The end is nigh.....

[Nobby Snide]

for Mr. Tilson.
Lets look at the overall picture..


Saves us from oblivion at the botom of L2, gets us to two LDV finals, successive promotions..


then, immediate relegation, a poor league run, only helped with some loan signings, a play off position that flattered to deceive, played off the park by DRFC,


New stadium on the horizon, failure to hold onto 'star' out of contract players, genral dis-harmony within team camp, failure to land significant signings for pre-season, depleted squad, lack of depth in squad, losing albeit a friendly against braintree, Tilson publicly slating team efforts.


Something is severely wrong at Roots Hall, and unless a miricle happens, I can see a management vacancy there by Christmas. Whether he jumps or is pushed is another matter.


we should have a strong, talented, eager, hungry and able team ready for this season, and there should be a queue of players, young and old desperate to play for the upto now, success story that is Southend United....what do we really have?

 

[Desert Shrimper]

Ungrateful fans?

 

[South Bank Hank]

for Mr. Tilson.
Lets look at the overall picture..


Saves us from oblivion at the botom of L2, gets us to two LDV finals, successive promotions..


then, immediate relegation, a poor league run, only helped with some loan signings, a play off position that flattered to deceive, played off the park by DRFC,


New stadium on the horizon, failure to hold onto 'star' out of contract players, genral dis-harmony within team camp, failure to land significant signings for pre-season, depleted squad, lack of depth in squad, losing albeit a friendly against braintree, Tilson publicly slating team efforts.


Something is severely wrong at Roots Hall, and unless a miricle happens, I can see a management vacancy there by Christmas. Whether he jumps or is pushed is another matter.


we should have a strong, talented, eager, hungry and able team ready for this season, and there should be a queue of players, young and old desperate to play for the upto now, success story that is Southend United....what do we really have?

I love it how you've lumped one of the most important pieces of our history into two lines, and then given equal weighting to a season-long play-off campaign and one game against Donny!!

You're then calling it overall picture?

:doh:

 

[A Century United]

Ungrateful fans?

:D :D Ba-doom-Tish! :clap:

 

[Swiss Tony]

Ungrateful fans?

You mean some ungateful fans?

 

[Boreham Shrimper]

Personally I think the fact that he's come out and criticised the players is great. We all know the side played sh!t yesterday and being told that in public by the manager sends out the message that it is not acceptable and if people are going to turn up and spend their hard-earned cash to watch matches, the least they could do is turn in a decent performance. We were beaten by Braintree Town yesterday who are not even a professional side and, more worryingly, we had one of the strongest teams we are able to put out at the moment. Every team has its off days and I'm frankly thankful that we are getting things wrong at this stage.

You live and learn by your mistakes and performances like this unequivocally prove that this side needs strengthening. Tilson knows that, we know that and I'm sure we can turn it around with Sir Steve at the helm. Remember the pessimism at this stage last year and all those people who ended up with egg on their faces as we reached a play-off semi-final. Keep the faith!

 

[Irate Ian]

for Mr. Tilson.
Lets look at the overall picture..


Saves us from oblivion at the botom of L2, gets us to two LDV finals, successive promotions..


then, immediate relegation, a poor league run, only helped with some loan signings, a play off position that flattered to deceive, played off the park by DRFC,


New stadium on the horizon, failure to hold onto 'star' out of contract players, genral dis-harmony within team camp, failure to land significant signings for pre-season, depleted squad, lack of depth in squad, losing albeit a friendly against braintree, Tilson publicly slating team efforts.


Something is severely wrong at Roots Hall, and unless a miricle happens, I can see a management vacancy there by Christmas. Whether he jumps or is pushed is another matter.


we should have a strong, talented, eager, hungry and able team ready for this season, and there should be a queue of players, young and old desperate to play for the upto now, success story that is Southend United....what do we really have?

Probably the best manager/coach combo in the Football league, who are more likely than any to turn round any adverse personnel deficiences, events or results as may or when may be required.

Negative vibes projected in your message are not condusive toward promoting a confident supportive atmosphere.

One swallow does not make a summer, and one poor performance or result does not spell impending doom.

 

[Mr Gilbo]

One year ago we had very similar posts to this, and we probably will have exactly the same in one years time too. It's like a never ended circle! Sometimes I think it was better in the days of finding out news of signings in the echo!

Too many people moan, complain, judge, belittle and other things before the season has started, or the player has even played a competive game for us. It is really getting tired and old.

To me it seems that no matter what Tilson, Brush and Martin do they will always be slagged off by some on the board. Yawn!

 

[Kenny]

To me it seems that no matter what Tilson, Brush and Martin do they will always be slagged off by some on the board. Yawn!

Agreed, I've noticed the common theme is:

When we do well - Its luck.
When we do bad - Boo, Hiss Tilson Out!

 

[Nobby Snide]

for those of you who dont bother reading my posts from before..

1..I am a huge fan of Tilly, Brush and Mr Martin..I have said in many posts before and many posts in the future.
2..I am not and NEVER have said that our success was through any luck
3..If, for any reason the post has belittle the Clubs achievements through the recent history, that was not and is not the intention.

Those points hopefully cleared, the facts of whats happened over the past few weeks especially, to my mind, is that we are not percieved, thought of, regarded as a team that is going places by players and agents alike.
Secondly, a manager has only a limited lifespan at a club, I believe I see the signs that unless we have a run of positive results, and that we are in the top 10 by christmas, I strongly believe that we will be looking for a new manager. this point I have raised in other threads before, but now it seems more likely.

I hope I am wrong. I dont put the blame solely on Tilsons head, as he does not hold the purse strings, with Gower, money wasnt the issue, so are we doing enough to promote our ambition? Do we have the ambition and drive behind the scenes, or is it all just PR?

 

[McNasty]

The one thing that worries me is that successful clubs build on their foundations from one season to the next. They bring in several new players to strengthen their sides to improve on their previous season but we have let so many of our established side go, Gower Flavs Maher, without the loan players that for one reason or another went elsewhere that we need in the manager's words "at least 4 new players" . These players must be for the first team squad and if we don't sign them we will be in real trouble.
Our record for signing players (not loan) isn't very good and I think that if we struggle to sign new players as we have in the recent past this season is going to be a struggle.

 

[fredheim_holm]

I was going to neg rep you but i realised that your only giving your opinion.

Your opinion however is madness in my view, Tilson will forever be a legend and a fantastic manager with that. Looks like he's made another right coup in Scannell, Bailey was a masterpiece of a signing and McCormack was a massive bargain. Barnard was trully a snip, Francis a very good signing, and bringing Barrett back was a great move. He may have let Kightly go but I remain that it wasnt a mistake, however much it may look so.


And just to compare Tilsons 'flattering to deceive' last season performance with other teams relegated from the Championships season after performance:

Crewe 2nd
Leeds 4th (-15)
Brighton 4th
Southend 6th
Nottingham Forest 7th
Millwall 10th
Bradford 11th
Crewe 13th
Gillingham 14th
Stockport 14th
Walsall 14th
Sheff Wed 16th
Barnsley 19th
Brighton 18th
Rotherham 20th
Wimbledon/MK Dons 20th
Grimsby Town 21st
Luton 24th (-10?)

Thats 18 teams, with us 4th best there. Including the mighty Leeds, ex European Champions Forest, Millwall, Sheffield Wednesday and Wimbledon. Not bad is it, not bad at all.

 

[South Bank Hank]

for those of you who dont bother reading my posts from before..

1..I am a huge fan of Tilly, Brush and Mr Martin..I have said in many posts before and many posts in the future.
2..I am not and NEVER have said that our success was through any luck
3..If, for any reason the post has belittle the Clubs achievements through the recent history, that was not and is not the intention.

Those points hopefully cleared, the facts of whats happened over the past few weeks especially, to my mind, is that we are not percieved, thought of, regarded as a team that is going places by players and agents alike.
Secondly, a manager has only a limited lifespan at a club, I believe I see the signs that unless we have a run of positive results, and that we are in the top 10 by christmas, I strongly believe that we will be looking for a new manager. this point I have raised in other threads before, but now it seems more likely.

I hope I am wrong. I dont put the blame solely on Tilsons head, as he does not hold the purse strings, with Gower, money wasnt the issue, so are we doing enough to promote our ambition? Do we have the ambition and drive behind the scenes, or is it all just PR?

I appreciate the clarification, and what you've written above makes sense, but it's still something of a climbdown from your first post.

Whatever you've written before, "Unless we have a run of positive results, and... are in the top 10 by Christmas" is a long way from "Unless miracles happen".

Being in the top 10 is hardly miraculous, and I genuinely think many people would be asking questions if we weren't in the top 10 by Christmas.

I don't see that being a problem, and I expect us to be pushing for the playoffs towards the end of the season, but then I am basing that belief on us signing more players before the season begins, and bringing in decent players on loan as we have done to good effect over the last few years.

We shall see.

 

[McNasty]

We shall see.

That is the most sensible part of any of the posts.

 

[Jam_Man]

and there should be a queue of players, young and old desperate to play for the upto now, success story that is Southend United

Er, why ?

We are a league one side with around the 8th highest gates in the division playing in front of 8,000 supporters.

Why should there be a queue of players lining up ?We arent exactly a high profile club the last time I checked.

The new ground is a huge positive for the club, but we still have two seasons at Roots Hall so not going to be much reason for most players to jump at the chance to sign for us.

Fossetts Farm should change it but I think your expectations are a little out of sync with reality.

 

[OlvisIII]

Again some people need reminding of the club's history - by average we are a bottom half league one top half league two team. We are not in the new stadium yet and we will continue to attract players to the standard that we have shown over 100 years. The players Tilly has attracted since his arrival, and the results he gets from exhisting squad members, have not done too bad considering we have been to two national finals, two play offs, one title and another promotion. My old man has supported the blues for 55 years and when he says things have never been so good I sit up and take note.

The best thing that could happen is for Tilly to sign a new five year contract and just be told that he can ignore the abuse and get the long term job done. He will do the business like he has consistently done since his arrival. I will still say this if we get relegated - Tilson is a rare commodity in football - his heart is with the club and he has raw ability. He makes some mistakes but then again Alex Ferguson signed a few duds in his time!

 

[steveo]

Like the jam man says why would anyone want to join Southend unless we were paying big money, which we won't be. Tillson has to make do on a limited budget and was incredibly lucky with Eastwood and then Goater. Hopefully his luck hasn't run out.

 

[seany t]

I think some people need a reality check every so often. Lets look at his seasons with us so far:

2003-4 - Fans hoped for: Staying up - We got: Exactly that, and the clubs first ever cup final
2004-5 - Fans hoped for: Mid table - We got: Another cup final, a new hero in Eastwood and promotion via the playoffs (would we have won this without settling our nerves twice before in Cardiff?)
2005-6 - Fans hoped for: Consolidation - We got: Promotion automatically, some great signings and managed to bypass a league notoriously difficult to get out of
2006-7 - Fans hoped for: Consolidation - We got: An amazing cup run, some superb performances but ultimately relegated (I think largely down to us still being a L2 team essentially, which explains why Gillingham now has half of our squad from this season)
2007-8 - Fans hoped for: Consolidation and keeping our best players - We got: To keep our best players, improved in some areas and reached the playoffs

Regarding not blowing loads of money: We appear to have just greenlit a rather extortionatee new stadium at a time when the country is heading for financial insecurity, spiralling building costs and a lack of loan providers. I DO NOT blame our club keeping the purse strings tight personally.

Regarding the players we lost: Gower left for a new challenge and we did all we could to keep him - end of story. Flavs was criticised on here every other week but yet its the end of the world when we lose him. Clarke / Bailey - Agreed, I do question the handling of this saga, but that struck me as more of a Martin statement than a Tilly one.

Regarding the players we've bought: Remember Clarke & Francis' first few games? Few wish they could. Give them some time, and some decent sides to be tested against.

Regarding the pre-seasons: We all have bad days after coming back from holiday. It was Braintree for God's sake, hardly the end of the world. Hopefully Tilly's words will kick them up the backside and we can move on.

Lastly; I only make it to every second or third home match these days due to the distance I now live away from Southend, but even I struggle to assess how the team is progressing. No offence, and you're perfectly entitled to voice your concerns, but isn't that an even bigger drawback for someone living in Spain?

 

[BoyWonder2]

for Mr. Tilson.
Lets look at the overall picture..


Saves us from oblivion at the botom of L2, gets us to two LDV finals, successive promotions..


then, immediate relegation, a poor league run, only helped with some loan signings, a play off position that flattered to deceive, played off the park by DRFC,


New stadium on the horizon, failure to hold onto 'star' out of contract players, genral dis-harmony within team camp, failure to land significant signings for pre-season, depleted squad, lack of depth in squad, losing albeit a friendly against braintree, Tilson publicly slating team efforts.


Something is severely wrong at Roots Hall, and unless a miricle happens, I can see a management vacancy there by Christmas. Whether he jumps or is pushed is another matter.


we should have a strong, talented, eager, hungry and able team ready for this season, and there should be a queue of players, young and old desperate to play for the upto now, success story that is Southend United....what do we really have?

Are you on a wind up? I just can't believe your being serious with this.

Poor league run? Do you not remember our run which actually took us into the play-offs after our terrible Christmas period. You also mention the loan signings, surely this still tells you that Tilly can stop a player to improve our squad, which he did superbly during the January transfer window. Arguably his best transfer window with us.

Failure to hold on the 'star' players? Gower and Flahavan both left to join Championship sides to play at a higher standard of football and more than likely earn more money. How can we moan at that? It was stated that we offered Gower the best contract we could. In my eyes that would probably have made him the highest earner at the Club, what else could we have done.

Why is there general disharmoney at the Club? I haven't heard of any bust ups etc, please enlighten me if I'm wrong on this front.

Failure to land significant signings? We needed a goalkeeper and we brought in two. We needed to an some experience to the side, we brought in Furlong. We needed a replacement for Hunt, we brought in Osei. Yes we are still short but we still have plenty of time to get them on board. Bar Mulgrew, who have we actually missed out on that we have gone for?

We do have a strong, hunger, eager and talented squad for next season. We just need to add some strength in depth to it. Why should there be a que of people wanting to join us? We are hardly the biggest payers in the world and we aren't a massive Club. We are in the right position for a Club of our size. We are a average League One side. We lose games and we win games. We wont be able to compete until we are in FF and thats going to be 2/3 seasons time. I'm happy for us to be in League One until then.

People need to have a reality check, we aren't a Liverpool, a Chelsea, a Man Utd or an Arsenal, we are Southend United and now is the time to be United behind Southend!

 

[leeblue]

Steve tilson more than deserves our support, he has earnt it thats for sure, people have no idea what the facts are on the transfer front, it looks like no one is really signing many players at the mo.......why is this? I see the situation like this......quite a few players available......lets say 2/3 clubs go in for one player, the player then looks at all offers and makes his choice on which club to pick, during this time said clubs offer a bit more here and there and the player again weighs up his options, this is not championship manager tranfers take a bit longer than ten minutes, I know it getting on a bit in terms of pre season but anyone that seriously thinks we will not sign 3/4 players at least before the season starts really is clueless, and anyway whenever tilly does sign anyone many people slag em off straight away many posts about LEE BARNARD being crap, I really detest the WHINEY MUG crew and love it even more when tilly keeps proving them wrong, 2 promotions 2 LDV finals and an play offs last season FFS what mor does he have to do