Southend (21st August)

[Mallard]

Malc,  I think Culverhouse has had a little to do with where we are. Let’s not forget when IC left Our owner appointed Simon Clark to take us further along in the pyramid. We all know how that turned out.   Thankfully Robbie Back not only steadied a sinking ship but he also managed to get Culverhouse to come back.

[happymondays]

Nailed it Nikki

[dillydilly]

Just watched the highlights, and was surprised.  IC has brought in some decent players.  The GK did very well, and Maria’s Andy Rowley looked very useful additions.  Dillification may have been a little pessimistic, S the team actually looked nippy and mobile.  Big support from locals justified for future games,….

[northwootton]

Hands up anyone who really believes the current position is sustainable.  Obviously Mr Hill does - anyone else apart from the owner?  “Investing” money in the club now is putting good money after bad I fear.  Sums raised by The Friends, believe me, won’t even scratch the surface.  The current scenario has been played out many times before by others and it only ends one way.  When that will be is anyone’s guess, but in my opinion it will be sooner rather than later.  Let’s hope I’m wrong.  Not so sure that the well know phrase “every little helps” is applicable in this case. Any other views?

[happymondays]

Totally agree the debt is too big to now address so its being brushed undert the carpet. There is no transparency within the club with the accounts etc.So we are now in a position of charging the highest admission in the league , delivering a poor matchday experience and a threat of the powers that be doing a moonlight flit anytime soon.

[Blue_and_Gold]

Hands up anyone who really believes the current position is sustainable.  Obviously Mr Hill does - anyone else apart from the owner? 

I wouldn't put any money on it that even the owner believes that!   

[TonyM]

Hands up anyone who really believes the current position is sustainable.  Obviously Mr Hill does - anyone else apart from the owner?  “Investing” money in the club now is putting good money after bad I fear.  Sums raised by The Friends, believe me, won’t even scratch the surface.  The current scenario has been played out many times before by others and it only ends one way.  When that will be is anyone’s guess, but in my opinion it will be sooner rather than later.  Let’s hope I’m wrong.  Not so sure that the well know phrase “every little helps” is applicable in this case. Any other views?

This will sound hypocritical but I completely agree with your analysis whilst also having signed up to the 12th Man scheme because I believe in IC and his squad and it is my eyes a (very, very small) way of showing a bit of extra support (and yes, I know the money all goes to the financial black hole that is 'the club').  That is the lot of a football fan, even after the so-called reset of COVID doing completely irrational things in the name of supporting the club.  Unfortunately we find ourselves at step 1 without the resources or infrastructure to support that level and, it increasing appears to be, very little idea of how we might move towards getting the structures and finance in place to even support step 2.

[Ytsejam]

Hands up anyone who really believes the current position is sustainable.  Obviously Mr Hill does - anyone else apart from the owner?  “Investing” money in the club now is putting good money after bad I fear.  Sums raised by The Friends, believe me, won’t even scratch the surface.  The current scenario has been played out many times before by others and it only ends one way.  When that will be is anyone’s guess, but in my opinion it will be sooner rather than later.  Let’s hope I’m wrong.  Not so sure that the well know phrase “every little helps” is applicable in this case. Any other views?

That is so sad but TRUE!!
The crowds are not going to be enough to sustain the club. We can’t expect away numbers like Saturday too often during the season and even 1500 home fans each week (which with the admission price isn’t going to happen) is not going to be anywhere near enough.
For me too sadly, it’s just a matter of when, not if, the ‘big bang’ happens 😞

[KES80]

Yes, it is a major concern..........but what can we do..........the sums involved are vast and without a decent Cup run and a Commercial Director to get a couple of major sponsors on board or a complete sell out to someone extremely rich, it's difficult to see the situation improving.

I have just decided to stay in the moment and enjoy each matchday when it comes............hurrah my Southend match programme has just come through the door !

[dillydilly]

My last piste was incomprehensible due to typos that I didn’t check.  So, just to say, the highlights surprised me.  I agree with KES andd others that we looked like a NL side.  We were a lot more cohesive and “nippy”, ( dare I say).  The GK looked good, though the whole game might have shown that he didn’t come for crosses.  Morals and Rowley looked the nipsters we’ve lacked, and that will be even better if we include Gyasi with them.  A friend who went told me it was poor, but he only likes 50s FA Cup type football, the ball lumped up to big ugly strikers with no teeth.  We can be ok, if we keep picking mobile, not stodgy teams.  The fans will return, if and when we win a couple….

[KES80]

I see Wealdstone's ticket allocation to Southend, when Southend visit The Vale is set at 800. All tickets sent to the Southend club, for them to give out before the game.

No ticket sales for any fans on matchday

[Grissles Oleary]

Nicki when you say who don’t like S C on what do you base it on ,have you met the man who has taken our team to where we are today, I for one never thought our team would be playing the likes of Chesterfield and Notts County if you would have said to me 10 seasons ago we would be playing in the conference I would have said that will never happen but here we are and a professional team and the man you don’t like has got us there

He couldn't have got the team there without the fans,their cash has probably matched his? Could slightly change the words to the song, You'll get by with a little help from your friends.

[KES80]

Also in IC's words....the crowd at The Walks has driven us on to where we are now or similar........which given the emphasis Southend have put on their crowd making the difference on Saturday begs an important question  :

Do you limit the away support and put more emphasis on giving the team the benefit of feeling they have got a passionate home crowd( who outnumber the away support) behind them...or do you sell out and  partly sacrifice home advantage for immediate cash.

[happymondays]

Away fans are a must and the more the better as they create the buzz everybody knows that.Equally they should be segregated and catered for correctlyI.Its the powers that run our clubs job to get our support at a steady 2.500 every game.
It's really not rocket science how to achieve this.

[Blue_and_Gold]

............. here we are and a professional team and the man you don’t like has got us there

I think the supporters have also played a massive part in getting us where we are. Without sufficient support,  Football Clubs are nothing and will ultimately fail.

Any Football Club Chairman that chooses to ignore supporters rather than engage with them, will have to accept that sooner or later.

Common sense?