Dave smith

[MR G]

Just watching bbc lunchtime news slot about MOTD 50 years when a clip of dave smith pops up !!

 

[Blueronron]

One of our finest managers and probably one of the best ever teams ever assembled as a 11 man unit, in a day when football was a game for men and not tripping over on slight contact

Cawston, Hadley, Cusack, I could go on but I wont:smile:

 

[ThundersleyShrimper]

The clip is from the Watford away game towards the end of the 1977/78 season (1-1 Moody pen), in those days you got just two games on MOTD and we were the main game!

 

[ChalkwellShrimper]

The clip is from the Watford away game towards the end of the 1977/78 season (1-1 Moody pen), in those days you got just two games on MOTD and we were the main game!

Ok I was still only a small(ish) schoolboy at the time but I was at that game! Infact my first ever away trip. In the Watford end before kick-off with about 200 hundred Shrimpers. Err the Watford boys did not take kindly to our appearance and came over to say hello (we got run). Those were the days and DS was a great manager.

 

[Bobby dazzler]

Ok I was still only a small(ish) schoolboy at the time but I was at that game! Infact my first ever away trip. In the Watford end before kick-off with about 200 hundred Shrimpers. Err the Watford boys did not take kindly to our appearance and came over to say hello (we got run). Those were the days and DS was a great manager.

I was thirteen and it was my 4th away game. I always have held Dave Smith in high esteem Little realizing I would be sporting his natty hair cut many years later :blush:

 

[OldBlueLady]

Went to Watford several times around that period in cup and league games so I would have been there, good old Dave Smith :clap:

 

[DistantBlue]

A Top Top Manager for us
In fact probably in the top 3

 

[Gt Yarmouth Shrimper]

A Top Top Manager for us
In fact probably in the top 3

That is a certainty.:thumbsup:

 

[LCBB72]

The very first game on MOTD was Liverpool v Arsenal , and the first player to touch the ball to kick off was ex Southend player Phil Chisnall , I wonder if he will get a mention on tonights programe .

 

[fbm]

Ok I was still only a small(ish) schoolboy at the time but I was at that game! Infact my first ever away trip. In the Watford end before kick-off with about 200 hundred Shrimpers. Err the Watford boys did not take kindly to our appearance and came over to say hello (we got run). Those were the days and DS was a great manager.

I was 16 and went to the game with the Nat West Bank sports club (I worked for them after leaving school). I remember loads of Watford fans armed with bricks and bottles running down the precinct towards our coach which was stuck in traffic on the underpass. I was window side, looking directly at these loons and expecting a hail of missiles and broken glass any second. Then, just as they got within throwing distance, the coach pulled away. Lucky escape.

 

[ColinMorrisWalksOnWater]

I was there too and after going 1 down, however Moody;s penalty was right in the corner, Great day. Waitung for the coach at the Basildon bowl I seem to remember someone saying we were main game as a relative worked on MOTD...what a dream job!!!!!!

 

[jaffa1]

Yep, it was fairly hairy in the away end that day (pre-segregation). Outside the ground a Watford oik tried to nick my mate Terry's scarf, but he yanked it back with such force and a snarl that the blokes arm popped out of his socket and he scuttled off. IIRC that Dave Smith clip featured in MOTD's opening credits for the following season.

quite hair

Ok I was still only a small(ish) schoolboy at the time but I was at that game! Infact my first ever away trip. In the Watford end before kick-off with about 200 hundred Shrimpers. Err the Watford boys did not take kindly to our appearance and came over to say hello (we got run). Those were the days and DS was a great manager.

 

[Blue Yonder]

One of our finest managers and probably one of the best ever teams ever assembled as a 11 man unit, in a day when football was a game for men and not tripping over on slight contact

Cawston, Hadley, Cusack, I could go on but I wont:smile:

Okay... best team was the one Barry Fry put together that was at the top of the second tier before he shipped out...the early Steve Tilson years was great football with Maher, Gower, Eastwood and Goater... and the Dave Webb team that went through two divisions was extremely effective. That team that Dave Smith took to the fourth tier promotion was a year after he took us down wasn't it ? and it was just League two. Also, wasn't it Dave Smith that dropped Peter Sylvester when he was top scorer and had a great partnership with a beanpole centre forward whose name escapes me. Okay Sylvester must have had an attitude problem to go with his overweight laziness and knackered knees. But he was a proper footballer. Don't remember the Dave Smith era being easy on the eye.

 

[KiwiRob]

Dave Smith was erratic and had his favourites. He was dam luckly to keep his job after taking Southend down to the basement league.He also spent a lot of money. He was mediocre at Southend but very impressive at Mansfield and at Plymouth, his destination after leaving Southend.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Also, wasn't it Dave Smith that dropped Peter Sylvester when he was top scorer and had a great partnership with a beanpole centre forward whose name escapes me. Okay Sylvester must have had an attitude problem to go with his overweight laziness and knackered knees. But he was a proper footballer. Don't remember the Dave Smith era being easy on the eye.

Silvo played alongside Stuart Parker for quite a lot of his time I think, I don't remember him being dropped...but I tend to not have as good a memory for the bad things. I do remember him scoring 4 in one game, a night time game, possibly against Brighton?

Also don't remember him being over weight! :stunned: At least not by those days' standards.

 

[Blue Yonder]

Yes it was Stuart Parker. Thank you ! and there was rioting on the streets when he dropped Sylvester. Well.. that maybe an exaggeration... along with the weight issue. My recollection is that because of injury problems he had to bring 'Silvo' back in and we won at home 4 - 1 . But then again I'm pretty sure I had a date with Michelle Pfeiiffer once.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Yes it was Stuart Parker. Thank you ! and there was rioting on the streets when he dropped Sylvester. Well.. that maybe an exaggeration... along with the weight issue. My recollection is that because of injury problems he had to bring 'Silvo' back in and we won at home 4 - 1 . But then again I'm pretty sure I had a date with Michelle Pfeiiffer once.

S'ok, I kept in touch with Stuart after he left us for a while, and went to Holland. I really don't remember that about Silvo though!

 

[Csboy]

Started following Southend in 1976 when Dave Smith had just been appointed as far as I was concerned he was our only ever manager. A real character who was always happy to chat to fans and who did build a decent team who were not far off promotion to the old 2nd Division in 1982. It was a huge mistake in sacking him in 1983 and we suffered 3 terrible seasons after that.

 

[LCBB72]

Dave Smith and Peter Silvester fell out because Peter used to play football in America in the summer , he returned late and missed preseason training , Dave openly said that Peter loyalty should be for Southend United ,so Peter was soon on his bike .He played about 80 games and scored nearly 40 goals for us .

 

[Blueronron]

Okay... best team was the one Barry Fry put together that was at the top of the second tier before he shipped out...the early Steve Tilson years was great football with Maher, Gower, Eastwood and Goater... and the Dave Webb team that went through two divisions was extremely effective. That team that Dave Smith took to the fourth tier promotion was a year after he took us down wasn't it ? and it was just League two. Also, wasn't it Dave Smith that dropped Peter Sylvester when he was top scorer and had a great partnership with a beanpole centre forward whose name escapes me. Okay Sylvester must have had an attitude problem to go with his overweight laziness and knackered knees. But he was a proper footballer. Don't remember the Dave Smith era being easy on the eye.

He made Roots Hall a fortress, something we lack nowadays

I remember DS as being a very good manager and showing loyalty to players especially Derek Spence who went through a huge barren spell then scored two v Scunthorpe .
Nowadays the forum would have wanted him shipped out, but DS stuck by him
All about views but DS in my eyes was top 2 manager , Tilly the best but as discussed before this is a different topic and has died a death now

Uts