• Welcome to the ShrimperZone forums.
    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which only gives you limited access.

    Existing Users:.
    Please log-in using your existing username and password. If you have any problems, please see below.

    New Users:
    Join our free community now and gain access to post topics, communicate privately with other members, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and free. Click here to join.

    Fans from other clubs
    We welcome and appreciate supporters from other clubs who wish to engage in sensible discussion. Please feel free to join as above but understand that this is a moderated site and those who cannot play nicely will be quickly removed.

    Assistance Required
    For help with the registration process or accessing your account, please send a note using the Contact us link in the footer, please include your account name. We can then provide you with a new password and verification to get you on the site.

Can't wait for the next instalment.:'(

At it again Barna! :D

I would love to sit in at one of your Business English classes:

"Repeat after me:

'The pen of the Judge is signing the Winding Up Order.'

'The Baliff will take both your house and your wife.'

'Your partner has embezzled all the Company assets.'"

:D Cheer up mate, it really could be worse!
 
At it again Barna! :D
:D Cheer up mate, it really could be worse!


Um how?
I suppose we could be wound up mid April before we're even relegated.:'(
BTW the sort of drilling that you seem to associate with Business English classes went out of fashion in the late 70's/early 80's.It's all websites, hi-tech cd-roms/DVDs/Powerpoint Presentation Practise,Case studies,Role plays,Simulations and even decent textbooks these days.
 
Last edited:
Um how?
I suppose we could be wound up mid April before we're even relegated.:'(
BTW the sort of drilling that you seem to associate with Business English classes went out of fashion in the late 70's/early 80's.It's all websites, hi-tech cdroms/DVDs/Presentation Practise and decent textbooks these days.


La plume de ma tante et mort? :tumbleweed:

Seriously, we've been relegated before and we'll be relegated again. We aren't going to be wound up, I don't think that we are even going to go into administration, though that wouldn't be the end of the world. What we do have a sniff of is a new stadium, which still seems to be lurching towards construction, which will allow us to compete more easily with the bigger boys. Yes it's painful. but things worth having often are! Wait and see.

:)
 
La plume de ma tante et mort? :tumbleweed:

I'm afraid so Tom.:)

Seriously, we've been relegated before and we'll be relegated again. We aren't going to be wound up, I don't think that we are even going to go into administration, though that wouldn't be the end of the world. What we do have a sniff of is a new stadium, which still seems to be lurching towards construction, which will allow us to compete more easily with the bigger boys. Yes it's painful. but things worth having often are! Wait and see.

:)

I agree with you about the relegation business.It hurts but its not the end of the world.We've been there before and as you say we'll be there again ( who knows maybe even straight down next season and out of the League which is exactly where we were heading before Tilly and Brush took over).

I wish I could share your optimism about not being wound up or going into administration.I suspect one or the other(or maybe both) is in store for us fairly soon.

As for the new stadium I'll start to believe in that when(or if) the foundations are dug and the first bricks are laid.

Talking of Business English,remember what Keynes said when he was asked why he was more interested in the short term and the medium term rather than the long term.
"Because in the long term we're all dead."
I'd like to hope that we'll all still have a football club to support at least in the short and medium term.
 
Last edited:
I agree with you about the relegation business.It hurts but its not the end of the world.We've been there before and as you say we'll be there again ( who knows maybe even straight down next season and out of the League which is exactly where we were heading before Tilly and Brush took over).

I wish I could share your optimism about not being wound up or going into administration.I suspect one or the other(or maybe both) is in store for us fairly soon.

As for the new stadium I'll start to believe in that when(or if) the foundations and first bricks are laid.

Talking of Business English,remember what Keynes said when he was asked why he was more interested in the short term and the medium term rather than the long term.
"Because in the long term we're all dead."
I'd like to hope that we'll all still have a football club to support at least in the short and medium term.

Absolutely. The real problem is that however much we anguish over the travails of our beloved SUFC, there is very little we can do to affect things, just sit and hope.

I like the old saying "...and he said, cheer up for things could be worse, so I cheered up, and Lo! things got worse." Until they do, I shall endeavour to be cheerful for both of us.
 
Absolutely. The real problem is that however much we anguish over the travails of our beloved SUFC, there is very little we can do to affect things, just sit and hope.

I like the old saying "...and he said, cheer up for things could be worse, so I cheered up, and Lo! things got worse." Until they do, I shall endeavour to be cheerful for both of us.

Tom,
Okay and thanks.Your resolute cheerfulness in the face of what looks like almost overwhelming odds against us is an example to us all.:clap:
 
"We Are The North Bank, We Are The North Bank, We Are The North Bank of Roots Hall!"

Can't wait for the next instalment.:'(

And here it is! This one's about the Yeovil home game on Easter Saturday (03.4.10) ...

Ever since I've hit my middling years, I've been more susceptible to the influence of 'mumbo-jumbo' ... otherwise known as all that metaphysical guff that devotees of 'The Celestine Prophecy' might call 'karma.' So when I heard the words 'going down' as I stepped into the lift at Croydon Travelodge on setting out for this game, I automatically interpreted it as an adverse omen.

This was the game where The North Bank was partially re-opened for home fans and as a committed nostalgican, there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to re-visit a part of the ground I had not been to since our 3-0 defeat against Barnsley in February '94, a few days before I emigrated to Cornwall. My memories of TNB go back to the early '70s and a little spot near the North-West corner flag. I was a sensitive lad and was somewhat over-awed by the big boys who were part of 'The Pak,' so I hung out there where it was less boisterous. I returned to that spot on this gloriously sunny Spring afternoon and basked in the atmosphere created by 'The Blue Voice' with their enthusiastic vocals and booming drum. Unfortunately, the same stridency and urgency was not replicated on the pitch and there was a glaring discordancy between sound and performance. I felt that the fans were let down badly in this game, a game in which our closest incursion on the Yeovil goal came from a misplaced header from one of their defenders. I think this performance was as lacking in heart as the Barnsley one I mentioned. You can live with defeats like the Charlton game I last attended at the Hall where the players have given their all and lost in unfortunate circumstances. What really rankles is when we've not given enough, particularly in our current plight. I know there are mitigating factors - not getting paid on time, for one - but this one still left me with a really deflated feeling. I've virtually erased the miserable details of this game from the memory banks as I only returned home from this latest tour last night, so it might be worth sharing just a few lines from notes I made at the time ...

"Johnny Herd throws are our biggest danger"
"Malone's crossing! Straight to keeper x 2"
"Malone looks like John Gordon Sinclair in Gregory's Girl" (all curls and gangly)
"Laurent - infuriating" (anyone who's seen him knows what I mean)
"Crawford - eager and determined"

... anyway, I enjoyed a few pints before and after the game with some esteemed Zoners, so the day itself was a bit of a jolly even if the game wasn't. I also had the pleasure to meet one of the Yorkshire Shrimpers - all the way from Selby - who had a fantastic tee with a Sammy Shrimper original motif on it, replicated from those very programmes that I used to read at half-time all those years ago whilst stood in that little corner of TNB.
 
Last edited:
And here it is! This one's about the Yeovil home game on Easter Saturday (03.4.10) ...

Ever since I've hit my middling years, I've been more susceptible to the influence of 'mumbo-jumbo' ... otherwise known as all that metaphysical guff that devotees of 'The Celestine Prophecy' might call 'karma.' So when I heard the words 'going down' as I stepped into the lift at Croydon Travelodge on setting out for this game, I automatically interpreted it as an adverse omen.

This was the game where The North Bank was partially re-opened for home fans and as a committed nostalgican, there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to re-visit a part of the ground I had not been to since our 3-0 defeat against Barnsley in February '94, a few days before I emigrated to Cornwall. My memories of TNB go back to the early '70s and a little spot near the North-West corner flag. I was a sensitive lad and was somewhat over-awed by the big boys who were part of 'The Pak,' so I hung out there where it was less boisterous. I returned to that spot on this gloriously sunny Spring afternoon and basked in the atmosphere created by 'The Blue Voice' with their enthusiastic vocals and booming drum. Unfortunately, the same stridency and urgency was not replicated on the pitch and there was a glaring discordancy between sound and performance. I felt that the fans were let down badly in this game, a game in which our closest incursion on the Yeovil goal came from a misplaced header from one of their defenders. I think this performance was as lacking in heart as the Barnsley one I mentioned. You can live with defeats like the Charlton game I last attended at the Hall where the players have given their all and lost in unfortunate circumstances. What really rankles is when we've not given enough, particularly in our current plight. I know there are mitigating factors - not getting paid on time, for one - but this one still left me with a really deflated feeling. I've virtually erased the miserable details of this game from the memory banks as I only returned home from this latest tour last night, so it might be worth sharing just a few lines from notes I made at the time ...

"Johnny Herd throws are our biggest danger"
"Malone's crossing! Straight to keeper x 2"
"Malone looks like John Gordon Sinclair in Gregory's Girl" (all curls and gangly)
"Laurent - infuriating" (anyone who's seen him knows what I mean)
"Crawford - eager and determined"

... anyway, I enjoyed a few pints before and after the game with some esteemed Zoners, so the day itself was a bit of a jolly even if the game wasn't. I also had the pleasure to meet one of the Yorkshire Shrimpers - all the way from Selby - who had a fantastic tee with a Sammy Shrimper original motif on it, replicated from those very programmes that I used to read at half-time in the 'Seventies North Bank.' Talking of whom, it was good to meet the man behind this moniker - great badges, Tony! :clap:

Excellent match report.Welcome back to the SZ board.
 
Britannia Rules The Waifs And Strays: Gillingham, 5.4.10

Cheers for the drink post Yeovil, Rob, always good to see you.

Cheers, Kay! Always good to see my public whilst I'm out on the road again, especially in a hostelry of such convivial charm. Talking of which, let me lead you on a little trip from London Bridge to the North Kent marshlands. It's been a while since I've been to The Priestfield. I think the last time was in late '92 to see Paul Clark bolster the Gills' defence in an unspectacular 0-0 on a Friday night against a team of whom I have no memory. Fast forward to the here and now when the Gills have several of our ex-players on their books, though none have been regulars in their team of late.

My first stop in this atypical footballing enclave of Kent was to a small old-fashioned pub in the High Street near the rail station. Old-fashioned pubs just drag me in for some reason and today 'The Britannia' was host to my pre and post-match entertainment. Imagine my delight when I saw that Shepherd Neame's Spitfire was being served! I've loved 'Old Shep' since the days I discovered their 'Master Brew' of ancient times and down my way in West Cornwall 'Shep' is an infrequent visitor, more's the pity. The clientele were to my liking too - a friendly geezerish woman at the bar sussed I was a Southend fan despite my lack of overt colours and said she hoped we'd win as the Gills were a four letter word beginning with 'c' and ending with 'p.' I sat down at the one spare table in the corner under the telly and took in the sights and sounds of my temporary resting place. I marvelled at the complete lack of concession to gastropubbery - The Britannia didn't even sell crisps! There were black and white photos of Gills games from yesteryear above me - I even discerned one player as a slim Steve Bruce! But best of all was the juke box ... ah, the treasures of that Easter Monday lunch-time are still ringing in my ears. A solitary bikerish bloke came away from there having set up a jamboree of top tunes that took me back to my brother's old vinyl collection ... The Band's version of 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,' followed by 'Up On Cripple Creek' and then Creedence's 'Born On The Bayou.' This put me in the right mood to stay on for a cheeky third pint which contributed to my decision to get a plateful of Sainsbury's 'saver' sausage rolls before the game. I had four by half-time - not only comfort eating, but a contribution to the very same coffers that are helping them help Uncle Ron. I win, you win - but as you know, we didn't.

Owing to the cheering effect of 'Shep,' I experienced yet more misplaced hope as I came up the steps of the open-topped away end on that sunny spring Bank Holiday Monday. But then I heard that Macca had been seen in 'a Rooney boot' before the game, so Tilly opted to push Francis into midfield on the right, moving Granty inside to partner JFC with his beguiling pal Laurent on the left. A potentially flaky combination out wide as you never know what to expect with the two Frannies. Still, it didn't appear too bad in the first-half as we just about held our own. The second half was a completely different collection of sausage rolls, however, and we unravelled immediately from the re-start. When Simeon Jackson came on in the seventieth minute, you just knew he would be influential and as another forlorn attack of ours broke down, the long ball back over the top found him racing onto it to set up their second goal as we were outnumbered on the counter-attack. Game over and the sight of old favourites Maher and Bentley warming up in front of us brought back bittersweet memories of better days. 'King Kev' coming on for the last few minutes when they were three up added to the slightly sickly flavour of the occasion, so there was no option but to substitute it for some Spitfire in The Britannia. This time though, the atmosphere was like a rough kindergarten as some wayward kids had the run of the floor and it all felt a little wearing following a defeat that virtually condemned us to relegation.

Life's not been easy following The Blues here and there this season and as I stopped for a chat with DC Spooner on the way back to the station, he seemed thoroughly brassed off with it all too. He bemoaned the lack of urgency amongst the players, but expressed sympathy for them by saying they looked like a team who hadn't been paid again. He said this would be his last season. With the latest adventure in the High Court looming just the following week, I was worried that this might be the same for all of us.
 
Last edited:
Good report Rob, and good to see you pre and post match for the Yeovil game. :dizzy:

By the way mate it's my sad duty to confirm you are indeed the official SUFC Jonah having not seen the team win in any of the ganes you've seen this season, and I fear a banning order may be coming your way mate. :)
 
A solitary bikerish bloke came away from there having set up a jamboree of top tunes that took me back to my brother's old vinyl collection ... The Band's version of 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,' followed by 'Up On Cripple Creek' and then Creedence's 'Born On The Bayou.' QUOTE]

All now re-bought on CD though I still have the vinyl originals.
Talking of originals I saw John Foggerty here last summer.He was (almost) as good as when I saw him with CCR at the Albert Hall in their only UK gig back in the 70's.Sadly there's not much chance of Robbie Robertson,Levon Helm and Garth Hudson ever getting back together again.:(
 
Good report Rob, and good to see you pre and post match for the Yeovil game. :dizzy:

By the way mate it's my sad duty to confirm you are indeed the official SUFC Jonah having not seen the team win in any of the ganes you've seen this season, and I fear a banning order may be coming your way mate. :)

Good to see you too mate. It is my said duty to point out that following my first match and victory at Cheltenham this season, it all went downhill. I have now banned myself for the rest of the season, so everything to play for! Not. :'(
 
A solitary bikerish bloke came away from there having set up a jamboree of top tunes that took me back to my brother's old vinyl collection ... The Band's version of 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,' followed by 'Up On Cripple Creek' and then Creedence's 'Born On The Bayou.' QUOTE]

All now re-bought on CD though I still have the vinyl originals.
Talking of originals I saw John Foggerty here last summer.He was (almost) as good as when I saw him with CCR at the Albert Hall in their only UK gig back in the 70's.Sadly there's not much chance of Robbie Robertson,Levon Helm and Garth Hudson ever getting back together again.:(

I owe a great deal to your vinyl collection. It helped to make me the connoisseur of classic retro for which I am righteously renowned.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Another Brick In The Wall: Leeds, 10.4.10

Ha.I'm not retro.I can even remember the 60's and I was there! ;)

Talking of retro, it's time to take you back to 1984 ...

I've had a wariness of Leeds matches ever since I had a brick thrown at my head by one of their lads at Selhurst Park in 1984. I was living in London at the time and used to do a bit of ground-hopping with a mate of mine who is a Leeds fan. We were doing our psychiatric nurse training together and were working regular hours for a change at a Day Hospital, so these ESSO (every Saturday & Sunday off) shifts found me watching games in London as a neutral as well as intermittently watching our slide back into the old Division Four that year. It's been quite strange in recent years to see us line up against 'the damned United,' another pleasing reminder of Barrie Williams' fantastic line that "football is a capricious misstress."

I was staying in York at my old ground-hopping mate's for the week-end and I roped in his lad, my godson, to join us for the game. I got him a ticket for the away end and he was delighted to be a Shrimper just for one day, revelling in the disloyalty to his dad who had tried to turn him into a Leeds fan for twenty years. Before we went to our separate ends, we parked up on an economically-challenged housing estate about a mile away from the ground. We were greeted by the smoke from a freshly burning cardboard box near a Church on which we'd later see some feral street urchins climbing up. We also had our first sighting of multi-tasking among males for the day as we pulled up - a couple of track-suited guys were demonstrating their skills in smoking, drinking cans of lager and walking simultaneously. Unusually for me, I also decided to drink lager that lunch-time as it was quite warm. My mate knew a safeish pub called 'The Imperial' not far from the estate's borders where we could bask in a bit of urban reality sunshine from the beer yard out the front. There were some guys out there who it was best not to look at and the rozzers passed by at regular intervals in case any Southend fans had strayed into inhospitable territory. Looking out on the estate from the barred windows of the bogs out the back, I was reminded of a scene from 'Billy Elliott' with its images of police running up and down roads like these back in '84 - when the miners' strike was in full flow - banging their truncheons on the doors of 'the enemy within.' Leeds has always seemed a tough place to me and I was glad to be with a mate who knew the territory.

I guess it's time to talk about the game now ... with reference to yet more searing analysis from my contemporaneous notes. We fought an ultimately doomed rearguard action and were undone by the persistence of a little bundle of energy called Max Gradel. He suffered a clash of heads in the first half and needed bandaging up. I couldn't help thinking about Paul Gascoigne's infamous remark regarding Paul Ince's supposed resemblance to a pint of Guinness when he sported the same look during England's World Cup qualifier against Italy in '97 - but the truth is we had no-one able to create any signs of pure genius from within our ranks. The only glimmer of hope came from Johnny Herd's early throw-ins but these were all effectively dealt with by our hosts. The game was wrapped up as securely as Gradel's wound when their buoyant sub Becchio headed in their second with just under ten minutes to go. Though Leeds looked well short of Championship class, they showed how to win without playing well. As for us, I couldn't see where our next goal was coming from. All I could see was a team falling like a brick into the League's lowest tier, just like in 1984.
 
Last edited:
Talking of retro, it's time to take you back to 1984 ...

I've had a wariness of Leeds matches ever since I had a brick thrown at my head by one of their lads at Selhurst Park in 1984. I was living in London at the time and used to do a bit of ground-hopping with a mate of mine who is a Leeds fan. We were doing our psychiatric nurse training together and were working regular hours for a change at a Day Hospital, so these ESSO (every Saturday & Sunday off) shifts found me watching games in London as a neutral as well as intermittently watching our slide back into the old Division Four that year. It's been quite strange in recent years to see us line up against 'the damned United,' another pleasing reminder of Barrie Williams' fantastic line that "football is a capricious misstress."

I was staying in York at my old ground-hopping mate's for the week-end and I roped in his lad, my godson, to join us for the game. I got him a ticket for the away end and he was delighted to be a Shrimper just for one day, revelling in the disloyalty to his dad who had tried to turn him into a Leeds fan for twenty years. Before we went to our separate ends, we parked up on an economically-challenged housing estate about a mile away from the ground. We were greeted by the smoke from a freshly burning cardboard box near a Church on which we'd later see some feral street urchins climbing up. We also had our first sighting of multi-tasking among males for the day as we pulled up - a couple of track-suited guys were demonstrating their skills in smoking, drinking cans of lager and walking simultaneously. Unusually for me, I also decided to drink lager that lunch-time as it was quite warm. My mate knew a safeish pub called 'The Imperial' not far from the estate's borders where we could bask in a bit of urban reality sunshine from the beer yard out the front. There were some guys out there who it was best not to look at and the rozzers passed by at regular intervals in case any Southend fans had strayed into inhospitable territory. Looking out on the estate from the barred windows of the bogs out the back, I was reminded of a scene from 'Billy Elliott' with its images of police running up and down roads like these back in '84 - when the miners' strike was in full flow - banging their truncheons on the doors of 'the enemy within.' Leeds has always seemed a tough place to me and I was glad to be with a mate who knew the territory.

I guess it's time to talk about the game now ... with reference to yet more searing analysis from my contemporaneous notes. We fought an ultimately doomed rearguard action and were undone by the persistence of a little bundle of energy called Max Gradel. He suffered a clash of heads in the first half and needed bandaging up. I couldn't help thinking about Paul Gascoigne's infamous remark regarding Paul Ince's supposed resemblance to a pint of Guinness when he sported the same look during England's World Cup qualifier against Italy in '97 - but the truth is we had no-one able to create any signs of pure genius from within our ranks. The only glimmer of hope came from Johnny Herd's early throw-ins but these were all effectively dealt with by our hosts. The game was wrapped up as securely as Gradel's wound when their buoyant sub Becchio headed in their second with just under ten minutes to go. Though Leeds looked well short of Championship class, they showed how to win without playing well. As for us, I couldn't see where our next goal was coming from. All I could see was a team falling like a brick into the League's lowest tier, just like in 1984.

Rob,
Now this is what I call writing!;)
I remember my last visit to Leeds (in our Championship season )well.Obviously things haven't gotten any better there.Perhaps that nice David Cameron is right-it's time for a change.Vote Liberal and get Labour back.:)
 
The End Of The Road ...

Brentford, 13.4.10

So this was it for me - the end of the road show for this season. Mrs S joined me for this one. She'd never been to a game under the lights at the Hall before and so I tried to convey just how special these nights can be. For the first half this wasn't one of them. We looked lack-lustre and flat-footed and even Charlie Mac seemed to have an extra yard of relative pace that he never showed here in 2007. He looked sharper and confident too, took his goal well and displayed a good first touch till M'Voto clobbered him from behind at the start of the second half. He didn't really want to know after that. We upped our tempo and gave a spirited performance throughout the last forty-five but another home draw was not enough, though I did enjoy seeing a couple of goals for a change. The enigma known as Francis Laurent had some good fortune with his first which deflected in off one of their defenders. He deserved it after some good approach play in the area. The second was one that even he couldn't miss from just a few yards out. One moment after showed what a mercurial talent he can be when he foxed a bemused Bee with a speedy sleight of foot. On other occasions however, his first and last touches were cringeworthy. He has intrigued and infuriated this season in a side which has had precious little creativity. It was good to have the Moose back - showing us fleeting glimpses of poise, promise and probing - and Simon Francis had one of those games which make you forget all his concentration deficit disorders. He looked very assured on the ball and whenever he went forward with it, there was a little bit of hope. Looking back one week on, that is a feeling which is hard to retain.

This season has seen such progressive disappointment and ongoing uncertainty that it has chipped away at the spirit of even the most ardent and enthusiastic of our supporters. As we came through the turnstiles, we were given a sheet of blue paper saying 'BELIEVE' which I believe we were supposed to hold up to the players as they came out. Also in the West Stand there was a wheeze involving a 'cashless system' for making purchases of refreshments via a pre-paid card. This chicanery, on the eve of our High Court appearance for upsetting HMRC once again, only led me to believe that we won't achieve anything with a cashless system.

I started this season's journey at Cheltenham in a League Cup game, where I saw my only win supporting our beloved Blues. I really didn't think we'd be going there next season in the League as there was no way they'd be going up. I hadn't even speculated on the possibility that this once decent team would be going down instead. But at least Mrs S enjoyed the second half of this game and felt what a great atmosphere it can be under the floodlights at dear old Roots Hall. And at least I can still hope that Exeter come down with us. And at least I can hope to see some of you at Torquay. Keep the faith and don't take no chicanery!
 
Last edited:
Back
Top