The Game when you questioned

[keefmoon]

God how could I forget about Palace...truly awful.
Thank you Mr Whelan for so many good memories.

 

[Hong Kong Blue]

My own nadir must have come during the Alan Little reign. For me it was worse than the Dick Bate/Alvin Martin eras. Watching us try to grind out another 0-0 bore draw away from home just left me feeling cold.

Alvin Martin at least inspired passion in me - if not his players - as I was passionately against the path he was dragging my club down. That FA Cup defeat to Doncaster (or at least his failure to resign after it) was probably my lowest point as a Southend fan, but at least I felt anger. If you feel as strongly as I did against Chipmunk I figured it was worthwhile perservering in the hope that the board would see sense and get rid of him.

Alan Little on the otherhand just inspired apathy. The point where it becomes pointless is where you don't care about the point. During the Little era I was going to games out of routine, not out of enjoyment or even the hope of enjoyment. I enjoyed my days out, but it was despite the football and I began to consider watching the actual game as a chore. The season crawled to a standstill as we finished in the most mediocre of mid-table mediocrity. The actual game which was the worse escapes me, it was some northern ****hole like Lincoln. I think we drew 0-0 but we might have actually lost - the point is I didn't really care.

To complete the story on a happy note, the next season we started brightly but it was clear that despite a couple of fortuitous wins we weren't going to challenge for promotion and Alan Little was sacked. I vividly remember travelling back from a game (Rochdale? Might even have been when Carruthers had broken the net) and was at the station when someone rang me with the news that Webby had quit top of the conference Yeovil, that could mean only one thing - the Messiah was returning. Webby cut the salary by about two-thirds to save the club but just as importantly to me he breathed excitement back into the club after the dreary existence under Little. Webby's first game back was Blackpool away, 2-0 down but with 2,000 Shrimpers expecting him to work miracles he did just that and I learnt to dream again....

 

[number11]

Two games stick in my memory.......Brighton away during the Little era...we lost one nil to a fairly late goal, which was rather dubious and got Alan Little very irate and he was chuntering to the ref as they left the pitch at the end. I seem to remember thinking that the defeat was 'a good thing' as it might signal the end of the Little reign...thats how bad things were. I was actually at Uni in Brighton at the time of the game and had been looking forward to a local away game but we were terrible. Only good thing I remember is someone having a go at Neil Campbell and shouting 'you've got the pace of a snail' and someone else shouting 'was that 'Pace' or 'Face' of a snail....

Other game was Scarborogh in the cup, big boys chelsea await, pretty much a 24 hour day with leaving early, spending a few hours up there (and fantastic fish and chips) only to be woeful and be rolled over by them...and they had the chirpiest announcer ever, then travelling back in the early hours..

 

[The Artful Shrimper]

I haven't yet come across that game whilst supporting Southend. When we lost to Doncaster in the FA cup I raised a concerned eyebrow. When we lost to Hull (I Think) who were currently bottom of the bottom league I shuffled nervously until Alvin immediateley resigned.

 

[Hong Kong Blue]

Quote[/b] (The Artful Shrimper @ Aug. 22 2006,16:42)]until Alvin immediateley resigned.

My happiest moment in 20+ years as a Shrimper.

 

[keefmoon]

I think the game you are referring to is Mansfield away. We were celebrating staying up with a 0-0 draw.
Took my girlfriend to that one.
I know how to treat a lady.

 

[Jonny_Stokes]

Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ Aug. 22 2006,16:33)]

Quote[/b] (Jonny_Stokes @ Aug. 22 2006,16:29)]"Matchbox", surely? Do I have to do all you simpletons' work for you?  

 

Apparently so...

How many does the Matchstick stadium hold, then?

Before or after we use the supposed transfer kitty on a new lego stand?

 

[sufcmark]

For me it has to be the last time I used the Trust's coaches. Not that the coaches were bad in anyway, in fact this was probably the best part of the day. Set off about midday midweek for a long trek up North. Expectation was huge so I should have known better and gone to work. Around 8-900 Shrimpers fans travelled which was a great effort for a midweek game. We stopped of at the services and it was a sea of blue. Got to the ground via a police escort in time to walk to the local and sink a few beers b4 kick off, then into the ground. The winners would play Chelsea in the next round of the fa cup and were up against non league Scarborough! surely we couldnt mess this one up........

Oh and I ended up getting home @ about 3 in the morning

 

[Kenny]

Southend 0-3 Mansfield - August 2003
I remember life felt like it sucked already, had just split up with a girl and was feeling low etc and then I witnessed this. I seem to recall Iyvesden Christie hit a hatrick and Emberson was at fault for at least 4 of them.

Southend 0-2 Cheltenham - August 2004
Jetted home from Portugal, got delayed for no apparent reason on the way back as our plane was just sitting on the tarmac without any crew. It then took ages coming back through passport control etc. Had a blazing row with thh then-gfriend as we missed the car park bus as she was chatting to her sister. Dropped her off home in Benfleet and then drove straight to Roots Hall with suitcase sitll in the boot wearing the same clothes I'd flown home in. Then after all that I witnessed a load of trollop but hey-ho we ended up getting promoted at the end of the season.

 

[Xàbia Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (Andu @ Aug. 22 2006,17:16)]An Essex senior cup game during the Newman era at Billericay on a very cold evening (-4). We put out a very strong team, suggesting that we meant business. We were complete garbage with no ambition and no hope. I seem to remember going home turning on the PC and doing a Wiggy/Royfox about the team!  

Was that the semi-final against Chelmsford City? The only person playing football for the Shrimpers that night was Rob Newman; Barrington Belgrave's lethargic performance ended his association with Southend United - thank God! - and our calls to Newman to "sort them out, Rob!" was met with a shrill cry of "I'm f**king trying!". The match ended with Shrimpers fans barracking the "strong team" back to the dressing rooms, most of whom would never darken the doors of Roots Hall again. Well, some of them ...

 

[Prodigal Son]

I actually did it, I walked away in 1999, could take no more.

Our row of 6 regulars in the West Stand had been reduced to just me due to people getting married, moving away and dying, and I was not going to fund the freeloaders on view going through the motions. A series of matches led me to this decision. I could take no more Alvin. A season ticket remained unused for half a season and wa not renewed.

I could always accept our bad teams if they gave 100%, but not that lot.

Almost five years I was gone, I did not even go to the first LDV Final as I felt I would be a glory hunter. I returned at the start of 2004/5 and when you step back into Roots Hall after such a long absence it is an amazing experience. I had deliberately cut myself off but it all came flooding back within a few seconds.

It has helped me realise how much things have improved all round.

 

[Jonny_Stokes]

That's funny, our entire team didn't show up between 1999 and 2004 either.

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

On the subject of low ebbs, the Doncaster game at home in the Cup is a great shout. Just to compound the misery:

1. They were bottom of the Conference at the time.
2. They fully deserved their win; there was nothing spawny about it. We were, as often was the case at that time, out-fought. They wanted it more, simple as that.
3. One of my best mates is a Donny fan, and from the funereal silence of the South Upper, I swore I could see him jumping up and down in the away end, having a whale of a time.
4. To add insult to injury, he'd placed a cheeky tenner on Donny winning, which he picked up at the Coral's on West Street.
5. I had to give the grinning idiot (my mate) a lift back to London.
6. To top it all, Alvin didn't have the dignity or the balls to step down. The gutless performance on the pitch was followed by the spineless failure of the manager to admit that he was a total failure, and to hand the job to someone who (unlike him) was capable of managing a football side.

Yep, Donny Rovers at home in the Cup is probably the worst game I've been to at home; it's between Grimsby, the Oxford 5-0 and the Rushden 3-0 (all mentioned above) for worst away day.

 

[BrettieAngell]

Quote[/b] (Prodigal Son @ Aug. 22 2006,17:22)]I actually did it, I walked away in 1999, could take no more.

Our row of 6 regulars in the West Stand had been reduced to just me due to people getting married, moving away and dying, and I was not going to fund the freeloaders on view going through the motions. A series of matches led me to this decision. I could take no more Alvin. A season ticket remained unused for half a season and wa not renewed.

I could always accept our bad teams if they gave 100%, but not that lot.

Almost five years I was gone, I did not even go to the first LDV Final as I felt I would be a glory hunter. I returned at the start of 2004/5 and when you step back into Roots Hall after such a long absence it is an amazing experience. I had deliberately cut myself off but it all came flooding back within a few seconds.

It has helped me realise how much things have improved all round.

Ditto, but I walked away when we were in the old second division!

After witnessing the single most boring game I'd ever seen when we drew 0-0 at home against Stoke I couldn't be bothered anymore.

I missed a few seasons then started to attend games here and there, but it was only when we were at the bottom of the league that I realised how much Southend meant to me and that was it really.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Quote[/b] (keefmoon @ Aug. 22 2006,16:24)]So many to choose from...
...Oxford away 5-0 really was bad. Open terrace, 7 stands, chucking it down with rain if I remember rightly and a back four so inept they'd make Dennis Norden's **** look alert. Then stayed at my mate's place in Oxford, went out and got drunk on 3 pints (I was 15) and then got beaten up for being a southend fan outside the station at midnight.
Real good day out.
Was it really 10 years ago?

Yep That Oxford game was one that done it for me. It was the 24th August 1996 and only our second game of the season.

We were terrible I remember us defending a corner and the amount of abuse being shouted at our players was amazing. I remember probably about 400 of us screaming pretty nasty abuse to 'our' players but it was one of those rare occasions that the abuse they received was actually valid. You can put up with only so much and we looked certain relegation candidates.

I was at Sunderland when we lost 7-0 also when we lost 8-1 to the Gills and the 8-0 at Palace but the Oxford game was far worse than all those.

Only a few games later we beat Bolton 5-2 but of course it did not last and we soon made up for it by losing 6-1 at Palace.

 

[weststander]

Quote[/b] (number11 @ Aug. 22 2006,16:41)]Other game was Scarborogh in the cup, big boys chelsea await, pretty much a 24 hour day with leaving early, spending a few hours up there (and fantastic fish and chips) only to be woeful and be rolled over by them...and they had the chirpiest announcer ever, then travelling back in the early hours..

Yup, this is the one !

Paid £150 quid or so to go on the plane with the players.  Sat next to Frank van Wezel on the plane and had a nice little chat with him, from here it went drastically down hill !!  Flew to Teeside international Airport  

this made Southend Airport look like Heathrow !!  Took ages on the coach to get to Scarborough, had a meal in a hotel, food was crap.  Got to the oven chip stadium and took our seats right in the middle of some very vocal Scarborough fans, lots of abuse towards them about non league etc... Then we kicked off and the rest as they say is history.  No guts no passion and no Chelsea, que the abuse from the Scarborough fans.  Still i thought at least i'll be back early WRONG flight was delayed and we made it back just after the coaches !!!  I was so numb that i didnt go to the game the following saturday, at least i missed us getting stuffed by Doncaster.

And this wins even though ive saw us lose 8-1 to gillingham, 6-2 to Notts County and 4-1 at Port Vale in successive away games. The 8-0 at Palace was depressing but i do remember one wag at Norwood Junction singing 'we'll score 9 at roots hall'

I was also lucky enough to see us lose 7-0 at Sunderland and get hammered by Peterborough in our only other championship season. But what the hey i'm still here and still get grief from my family but it doesnt seem to stop me, some people never learn do they

 

[SteveYatesSocks]

Quote[/b] (Up the Shrimps @ Aug. 22 2006,20:52)]Yep That Oxford game was one that done it for me. It was the 24th August 1996 and only our second game of the season.

We were terrible I remember us defending a corner and the amount of abuse being shouted at our players was amazing. I remember probably about 400 of us screaming pretty nasty abuse to 'our' players but it was one of those rare occasions that the abuse they received was actually valid. You can put up with only so much and we looked certain relegation candidates.

I was at Sunderland when we lost 7-0 also when we lost 8-1 to the Gills and the 8-0 at Palace but the Oxford game was far worse than all those.

Only a few games later we beat Bolton 5-2 but of course it did not last and we soon made up for it by losing 6-1 at Palace.

Thankfully I was getting married whilst the Oxford debacle was going on. I did manage to slip away from the reception to find out the score though and my new bride was able to witness my first bout of 'blues depression'. It didn't last long as wedding days (and nights) are quite good fun.

We honeymooned in Cyprus and I was convinced the Cyprus Mail had misprinted the Bolton score. I had to wait till Gatwick to find out it was correct.

One game that stands out for me personally was the 3-0 defeat at Maidstone in 1990. Loads of us there but Warren Barton ran the game and Brushy scored an amazing own goal. I couldn't believe it as I really thought we would be too good for them.

 

[Keep The Faith]

Quote[/b] (Napster @ Aug. 22 2006,15:58)]Darlo away lost 4-0, spent £70 getting up there on the train. Some chavs threw stones at us on the walk back to the station, and we were awful.

Yes what a bad away game, First class travel with Dave Cusacks Nose (cheers), £60 odd quid for hotel!! and about £200 on the night in Newcastle on the **** (plus other stuff).

In fact wasn't to bad of a night

 

[Gremlin]

Boxing Day 1989. Putting it down as the worst recorded case of 'turkey lurkey' on record will never make up for having seen us lay down without a fight in front of that lot and let the farmers take us like they do their piggies.

On the up side we've not lost to them since, mind.

 

[Southendsleeper]

On a boxing day theme MK Dons although I bang on about it, seriously made me wonder why I had bothered getting a season ticket

Cold through 3 layers of clothing, stuffed with food and yet horribly hungover, I had the envious pleasure of seeing the worst football match Ive ever seen.

Players looked tired and jaded, MK Dons the anti Southend, crap stiffling football (if you could even call it that), 90 mins of sheer torture.

I'd be tempted to give up football rather than sit through that again