• Welcome to the ShrimperZone forums.
    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which only gives you limited access.

    Existing Users:.
    Please log-in using your existing username and password. If you have any problems, please see below.

    New Users:
    Join our free community now and gain access to post topics, communicate privately with other members, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and free. Click here to join.

    Fans from other clubs
    We welcome and appreciate supporters from other clubs who wish to engage in sensible discussion. Please feel free to join as above but understand that this is a moderated site and those who cannot play nicely will be quickly removed.

    Assistance Required
    For help with the registration process or accessing your account, please send a note using the Contact us link in the footer, please include your account name. We can then provide you with a new password and verification to get you on the site.

With so many 'big' teams in L1 now, will getting good players prove to be impossible?

One of the things that makes this Summer very interesting for me are the apparent contradictions between the thoughts of most of us on here, who seem to be waiting for a repeat of last year ..............no signings and loan deals sorted out at the last moment.
If you remember, this is in contrast with Uncle Ron, who has assured us that he certainly doesn't want a repeat of last Summer, with last minute deals. Why set himself up by saying something like that if he doesn't have the intention to follow it through? The next couple of months could be quite fascinating.
 
I fear it will go the other way.

If you take clubs like Leeds, Saints, Norwich etc they might have smaller budgets than they are used to - but compared to us I would imagine it would be huge.

If were in for the same player as say you, Norwich etc even if we can match the wages the chance to play infront of 40,000 fans etc will swing it.

I also fear even if the wage budget is slashed of the top sides there accademy players will still be good standard.

Until we get FF I dont really see how we can ever compete.

I can see your point (and its not often i can say that ;))

It really is a double edged sword, for most clubs without conferencing facilites etc one of the best ways to make money is to bring kids through. It costs very little to do so, you hope they form a loyalty to the club and there is always the chance if there any good you might get good money for them.

The trouble is that looking at cases like Bostock at Palace. The football league/fa wimped out of making a statement of intent. They could have given clubs a reason for investing in youth setups. As it stands it makes you think twice if you know that vultures could swoop in at any time and almost steal these kids for nothing.

I think personally that there is too much freedom in contracts now, a 1 year contract is almost worthless. That shouldn't be the case, clubs at this level and below shouldn't be being forced into signing players up on 2/3 year deals. Football is more then the big 4 and sadly its not run that way.
 
If Leeds halve their £10m wage bill (which they won't) then they will still have a wage bill which dwarfs ours.

I don't think we can or should write next season off simply because there are a lot of big Clubs but I think it has to alter our approach to the players we bring in this summer. If we spent a million quid on transfer fees this summer, which would please many on here, obviously, we'd still be long-shots for promotion. There are five or six Clubs at this level now which simply have the resources sign the big money players or to pick up the cream of the freebies and we're not one of them.

We won't be able to buy our way out of the division in the way that Colchester or Huddersfield might try. If we're to compete it will be having made three or four astute (cheap?) signings, having a small squad with a good team spirit and trying to take a few bigger clubs by surprise. That's how we have been promoted from this league in the past, too.
 
Last edited:
If Leeds half their £10m wage bill (which they won't) then they will still have a wage bill which dwarfs ours.

I don't think we can or should write next season off simply because there are a lot of big Clubs but I think it has to alter our approach to the players we bring in this summer. If we spent a million quid on transfer fees this summer, which would please many on here, obviously, we'd still be long-shots for promotion. There are five or six Clubs at this level now which simply have the resources sign the big money players or to pick up the cream of the freebies and we're not one of them.

We won't be able to buy our way out of the division in the way that Colchester or Huddersfield might try. If we're to compete it will be having made three or four astute (cheap?) signings, having a small squad with a good team spirit and trying to take a few bigger clubs by surprise. That's how we have been promoted from this league in the past, too.

Spot on.

These clubs being "big" didn't help them stay up in the Championship did it? We've got to play their players (who got them relegated) not their reputation.
 
Colchester spend too much money with crowd of 4000+ most of their players are on Championship wages and players like Matt Lockwood and Gillepie are on 3000k a week, players like Baldwin on more than 2000k a week, how much longer before they enter Admins, if they dont start well and get sh*t gate of 4000k or under.

Scunthrope show the way that smaller club can escape League 1 on smaller budget and smaller gate than us!
 
Colchester spend too much money with crowd of 4000+ most of their players are on Championship wages and players like Matt Lockwood and Gillepie are on 3000k a week, players like Baldwin on more than 2000k a week, how much longer before they enter Admins, if they dont start well and get sh*t gate of 4000k or under.

Scunthrope show the way that smaller club can escape League 1 on smaller budget and smaller gate than us!

I think you need to work on your decimal point otherwise Col Ewe pay their players more than Chelsea, Man Utd & Barcelona put together!
 
Spot on.

These clubs being "big" didn't help them stay up in the Championship did it? We've got to play their players (who got them relegated) not their reputation.

Even more important, these clubs are shedding their high profile, high wage earning 'stars' and will have to replace them with L1 standard players
 
Colchester spend too much money with crowd of 4000+ most of their players are on Championship wages and players like Matt Lockwood and Gillepie are on 3000k a week, players like Baldwin on more than 2000k a week, how much longer before they enter Admins, if they dont start well and get sh*t gate of 4000k or under.

Scunthrope show the way that smaller club can escape League 1 on smaller budget and smaller gate than us!

Good luck to them but I really can't see how you can survive at Championship level with gates between 4 and 6000. Would be very surprised if they are not struggling again next season, to maintain their status.
 
Of course we can compete. Tilly's won promotion twice without being the biggest spender in the division, and Leeds have failed twice since having the most resources. We've just got to be savvy in the transfer market and pick up some bargains - where's the next Hooper, Eastwood, Bailey etc? Having a big transfer budget means FA - we should be glad we've got a manager who's capable of spotting talent, as the majority aren't.
 
Whilst having the likes of Norwich, Southampton, Charlton and Leeds is good for the division because of the away support they will bring, and the good trips out they will be it will definately affect us in terms of players coming into the Club in my opinion.

Even if you take away the fact that certain Clubs like Leeds, Huddersfield etc can offer much more money on wages than us, the possibility to play for a "big" club will be too hard to turn down. If I was a player, taking away my love for Southend, I'd rather play for a "big" club like a Leeds, a Norwich or a Charlton rather than a Southend or a Swindon.
 
Whilst having the likes of Norwich, Southampton, Charlton and Leeds is good for the division because of the away support they will bring, and the good trips out they will be it will definately affect us in terms of players coming into the Club in my opinion.

Even if you take away the fact that certain Clubs like Leeds, Huddersfield etc can offer much more money on wages than us, the possibility to play for a "big" club will be too hard to turn down. If I was a player, taking away my love for Southend, I'd rather play for a "big" club like a Leeds, a Norwich or a Charlton rather than a Southend or a Swindon.

That all depends if they get the chance to play for these clubs. A so called 'big' club might not be after the same targets that we are.
 

ShrimperZone Sponsors

FFM MSPFX Foreign Exchange Services
Estuary Beecham
Andys man club Zone Advertisers Zone Advertisers

ShrimperZone - SUFC Player Sponsorship

Southend United Away Travel


All At Sea Fanzine


Back
Top