Memory Lane Old Photos of Southend United.

[wivs]

Yes,quite correct—you got off lightly if only your shins got damaged.

Only because I managed to avoid his elbows! :winking:

 

[LCBB72]

Hardly surprising as Bill was quite a nasty piece of work as my shins would testify after playing against him numerous times when he played for Rochford Savon in the Sunday league premier after he retired.
Also not forgetting the infamous Southchurch park cricket bat incident. :whistling:

Whey , Hey , Hey Bill Garner .

 

[LCBB72]

I may be doing him a disservice but I seem to recall he was only retained as we had high hopes for his younger brother, Phil.

Non-league, I would imagine.

Believe it or not , Phil moved to Australia and won 20 caps for them if I remember right .

 

[Spenser]

Yes,quite correct—you got off lightly if only your shins got damaged.

Agreed. Bill was a hero of mine when I was a kid. I was disillusioned to say the least when I had the misfortune to play against him some years later !

 

[mfurok]

Believe it or not , Phil moved to Australia and won 20 caps for them if I remember right .

You must have read LB Blue's post.............

 

[LCBB72]

You must have read LB Blue's post.............

No I just remembered it .

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Francis Laurent. One of Southend's strangest players. He could look absolutely brilliant one minute, with good balance, touch and trickery, the next it would be the opposite, bambi on ice, poor touch and give the ball away. When it clicked tho, he was an exciting player.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Francis Laurent. One of Southend's strangest players. He could look absolutely brilliant one minute, with good balance, touch and trickery, the next it would be the opposite, bambi on ice, poor touch and give the ball away. When it clicked tho, he was an exciting player.

I remember a game up at Stockport where he absolutely ripped them to pieces - what is notable from that video is the understanding he had with Christophe and Moussa.

 

[mfurok]

I remember a game up at Stockport where he absolutely ripped them to pieces - what is notable from that video is the understanding he had with Christophe and Moussa.

Spot on (not the bit about Moussa and Christophe obviously).

Stockport away and Leeds at home were his two best games.

What a strange mixture.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Quite enjoyable this one. Hull City away Sat 21st Oct 2000. We finish 11th in the bottom Division. Little wonder with joint top scorers Ben Abbey and David Lee. POTS was Kevin Maher. Showing here that he could pass the ball forward. We had 3 Managers that season. Can you name them? Easy for some of you.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

It just shows how hard it is to make it to become a regular player in the top four leagues. This is 2009 and we had what was thought to be a good youth team. Not many of these have made it tho. Dominic Poleon is doing well and still seems to be improving.

 

[* ORM *]

Here is a picture of the Roots Hall site before the stadium was built:

These were serving in the Blue Boar last time Napster bought a round.

 

[Suffolk Shrimper In Dorset]

Just posted this up on the SUEPA FB page but for those that don't get there (shame on you) here it is:


In our latest newsletter to the ex player members we have started a 'Quickfire 5' Q&A series with SUEPA members. This is a great one from Derrick Parker involving our old trainer John Lattimer which we thought you'd like to see (we are liaising with the All At Sea Fanzine to publish the full Q&A's there but will from time to time put up some snippets here too). Anyway, here it is:
"SUEPA: Can you tell us any funny stories from your playing days either whilst at Southend or elsewhere?
Derrick: I can remember losing a home match on a Friday night (to Reading I think) and Dave Smith and John Lattimer tore into us afterwards. We had another home game on the Monday night and we were told in no uncertain terms to improve.
However, when we arrived for a short training session at Roots Hall on Monday morning we found the match was called off due to the icy conditions. Smithy, still angry from Friday’s performance, told “Latty” to run us and make us sweat. This was heaven to Latty who used to love slagging us off and took Smithy’s orders with great delight. He was determined to make us suffer and he was having no messing about! He set us off to do a couple of laps of the pitch and then said we all had to line up facing the low wall behind the goal and we would do step-ups on the wall. BUT he wanted proper good step-ups and he would now show us how a good step-up should be done!
He then approached the wall and placed his left foot on top of the wall and started to lift his right foot off the ground. But remember, it was icy! Latty’s left foot slipped off the wall as he was lifting his right foot from the ground. He then disappeared head first, arms flailing, behind the wall into the bottom of the terraces - pure slapstick! We tried, for a couple of seconds, to contain ourselves, but it was impossible to do so as he clambered back over the wall. Ronnie Pountney just ran on to the pitch, pulled his tracksuit top over his head and lay on the penalty spot laughing, shoulders rocking for a good five minutes. Forget any of the goals I scored in my career, that is one moment I wish had been video-taped!"

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

Just posted this up on the SUEPA FB page but for those that don't get there (shame on you) here it is:
View attachment 5243

In our latest newsletter to the ex player members we have started a 'Quickfire 5' Q&A series with SUEPA members. This is a great one from Derrick Parker involving our old trainer John Lattimer which we thought you'd like to see (we are liaising with the All At Sea Fanzine to publish the full Q&A's there but will from time to time put up some snippets here too). Anyway, here it is:
"SUEPA: Can you tell us any funny stories from your playing days either whilst at Southend or elsewhere?
Derrick: I can remember losing a home match on a Friday night (to Reading I think) and Dave Smith and John Lattimer tore into us afterwards. We had another home game on the Monday night and we were told in no uncertain terms to improve.
However, when we arrived for a short training session at Roots Hall on Monday morning we found the match was called off due to the icy conditions. Smithy, still angry from Friday’s performance, told “Latty” to run us and make us sweat. This was heaven to Latty who used to love slagging us off and took Smithy’s orders with great delight. He was determined to make us suffer and he was having no messing about! He set us off to do a couple of laps of the pitch and then said we all had to line up facing the low wall behind the goal and we would do step-ups on the wall. BUT he wanted proper good step-ups and he would now show us how a good step-up should be done!
He then approached the wall and placed his left foot on top of the wall and started to lift his right foot off the ground. But remember, it was icy! Latty’s left foot slipped off the wall as he was lifting his right foot from the ground. He then disappeared head first, arms flailing, behind the wall into the bottom of the terraces - pure slapstick! We tried, for a couple of seconds, to contain ourselves, but it was impossible to do so as he clambered back over the wall. Ronnie Pountney just ran on to the pitch, pulled his tracksuit top over his head and lay on the penalty spot laughing, shoulders rocking for a good five minutes. Forget any of the goals I scored in my career, that is one moment I wish had been video-taped!"

Brilliant!. Went to John when he had his Physio clinic in Sutton Rd in mid 80's with a knee problem, when running Marathons.
Thought he was a great guy, knew his stuff, and sorted my knee out.
During our chats, he said that after we had lost a couple of games, players confidence went, and they came to him claiming they had all sorts of injuries!.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Just posted this up on the SUEPA FB page but for those that don't get there (shame on you) here it is:
View attachment 5243

In our latest newsletter to the ex player members we have started a 'Quickfire 5' Q&A series with SUEPA members. This is a great one from Derrick Parker involving our old trainer John Lattimer which we thought you'd like to see (we are liaising with the All At Sea Fanzine to publish the full Q&A's there but will from time to time put up some snippets here too). Anyway, here it is:
"SUEPA: Can you tell us any funny stories from your playing days either whilst at Southend or elsewhere?
Derrick: I can remember losing a home match on a Friday night (to Reading I think) and Dave Smith and John Lattimer tore into us afterwards. We had another home game on the Monday night and we were told in no uncertain terms to improve.
However, when we arrived for a short training session at Roots Hall on Monday morning we found the match was called off due to the icy conditions. Smithy, still angry from Friday’s performance, told “Latty” to run us and make us sweat. This was heaven to Latty who used to love slagging us off and took Smithy’s orders with great delight. He was determined to make us suffer and he was having no messing about! He set us off to do a couple of laps of the pitch and then said we all had to line up facing the low wall behind the goal and we would do step-ups on the wall. BUT he wanted proper good step-ups and he would now show us how a good step-up should be done!
He then approached the wall and placed his left foot on top of the wall and started to lift his right foot off the ground. But remember, it was icy! Latty’s left foot slipped off the wall as he was lifting his right foot from the ground. He then disappeared head first, arms flailing, behind the wall into the bottom of the terraces - pure slapstick! We tried, for a couple of seconds, to contain ourselves, but it was impossible to do so as he clambered back over the wall. Ronnie Pountney just ran on to the pitch, pulled his tracksuit top over his head and lay on the penalty spot laughing, shoulders rocking for a good five minutes. Forget any of the goals I scored in my career, that is one moment I wish had been video-taped!"

If the Friday game v Reading was on Fri 13th Jan 1978 (2 nil Reading) then the extra training must have worked wonders for the team as we won the next 6 games in the League after that including a 5 nil win a 5-1 win and a 4-2 win and of course won promotion that season.

 

[Nick Prawnby]

Good Friday 1973, 20th April

 

[LBBlue]

Good Friday 1973, 20th April View attachment 5246

Chris Guthrie was still 19 when he got that hat trick. Shayon Harrison is 21 in July. How on earth are young players taught the game these days? Guthrie was much much better.

 

[mfurok]

Chris Guthrie was still 19 when he got that hat trick. Shayon Harrison is 21 in July. How on earth are young players taught the game these days? Guthrie was much much better.

Good point squire but rather different type of players.

Chris Guthrie was a big unit from an early age whereas Shayon is still far too lightweight for our level of football.

He may have the skills needed but he is unlikely to deliver consistently until he bulks up, toughens up a bit and gives it 100 per cent effort in every game.

 

[Nick Prawnby]

Easter Saturday 1973, April 21 Blues 5-1 Chesterfield

 

[LCBB72]

Easter Saturday 1973, April 21 Blues 5-1 ChesterfieldView attachment 5247

King Billy Best last goal at Roots Hall .:sad: