Shrimpers Trust Q&A with Tilson and Martin

[South Bank Hank]

Ron Martin and Steve Tilson took questions last night from attendees at the Shrimpers Trust AGM. A big thank you from ShrimperZone to the organisers for their efforts.

 

[South Bank Hank]

Questions about the new Stadium

Speaking about the new stadium, Ron Martin spoke about how unfortunate our timing has been. When the government called in our plans, this set us back a certain amount of time, a delay which has had a huge effect in terms of the state of the economy and our resultant financial capabilities. Despite the challenging financial environment though, RM stated that he has found a satisfactory way to move forward through a change in priorities for our building plans. Part of this concerns the retail units versus the stadium piece itself. Also, while the initial structure meant commencing the building through borrowing, the initial investments will now come out of equity - some £8m to £9m.

The need to move
RM stated that like all of us he has grown fond of Roots Hall but has also become convinced that we’ll always be a lower league club if we stay where we are. The financial requirements and cost structures required for the Championship level versus the First Division are growing ever greater. The additional revenues from a new stadium (with its retail arm) are the only way we will ever be able to compete.

What are our targets for the stadium?
RM cited MK Dons as an example of the increase in numbers that can be achieved from a new stadium. While they get few (if any) fans join them from Wimbledon, their gates are increasing all the time such that they are now pushing for 8-9k on average after just three years. This is of course with an entirely new fan-base. Ron’s target for our first year in the new Stadium is an average of 13-14k with the notion that we can push on from there.

Fossetts Farm versus Cloud Cuckoo Land
Someone mentioned having been to Colchester’s Care in the Community Stadium. Ron’s reply that “Our Stadium is so superior to Colchester United’s that is isn’t worth mentioning in the same sentence” was well-received. Adding numbers in support of that, Ron said that the stadium part of our development will cost £44m versus Colchester’s £14m.

Expansion options?
Hopefully someone else who was there can confirm or deny this next piece since Ron said it very quickly and the conversation moved away from the point immediately. However, I’m sure Ron mentioned that the East Stand of the new stadium could be extended to take our capacity to 30,000 should we need it! If I heard that correctly, then you can’t claim the man doesn’t have ambition.

 

[South Bank Hank]

On the field

Our improved ability to find quality loan players
When asked about our recent marked success in attracting a better level of loan players to the club and the reasons for that improvement, Steve Tilson said it was just down to the contacts he is starting to build in the game. We seem to have great links now with Harry Redknapp at Tottenham (evidence Christophe from Portsmouth), Jim Magilton at Ipswich (Dan Harding) and also Reading and Chelsea.

Southend’s scouting network
Up until this week when Dean Austin left for Watford, we had 3 scouts plus Tilson and Brush themselves. One is based in Newcastle to cover the North, one is based in the South, while DA covered local games. The club has a detailed portfolio of a huge number of players so it really then comes down to watching as many games as possible. T&B watch a number of games during the week. Our other scouts cover the weekends. They are both sorry to lose DA but pleased for him. He will be replaced.

Our inability to defend set-pieces
While we did concede two from set-pieces at the weekend, Steve felt that we are not actually as bad at defending set-pieces as is generally perceived. ST’s view is that you can work on things in training but, on the day, it all comes down to individual players winning individual battles. Against Oldham, Harding failed to track his man for the first goal while Adam Barrett left Hughes unmarked for the second.

The need for a new centre-half
With respect to our centre-halves, ST’s view seems to be similar to many of the fans that, while Barrett and Clarke add a lot to the team individually in terms of their commitment and abilities, they are both very similar players. ST has always been looking to bring in a big, strong and commanding centre-half. We are currently tracking a couple of defenders who will give us something different to combat certain threats but also to provide competition for places. However, it is a difficult position to fill.

Other young players coming through
Despite the growing claims from Herd, of all our young players, ST seems to enthuse most about Stuart O’Keefe, pointing out his focus on his game. SOK seems to be a great young professional, hence the contract offered to him this year.

 

[South Bank Hank]

Questions about individual players

Christophe
JFC is likely to sign. A deal has been agreed with Portsmouth but the player’s agent is currently abroad. As soon as she comes back, everything should proceed smoothly.

Simon Francis
ST and PB are working hard with Simon on his strengths and weaknesses. They recognise that he is far better going forward than defending and have highlighted his difficulty in dealing with one-on-one situations as something they need to work on.

Adam Federici
In case there were any doubts about this, Adam Federici is well beyond our reach and there is no way we could ever hope to sign him. He is very much in Reading’s plans. Steve Tilson believes that Feds will take over as Reading’s number one keeper sooner rather than later. Reading agreed to let us have him simply because it would allow him to get some games.

Kevin Maher
ST explained how dropping KM from the team was the hardest decision he has so far had to make, although his hand was forced by the excellent form of Nicky Bailey and Alan McCormack. Both ST and RM were at pains to clarify that there were no personal issues involved with Kevin moving on. ST said that he still “loves KM to bits” and that they spoke at the weekend with no hard feelings. He let it slip though that “KM still probably feels a bit sour though”. That cleared that up then! :)

Adam Barrett
When the subject of loyalty came up, both player loyalty and loyalty to players, ST and RM had special words for Adam Barrett who was offered a considerable increase in wages to join our neighbours down the A12. AB was informed of the offer from them but chose to stay with us. Great to hear it!

Lee Sawyer
The club have been frustrated here. Before Lee arrived, Chelsea told us that we could have him if we liked him. Now he’s done so well, the goalposts have been moved and Chelsea now want him to get some further games with a Championship club. Despite that, the player likes it here and we’ve been trying to do a deal either to sign him permanently or to extend his loan to the end of the season. At the moment, ST feels the signing will be unlikely although RM does have a meeting with Chelsea’s Chief Executive next week with Sawyer on their joint agenda. Seems we would be willing to pay a fee for the player.

Richie Foran
It's unlikely that Richie will play for us again although ST and RM skirted around the issue somewhat. What they did say is that Richie is a high wage earner, brought in at a time when we were in the Championship. An interesting snippet is that while he's on loan at Darlington, they are only paying 40% of his wages. Despite being pushed, Tilson and Martin could not be drawn on whether the issue with Foran was of a personal nature choosing instead to point to the injuries the player has suffered.

Lee Barnard
Lee s back training now. He’s having injections in his hamstring but these seem to be settling down. The view from the management is that he has been missed.

Paul Furlong
Initially, Paul looked like a great player to bring into the club based upon his experience in the game and his good showing for Luton last season. Since his signing, other players became available who have pushed him further down the pecking order. What is frustrating is the fact that we could have used him throughout our recent striker crisis had he not picked up an ill-timed injury. ST has talked to Paul about him potentially going on loan to continue getting games. ST refuted suggestions from the questioner that PF's heart wasn't in the club.

Alan McCormack
Someone mentioned how Alan’s return shows how long it can take a player to get back to full match-fitness. Interestingly, Steve Tilson wasn’t having a bar of it, saying a lack of fitness shouldn’t affect a player’s ability to pass the ball to one of his team-mates. ST said that Alan and he have spoken. While Alan wanted it to be understood that he wasn’t match-fit, Steve has told him he needs to raise his game. Good on you Steve!

Liam Feeney
Ademeno has gone the other way to get some games with Liam joining us from Salisbury City with a view to signing in January. One of Liam's strengths is his versatility since he can play on either wing or up front. One other strength is his pace. Liam joins us for four weeks which will give us the chance to have a good look at him.

Damien Scannell
DS has found the step up in fitness difficult but much of this has been down to him picking up injuries at inopportune moments. He had a great pre-season (notably Billericay and Fulham) before getting injured again. The stop/start nature of his time here has made it hard for him to push on. Like others, he may well go out on loan to gain fitness and play some games.

[Edit: I'd say Brentford would be a good shout! :)]

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Superb stuff, and very interesting - thanks Graeme!

:clap:

 

[Pubey]

superb stuff there... in some ways more revealing and interesting than the Club AGM. especially interesting about Macca!

 

[palexander]

Yea, excellent. Very interesting about Macca as I was one that was saying "give him time to get fit again" :) Ah well, Tilly knows best.

Nice to clear up the Maher situation. Whether you believe it or not, it sounds as though all parties are happy with the situ and that should be enough for us to move on.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Excellent stuff there thanks. Good to hear they are looking at defenders (although Id be amazed if Tilly were to drop Clarke) and that the Jeff deal is close, but not so great about Sawyer.
Good on Tilly for having a pop at Macca too, not like hes been out for 12 months with a broken leg.

 

[Pubey]

Yea, excellent. Very interesting about Macca as I was one that was saying "give him time to get fit again" :) Ah well, Tilly knows best.

Nice to clear up the Maher situation. Whether you believe it or not, it sounds as though all parties are happy with the situ and that should be enough for us to move on.

I think you could argue in Macca's defence that when he is playing at his best, he is on the very edge and ultra-fired up, and that only comes through having peak match fitness. However Tilly is dead right in that he should be making 5 yard passes even if he is on crutches!

 

[Ricey]

Liam Feeney
Ademeno has gone the other way to get some games with Liam joining us from Salisbury City with a view to signing in January. One of Liam's strengths is his versatility since he can play on either wing or up front. One other strength is his pace. Liam joins us for four weeks which will give us the chance to have a good look at him.

Sounds like every single player that joins us! LOL!

Good work there SBH. :)

 

[Aberdeen Shrimper]

30'000 singing "with an S and an O"

Now that would be a real dream come true.

Loved RM's comments when asked about the comparison with Col U's new dump and FF

 

[pickledseal]

Thanks for that :)
A great read!

 

[Fiftyone]

Speaking about the new stadium, Ron Martin spoke about how unfortunate our timing has been. When the government called in our plans, this set us back a certain amount of time, a delay which has had a huge effect in terms of the state of the economy and our resultant financial capabilities. Despite the challenging financial environment though, RM stated that he has found a satisfactory way to move forward through a change in priorities for our building plans. Part of this concerns the retail units versus the stadium piece itself. Also, while the initial structure meant commencing the building through borrowing, the initial investments will now come out of equity - some £8m to £9m.

The need to move
RM stated that like all of us he has grown fond of Roots Hall but has also become convinced that we’ll always be a lower league club if we stay where we are. The financial requirements and cost structures required for the Championship level versus the First Division are growing ever greater. The additional revenues from a new stadium (with its retail arm) are the only way we will ever be able to compete.

What are our targets for the stadium?
RM cited MK Dons as an example of the increase in numbers that can be achieved from a new stadium. While they get few (if any) fans join them from Wimbledon, their gates are increasing all the time such that they are now pushing for 8-9k on average after just three years. This is of course with an entirely new fan-base. Ron’s target for our first year in the new Stadium is an average of 13-14k with the notion that we can push on from there.

Fossetts Farm versus Cloud Cuckoo Land
Someone mentioned having been to Colchester’s Care in the Community Stadium. Ron’s reply that “Our Stadium is so superior to Colchester United’s that is isn’t worth mentioning in the same sentence” was well-received. Adding numbers in support of that, Ron said that the stadium part of our development will cost £44m versus Colchester’s £14m.

Expansion options?
Hopefully someone else who was there can confirm or deny this next piece since Ron said it very quickly and the conversation moved away from the point immediately. However, I’m sure Ron mentioned that the East Stand of the new stadium could be extended to take our capacity to 30,000 should we need it! If I heard that correctly, then you can’t claim the man doesn’t have ambition.

SBH, you're quite correct, Ron did say that the ground capacity can be increased to 30,000 if necessary.:clap:

 

[Nobby Snide]

well done mate..sounds like an interesting meeting....was anything raised about improved scouting in France, Spain or Germany, seeing as we have such tie-ins with clubs in two of them countries?,,,,or any of thier players coming our way for trial/loan?

 

[South Bank Hank]

well done mate..sounds like an interesting meeting....was anything raised about improved scouting in France, Spain or Germany, seeing as we have such tie-ins with clubs in two of them countries?,,,,or any of thier players coming our way for trial/loan?

Nothing really mentioned Nick.

 

[McNasty]

I did ask that, as we were now going European, would Tilly and Brush learning French. Tilly said that he didn't know where the papers got it from but, like I say, Christophe is fluent in English. I did enquire if Tilly tried to teach the Frenchmen very basic English such as **** off, **** ?

 

[OldBlueLady]

I did ask that, as we were now going European, would Tilly and Brush learning French. Tilly said that he didn't know where the papers got it from but, like I say, Christophe is fluent in English. I did enquire if Tilly tried to teach the Frenchmen very basic English such as **** off, **** ?

So what was the count from that last night then? ;)
Well done, Graeme, far more in depth than my report the other week!

 

[Irate Ian]

Christophe
JFC is likely to sign. A deal has been agreed with Portsmouth but the player’s agent is currently abroad. As soon as she comes back, everything should proceed smoothly.

Simon Francis
ST and PB are working hard with Simon on his strengths and weaknesses. They recognise that he is far better going forward than defending and have highlighted his difficulty in dealing with one-on-one situations as something they need to work on.

Adam Federici
In case there were any doubts about this, Adam Federici is well beyond our reach and there is no way we could ever hope to sign him. He is very much in Reading’s plans. Steve Tilson believes that Feds will take over as Reading’s number one keeper sooner rather than later. Reading agreed to let us have him simply because it would allow him to get some games.

Kevin Maher
ST explained how dropping KM from the team was the hardest decision he has so far had to make, although his hand was forced by the excellent form of Nicky Bailey and Alan McCormack. Both ST and RM were at pains to clarify that there were no personal issues involved with Kevin moving on. ST said that he still “loves KM to bits” and that they spoke at the weekend with no hard feelings. He let it slip though that “KM still probably feels a bit sour though”. That cleared that up then! :)

Adam Barrett
When the subject of loyalty came up, both player loyalty and loyalty to players, ST and RM had special words for Adam Barrett who was offered a considerable increase in wages to join our neighbours down the A12. AB was informed of the offer from them but chose to stay with us. Great to hear it!

Lee Sawyer
The club have been frustrated here. Before Lee arrived, Chelsea told us that we could have him if we liked him. Now he’s done so well, the goalposts have been moved and Chelsea now want him to get some further games with a Championship club. Despite that, the player likes it here and we’ve been trying to do a deal either to sign him permanently or to extend his loan to the end of the season. At the moment, ST feels the signing will be unlikely although RM does have a meeting with Chelsea’s Chief Executive next week with Sawyer on their joint agenda. Seems we would be willing to pay a fee for the player.

Richie Foran
It's unlikely that Richie will play for us again although ST and RM skirted around the issue somewhat. What they did say is that Richie is a high wage earner, brought in at a time when we were in the Championship. An interesting snippet is that while he's on loan at Darlington, they are only paying 40% of his wages. Despite being pushed, Tilson and Martin could not be drawn on whether the issue with Foran was of a personal nature choosing instead to point to the injuries the player has suffered.

Lee Barnard
Lee s back training now. He’s having injections in his hamstring but these seem to be settling down. The view from the management is that he has been missed.

Paul Furlong
Initially, Paul looked like a great player to bring into the club based upon his experience in the game and his good showing for Luton last season. Since his signing, other players became available who have pushed him further down the pecking order. What is frustrating is the fact that we could have used him throughout our recent striker crisis had he not picked up an ill-timed injury. ST has talked to Paul about him potentially going on loan to continue getting games. ST refuted suggestions from the questioner that PF's heart wasn't in the club.

Alan McCormack
Someone mentioned how Alan’s return shows how long it can take a player to get back to full match-fitness. Interestingly, Steve Tilson wasn’t having a bar of it, saying a lack of fitness shouldn’t affect a player’s ability to pass the ball to one of his team-mates. ST said that Alan and he have spoken. While Alan wanted it to be understood that he wasn’t match-fit, Steve has told him he needs to raise his game. Good on you Steve!

Liam Feeney
Ademeno has gone the other way to get some games with Liam joining us from Salisbury City with a view to signing in January. One of Liam's strengths is his versatility since he can play on either wing or up front. One other strength is his pace. Liam joins us for four weeks which will give us the chance to have a good look at him.

Damien Scannell
DS has found the step up in fitness difficult but much of this has been down to him picking up injuries at inopportune moments. He had a great pre-season (notably Billericay and Fulham) before getting injured again. The stop/start nature of his time here has made it hard for him to push on. Like others, he may well go out on loan to gain fitness and play some games.

[Edit: I'd say Brentford would be a good shout! :)]

Facinating and informative. Any mention of: Laurent or Moussa, who for me show most potential of all on our books.

 

[South Bank Hank]

So what was the count from that last night then? ;)

Actually, surprisingly low from what I recall. I think Steve saves these up for the radio interviews. This is no bad thing of course. I'm quite happy for the rest of the world to think ST can't string two words together if it means we can keep him!

Facinating and informative. Any mention of: Laurent or Moussa, who for me show most potential of all on our books.

Not much Ian, except that Moussa was being moved on to get some games. ST certainly left the impression that he didn't see the loan move as being the end of Franck's career with us.

 

[Jay_Shrimper]

I might as well have not gone!

Nah, just kidding! Was very interesting and for my first AGM, I thought it was quite good.

Loved Ron's reply when asked about Col Ewe.