SUFC - heading in the right direction

[Reg Martin]

Amidst all the current transfer uncertainty, I'm going to stick my neck out and say I think our club has got a clear idea of where its going.
At the end of last season we had a first XI who were good but not quite good enough plus an assortment of fringe players who were either past their best or not quite up to the mark.
The transfer strategy this summer is to tie down as many of the first XI as we can, clear out the fringe players and bring in better replacements.
Some of those first team players would rather play at higher level now or keep their options open - hence the unease, to say the least, amongst many fans.
But its not a sign of a badly run club, its just the way it is for small clubs -and Southend still are a small club though we often hate to admit it.
The only way to change that is to think long-term which is exactly what is happening - youth development and expanding the fan base, ie, a new, bigger stadium - and we are fortunate that we have got a large potential untapped fan base in South East Essex.
The club's management aren't perfect, they've made mistakes and they're almost certainly going to make more - that's life - but we've come a long way in a few years and there is a clear vision to take us further.
I know all this has been said by others before but I think following today's great news on the new stadium its a good time to repeat it and get the current transfer uncertainty in perspective.

 

[Sussex Shrimper]

That pretty much sums up my feelings too. I've (hopefully) got decades ahead of me as a fan of Southend United in which I'll see us move into a state of the art 22,000 seater stadium, probably expand our regular attendances into five figures and have a very real shot of becoming a regular Championship club.

Yeah, it would be nice to be achieving things right now, but first and foremost let's operate within our means and build a stable base from which to move forwards into a very rosy future.

 

[Cricko]

After 40 odd years supporting the Blues through thick and thin..it would be my dream to see us move into the new Stadium.

 

[Rob1920]

Seconded. (Or Thirded..)

 

[Rob1920]

Ok fourthded! Blimey got to be quick around here...!

 

[Andyhsufc]

Excellent post. Get rid of the fringe players so we have a better squad next year with more depth. BTW, cant wait for August 2010!

 

[Welly7]

I'd like to think that you are right, but I can't help but feel uneasy about the goings on at the club so far this summer.
Why are so many of last seasons first choice XI being allowed to leave (Bailey, Clarke, Flavs & Gower) Didn't we finish in the play offs?! I really can't believe Tilly wants these to go as they were all so important to the team. So why have they and who decided they would not offer Gower a new deal until it was too late? I can't recall there being talk of Gower wanting to let his contract run out earlier in the year and then the player seeing what his options were.
Who decided Flavs was only worth a one year deal?! If he was offered a two year deal then he would have already been signed up. Mildenhall is simply not as good a goalkeeper.
Also, why have there been no cash signings as yet? Surely we have money to spend or is it now all tied up in the new stadium.
Personally, I'd prefer to keep the talent we had/have and stay at Roots Hall rather than move to Fossetts Farm and watch lower league football. Extreme, maybe, but I'm growing more and more concerned by the day that the good work Tilly and Brush have done at the club is fast being undone!!

 

[Perth Bambi]

Who decided Flavs was only worth a one year deal?! If he was offered a two year deal then he would have already been signed up. Mildenhall is simply not as good a goalkeeper.

How many times have you seen him play, I think you need to see a player in AT LEAST 15-20 games to know if he is any good really. (granted some people you can tell they are poor straight away).

I am sure Tilly has watched him enough times to be happy that he is a talented keeper.

 

[Welly7]

How many times have you seen him play, I think you need to see a player in AT LEAST 15-20 games to know if he is any good really. (granted some people you can tell they are poor straight away).

I am sure Tilly has watched him enough times to be happy that he is a talented keeper.

Personally I think seeing a player play upto 5 games is sufficient enough to see if they're any good or not. I've seen him play more than 5 and he's decent, but not as good as Flavs.

 

[Blue Trane]

I'm very concerned about the number of players that have gone (Flavs to Palace I hear) and our reluctance to pay the going rate for Mulgrew particularly. Looks like we're gonna have to start all over again next season. It's going to take a while for these mystery new players to gel as a team. As I've said before Furlong is an indication of how difficult it is to attract good young talent to the club.

The ideal scenario would be to consolidate next season then gain promotion 2009/2010 ready to move into the new stadium!

 

[Perth Bambi]

Personally I think seeing a player play upto 5 games is sufficient enough to see if they're any good or not. I've seen him play more than 5 and he's decent, but not as good as Flavs.

I have a friend (Forest fan) who has seen Flavs play on possibly more then five occasions and thinks he is an absolutely awful keeper. No this is a guy who is a big footie fan and prides himself on knowing his stuff, does that mean Flavs is a bad keeper? No it just means that in the particular games he has seen Flavs hasn't played well.

 

[Cricko]

To be honest I think Tilly and all of us saw a lesson in how Donny played...Maybe it is time for a clear out and a new beginning from start..We were close last year but very much shown in the play-offs we were not up to it.

I have all faith in Tilly Brush and Ron.......it may take another season but it is time to maybe start a new team off.

 

[Perth Bambi]

Personally I think seeing a player play upto 5 games is sufficient enough to see if they're any good or not. I've seen him play more than 5 and he's decent, but not as good as Flavs.

Don't get me wrong I think Flavs is easily the best keeper wehave had since Roycey but that doesn't mean we shouldn't look elsewhere. Tilly has obviously looked at our weakness, seen that we have the smallest defence in the world ever and has looked at rectifying that.

I think both Clarke and Barrett are capable defenders but that doens't mean I don't think we should replace one of them (Barrett) with a tall centre half who is commanding in the air.

I also don't think a small keeper is a bad keeper, Barthez won the world cup, and Euro 2000 and is pretty small but he always had the bonus of having dominating centre backs in front of him so it didn't matter as much that he wasn't going to come and catch all crosses.

 

[wiggy]

Amidst all the current transfer uncertainty, I'm going to stick my neck out and say I think our club has got a clear idea of where its going.
At the end of last season we had a first XI who were good but not quite good enough plus an assortment of fringe players who were either past their best or not quite up to the mark.
The transfer strategy this summer is to tie down as many of the first XI as we can, clear out the fringe players and bring in better replacements.
Some of those first team players would rather play at higher level now or keep their options open - hence the unease, to say the least, amongst many fans.
But its not a sign of a badly run club, its just the way it is for small clubs -and Southend still are a small club though we often hate to admit it.
The only way to change that is to think long-term which is exactly what is happening - youth development and expanding the fan base, ie, a new, bigger stadium - and we are fortunate that we have got a large potential untapped fan base in South East Essex.
The club's management aren't perfect, they've made mistakes and they're almost certainly going to make more - that's life - but we've come a long way in a few years and there is a clear vision to take us further.
I know all this has been said by others before but I think following today's great news on the new stadium its a good time to repeat it and get the current transfer uncertainty in perspective.

Yet another dreamer!

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

To be honest I think Tilly and all of us saw a lesson in how Donny played...Maybe it is time for a clear out and a new beginning from start..We were close last year but very much shown in the play-offs we were not up to it.

I have all faith in Tilly Brush and Ron.......it may take another season but it is time to maybe start a new team off.

I think that there are a number of people on here that are starting to have the feeling that we are in the process of a real sea-change. In the last few years we have used this transfer window as a means of bringing in a few players in order to strengthen an already existing squad. This year I sense something rather different. If there is a Tilly master plan of radical proportions, we are going to have sit patiently and certainly fascinated, through the month of July, to see the pieces of the jigsaw fall into place.
With loan players coming in we may well not get the full picture until just before the big kick-off. There again.......I could just be talking out of my a***e.........if thats so , perhaps we should start getting worried!

 

[davewebbsbrain]

After 400 odd years supporting the Blues through thick and thin..it would be my dream to see us move into the new Stadium.

Not long to go now!!

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

I'd like to think that you are right, but I can't help but feel uneasy about the goings on at the club so far this summer.
Why are so many of last seasons first choice XI being allowed to leave (Bailey, Clarke, Flavs & Gower) Didn't we finish in the play offs?! I really can't believe Tilly wants these to go as they were all so important to the team. So why have they and who decided they would not offer Gower a new deal until it was too late? I can't recall there being talk of Gower wanting to let his contract run out earlier in the year and then the player seeing what his options were.
Who decided Flavs was only worth a one year deal?! If he was offered a two year deal then he would have already been signed up. Mildenhall is simply not as good a goalkeeper.
Also, why have there been no cash signings as yet? Surely we have money to spend or is it now all tied up in the new stadium.
Personally, I'd prefer to keep the talent we had/have and stay at Roots Hall rather than move to Fossetts Farm and watch lower league football. Extreme, maybe, but I'm growing more and more concerned by the day that the good work Tilly and Brush have done at the club is fast being undone!!

to answer some of your points...
- Just because you hadn't 'heard' anything about Gower wanting to run down his contract & keep his options open doesn't mean it didn't happen.
- There is no way of knowing if Flavs would have stayed if he'd been offered a 2 year deal.
- the Transfer window for cash signings didn't open until yesterday. Have patience our rubber booted friend.

 

[leeblue]

does make me laugh how people think we offered gower a contract so late, he was offered new contract long time ago, then theres those that state tilly WANTED gower and others to go, IF PLAYERS WANT MORE MONEY THAN WE CAN PAY THEN THEY WILL LEAVE FOR CLUBS THAT CAN.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

To me it's seems Gower wanted another shot at the Championship so turned down a contract to see what happened at the end of the season. If we'd got promoted he probably would have stayed with us but we didn't so he was then free to go to an interest championship club. not alot we can do about that is there.

 

[Jonny_Stokes]

I think that there are a number of people on here that are starting to have the feeling that we are in the process of a real sea-change. In the last few years we have used this transfer window as a means of bringing in a few players in order to strengthen an already existing squad. This year I sense something rather different. If there is a Tilly master plan of radical proportions, we are going to have sit patiently and certainly fascinated, through the month of July, to see the pieces of the jigsaw fall into place.
With loan players coming in we may well not get the full picture until just before the big kick-off. There again.......I could just be talking out of my a***e.........if thats so , perhaps we should start getting worried!

Looks to me like you're having the sort of summer in the transfer market that we had last season - a host of what would be classed as the better players/promotion stalwarts (for Bailey, Clarke, Maher, Flahaven, read Lockwood, Easton, Alexander and Garner) and wondering how on earth you're going to replace them.

People were understandably panicking, but Ling ended up bringing in the likes of Mkindawire, your mate Thornton and (just before the season started) Adam Boyd. Only advice I can give is to have faith in Tilson - he's a proven quality manager, and he'll build the squad he wants.