Latest Rumours Southend United boss Kevin Maher on his pursuit of new signings - and other 2022 rumours or inside info

[rlb999]

It's obviously disappointing to hear we may only get a couple more signings, and they don't seem imminent, but it's the reality.

We forget that we still have players like ANG and Akinola taking up a large chunk of the wage. It's obviously not their fault that they are unavailable but it doesn't help our situation. It doesn't help if we want to call upon them or if we want to offload them to free up wages. It's two wages and spaces in the squad we probably have to carry until the end of the season with no outlay on the pitch.

Then there are players like Ferguson and Dunne. One on a reduced league 2 wage and another on a two year deal. Not many will take Ferguson's wage on and Dunne will be hard to offload for another 18 months. I can't see us going and signing two midfielders and just have Dunne and Ferguson sitting in the stands for nothing. I think Maher is going to have to just work with the majority of what he has got. Again, not ideal, but it is the reality.

In essence, Bridge has replaced Brunt. Neal was the extra midfielder we needed and Kensdale was the extra defender we needed. If we only have a couple of spots available within budget, we really need to highlight the biggest priority. I'd say a winger and a striker.

A lot of truth here.

We've got a lot of midfielders at the club vying for 3 positions in the middle:

Agogo
Dunne
Ferguson
Bridge
Atkinson
Neal
Phillips
Gard

If I was Maher I'd be trying to get rid of a couple. However I suspect the ones he would like to shift aren't the ones who are out of contract etc.

 

[Flinty]

Wonder if we will hear of a new body or two today ?

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

A lot of truth here.

We've got a lot of midfielders at the club vying for 3 positions in the middle:

Agogo
Dunne
Ferguson
Bridge
Atkinson
Neal
Phillips
Gard

If I was Maher I'd be trying to get rid of a couple. However I suspect the ones he would like to shift aren't the ones who are out of contract etc.

You are spot on.

I'd fathom that Agogo, Dunne and Ferguson are the three he would want to offload. Probably for footballing reasons and the fact they are the top earners. However, the reality is that it's only Gard and Phillips that could be offloaded on loan. That wouldn't make any kind of dent in lowering the wages! Like I said, it looks like he has to make do.

 

[rigsby]

Jack Bridge was not strong enough at CM. He looked good out wide, which is why the oppo regularly booted him and spoilt his season.

Lets hope he can get somewhere near his end of August levels. As our recent history proves its really difficult for a first step/pace sort of player to recover from long term injuries. Lets cut him some slack while he does.

 

[Maidstone Shrimper]

Wonder if we will hear of a new body or two today ?

I know we want to get rid of a few players but that's taking it too far!

 

[Westcliff Shrimper]

Kev has said he wants to work with a smaller squad (like Tilly used to), and at the moment (and stated above) we have a number of players that are in and around the first team, but probably not in his plans.

However, that probably means we need to get rid of players before we can bring anyone in. If we've got a budget of £1.4m for the yearly wage bill, Sim and ANG must take up a fair chunk of that. Dunne, Coulson and Abu probably don't come cheap either.

 

[Medway Blue]

I think we need to keep expectations in check a little. That's not to say there aren't other irons in the fire for recruitment now of course, but we're just not going to see wholesale changes just yet.

1. January is a nightmare in the transfer market for clubs like ours anyway;
2. We are carrying quite a lot of passengers on the wage bill which will be making it difficult to have flexibility there;
3. The Covid situation is likely adding to the club's caution. They won't want to inflate the wage bill even further and then have games go behind closed doors, and that will be a consideration no matter how unlikely some might think it is.

All we need at the moment really is a couple of shrewd additions to give us enough to recover to 15th/16th/17th position and avoid relegation. Most of those will probably be loans, and we can do business whenever we want beyond January if we really need to.

I want to see a near-enough clean slate. I think we have a bloated and unbalanced squad, and are carrying an awful lot of deadwood and players who have spiralled downwards with the club into a losing mentality.....but summer will be the time for that. There will be an awful lot of players out of contract here and potential for a big turnover, including the U23s who accepted the bribe of an extra year on their contracts to get them to agree to be deregistered during the Molesley registration embargo last season. I hope that SC, JS and their army of scouts will be working their arses off between now and the summer, building a list of potential recruits who will fit into the club's new identity and ethos moving forward, ready for an assault on the title in 2022/23.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

Kev has said he wants to work with a smaller squad (like Tilly used to),

Both Tilly & Webby were fortunate in their successful seasons, that hardly any player suffered long term injuries?
During the last 3 1/2 years, someone at the club must have driven into a shop full of mirrors, with the mind boggling long term injury list we've had!.

 

[dusterman]

Both Tilly & Webby were fortunate in their successful seasons, that hardly any player suffered long term injuries?
During the last 3 1/2 years, someone at the club must have driven into a shop full of mirrors, with the mind boggling long term injury list we've had!.

Or just done no due diligence on who we bought. Twin that with shopping in the bargain basement and leaving it to the last minute = relegation six pointer against Weymouth in the conference.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Or just done no due diligence on who we bought. Twin that with shopping in the bargain basement and leaving it to the last minute = relegation six pointer against Weymouth in the conference.

That string of ACLs we had under Powell was crazy and couldn’t have been predicted but yeah we’ve signed (and re-signed) a lot of players whose injury problems were or should have been known about.

 

[dusterman]

That string of ACLs we had under Powell was crazy and couldn’t have been predicted but yeah we’ve signed (and re-signed) a lot of players whose injury problems were or should have been known about.

Yeah, the Hooper one was catastrophic. What we’d do to see a striker of his quality pull on a Southend jersey any time soon…

 

[tommy tucker]

I think the best we can hope for is the 3 men now leading our club can get us high enough to aviod the drop which i am sure they will .Then at the end of the season clear the decks and do a total rebuild in the summer .

 

[dusterman]

I think the best we can hope for is the 3 men now leading our club can get us high enough to aviod the drop which i am sure they will .Then at the end of the season clear the decks and do a total rebuild in the summer .

And looking at the contracts, the only one that we’d have to keep against our will (most likely) is Dunne. The rest who’d remain in contract we’d most likely keep - Ralph, Dalby, Murphy etc. Just a case of doing, as you say, enough to stay up and really shake the club up.

 

[Floval Flyer]

Commentator on the Weymouth game was talking about Dom Rivan, who they had on loan from Villa last season. Very highly rated, and his loan at Northampton has just ended I understood.

Wonder if our man Stan could use his contacts at the Villa to set something up…

 

[Loan Shark Linda]

Commentator on the Weymouth game was talking about Dom Rivan, who they had on loan from Villa last season. Very highly rated, and his loan at Northampton has just ended I understood.

Wonder if our man Stan could use his contacts at the Villa to set something up…

If we can only sign another 2 players I would prefer the focus to be elsewhere rather than have another defender this season

 

[flangejackrabbit]

Notts County have extended Richardson.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Notts County have extended Richardson.

Is he 7ft tall now?

 

[stewart]

Rumour has it another defender MAYBE on the way here , im hoping a RB / RWB ,BUT DONT KNOW.

 

[fredheim_holm]

Rumour has it another defender MAYBE on the way here , im hoping a RB / RWB ,BUT DONT KNOW.

Mentioned towards the bottom here for those that haven't seen it:

Another defender could also join this week and the Shrimpers are slowly starting to rebuild.

 

[Medway Blue]

Rumour has it another defender MAYBE on the way here , im hoping a RB / RWB ,BUT DONT KNOW.

Mentioned towards the bottom here for those that haven't seen it:

Another defender could also join this week and the Shrimpers are slowly starting to rebuild.

Right back I believe.