When did it start to unravel?

[Yorkshire Blue]

Sturrock’s third season. We had a good squad - and were blooding youngsters like Bentley, Leonard etc who’d earn us big money further down the line - but had a terrible run of injuries and an embargo. Ron panicked and instead of settling for Wembley and trying for promotion the following season when the likes of Phillips, Barker, Corr, Tomlin etc were all fit again he fired the manager and installed a short term merchant. The squad inherited was good enough to get promoted but fatally no long term foundations were laid.

The inherited assets were then all sold and instead in investing in players who’d earn transfer fees further down the line, we invested in players on the decline whose contracts ended up being paid off or regretted.

Whereas we previously escaped financial difficulties by selling the likes of Ryan Hall, Kane Ferdinand, Ryan Leonard, Dan Bentley etc we then found ourselves without any established players in the pipeline to sell on. This was then compounded by the number of players we subsequently needed to pay-off. Incredibly for a selling club our incoming transfer activity of 2013 to 2017 ended up costing us more to pay-off than income recouped from later selling on (£0). Combined with a lack of cup revenue this put our finances in a black hole from which we’ve never recovered.

 

[Ricey]

Lyle Taylor and Sonny Bradley.

I thought the striker that opted to go to Charlton was Lee Novak.

 

[rigsby]

I thought the striker that opted to go to Charlton was Lee Novak.

It was both of them

 

[LBBlue]

I thought the striker that opted to go to Charlton was Lee Novak.

That was another one - Brown tried to sign him in the summer of 2016.

 

[Bearded Shrimper]

we do seem to have paid off an awful lot of players in the last 3-5 years or so.
That can't help.

 

[Ricey]

That was another one - Brown tried to sign him in the summer of 2016.

Theres been so many it’s easy to get confused

 

[Chairman Trigg]

Charlton away and that miss by Nouble.....The support that day was superb and the quality of the team that day won't be seen for a very long time looking at today's mess

 

[Tampa Blue]

Probably late 1998

 

[Rob1920]

If you want to pin it on one thing it has to be the worst injury crisis imaginable. Every game it felt like we had a another long term or season-ending injury. No lower league club could have survived that.

of course if you dig deeper and question why we had that injury crisis, then you have to look at management including lack of fitness (as Sol immediately realised), and the lack of a CEO. Even so we had a motherload of bad luck with all the injuries.

 

[Floval Flyer]

Charlton away and that miss by Nouble.....The support that day was superb and the quality of the team that day won't be seen for a very long time looking at today's mess

Our support that day was incredible, probably the best atmosphere ever for an away day!

To be fair to Frank, that was a difficult chance - we did deserve so much more that day though

 

[Somerset Ex-TTB]

Probably the sacking of Chris Powell in one of if not the worst injury crisis in the clubs history.

Probably the appointment of Chris Powell, who allowed a soft, gentle, unprofessional and poor attitude to seep through the squad, which would of contributed to some of the worst injury crisis we have ever had, with players being unfit, and only performing at 95%

 

[OllieSteph44]

Probably the appointment of Chris Powell, who allowed a soft, gentle, unprofessional and poor attitude to seep through the squad, which would of contributed to some of the worst injury crisis we have ever had, with players being unfit, and only performing at 95%

And the evidence to support that is......?

 

[rigsby]

Joe Pigott and Steven Humphrys......It was bad enough getting promoted but then keeping us up has been a disaster.

Two of the worst moments I have ever witnessed as a Southend fan.....Wish I had been stronger like others and left early on both days because i now have to live with trauma.

 

[GBJ]

Probably the appointment of Chris Powell, who allowed a soft, gentle, unprofessional and poor attitude to seep through the squad, which would of contributed to some of the worst injury crisis we have ever had, with players being unfit, and only performing at 95%

Chris could have, and should have been tougher on some of them. But as I’ve said countless times, there’s only so much he could do.

If experienced, professional athletes don’t want to keep themselves in tip top shape, and don’t want to put the work in, what can he do?

Remember most of these players had lucrative contracts, so we couldn’t threaten them with a sacking. We couldn’t even drop them, because the injury crisis was that bad. I think at one stage we only had about 14 or 15 players to choose from. Unfortunately this played into some of their hands as they knew they didn’t have to go the extra mile to be guaranteed a starting spot.

Absolutely Chris Powell will share some criticism, but this idea that it was his fault, is ludicrous.... as proved by the fact that 2-years later, we still have the same old problems.

 

[Brett Angle]

Backing the players rather than Brown.

 

[Welly7]

Granted, this isn't a popular opinion but, on purely a football front, the summer of 2018 and Powell's poor signings were a catalyst for where we are now. Then as the season began, his limits as a manager became abundantly clear with a string of concerning displays well before the unfortunate injury list hit the club. Those injuries became a welcome diversion for just how bad a job he was doing in the dugout.

 

[Danshrimper]

Granted, this isn't a popular opinion but, on purely a football front, the summer of 2018 and Powell's poor signings were a catalyst for where we are now. Then as the season began, his limits as a manager became abundantly clear with a string of concerning displays well before the unfortunate injury list hit the club. Those injuries became a welcome diversion for just how bad a job he was doing in the dugout.

Before the 2 main injuries that derailed our season (Hopper and Coker), our record from 15 league games was 7 wins, 2 draws and 6 defeats. Performances in these games were fairly good and most of the defeats came against some of the bigger/better sides in the division. It’s not a great record, but it certainly wasn’t bad either.

The injuries weren’t welcome for anyone, we’d have finished comfortably in mid-table if not for Coker and Hopper getting injured, and then the subsequent injury crisis that followed.

 

[Welly7]

Before the 2 main injuries that derailed our season (Hopper and Coker), our record from 15 league games was 7 wins, 2 draws and 6 defeats. Performances in these games were fairly good and most of the defeats came against some of the bigger/better sides in the division. It’s not a great record, but it certainly wasn’t bad either.

The injuries weren’t welcome for anyone, we’d have finished comfortably in mid-table if not for Coker and Hopper getting injured, and then the subsequent injury crisis that followed.

I get where you are coming from but my mind always go back to Doncaster at home, Luton and Wycombe away. No injury concerns at this time. The goals we conceded in that season opener were shocking. No team with any aspirations of achieving anything can ship those types of goals. It was Sunday league level defending.

Luton away was an absolute embarrassment of a performance under Powell. Didn't threaten their goal and conceded poor chances once again. Luton didn't have to work for their lead - it was that easy. Then, at 2-0, we start playing the ball from side to side because Luton had sat back with the job done. I remember fans saying we're having a better spell because we had the ball. But, we didn't go anywhere with it! It was another alarming performance.

Wycombe was a real strange one. 3-0 ahead and tactically very good. Cox in behind Theo and Hopper and wing backs that forced Wycombe's wingers backwards instead of forwards. It was all working so well until Powell changed the shape and went with one up front and four in the midfield. Suddenly, our wing backs couldn't get on because of the bodies directly in front of them. We manage to hang on for a 3-2 win. Powell celebrates like it was a masterclass when the reality was it was him who so very nearly cost us.

Yes the injuries were bad and we may well have avoided relegation had players been fit, but IMO there was no future under Powell in terms of moving the football club forwards. He was taking us backwards and at a worrying rate. Tactically he was below the required level. Recruitment was a poor. Decisions over the Captaincy were concerning and he made same very odd comments about Dru being our best player - and then left him on the bench for several weeks!

There have been many, many more mistakes made by the club since Powell's departure and lessons haven't been learned. All of these have played a part in our current predicament. However, the beginning of the poor performances on the pitch started under Powell and did so long before the injuries really took hold of the club.

 

[Member]

When Aberdeen Shrimper's flag went missing

 

[BluBayou]

Michael Ricketts. For a club of our limited resources it required all our signings to work out that season for us to hold on to our cherished championship status. He preferred eating.