Howard Southwood

[Napster]

Is he right?

WAS very surprised to read in Echosport (July 10) Andy Thorne’s (who he?)comments about former Blues supremo Vic Jobson.

To tie Jobson in with Anton Johnson was grossly unfair and, although he was an outspoken and controversial figure at times, he still presided over one of the most successful periods in the club’s history.

Who can forget the combination of Jobson and manager David Webb and all they achieved on the pitch — taking the team out of the then division three for the first t ime in Southend’s history.
They went into what is now known as the Championship and memorably beat Newcastle on New Year’s Day to go top of the table for an all too short a period.
Sure, Jobson rubbed some people up the wrong way, myself included, but we should not forget that the new stadium was a dream he had and one he first instigated and which has subsequently been taken up by the current owner.
Jobson was responsible for buying the Boots and Laces training ground site and earmarking that for what is now the planned development.
If you look back at some of the players the club signed during the Jobson era the quality was there for all to see and put together on a far lower crowd support than today.
And quality on the pitch is what it’s all about and what is sadly missing in the current squad and with the hierachy baulking at paying a mere £50,000 for a young player Michael Raynes that Steve Tilson feels could fill his huge defensive hole then it doesn’t look as if the ambition of Ron Martin and co matches that of the long-suffering fans.
As I have said before it’s no good having the best stadium in the country without a team playing at a level to sustain it and unhappily without some investment and proper team-building that just won’t happen . . . I truly fear for the future.
Howard Southwood via e-mail, Canewdon

 

[Kenny]

Is he right?

If you look back at some of the players the club signed during the Jobson era the quality was there for all to see and put together on a far lower crowd support than today.

Signing such quality players on lower crowds had such a wonderful effect on our balance sheet as well.

 

[NZamba Legend]

Have we actually signed this Southwood bloke or is he on trial?

 

[Kenny]

Have we actually signed this Southwood bloke or is he on trial?

I thnk he's here as cover in case Parmenter gets injured.

 

[dloman]

I guess the answer is Yes and no really. To tie him in with Johnson is unfair and as Howard said the team and boots and laces part are absolutely correct.

 

[EastStandBlue]

What's he like on Football Manager?

 

[Napster]

What's he like on Football Manager?

20 in experience, and passing (the buck)

 

[Firestorm]

If you look back at some of the players the club signed during the Jobson era the quality was there for all to see and put together on a far lower crowd support than today.
And quality on the pitch is what it’s all about and what is sadly missing in the current squad and with the hierachy baulking at paying a mere £50,000 for a young player Michael Raynes that Steve Tilson feels could fill his huge defensive hole then it doesn’t look as if the ambition of Ron Martin and co matches that of the long-suffering fans

Could the 2nd paragraph be a direct result of the first ?

As for " but we should not forget that the new stadium was a dream he had and one he first instigated and which has subsequently been taken up by the current owner.
Jobson was responsible for buying the Boots and Laces training ground site and earmarking that for what is now the planned development. "

The applications for a new stadium completely alienated the council against SUFC and the whole idea fell so flat there was talk of Basildon

yeah, and who sold the thing ? Also the fans gave him RH and he later sold it.

Yes Jobson had short term success, that there is no doubt, but the cost of that success nearly killed the club .

 

[leeblue]

the way jobson ran the club almost saw us go out of business, we almost had no club whatsoever, yes we had some good times under jobson and he was largely responsible for saving the club in the eighties, but the days of paying 500,000 pounds for mike marsh and players like jerome boere on big money well and truly stuffed us up. Being prudent with what little money we do have is not a bad thing IMO, southwood was never my favourite journo when he used to write in the echo and I disagree strongly with a lot of what he has said there.

 

[Southend Neil]

He does make some valid points on the Jobson era however it is right to say that he completely lost control at the end as he presided over the disastrous excesses of the Whelan and Martin era.

However it is ridiculous for Southwood to describe us as 'long suffering fans'. Does he want the Premiership or something, we have just been through 5 of the most successful years we have ever had.

 

[number11]

A general question to those with a bit more knowledge on the financial side of things at Southend..... If Jobson had not embarked on the crazy spell at the end of his tenure - bringing in likes of Rammell, Boere, Marsh, Whelan etc....so say up to the Taylor era, would his stewardship have been sustainable.

From the late 80's early 90's we would pay £100,000 for a player without it really being big news. Now if we signed someone for that we would expect great things. Was it those later years that brought the club to almost ruin or did they merely bring forward what would have happened anyway?

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

He does make some valid points on the Jobson era however it is right to say that he completely lost control at the end as he presided over the disastrous excesses of the Whelan and Martin era.

However it is ridiculous for Southwood to describe us as 'long suffering fans'. Does he want the Premiership or something, we have just been through 5 of the most successful years we have ever had.

I assumed the long suffering bit referred to putting up with Southwood's journalism.

 

[Kent Shrimper]

Is he right?

WAS very surprised to read in Echosport (July 10) Andy Thorne’s (who he?)comments about former Blues supremo Vic Jobson.

To tie Jobson in with Anton Johnson was grossly unfair and, although he was an outspoken and controversial figure at times, he still presided over one of the most successful periods in the club’s history.

Who can forget the combination of Jobson and manager David Webb and all they achieved on the pitch — taking the team out of the then division three for the first t ime in Southend’s history.
They went into what is now known as the Championship and memorably beat Newcastle on New Year’s Day to go top of the table for an all too short a period.
Sure, Jobson rubbed some people up the wrong way, myself included, but we should not forget that the new stadium was a dream he had and one he first instigated and which has subsequently been taken up by the current owner.
Jobson was responsible for buying the Boots and Laces training ground site and earmarking that for what is now the planned development.
If you look back at some of the players the club signed during the Jobson era the quality was there for all to see and put together on a far lower crowd support than today.
And quality on the pitch is what it’s all about and what is sadly missing in the current squad and with the hierachy baulking at paying a mere £50,000 for a young player Michael Raynes that Steve Tilson feels could fill his huge defensive hole then it doesn’t look as if the ambition of Ron Martin and co matches that of the long-suffering fans.
As I have said before it’s no good having the best stadium in the country without a team playing at a level to sustain it and unhappily without some investment and proper team-building that just won’t happen . . . I truly fear for the future.
Howard Southwood via e-mail, Canewdon

Thats me Naps and i wrote a reply to some letters in the echo after reading some of the moaning about how bad Ron is as a Chairman, i think one of the funniest things that Howard mentions is how Jobson / Webb partnership was successful, that's the same Jobson that stiched Webby up in a Board meeting and left him no position other than to resign. Nice one Southwood!!!

 

[fbm]

There's one key thing to remember here. Without Vic Jobson, we would have no club.

He was necessary at the beginning of his reign. He was always one for the media and would take any interview going. The way he viewed it was the fact that it was he who saved the club, he who put most money into it, he who worked 18 hours a day for the club and so he would run it exactly how he thought it should be run.

In fairness, there isn't really a lot wrong with that principle. I'm sure if any of us put a few hundred thousand of our hard earned dosh into the club we'd all get the hump if we had thousands of people telling us what to do with it.

Any road up, I'm sure Vic's illness at the end probably affected his judgement. But I also know for a fact that what he wanted was success for this club and to get as far up the football ladder as possible to embarrass the bigger clubs who wanted to take action to stop "smaller" teams like us taking a slice of the pie. I'm sure it was Freddy Shepherd at Newcastle who was actively advocating no relegation from the Premiership and paying no heed whatsoever to the lesser teams. How ironic that that very club are now in such crisis and I would absolutely love it, really would love it (see what I did there?) for Newcastle to do a Leeds and wallow in the lower echelons of the league for a bit.

 

[Kent Shrimper]

In fairness, there isn't really a lot wrong with that principle. I'm sure if any of us took a few hundred thousand of the supporters / sponsors / transfer fees hard earned dosh out of the club we'd all be happy

.

Edited for Accuracy

 

[Napster]

Thats me Naps !

I know mate.

 

[Csboy]

I always thought that the success we had when Jobson was Chairman was despite him not because of him. He drove away the best managers in Webb,Fry and Thompson alienated the fans and a deep mistrust between fans and the board went on for years and lost a lot of fans who were fed up with Jobson's iron grip on the club and his 'I am always right and if you don't like it f**k off' attitude'.

Had Ron Martin been chairman back then who knows what we might have achieved. Maybe one year in the Premiership and a new ground years ago.

Jobson did save the club with help from Bates and Maxwell back in 1985 but he nearly destroyed the club after that which took the best part of 10 years to recover from.