Transfer News, Gossip & Speculation Transfer Thread - Summer 2025 Edition.

[sufc4life21]

Here's the thing, if we don't recruit better quality of player then we won't be able to challenge for promotion, crowds will go down which will effect COSU long term sustainability plan going forward..... we need to build on whats been achieved already to keep the feel good factor going where fans want to carry on going to watch Southend, unfortunately that's down to the owners to show the ambition in the transfer market, im not saying go splash few hundred thousand on players but they do need to show they are serious and want to progress the club going forward by getting the best players available at reasonable price. Promotion the only way Southend become sustainable anyway! National League football with tv deal which generates couple hundred thousand is hardly going to reduce the losses each season. The longer we are in this league the more harm it will do us for years to come...... that's why I was really disappointed that we let that massive chance at Wembley slip, that has cost us extra 1.5 million year.

 

[NZamba Legend]

Not sure of the fascination with re-signing Pepple. Good player but we've been a better team since he left. Focus on finding the next one.

Completely, 100%

 

[SUFCGoals]

Also, where exactly did this £150,000 figure come from?! Plucked out of thin air!

It was in the daily mail

 

[annie1954]

They did. I was told by a reliable source yesterday that they paid a six figure fee and that Linney is on 3k per week.

Some of the money being thrown around at this level and below is ridiculous

 

[NZamba Legend]

Here's the thing, if we don't recruit better quality of player then we won't be able to challenge for promotion, crowds will go down which will effect COSU long term sustainability plan going forward..... we need to build on whats been achieved already to keep the feel good factor going where fans want to carry on going to watch Southend, unfortunately that's down to the owners to show the ambition in the transfer market, im not saying go splash few hundred thousand on players but they do need to show they are serious and want to progress the club going forward by getting the best players available at reasonable price. Promotion the only way Southend become sustainable anyway! National League football with tv deal which generates couple hundred thousands is hardly going to reduce the losses each season. The longer we are in this league the more harm it will do us for years to come...... that's why I was really disappointed that we let that massive chance at Wembley slip, that has cost us extra 1.5 million year.

If we have a similar season to this one crowds won’t go down. I think it’s likely we improve, start winning more at home, so crowds will probably rise. Plus, listen to the owners, they want to get promotion. Justin said he wants to build after the Wembley loss. His actual words. Do you not think they’ve done enough already to prove they are “serious”? I know you’re not saying this but would others think them more serious if they paid £150k for a striker, say Bim, where you could probably find a player of similar quality for peanuts or on loan? Would it make them more serious if they ditched 8 players— just because— and then had to make an extraordinary, time costly effort to recruit players of a similar quality just to give us a squad big enough to compete. All of those things would be stupid rather serious

 

[Leigh_Seasider]

I wonder if it’s just Southend fans who are always on about bringing back old players?! Yes Pepple did a good job for us but we should be looking forward. Besides, I can’t stand another season of people calling him Pebble.

 

[BDavies21]

Honestly, I can see Bonne being a great player for us next season. Give him a full preseason and a player who isn’t afraid to break a line or play a forward pass (like Keenan, Leon and now hopefully Dion).

When I watch Bonne, he is someone who is always ready to make the run but doesn’t necessarily get the pass that he desperately craves. The same could be said for walker and Waldron as well. We have three strikers that like to play on the shoulder of the opposition. Bonne has somewhat redefined himself as a target man/number 9 but that isn’t his preferred role. I’d take a punt with another year.

Kendall is very good with an over hit ball over the top because of how rapid he is.

As much as our strikers have had disappointing seasons on the goal scoring front I do expect a change of style (which if we get Dion, seems likely) to fully benefit them

Our strikers have worked extremely hard this season especially when occupying defenders in the box and this is probably one of the reasons why Gus has had such a good goal scoring season.

 

[amsemp]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1929924615314251883

Gussy doesn’t sound like he’s itching for a move

 

[Exiled Shrimper]

Here's the thing, if we don't recruit better quality of player then we won't be able to challenge for promotion, crowds will go down which will effect COSU long term sustainability plan going forward..... we need to build on whats been achieved already to keep the feel good factor going where fans want to carry on going to watch Southend, unfortunately that's down to the owners to show the ambition in the transfer market, im not saying go splash few hundred thousand on players but they do need to show they are serious and want to progress the club going forward by getting the best players available at reasonable price. Promotion the only way Southend become sustainable anyway! National League football with tv deal which generates couple hundred thousand is hardly going to reduce the losses each season. The longer we are in this league the more harm it will do us for years to come...... that's why I was really disappointed that we let that massive chance at Wembley slip, that has cost us extra 1.5 million year.

Sorry if this is off topic, but I think the bold sentence needs to be addressed, because promotion isn't the only way Southend United can become sustainable. Although it's absolutely right that there would be an increase in television revenue, as well as Premier League solidarity payments, Academy funding and prize money in the EFL, costs would also rise for player salaries, transfer fees, signing-on fees, agent fees for example, and therefore it's not the panacea to financial problems, although it would absolutely be of assistance.

It's often said that clubs should speculate to accumulate. In football, speculation simply leads to further speculation. Once the club was in League Two, the clamour would soon be to get back to League One, because there are bigger clubs in that division and therefore more away fans, and we've played there reasonably recently. Then it would be that we should speculate to get into the Championship, because we've played in the second tier before. Then, after a while, it would be: why can't we reach the Premier League, because if AFC Bournemouth/Brighton & Hove Albion/Fulham can play at level, and before them Luton Town/Swansea City, and we've competed at a similar level to them recently, so why can't we do the same?

COSU have made some incremental improvements in the ten months they've had custody of the club; getting more of the ground open to increase capacity, improving the food and drink provision, opening up areas of the ground on a non-matchday (e.g. big screens for the play-offs, St Patrick's Day), and potentially something like the membership scheme advertised at Wembley.

But the club is losing £2m+ a year, and promotion to the EFL won't solve that (we were losing a comparable amount when we were last in the EFL, albeit under the previous owner). That's why COSU are looking at ground redevelopment, especially in relation to the East Stand, to bring in money 365 days a year, rather than just on the limited number of matchdays we have each season; that's what they've identified as the real route to sustainability for Southend United.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Not sure of the fascination with re-signing Pepple. Good player but we've been a better team since he left. Focus on finding the next one.

That's more to the improved form from mainly midfield. Imagine if he was spear heading the attack with the current team. I think we'd finish top 3.

 

[Holy Joe]

We should get Carson in - wins a trophy every 10 minutes played.

 

[sufc4life21]

Sorry if this is off topic, but I think the bold sentence needs to be addressed, because promotion isn't the only way Southend United can become sustainable. Although it's absolutely right that there would be an increase in television revenue, as well as Premier League solidarity payments, Academy funding and prize money in the EFL, costs would also rise for player salaries, transfer fees, signing-on fees, agent fees for example, and therefore it's not the panacea to financial problems, although it would absolutely be of assistance.

It's often said that clubs should speculate to accumulate. In football, speculation simply leads to further speculation. Once the club was in League Two, the clamour would soon be to get back to League One, because there are bigger clubs in that division and therefore more away fans, and we've played there reasonably recently. Then it would be that we should speculate to get into the Championship, because we've played in the second tier before. Then, after a while, it would be: why can't we reach the Premier League, because if AFC Bournemouth/Brighton & Hove Albion/Fulham can play at level, and before them Luton Town/Swansea City, and we've competed at a similar level to them recently, so why can't we do the same?

COSU have made some incremental improvements in the ten months they've had custody of the club; getting more of the ground open to increase capacity, improving the food and drink provision, opening up areas of the ground on a non-matchday (e.g. big screens for the play-offs, St Patrick's Day), and potentially something like the membership scheme advertised at Wembley.

But the club is losing £2m+ a year, and promotion to the EFL won't solve that (we were losing a comparable amount when we were last in the EFL, albeit under the previous owner). That's why COSU are looking at ground redevelopment, especially in relation to the East Stand, to bring in money 365 days a year, rather than just on the limited number of matchdays we have each season; that's what they've identified as the real route to sustainability for Southend United.

1.5 million year in tv revenue compared to 200k from the national league is huge for lower league club...... The new East stand would be fantastic interms of 365 day operation which will help but it's heavily reliant on ron martin building his own empire at Fossetts Farm to provide funds for new east stand, given his track record can you see that happening anytime soon? I doubt it and I hope COSU have back up plan incase of worst case scenario. Anyway back to transfer targets.

 

[londonblue]

1.5 million year in tv revenue compared to 200k from the national league is huge for lower league club...... The new East stand would be fantastic interms of 365 day operation which will help but it's heavily reliant on ron martin building his own empire at Fossetts Farm to provide funds for new east stand, given his track record can you see that happening anytime soon? I doubt it and I hope COSU have back up plan incase of worst case scenario. Anyway back to transfer targets.

I don't believe it is. IIRC COSU have said it will be built regardless as they have a contingency. Moreover, even in the last set of accounts (or maybe the accompanying notes) it showed they'd already spent £200,000 on whatever architect studies etc. they need.

 

[sufc4life21]

I don't believe it is. IIRC COSU have said it will be built regardless as they have a contingency. Moreover, even in the last set of accounts (or maybe the accompanying notes) it showed they'd already spent £200,000 on whatever architect studies etc. they need.

I hope your right.

 

[Benfleetboy]

https://m.facebook.com/groups/1751860801708578/permalink/4330440460517253/?

 

[londonblue]

I hope your right.

My right what? Come on, finish the sentence!

 

[sufc4life21]

My right what? Come on, finish the sentence!

I finished what I've needed to say. Back to the transfer market.

 

[Jai]

Nothing to do with Bim leaving. What happened is finally KAF started to get games, which meant we became more attacking, and Bonne got up to fitness and we singed Kendall.

Bim is far better player than Hopper.

Bim is a good player and I'm not saying he's not better than Hopper. However, what allowed us to pick up more points in the second half of the season was the fact we controlled possession more. This is because Kendall and Hopper pressured defenders better than Bim did, allowing us to pick up more second balls. Golding's emergence as a centre half who was comfortable bringing the ball out from the back and committing opposition players was also vital.

KAF really didn't emerge as a regular until March, but he was very good at anticipating those second balls and this helped us further. Added to the fact the strength in depth allowed us to bring quality off the bench, and those are the main factors in our improvement.

But we play a possession-based game and for that we need to control possession in games. Therefore we need strikers who will work extremely hard. Ideally we'd find one that will work as hard as Hopper, score goals like Bim and also run the channels like Bonne. Good luck finding one of those on our budget!

We also didn't become more attacking. We have always looked to attack first and foremost. Unfortunately in the first half of the season we weren't able to attack teams as much because we didn't have the ball.

 

[southendkid]

Nothing to do with Bim leaving. What happened is finally KAF started to get games, which meant we became more attacking, and Bonne got up to fitness and we singed Kendall.

Bim is far better player than Hopper.

If we did get Bim back I'd expect him to affect Kendall's minutes, not Hopper's. Hopper does all the unglamorous stuff well, he fights for balls in the air , holds the ball up and forces defenders into mistakes. Those aren't strengths of Pepple from what I remember but they are strengths that are key to our turnaround in form.

 

[RHB]

I don't, for a minute, dispute anyone's comments on here so far. But I'd just like to put this out there:

Without improving the quality of the players on our books we managed to qualify for the 24/25 NL Play-offs, we then managed to see off the 3rd and 5th placed teams in the Play-Off places and were eventually only beaten in the second half of extra time with a goal that could be viewed as extremely flukey.

Just saying. And yes, we would still benefit from some extra recruitment, but don't undersell the players we already have.