Southend Legend tells fans to get real

[Yorkshire Blue]

From the London ****e

He attacked fans for having "unrealistic expectations". With the team points off the promotion race, there have been calls for the chairman to take a gamble and spend big during the January transfer window. But he says don't put the club's financial stability in jeopardy by bowing to fans' demands.

"Some of the supporters need to get real, and i have told them that all the way through."

"Its not the loyal fans, who have a grasp of the situation. But some people expect the club to spend millions of pounds in this transfer window."

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I can't be bothered to type up the rest of it, but he basically tells fans to look at where they are in the attendance tables, and says he believes if you spend wisely you can be successful that way.

Hard to disagree with any of that.

 

[Beefy]

Who? What? I'm confused....

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

The bit about attacking fans is basically journalistic hype, but he essentially said fans need to be more realistic considering the size of the club.

 

[J]

Whoever said it... needs to get real.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Who really expects us to spend millions on players, not many Southend fans that I know.

Ah I see it's not us the 'loyal' fans but all the unloyal Southend fans, come on own up who was it!!

Ahhhhh it's Martin Ling is he talking about Orient or Southend, all very confusing.

 

[Beefy]

The bit about attacking fans is basically journalistic hype, but he essentially said fans need to be more realistic considering the size of the club.

Well yes they do. But who are we talking about?

On a side note, is this the most expensively assembled squad we've ever had? Ronnie Whelan's would be up there of course in no small part thanks to Mike Marsh, but this one won't be far off. There's a fine line between investing strongly in the squad and risking the financial future of the club. I trust Ron to walk that line sensibly.

 

[Murkey_Mouse]

Its was Martin Ling who said that, but he right as Orient alway get between 3'500 to 4'500 home fans every game, with away fans added to Avg. of 5'200. I suppose we help them to improve their crowd avg. by bringing 2'500+ to Birdbrain Rd.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Its was Martin Ling who said that, but he right as Orient alway get between 3'500 to 4'500 home fans every game, with away fans added to Avg. of 5'200. I suppose we help them to improve their crowd avg. by bringing 2'500+ to Birdbrain Rd.

So it's Martin Ling talking about Orient & nothing to do with Southend???

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Its was Martin Ling who said that, but he right as Orient alway get between 3'500 to 4'500 home fans every game, with away fans added to Avg. of 5'200. I suppose we help them to improve their crowd avg. by bringing 2'500+ to Birdbrain Rd.

You are correct, it was Martin Ling saying it about Orient. But it applies equally to Southend.

 

[Beefy]

So it's Martin Ling talking about Orient & nothing to do with Southend???

The point still stands though. In fact I'd guess that we're probably in a poorer financial state than Orient are.

 

[Uncle Leo]

Ling's also been banging on about Orient's poor support in his Racing Post column for a good few weeks now.

When you look at their crowds and how well they're doing this season you can see where's he's coming from.

 

[Mr. Benedict]

Ling's also been banging on about Orient's poor support in his Racing Post column for a good few weeks now.

When you look at their crowds and how well they're doing this season you can see where's he's coming from.

I see they only managed to attract 3,500 for their game with Tranmere last night. Considering both teams are pushing for the play-offs, I would have expected Orient to attract at least 4,500 home fans.

I guess the effect of having so many big London clubs close by is worse than I thought... :p

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Ling's also been banging on about Orient's poor support in his Racing Post column for a good few weeks now.

When you look at their crowds and how well they're doing this season you can see where's he's coming from.

Orient's crowd last night v Tranmere was only 3,447 their lowest of the season by 700 people.
Mid-week crowds are always lower but even so that is very poor.

Even if we take 2,000+ in a couple of weeks time the crowd will probably only be about 7,000.

 

[Mr. Benedict]

Orient's crowd last night v Tranmere was only 3,447 their lowest of the season by 700 people.
Mid-week crowds are always lower but even so that is very poor.

Even if we take 2,000+ in a couple of weeks time the crowd will probably only be about 7,000.

And they want to move into the 25,000 seater Olympic stadium.
Quite where the fans will come from to fill it is a mystery - especially considering the Olympic site's proximity to West Ham.