, the mercenaries can pile in and drain the club and from there it can take years to recover - we've seen it before. For me the one real downside has been the lack again of a decent cup run - oh how I'd love one of those.

And following the club is more than the match and the results anyway - make the most of the build up, meeting your mates, a pre-match beer, cheering on your team to help build up the atmosphere, travelling away and new experiences, etc. You'll then enjoy most seasons more whatever happens on the pitch I think you'll find. Maybe even get involved with The Shrimpers Trust, helping out with one or two events, or even just coming along to some of the socials raised.

The Moody Blues campaign, the RTT92 Xmas fund raising, starting up SUEPA - I've quite enjoyed this season.

Someone did do that a couple of years back and we were about 65th/66th ? in the all time league table.....So relegation zone of L1 under the current format.
 
My post was nver meant to be a put down off SCP, i do think he is a good coach and the right man for the job here, but as it stands at present i cannot see SUFC getting ny higher than they are at present , to get too and be able to hold our own in the championship , which im sure every supporter would love our club to be able to do ,i believe cannot happen until we have a new stadium to begin with.A big clearout of some off the present players and some new younger talent bought in.Where the money for all this will come from i dont know.Yes i have been disappointed in some of the performances by the team this season ,reading your threads at times on matches tells me that most of you have been also, preseason hype from PB and RM led us to believe we were in for a bumper season, apart from a few matches it appears from your threads its been quite the opposite. I look forward to the off season and how SCP performs in the transfer market , i think this will be very interesting few months .
 
It's well documented that I thought PB should have gone before this season even started but he remained and contrived with RM to roll the dice one more time. They hit upon the plan of quality over quantity and due to injuries, character and waning ability, the quality has been in short supply. I had thought the summer recruitment was a mistake but, in fairness, if the gamble had paid off we would be singing their praises. If we had a new manager, at the beginning of the season, the same dice rolling would go on, as transfers are a lottery at best, and we may have been no better off or even worse off.

The team we have assembled, for me, is simply not good enough, on a consistent basis. There is ability and on some days it transfers to results but we can never be sure which SUFC side is turning up on any given match day. If you look at the results at home to Blackburn and Wigan we came across as champions elect. Against Portsmouth we ground out a win and showed we can do it the hard way. Too often, sadly, we have not performed to the best of our abilities, whether under PB or CP. The pitch is used as an excuse, apart from the period we were not losing at home, and it can't explain some of the away guff.

Our strikers are constantly criticised. How good are they? Who knows? The service and support they get sometimes is almost non-existent. We have an array of midfielders but which one regularly proffers the killer pass or sublime cross?

We are due a rebuild this summer but don't think that is a panacea for all our ails. It will be another roll of the dice that may or may not pay off and only Professor Hindsight can tell us, with any certainty, of the outcome.

So to review the season, we live to fight another season in League 1 and hurrah for that at least.
 
I have watched some good games, some really poor games. I have seen our team's great work rate, run/harry and beat bigger clubs than us: & I have seen those same players meekly go through the motions and make me despair.

I am also very pleased to see the talent of youth coming through and making strong stakes for starting shirts: OUR BOYS!!!

As always I look forward to the next game, and I agree this season's contest for promotion or fight against the drop is over BUT the shape and future may play in front of us for the remaining games.

UTB!
 
For me this season has been dictated by poor pre-season preparation. Having a pudding of a pitch when the one constant in years of watching Southend has been a lovely playing surface, well that’s shocking but can’t be blamed for the team not meeting the expectations that the manager and chairman seem to have had. Playing on good pitches away from home has hardly suited us!

PB and RM seemed to think that because of the good things that came from signing Anton and Fortune that was the way forward. Signing decent players towards the end of their career is all well and good but it’s all about balance. They need young willing legs around them to do the dirty work and we didn’t sign them. Well, Kiernan might have come into that category had his legs not been shot. I can’t decide whether that was down to bad luck, poor research, poor medical screening or just naivety and being conned by his agent and Rangers. Basically we’ve had an ageing, one paced squad bailed out by the willing eager legs of Leonard on many an occasion. Sometimes it works. We’ve recently heard defeated managers bemoaning the fact that they’ve been “out-manned” by our experienced pros. The downside is when we come up against good quality sides with pace we can’t deal with that. Luckily there aren’t too many of those in League 1 so we end up where we are, mid table. That’s not such a bad thing considering our resources. Ron is reputed to have invested heavily this season but without being privy to details of players’ wages I’d guess that we’ve not pushed the boat out as much as some clubs in our division so we are where we are.

It became clear that Phil Brown’s recipe for success this season wasn’t the right one. I really think if he’d stayed we may have scraped into a position just above the drop zone but the arrival of SCP has made our position far better than that. He had to make a few hasty signings that probably helped psychologically short term but I can’t see Harrison or Ladapo being with us next season. Sam Mantom looks a useful player but clearly a fee will be involved if we keep him.

So my view on this season? We’ll stay in League 1 which is something I’ve had doubts about so that’s a positive. I think we’re ending the season with a better manager than we started. I’m not expecting wonderful things for next season. I don’t think any manager will have the resources to “take us to the next level” until we move to a new ground. We’ve seen “big clubs” struggle to get out of league 1 despite outspending the likes of us. Surviving league 1 is well within our capabilities but moving on up needs not just money but luck. That’s what Chris Powell will need next season. He has the advantage of us all wishing him well.
 
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