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Zone Update ShrimperZone's 21st Birthday.

Wow, when something is part of your daily routine you don’t see the years pass by. Have been on since 2002 with no significant gaps but under some different names in the early days. Love SZ and never really got fed up with it like other social media. Southend fans same as most fans I think generally although we have a tendency to pick holes in even in our biggest most bona fide heroes. Best thing however is always the the first whispers of a new signing. Over the last couple of years SZ has, for obvious reasons, been more important than ever. Thanks to all those who, over the years, have put the real effort in. ?
 
Been around since day 1 and made a lot of good friends and getting heavily involved in SZFC. Only tend to pop on as and when these days but still where I come to find out what’s going on with the club.

Have some pics from earlier days.

The first SZ kick about that led to the club being formed:
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Winning the league cup
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Sunrise to sunset charity match, which raised £10,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital

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Random City Shrimpers night out
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Some great photos.
 
I remember going to that.... didn't realise it was that long ago.
I just found the programme from that game v Spurs in 2006 and forgot some of those players were with us -

Simon Francis
Michael Ricketts
Lee Bradbury
Like Gutteridge
Jamal Campbell- Ryce
Effe Sodje
Billy Paynyer
Matt Harrold
Frank Moussa
 

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Had some good times on here. Had some **** times on here. Had some great times with people I’ve met on here.

SZ is more than a hobby, more than a way of passing the time & more than just a website. It’s the place that gives us a chance to share that common bond that we all have… a Frankstein’s monster of a football club.

Sadly, for various reasons there are some ATG posters who aren’t around anymore, but every single poster, every kind of personality from every different walk of life have made this one of the best fans forums in the land.

Here’s to 21 more years, and beyond.

Oh, and the old man says hello ?
Your old man, blimey, there's a blast from the past! Please pass on my best wishes!
 
ShrimperZone 21st Birthday.gif
Well ShrimperZone has finally come of age and celebrating its 21st Birthday, this is by far the best Football Forum on the planet. It is made that way because we have a fantastic community who are nearly all Shrimpers (and some other teams fans that also make great contributions).

When I think back to the early days of Supporting the Shrimpers with no internet, and having to go down to the Southend Standard Newspaper Office in Clarence Road for updates of away games to be posted up in the window. Then we had Teletext/Ceefax for updates and having to press refresh every couple of minutes to see if the score had changed.

Then we had the start off the internet although 56k dial up connection was incredibly slow taking minutes to load a single page, but at least we could now start to get information direct to our home/work.

I started out on the old Official Website forum that Dave Scriven set up when he joined the club, before migrating over to ShrimperZone. I love it on here and all the discussions and debates that take place.

I am a proud member of the Admin and Moderator team and I think we do a reasonable job of keeping ShrimperZone clean, tidy, and up to date. We do not always get things right but try to learn with hindsight to improve members experience. I think most members would be amazed at the amount of hours and work going on behind the scenes to maintain the ShrimperZone that we all love.

Finally without all you fantastic ShrimperZone members, there would not be a ShrimperZone, you all make it what it is today by all your contributions.

Long may that continue.
 
When I started to get really into watching football all I wanted to do was talk with people about it. At school I was surrounded by West Ham, Manchester United, Tottenham and Arsenal fans. When they asked me who I supported and I told them they would reply “yeah but who is your real club?”.

My Dad was a fan but there is only so much football I could talk to him about it. I’d fire up the old PC at home and search Southend United on Yahoo search engine. I remember Shrimpers.net and as you can see from Cricko’s pictures I was on the first SZ forum talking about Martyn Booty, who I was a big fan of :ROFL:. I have been on the forum since the beginning and have flirted with other forums that have been created Southend United related. People have tried to rival SZ and it just doesn’t work. This place is just something else. It’s the first thing I look at when I wake up and the last thing before I go to bed. I don’t want to miss anything new, the latest rumour or these days the latest Stan update.

Social media has made it harder for places like this to be a popular outlet. The new generation of football fans want short sharp information. They don’t want to read an in-depth match report with ratings. They want to see a goal and put stupid tag lines like ‘limbs’ and ‘scenes’. Social media is great but nothing beats a good conversation/argument/disagreement on a forum. One where you will 9 times out 10 have good interaction with other fans rather than dogs abuse you often get on social media.

This forum has been part of my life for 21 years! I have met some great people on here and great friends. Some still posting, some no longer with us, some watching in the distance and others no longer on here. Chelsea away was a great day when I met up with a load of SZ people in a pub (which I got us thrown out of :Facepalm:) we had a great day and a great curry afterwards. There have been many great meet up, away trips and even a couple of appearances for SZFC. I sit in the South Upper with two SZ posters who I enjoy chewing the fat with before or after the game. Makes my trips to Roots Hall even better especially when my mate can’t come and I’m on my own.

I haven’t always got along with everyone and I’m sure I’m not everyone’s cup of tea, but that is life you’re not always going to get along with everyone. The one thing we do share on this forum (apart from those weirdos from up the A12 and Jonny Stokes :Smile:) we all share our love for Southend United and want success. It’s been **** the past 3+ years and hopefully things will improve and we will be able to move into our 22nd year much better off than we were at the start of our 21st.

I’ve been a mod for many years now and I hope to be involved with the running of the site for the next 21 years.

Thank you to everyone who helps to make these forums great!
 
10/12 years ago ??
2008, I just did a search..Jeez.

I think Callan, MrB, Matt the Shrimp, Naps, Dodts. Uncle Leo, Andy Byford and a few others were also there or maybe it was another SZ London Beer club meet for some.
 
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The thing I like about the Zone is it moderates my misery when things go bad, and is a sharing spot for that rare moment of elation!
I also like different viewpoints of the same thing: usually, a player's worth.
That balance, as some have said, keeps one steady along the overgrown path to sanity.
Thanks to Zone got to meet my supporter hero @B.B.The Legend Lives On. new Penzance pal @Rob Noxious, as well as keeping in touch with teenage pal from back in the day @Colchester John.
In 21 years time, I'll zimmer my way to a laptop screen and need a font the size of a film poster, but hope SZ is still around as we bemoan our lowly status in the Premier League!
 
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By the way, of that pic, only @GNH @Snowy, Mark Wallis and me are still posting. MrB is wasting time on Battrick/Twitter; Gav McMahon is in Canada; Mike's in Spain; Axe is v busy at work; Leeboy's on Twitter and Ninja is still Ninja.
God we look young in that picture. My average number of posts must be the lowest from time I joined ?.
 
By the way @Napster, you are a whole day behind me on your joining date.

Glory hunter.......:Happy:
Pah!!! @GNH, part-timer yourself read it & weep as I'm a day older than you. Well obviously not literally!! :Thumbs up:

Pretty sure I was being grumpy on here from the very start. I remember my disagreements with many most but especially Scriven over the merits of Graeme Jones, which went on for weeks & must have been 2002ish. I think even Scriv came round to my expert opinion about his sh*teness eventually. As for the 10 times Daily @Napster "I know something you don't" posts, didn't we all just love those!! :Snore:

I still lurk furtively on here from time to time but obviously without my holding the lucky gherkin things have gone downhill over the last few years.

Credit to all over the years as it's by far the best & liveliest footy forum I've ever seen.
 
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Well done for keep such an amazing site running for so long! Does this mean we get another Bank Holiday to celebrate..?
Yeah it’s after Boxing Day, anyone know what day that is this year?
 
Happy birthday SZ you beautiful people. Fantastic site. Not sure when S&2V joined up as i forgot my login and became the poster Sean before doing something about it by contacting Cricko.

Biggest highlight was attending a kickabout with SZ posters near Southend hospital, after coming out of football retirement. Only to be persuaded to join one of the Sunday League SZ teams, very proud to finish my career properly playing for them at the age of 42 or 43, until i went down like a dying swan on the pitch, some sort of muscular pull of course. Time to go fishing ! That was getting on for 15yrs ago.

I do remember having to register again for the newer website. 2006 was a great time to be a Shrimper and i know i signed up well before that.
What a journey, good and bad and as i said when i signed up, it was brilliant to be able to chat about the club with other fans, as none of my mates were Shrimpers and Facebook certainly wasnt around. I often lived next to the refresh button, waiting for the next reply. Its been a part of my life.
 
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That’s unbelievable. £40 off a case of wine! Is it still valid? Asking for a mate…

Happy birthday SZ. The best supporters forum I’m yet to come across. Well done and thank you to Cricko, McNasty and anyone who may have been before my time. And thank you to all those who continue to keep it great ?
 
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