What an opportunity for Sturrock......

[Angell Delight]

.....OK so the 4 who have expressed their desire to leave is disappointing but make no mistake about it I only want to support players who want to play for my club so if they don't then there's the door. Of the senior players - discounting the likes of Herd and Crawford - we have only Granty (and thank God he appears to be settled), Spencer (hopefully he signs on) and Paterson (rumours abound he may be off but if he is then so be it - see 4 above). What an opportunity for Sturrock this really is, it's a blank canvas - he can create a side from scratch and how many managers EVER have the opportunity to do that! For us I think it's great news, he's already somehow managed to persuade some quality players to join a club in crisis in a very short space of time with more to follow. God knows how he's managed that but he has. His track record of promotions speak for themselves, I actually fancy us to do very well this season IF the situation improves and the embargo is lifted.

Tilly going is gutting, if I had a choice I'd rather he was still in charge. He's Mr Southend, a fantastic bloke and more importantly a highly accomplished manager who basically had no chance last season due to RM's ineptitude. I really do hope and pray that sometime in the future he is back in charge, however I don't think too many people would say his replacement isn't a cut above the calibre of manager I expected to be offered the hot seat.

UTB! :)

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

Sturrock OUT

 

[Lester Bangs]

I just cant see logistically how we'll have eleven players to start the season.

Sturrock isn't a miracle worker and I can't believe he'll be able to put out a competative full team in 3 weeks, there's just not enough time left now to bring players in even if we're able to with the embargo etc.

 

[Angell Delight]

If the embargo is lifted I'm confident he can get a decent side together, the signs look good IMHO. We won't be competitive from the start as new players will take time to gel but come October/November time I'm hopeful we'll have a good side.

Maybe I'm just an optimist but I'm pretty upbeat about the quality of players Sturrock is looking to bring in.

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

Maybe I'm just an optimist but I'm pretty upbeat about the quality of players Sturrock is looking to bring in.

Yep, a donkey journeyman striker who makes Broughton, Revell & Harrold look like £10m strikers has got me hyperventilating...

 

[EastStandBlue]

Yep, a donkey journeyman striker who makes Broughton, Revell & Harrold look like £10m strikers has got me hyperventilating...

And what about Easton, Zaaboub, Gilbert and Hall? Are they all toilet as well?

 

[jimmyshrimp]

Totally agree Angell Delight. Some people on here have got there minds made up not to give him a chance, but i've been very impressed with all he's done a said so far.

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

And what about Easton, Zaaboub, Gilbert and Hall? Are they all toilet as well?

Now, you're just trying to put words in my mouth.
He's doing well in terms of general signings, good solid L2 players, however like Ken said last night, I'd far rather we recruited a group of young hungry affordable non-leaguers with 2 or 3 experienced heads to back them up.

I'll refer full judgement until we know if these pre-contracts become signings and also what the spine of the team looks like! No matter what people think of our ex-manager, nobody can deny we didn't have a strong spine in the promotion/playoff years!

 

[EastStandBlue]

Now, you're just trying to put words in my mouth.
He's doing well in terms of general signings, good solid L2 players, however like Ken said last night, I'd far rather we recruited a group of young hungry affordable non-leaguers with 2 or 3 experienced heads to back them up.

I'll refer full judgement until we know if these pre-contracts become signings and also what the spine of the team looks like! No matter what people think of our ex-manager, nobody can deny we didn't have a strong spine in the promotion/playoff years!

We really don't have enough time to be inviting local players in for a trial period, giving them time in training and assessing them in game situations before offering them contracts, Our first and most important priority is to assemble a squad of experienced players that we know are capable of producing solid performances.

If they're Sturrock's favoured players, so be it.

I'm all for looking to source players from the local non-league scene, it's a system that we've used with success in the past, but the predicament we find ourselves in needs to be resolved first and the best chance we have of doing so is by bringing in the players Sturrock can.

 

[McNasty]

I just hope our grim financial state doesn't stop us from doing well.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Now, you're just trying to put words in my mouth.
He's doing well in terms of general signings, good solid L2 players, however like Ken said last night, I'd far rather we recruited a group of young hungry affordable non-leaguers with 2 or 3 experienced heads to back them up.

I'll refer full judgement until we know if these pre-contracts become signings and also what the spine of the team looks like! No matter what people think of our ex-manager, nobody can deny we didn't have a strong spine in the promotion/playoff years!

What you mean young, hungry non-league players like Ryan Hall, with a few experienced players like Clint Easton and Peter Gilbert?

 

[McNasty]

What you mean young, hungry non-league players like Ryan Hall, with a few experienced players like Clint Easton and Peter Gilbert?

Yep, just a few short of a team tho.

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

What you mean young, hungry non-league players like Ryan Hall, with a few experienced players like Clint Easton and Peter Gilbert?

Yes, hence why my post you quoted says "so far he's doing well" - obviously the nepotism issue negates this somewhat but again, as you quoted "I'll refer full judgement" until how things look 6 weeks on Tuesday.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

.....OK so the 4 who have expressed their desire to leave is disappointing but make no mistake about it I only want to support players who want to play for my club so if they don't then there's the door. Of the senior players - discounting the likes of Herd and Crawford - we have only Granty (and thank God he appears to be settled), Spencer (hopefully he signs on) and Paterson (rumours abound he may be off but if he is then so be it - see 4 above). What an opportunity for Sturrock this really is, it's a blank canvas - he can create a side from scratch and how many managers EVER have the opportunity to do that! For us I think it's great news, he's already somehow managed to persuade some quality players to join a club in crisis in a very short space of time with more to follow. God knows how he's managed that but he has. His track record of promotions speak for themselves, I actually fancy us to do very well this season IF the situation improves and the embargo is lifted.

Tilly going is gutting, if I had a choice I'd rather he was still in charge. He's Mr Southend, a fantastic bloke and more importantly a highly accomplished manager who basically had no chance last season due to RM's ineptitude. I really do hope and pray that sometime in the future he is back in charge, however I don't think too many people would say his replacement isn't a cut above the calibre of manager I expected to be offered the hot seat.

UTB! :)

i fully agree with you. i want all the player who don't want to be here out. credit to the one's who want to stay. the others have their reasons but it is a good thing they are leaving. for the record thank god christophe's out of here. what a terrible player that bloke is.

lets have players who want to play for us and show some passions. 3/4's of the squad last year didn't give a flying **** so imo no loss them leaving. only ab i would have liked to keep. the rest byeeeeeeeeeeeee.

good luck to the new players.

 

[Angell Delight]

Now, you're just trying to put words in my mouth.
He's doing well in terms of general signings, good solid L2 players, however like Ken said last night, I'd far rather we recruited a group of young hungry affordable non-leaguers with 2 or 3 experienced heads to back them up.

I'll refer full judgement until we know if these pre-contracts become signings and also what the spine of the team looks like! No matter what people think of our ex-manager, nobody can deny we didn't have a strong spine in the promotion/playoff years!

I think you'll find our ex-manager was much loved by 99% of the supporters, me included (see above!). I just don't think it's productive to get on Sturrock's back from the word go when all he has done so far is bring in (hopefully!) some quality players in a very short space of time. I'm not surprised he has worked with some before, that's probably the only way he could possibly do what he has done and he's been successful in the past with players like Easton and Gilbert anyway.

As for the budget I'm happy to trust Sturrock with that, he obviously knows who we can and can't afford, a lot of high earners have now gone remember. The situation at the moment is bad yes but only one man is to blame for that is RM, if he had cut our cloth accordingly after relegation 3 years ago none of this would have happened. Tilson would still be in charge and many of our players wouldn't have jumped ship but there is nothing we can do about that now, it's not Sturrock's fault things have gone t*ts up at this football club so let's get behind him and Widdrington - what happened to Tilly was gutting and if there was anything we could do to get him back we would but I can't think of a better management team to take over from a true Southend legend.

RM deserves criticism for all that's happened but the management team and players deserve our support.