Echo News Southend United chairman Ron Martin: It's been 'torture' and 'atrocious', we have to make changes

[Napster]

We also bought Sam Barratt

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44114065

 

[rigsby]

We bought Harry "mine's a half" Lennon.

He barley cost the price of an afternoon in the pub.

 

[GBJ]

We bought Harry "mine's a half" Lennon.

Is there anyone else? I genuinely can’t remember.

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

There is no one culprit. There's been a series of mistakes and no one person is to blame. Ron is a common denominator but that doesn't mean managers didn't make mistakes. What I do understand is that Ron's standing in the game is very poor. Agents get in the ears of players and that helps them make decisions. Managers do give chairmen/CEOs a wish list, but when you're ending up three or four names down the list every time because your top choices have chosen to go elsewhere, it's not really a surprise when things start to go downhill.

That's a good point.
So if you're forced to accept second best, you need a man whose talent lies in getting the best and/or galvanising a limited squad.
That team builder was never going to be Kevin Bond - and that was Ron's biggest mistake.
I think the chair got caught up in the euphoria of escaping relegation by the skin of our teeth.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

Again we can say now how he messed up getting rid of Brown but I felt pretty isolated on here when I was one of the few on here who wanted him to stay. If he messed up he was certainly strongly supported by SZ in doing so.

You certainly weren’t the only one.
Brown was a bloody good manager who signed some bloody good players who PLAYED FOR HIM.
Huge mistake sacking him and now we’re reaping what we sowed

 

[Strykr]

You certainly weren’t the only one.
Brown was a bloody good manager who signed some bloody good players who PLAYED FOR HIM.
Huge mistake sacking him and now we’re reaping what we sowed

Plus his orange glow lit up those cold weekday games.

 

[Medway Blue]

You certainly weren’t the only one.
Brown was a bloody good manager who signed some bloody good players who PLAYED FOR HIM.
Huge mistake sacking him and now we’re reaping what we sowed

We would be back in L2 now if hadn’t left when he did. It was the right time.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

We would be back in L2 now if hadn’t left when he did. It was the right time.

Well we certainly will be now and you don't know that we would've been.

 

[Austin the Shrimper]

You certainly weren’t the only one.
Brown was a bloody good manager who signed some bloody good players who PLAYED FOR HIM.
Huge mistake sacking him and now we’re reaping what we sowed

Yeah but they weren’t playing for him for half a season.. hence he got sacked!

 

[Austin the Shrimper]

Well we certainly will be now and you don't know that we would've been.

I feel like you may have erased his last year in charge from your memory.

 

[overseas shrimper]

Well we certainly will be now and you don't know that we would've been.

Maybe not the last year, but certain his last season. The football was dire. Results started to drop until we hit an awful run that saw us heading for relegation.

We may be up **** creek without a paddle now, but that doesn't mean PB wasn't a spent managerial force with us. I just wish we'd leave his time with us and sacking in the past and move on.

And no, we don't know what would've been. That works both ways. Let's move on.

 

[rigsby]

Yes we should move on from the PB era but the reason we have failed over the last 3 seasons was the delusion of us being a Championship club....By Chairman and fans......Both as bad as each other, so don't just blame Ron.

Many of you prayed PB would fail and its all recorded so don't deny it. The Toxic, 7th in L1 is not good enough carried over with CP (We should be challenging for promotion despite our injuries ).

Bond was not good enough for us, as sleeping lower league giant. Over 1000 fans had a silent first half protest at Cov away. Then Blackpool at home for a season opener, was one of the most negative pre match atmospheres I can remember. The first goal after 5 minutes would never have been allowed in a different era. Fans and playes would have reacted differently. The first straight red, a clear elbow on Humprhys was missed later just 15 minutes again by fans and players alike.

Yes we may have turned on the players now but we played our part in giving them to many get out of jail free cards.....Over a number of seasons.

 

[Leigh_Seasider]

Yes we should move on from the PB era but the reason we have failed over the last 3 seasons was the delusion of us being a Championship club....By Chairman and fans......Both as bad as each other, so don't just blame Ron.

Many of you prayed PB would fail and its all recorded so don't deny it. The Toxic, 7th in L1 is not good enough carried over with CP (We should be challenging for promotion despite our injuries ).

Bond was not good enough for us, as sleeping lower league giant. Over 1000 fans had a silent first half protest at Cov away. Then Blackpool at home for a season opener, was one of the most negative pre match atmospheres I can remember. The first goal after 5 minutes would never have been allowed in a different era.Fans and player would have reacted differently. The first straight red a clear elbow on Humprhys was missed later just 15 minutes again by fans and players alike.

Yes we may have turned on the players now but we played our part in giving them a get out of jail free cards.....Over a number of seasons.

Can you expand as I was at that game and didn’t notice this.

 

[AndyT]

The last few weeks under PB, yes the wheels had started to come off, but that doesn't make him a bad manager. If it's easy to say that people may have erased the last few months of his managerial career here, it's a lot easier to say that many choose to erase the previous 4 years, as well.

To also suggest we played dull football is something I often challenge. We passed and moved the ball well under PB. Granted, he wanted to make sure we didn't concede goals. Look what happens when we do! However, we scored 70 goals in 2016/17 and some very memorable ones too.

His last season wasn't helped by having that sh*te pitch at RH, as well.

Some fans turned on him very early for me and on the likes of Anton Ferdinand. He may have lost a bit of pace, but man alive he knew how to play centre-half and organise things. We certainly weren't going to lose 3-0 at home with him around, let alone 7-1!

In short, you can't turn the clock back, but the facts and win ratio speaks for itself. PB was a bl**dy good manager for us.

 

[rigsby]

Can you expand as I was at that game and didn’t notice this.

In the pub, around the far post and in the Greens. People were the complete opposite to the Sunderland game. We had lost at Cov, Lincoln next week had defeat written all over it and now we had a tricky game v Blackpool.

Some weren't happy with Bond, his signings, the friendlies results....Even if they hadn't seen them. His team selection the previous week and how dare he leave out Humphrys etc.

As soon as that goal went in we had our first scapegoat in Oxley....Never mind he was being fouled but still actually saved it and it went in off Lennon.....The whole stand was still sulking when Hump got elbowed and disappeared for 20 minutes.....We got very vocal after their 2nd and 3rd and we haven't stopped since.....Hope we can keep it to just 3 mangers...Well at least until January.

 

[AndyT]

Just as a matter of interest, this is the league one table on 3rd December 2017 under PB. He was sacked 7 weeks later :-

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-one/03-december-2017/

We won one game in that time, at home to Charlton on Boxing Day. The wheels actually came off a lot later than I had realised. It all started with that 3-0 defeat at Bristol Rovers and the Xmas Party afterwards.

 

[Leigh_Seasider]

In the pub, around the far post and in the Greens. People were the complete opposite to the Sunderland game. We had lost at Cov, Lincoln next week had defeat written all over it and now we had a tricky game v Blackpool.

Some weren't happy with Bond, his signings, the friendlies results....Even if they hadn't seen them. His team selection the previous week and how dare he leave out Humphrys etc.

As soon as that goal went in we had our first scapegoat in Oxley....Never mind he was being fouled but still actually saved it and it went in off Lennon.....The whole stand was still sulking when Hump got elbowed and disappeared for 20 minutes.....We got very vocal after their 2nd and 3rd and we haven't stopped since.....Hope we can keep it to just 3 mangers...Well at least until January.

Ok I hadn’t picked up on that as I took my son so straight to the game. In the South Lower it was a little more positive, at least until the second went in and then it was “here we go again”. Wasn’t helped by Gnanduillet signalling the score after being given grief for missing an easy chance. It did seem to turn the season, that game, thinking about it. It was like everyone could sense we’d be a laughing stock.

 

[rigsby]

Just as a matter of interest, this is the league one table on 3rd December 2017 under PB. He was sacked 7 weeks later :-

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-one/03-december-2017/

We won one game in that time, at home to Charlton on Boxing Day. The wheels actually came off a lot later than I had realised. It all started with that 3-0 defeat at Bristol Rovers and the Xmas Party afterwards.

It was Ranger missing that pen at Pompey which was the proverbial straw and that changed the season. Especially as it was Wright who was meant to take it. If you remember Theo and Ranger didn't travel to MK in the week and Wright was under more pressure when he missed the pen that night.

I think it was the next game, Bradford? at RH when we had Cox and Anton sitting in the stand

 

[Mr Browns Ghost]

In the pub, around the far post and in the Greens. People were the complete opposite to the Sunderland game. We had lost at Cov, Lincoln next week had defeat written all over it and now we had a tricky game v Blackpool.

Some weren't happy with Bond, his signings, the friendlies results....Even if they hadn't seen them. His team selection the previous week and how dare he leave out Humphrys etc.

As soon as that goal went in we had our first scapegoat in Oxley....Never mind he was being fouled but still actually saved it and it went in off Lennon.....The whole stand was still sulking when Hump got elbowed and disappeared for 20 minutes.....We got very vocal after their 2nd and 3rd and we haven't stopped since.....Hope we can keep it to just 3 mangers...Well at least until January.

do you sing every game from your vantage point in the directors box

 

[AndyT]

It was Ranger missing that pen at Pompey which was the proverbial straw and that changed the season. Especially as it was Wright who was meant to take it. If you remember Theo and Ranger didn't travel to MK in the week and Wright was under more pressure when he missed the pen that night.

I think it was the next game, Bradford? at RH when we had Cox and Anton sitting in the stand

Yep, spot on. That game at MK Dons we should have won. Played well and hit the post and the bar as well as the missed penalty.

You're right, It was that Bradford game they sat out. Another game where we had a point and then gave that late penalty away.

Of course, PB's last season included that home win against Blackburn.

Ironically, he had a poorer run of results at the end of 2015/16, overlapping into 2016/17 until we won at Sheffield United. Yet that season was his most successful as manager.