Southend United v Billericay Town

[BrettieAngell]

Ok maher wasn't great for a while but he was a major part in our most successful team of all-time!

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

I thought Maher was under rater by so many! He wasn't average.

 

[TrueBlue]

Kevin Maher

1997 - *****
1998 - *****
1999 - *****
2000 - *****
2001 - *****
2002 - *****
2003 - *****
2004 - Average
2005 - Average
2006 - Decent
2007 - Decent
2008 - *****

 

[GBJ]

Spot on.

Being the biggest club between here and London, any local talent in the lower leagues should really be identified by us first. There is no excuse for that. If we are not, then the club really need to address this. Either by employing scouts with better knowledge or indeed more of them.

Whelpdale, Benson, Green, Mclean are just a few that we really should have had or have on our books now.

What makes it worse is we have had Benson on trial and let him go. We was in for Whelpdale but was gazumped by P'boro, who were a league below us at the time I believe. That's not good enough.

This summer the scouts really need to pull their finger out. There is plenty of talent in the local area. Hell, I have even sent a long list to the club identifying such. We cannot afford to miss out on these diamonds, especially in our current financial state.

It's time for the scouting network to step up to the plate.

I heard (through the grays grapevine) that we were trying to get McLean and/or Dennis Oli. However we had rows with Grays over a sell-on clause for Eastwood, and they claimed we owed them money, so Grays refused to do business with us. Of course it's only rumours, but could have legs

 

[Mad Cyril]

Whelpdale, Benson, Green, Mclean are just a few that we really should have had or have on our books now.

Don't forget Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb.

 

[Napster]

Southend most succesful captain ever was average and yet Adam Locke is deemed a good player. Maybe I am living in some parrallel universe?

I missed out Lockey. Sorry.

 

[Napster]

I thought Maher was under rater by so many! He wasn't average.

So where were the offers from the higher-placed clubs? Decent players normally move on up the ladder. Maher stayed here. Either his agent was **** or he was.

 

[EastStandBlue]

I heard (through the grays grapevine) that we were trying to get McLean and/or Dennis Oli. However we had rows with Grays over a sell-on clause for Eastwood, and they claimed we owed them money, so Grays refused to do business with us. Of course it's only rumours, but could have legs

Not what I heard, certainly over McLean anyway.

My understanding of it was that Brush was tasked to watch McLean over a series of games, and his report on the player was that he wasn't worth the Grays asking price of approximately £100k.

 

[BrettieAngell]

Also didn't we have Benson on trial and offered him a deal but he chose Daggers instead?

 

[Smiffy]

Also didn't we have Benson on trial and offered him a deal but he chose Daggers instead?

Which in itself is a massive fail by the club.

No disrespect to Daggers. But players should not be choosing Daggers over us (Back then anyway!)

Either we were being tight with the wages or we were not giving him a warm glow about his chances with us.

Well, the result speaks for itself now. Infact there are plenty of these sorts of stories.

The club is not attractive to players and that needs to be rectified and sharpish.

 

[BrettieAngell]

Which in itself is a massive fail by the club.

No disrespect to Daggers. But players should not be choosing Daggers over us (Back then anyway!)

Either we were being tight with the wages or we were not giving him a warm glow about his chances with us.

Well, the result speaks for itself now. Infact there are plenty of these sorts of stories.

The club is not attractive to players and that needs to be rectified and sharpish.

Win some lose some!

 

[Smiffy]

Win some lose some!

True.

But, there have been too many instances of good local talent slipping the net. Either because we think they are not good enough, we haven't identified them in the first place or we haven't sold the club to them. Of course, typically they have then gone on to make themselves stars at their respective clubs. Some lower in the pecking order than us.

This needs to be sorted asap.

We are not in a position to spend lots of money on well known talent. We need to look closer to home and snap up the rough diamonds on our doorstep.

That is the job of the scouts and the manager. And they need to earn their corn this summer....

 

[BrettieAngell]

True.

But, there have been too many instances of good local talent slipping the net. Either because we think they are not good enough, we haven't identified them in the first place or we haven't sold the club to them. Of course they have then gone on to make themselves stars at their respective clubs. Some lower in the peckin order than us.

This needs to be sorted asap.

We are not in a position to spend lots of money on well known talent. We need to look closer to home and snap up the rough diamonds on our doorstep.

That is the job of the scouts and the manager. And they need to earn their corn this summer....

yeah I agree mate!

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

Someone posted something about Daggers offering a full time contract for Benson whereas we only offered another trial...!

 

[Smiffy]

Someone posted something about Daggers offering a full time contract for Benson whereas we only offered another trial...!

Exactly my point.

There is no gambling by this club anymore. Even if it is a very small financial one. Fingers have been burnt over the years I think, with certain signings and the purse strings are well under lock and key.

In Benson's case, the financial gamble was non-existent, as he was playing park football for Ensign at the time IIRC!

 

[EastStandBlue]

It's gambling on contracts that has essentially put us in this financial mess...

 

[southend4ever]

So, how many scouts do we have at the club?

Surely these non-league players if signed should primarily be on a pay as you play contract with a smaller weekly wage?

 

[Smiffy]

It's gambling on contracts that has essentially put us in this financial mess...

Yes. But when we are talking about non-league players/park players on a few hundred quid a week tops, that does not wash i'm afraid.

 

[EastStandBlue]

It's a huge, huge jump to come from non-league into League One football, and who's to say Benson can cut it above the level he's currently playing at? Strikers who've scored goals at League Two but haven't quite cut the mustard higher are everywhere around.

I think you can excuse the club for wanting to take a closer look at a player from White Ensign before giving him a two year contract.

 

[BoyWonder2]

It's a huge, huge jump to come from non-league into League One football, and who's to say Benson can cut it above the level he's currently playing at? Strikers who've scored goals at League Two but haven't quite cut the mustard higher are everywhere around.

I think you can excuse the club for wanting to take a closer look at a player from White Ensign before giving him a two year contract.

Mark Salter is a player we signed from non-league who flopped massively. Billions of goals for Frome, yet couldn't hit a cows arse with a banjo for us.

There is undoubted talent in the non-league circuit. Teams like us (Eastwood, Cole, Gower, Bentley), Peterborough (Boyd, MacLean, Whelpdale) and Dagenham (Green, Benson and Arber) have showed there is talent out there, but you have to work your way through all the dross out there to unearth a rough diamond.

We do keep an eye on non-league, but not as much as we used to. Whelpdale went for more money to Peterborough, and Benson went for security rather than hoping a second trial with us would work for him.