Southend United joint third favourites to be relegated from League One

[South Bank Hank]

Jesus that didn’t take long to throw the toys out....it normally takes me 3/4 posts for people to get a strop on!

I don’t know anything. My point was this incessant reference to “Harry lurking in the background” or “pulling strings from behind the green curtain” gets on my tits....when there is no evidence to support it.

Whether it gets on your tits or not, the original poster made a perfectly reasonable comment.

Anyway, you answered your own question.

He watched 1 or 2 and publicly stated how he wondered what on earth he was doing each time he drove home!

He also said he was only interested in watching cos it was a mate was in charge!

Harry, almost by definition then, HAS very much been "lurking in the background" which is all the other poster said. He also only made the point with regard to potentially leveraging his contacts which strikes me as another pretty reasonable viewpoint given that Harry was and is indeed presumably still a mate of KB's. I can't see anything in the original post that suggested Harry was otherwise pulling strings or hiding behind any curtains. In fact, I'm not sure I've seen ANY suggestion of that from anyone really - bar maybe the first few weeks when KB was settling in?

 

[Grapevine]

So watching or supporting a mate means you are lurking in the background having an input into the professional running of a league one football club.....??

By that reasoning I’ve had some very positive input into some very (at varying levels) successful teams over the years.....and so has my Mrs!!!!!!

No one including me is disputing the friendship or that they may talk football. But pulling the strings, influencing signings, tactics, style, formation, outgoings or loans is insulting to Kevin Bond and his own credentials as a coach and his football experience.

Personally I’m more than happy with KB as a manager and how he’s managed the club in the short time he’s been there and I’m quite happy with the staff he’s surrounded himself with in an official capacity.

Enough so to have no interest whatsoever in ‘good ol Harry’ pulling strings, lurking in the background, ringing his mates or calling in a favour......in my opinion he wasn’t that good at doing that when it was his own job let alone someone else’s!!!

 

[South Bank Hank]

So watching or supporting a mate means you are lurking in the background having an input into the professional running of a league one football club.....??

By that reasoning I’ve had some very positive input into some very (at varying levels) successful teams over the years.....and so has my Mrs!!!!!!

No one including me is disputing the friendship or that they may talk football. But pulling the strings, influencing signings, tactics, style, formation, outgoings or loans is insulting to Kevin Bond and his own credentials as a coach and his football experience.

Personally I’m more than happy with KB as a manager and how he’s managed the club in the short time he’s been there and I’m quite happy with the staff he’s surrounded himself with in an official capacity.

Enough so to have no interest whatsoever in ‘good ol Harry’ pulling strings, lurking in the background, ringing his mates or calling in a favour......in my opinion he wasn’t that good at doing that when it was his own job let alone someone else’s!!!

Again, please show us where the original poster made any of the above bold points, beyond KB potentially leveraging the contacts of one of his.... y'know... well known and connected contacts?

If KB didn't, most reasonable people would think him mad.

 

[Grapevine]

There were no bold points. I said there was incessant reference to it. And it wasn’t exclusive to your mate!

 

[South Bank Hank]

There were no bold points. I said there was incessant reference to it. And it wasn’t exclusive to your mate!

Sigh - the points I'd highlighted in bold.

My mate?

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Okay. You clearly know more than I do. I was commenting on the reasons why I would take the odds on a successful season (on message for this thread) rather than to enter into a debate on whether or not the manager's 'mate' might or might not give him any helpful information about players that might come in handy. Apologies for giving my innocent, uninformed opinion. I won't bother next time.

Your opinion was valid and interesting, to me anyway.

While I agree with the thrust of Grapevine’s general gripe about the Harry in the background (because there were a few earlier debates on here with people making silly comments about him being ex-West Ham, of questionable integrity etc) the words he chose could have been a bit more considered. I thought your reference to Harry in the background was completely harmless compared to those earlier rants by others that I referred to.

 

[Sleaford Shrimper]

Your opinion was valid and interesting, to me anyway.

While I agree with the thrust of Grapevine’s general gripe about the Harry in the background (because there were a few earlier debates on here with people making silly comments about him being ex-West Ham, of questionable integrity etc) the words he chose could have been a bit more considered. I thought your reference to Harry in the background was completely harmless compared to those earlier rants by others that I referred to.

Thank you for that. I don't visit this forum very often these days and was totally unaware of any previous debate about Mr Redknapp's activities. All I knew was that he attended a match that I watched and I just thought he might have an ear to the ground that might provide useful information for our manager about potential loanees. I am in my 70th year and a Southend supporter since I was 16. In my day, managers relied heavily on scouts and anyone in the know in their search for new players. I just innocently put two and two together and stirred up a hornet's nest. Perhaps this forum is not for naïve old geezers like me.

 

[Grapevine]

Not at all and I’m sorry if I made it seem like I was digging you out specifically.....I was simply expressing a frustration that so many have just made the insinuation that Harry must be involved and in turn that insinuates that KB is nothing but a puppet....it wasn’t just you it was made my many...

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Thank you for that. I don't visit this forum very often these days and was totally unaware of any previous debate about Mr Redknapp's activities. All I knew was that he attended a match that I watched and I just thought he might have an ear to the ground that might provide useful information for our manager about potential loanees. I am in my 70th year and a Southend supporter since I was 16. In my day, managers relied heavily on scouts and anyone in the know in their search for new players. I just innocently put two and two together and stirred up a hornet's nest. Perhaps this forum is not for naïve old geezers like me.

Agreed on all counts, apart from the last sentence. A few people (including me) made similar comments that Harry might possibly be beneficial in a number of ways - in the stands at times, getting a different perspective on games and feeding that back to KB; maybe watching an upcoming opposition match or scouting a player. All of this is only as and when he’s available and asked by KB - or he could tip off KB about a player from one of his own contacts. Why would that be anything but a bonus?

On the last point you made, the strength of message boards is the diversity of opinions and contributors. We need everyone but we all need to realise we won’t always see eye to eye. Much more to be gained by getting involved than sitting it out, in my opinion.

 

[Napster]

but we all need to realise we won’t always see eye to eye.

yes we do

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

yes we do

I agree

 

[rlb999]

I'd spread-bet against this. We won't win the league but if we can keep people fit and players like Yearwood can find form, I think we've got a better squad than most. The one thing that counts against us is that we haven't been able to get many out of the door this summer - I'd wager that there are 5 or 6 he'd like gone if their contract situation allowed.

 

[WESTY_SUFC]

You know what, bring it on!

The further we are from expectations of promotion the better. That way, we either won't be disappointed when the wheels fall off, or better still, we will be the ones laughing at the bookmakers expense when we sneak up the league and make the play offs!!

The bookies would be happy if we won the league. They tend to lose money when the favourites win.

 

[Grapevine]

I'd spread-bet against this. We won't win the league but if we can keep people fit and players like Yearwood can find form, I think we've got a better squad than most. The one thing that counts against us is that we haven't been able to get many out of the door this summer - I'd wager that there are 5 or 6 he'd like gone if their contract situation allowed.

If we’d all agree that we are light of 2/3 maybe 4 and we’ve signed 2 then surely wanting 5/6 out the door suggests it’s far from one of the better squads?

That’s a turn over of 10-12 players which would be one of the highest in the league?

I think your 5/6 is probably more likely to be 1/2 maybe 3....

I don’t think he fancies Dieng but I think he’ll use him and it’ll be down to him to graft a little harder than he has - and if he does there’s a decent player there.

Michael Kightly may be a drain on finances for what he can offer now. But let’s be fair to him, I don’t think he just doesn’t care I genuinely think his body is failing him. His game, body, physique is based on fast twitch fibre and the nature of how he played will mean a far greater degree of wear and tear over the years and a more rapid decrease in effectiveness in the twilight years.....when he goes I think he deserves all our respect and credit for being the player he was. Anyone who’s had his career deserves every ounce of respect.

After that I’m not sure who else any manager would’ve looked to offload from the current squad?

So maybe with the signings we’ve made, plus 2/3 in key areas and offloading 1 maybe 2 then we’d be in a pretty favourable place?

 

[stewart]

For those of you who think Dru is our only spark in midfield all i can say is obviously you havent seen Milligan play,not only is he a top tackler ,but can read the game and make a good pass,i tell you know if he is fit and can play out a game you may have a big surprise awaiting you .

 

[marlow17101032]

my gripe at the moment is that we have brought in three players who have never played at this level ,just poor signings

 

[Flinty]

 

[RHB]

Very worrying if it's not @Flinty

 

[rigsby]

Its all very well playing in a world cup finals or at Celtic park but can they perform at places like Rochdale or Accrington?

 

[gazza]

Nathan Ralph played at this level for Yeovil, the season they got promoted to the Championship, I read somewhere today.