A Bit of Fun Sliding Doors moment

[Yorkshire Blue]

But we weren’t.

If we went down vs Sunderland, I’d have liked to have thought that Bond would have been gone straight away and we’d have had a better pool of managers to pick from. Maybe it would have been the kick up the arse that the club needed to have a bit of reset.

Ultimately, we’ll never know how things would have panned out, but it always felt to me as if that wasn’t what the club needed in terms of survival. Don’t get me wrong, I celebrated like everyone else, but I think the club felt they wouldn’t be in that position again, and didn’t do things properly.

Who knows.

That Walsall game where Hopper went off injured, then Coker too, did “kill” us at the time. That Taylor Moore own goal too is another good call.

Maybe it would have been the kick up the arse but I also think there was a very strong possibility Ron gets the appointment wrong. Personally I was all for finding a different manager even after staying up. I do think there was a lot wrong with the club that even a good manager would have struggled with.

Another sliding doors moment would be what happened if the Dutch investment had gone ahead. Kuyt, Larsson, Tommy Johnson etc.

I’ve never been as deflated after a win as that Walsall game. It felt like a defeat. Not just Hopper but Harry Lennon broke his leg (and still tried to play on).

Covid. Getting relegated when safety was still possible. The league should have been abandoned for that season. No promotion or relegation.

A record low points tally was more likely than safety!

The rot started when Rubin Snr passed away.

Although our best seasons were all after this and we twice made it to the Championship.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Selling Lee Barnard to Southampton was a pivotal point for me.

 

[Whispering Bob]

For me it was Barry Fry joining Birmingham for thirty pieces of silver.

 

[Firestorm]

Webby leaving in 92, we had a great chance of being a founder members of the. premier league

 

[cerbera45]

Webby leaving in 92, we had a great chance of being a founder members of the. premier league

I read/heard somewhere it was a fallout with Uncle Vic over a potential new signing?

 

[Shrimp and two veg]

For me it was Barry Fry joining Birmingham for thirty pieces of silver.

This x five.
Never felt so deflated.

 

[in the know]

I blame my mum (now sadly long gone) for living in southend and giving birth to me there, thereby appointing my team for life. If only my parents had moved to Liverpool or madrid before having me.....

 

[annie1954]

I read/heard somewhere it was a fallout with Uncle Vic over a potential new signing?

One rumour at the time was Paul Walsh at spurs and another player ( can’t remember) had agreed to come to Southend on loan but uncle vic wouldn’t pay up for them

 

[Tampa Blue]

For me it was Steven Humphries last minute winner when he came off the bench to score the winning goal for Southend in a 2–1 win over Sunderland.

Euphoria at the time but it kept Kevin Bond in a job and unsurprisingly we then endured a run of six defeats at the start of the 2019–20 season.

If we hadn't beaten Sunderland then we would have had a different manager at the start of the 2019–20 season and who knows what would have happened.

 

[BluBayou]

I can't help but wonder what would have happened if the club had been sold to anyone but Anton Johnson. If we had got a decent owner at that point, somebody dedicated to the club and capable of crisis management, perhaps we would still have our South Bank. Imagine where we would be now when it comes to redeveloping Roots Hall?

I'm aware it was Vic that sold the South Bank though.

All water under the bridge now.

 

[Napster]

Although our best seasons were all after this and we twice made it to the Championship.

Sure- but the fans / local community were but an afterthought from this point hence. The supporters club was at one point the largest in the country. The fans helped build the stadium. But then the Rubins saw pound signs and that was it. One bad chairman after another.

 

[Fairport]

The rot started when Rubin Snr passed away.

Good call. Bill Rubin was a bit tight with the purse strings but he would never have got the club into a financial mess. I remember that he used to buy property on behalf of the club an investment that we could have dipped into if things were going wrong.

 

[LCBB72]

One rumour at the time was Paul Walsh at spurs and another player ( can’t remember) had agreed to come to Southend on loan but uncle vic wouldn’t pay up for them

 

[LCBB72]

David Webb wanted to sign a player from QPR who was not a first team regular but David Webb said the player would guarantee promotion but Vic said no . The player was a certian Les Ferdinand .

 

[LCBB72]

all been downhill since that day we lost a manager and 3 of our best players to the shagger from Birmingham, never forgiven him or her or Birmingham for that

Please refer to him by his name 'The Fat Judus' .

 

[Rob1920]

I agree with the first post. Tom Hopper’s injury for me, on the pitch at least. However, whatever division we ended up in, Ron’s financial meltdown and inability to get Fossetts off the ground would have led eventually to the situation we found ourselves 18 months or so ago. But maybe we’d have stayed in the league. You could go further back to the stock market crash that resulted in funding being pulled for the new stadium at a time when we had full planning permission. Had that all gone through we could be a very different club now. Who knows.

 

[stewart]

Please refer to him by his name 'The Fat Judus' .

The shagger was not the fat Judas but the shagger in charge at Birmingham.

 

[manor15]

Signing Charlie MacDonald to replace Freddy Eastwood.

And spending big to gamble on going straight back up starting the season with a frontline of Charlie MacDonald, Matt Harrold, Gary Hooper and Alex Revell.

We could’ve really consolidated as a strong League One side without being silly with money and built back slowly. Instead we blew it and almost went bust 2 years later.

 

[PIERS]

I blame my mum (now sadly long gone) for living in southend and giving birth to me there, thereby appointing my team for life. If only my parents had moved to Liverpool or madrid before having me.....

You just know you it would have been an Everton family though

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Signing Charlie MacDonald to replace Freddy Eastwood.

And spending big to gamble on going straight back up starting the season with a frontline of Charlie MacDonald, Matt Harrold, Gary Hooper and Alex Revell.

We could’ve really consolidated as a strong League One side without being silly with money and built back slowly. Instead we blew it and almost went bust 2 years later.

The issue was at the back. We were the third highest scorers that season but conceded only 8 less than bottom of the table Luton….