Good to see the FOTL posting on here and glad there is now an open meeting in the diary.  Griss, whilst I think we all appreciate there is a new committee, hopefully some of you will have been on committees previously so will have some idea of how organisations operate and events are run?

One main question springs to mind when reading the posts - why are you fundraising and where do the committee envisage those funds being directed?

Also in the meantime will there be a FOTL presence in the ground (not being distracted by selling programmes before the game) promoting the fundraising that is ongoing such as the 12th Man and the Hundred club?

Good point re- Bowry, KES.

Can’t believe IC is happy going into a season this thin on players. I guess the lad Gascoigne goes into the mix as well

Have we got anyone out wide to collect those over hit crosses ?

To be fair to Gascoigne, he looked very lightweight when he got his chance last year and could probably do with a year playing senior football at a lower level (step 3?) regularly as opposed to getting the odd spot on the bench at Lynn, I would say the same for Fleming too but given the depth of the squad we probably can't afford one less body at present.

As for the over hit crosses, both full backs have found the net in pre-season so can we assume they will have a more advanced role this season?

So, just three days until the big kick-off (COVID permitting) and we can all get back to worrying about what happens for 90 minutes on that patch of grass at the Walks and (temporarily) forget about everything else at the club and maybe the world in general.

In the absence of any news coming out of the club, we have to assume Culverhouse will be limited to the squad he has had during pre-season plus the recent addition of Rowley from Chesterfield.  Not sure where we are on the injury front after Alfreton but assuming everyone (bar Jones) is fit do we think he will go for 3 or 4 at the back and how many of Dilly's nipsters should he pick?

Personally I would go for:
                Jones
   McFadden, Fernandez, Bird
Barrows, Coleman, Sundire, Denton
                  King
         Omotayo, Morias

leaving a bench of Fleming, Bowry, Clunan, Rowley, Gyasi

To be fair, I have no idea as to which two from three of the new centre halves are better / are more likely to form a partnership and we do still look short of a forward on the bench.  My main hope for the season is that we can somehow get back to playing some of the football that IC encouraged at steps 3 and 2 but we got so far away from last season due to a mix of not replacing  players who couldn't handle the step up and recruiting players who didn't fit that pattern, hopefully the off season will have gone some way to addressing both issues but the squad does look paper thin

Started to type my reply to Malcolm and then thought it was a bit off topic for Southend fans to have to go through

The gentleman who was going to fix the online payments has resigned so Iam back to square one on that one but someone will step forward and help get it sorted,so we need a new secretary that can help.Thanks for the plug B&G and you are so right the more fans that join the Surporters club the sooner we can move forward

Malcolm, any chance of setting a date for the FOTL open meeting (ideally pretty soon after the first home game so it can be advertised at the game) as I think until you have that you are in danger of raising (possibly false) expectations about what the FOTL is and isn't going to be doing as an organisation.

Appreciate you are still an evolving committee but are you able to put some names to roles for us?

Also are any of the previous fundraising schemes going to be running for the 2021-22 season ie 12th man?

Dilly, as Mallard has implied why spend (money we don't have) on a terrace that it could easily be argued we don't need?  There are loads of 'projects' around the Walks that we 'could' do but for me unless they open up additional revenue streams for the club it would be very difficult to justify any investment on the current site. 

One of the things that is holding the club back is off-field revenue so any upgrading of the facilities needs to have this firmly as part of the business case for investing ie if we did upgrade the hospital end could other facilities be included in that upgrade that would generate an income stream (a better sized clubhouse) or allow activities that are currently housed in the main stand (possibly the changing rooms which always seem to be a problem) to be moved to allow more income to be derived from the main stand?

Think you will find it was acadamy player Tyler Knowles

Thanks GS, I was with B&G.  Still think we need a few more lads in and around the squad capable of holding their own rather than just filling a spot on the bench

Must be getting towards the end of his career as he was here with the old club.  Certainly gave 100% and probably didn't get the credit he deserved as was tarnished in some eyes as being ex-Norwich, thankfully that is one of the things that has changed in the past 10 years where there is a much better view of players making the move West along the A47 (Norman, McFadden etc)

Seems like Denton is enjoying playing wing back!  Any other comments from those who watched the stream on how things worked or where we looked like we needed other options?  Also does anyone know who the keeper was and whether he is an option or was just helping out last night?  I still think we are at least an attacking midfielder and forward cover short but hopefully we can pick up two or three more to bolster the squad, possibly season long loanees from the EFL?  I know Dilly seems to think loanees were Marriotts problem last season but given we only had two and one of them was a keeper I would beg to differ - pre-furlough I would guess we must have had the lowest number of loanees in out squad throughout the NL.