Barrett wasn't a Southend great.
He was half the player Spencer Prior was (and was also half that player without Prior alongside him).
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Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1-0 Lincoln City
- Thread starter Cricko
- Start date
Barrett wasn't a Southend great.
He was half the player Spencer Prior was (and was also half that player without Prior alongside him).
Rob Noxious
Retro Supremo⭐
Trust you to espy the flaw in my emboldenment! :smile: I'm pretty sure that his attachment to the club cannot be denied though and I suspect he would have been here for the long haul in different economic circumstances.
Beefy
Life President
I'd consider Barrett a Southend great. Regardless of his his ability, he will go down as a Club legend, IMO. I'd put him alongside someone like Kevin Maher. Both were decent lower-league players with fundamental flaws to their game which stopped them from playing at the sort of level that a Spencer Prior or a Chris Powell reached, but in terms of the intangibles that they brought to the side and the way that they personified the Club they will both be remembered for a very long time.
But the fact that Adam Barrett was here last year doesn't mean that 09/10's squad was a bunch of local lads playing for the shirt because they were not. They were professional footballers from across the British Isles (and beyond) who were playing for Southend United because they happened to pay their wages. When the money stopped then so did their effort (quite understandably). It seems like the way events panned out has somehow romanticised that group of footballers as being 18 saints - just local lads who had dreamed all their lives of wearing the sacred blue and white. They weren't.
But the fact that Adam Barrett was here last year doesn't mean that 09/10's squad was a bunch of local lads playing for the shirt because they were not. They were professional footballers from across the British Isles (and beyond) who were playing for Southend United because they happened to pay their wages. When the money stopped then so did their effort (quite understandably). It seems like the way events panned out has somehow romanticised that group of footballers as being 18 saints - just local lads who had dreamed all their lives of wearing the sacred blue and white. They weren't.
john
Newbie
I'm new to this site and am assuming there's already a thread somewhere that concentrates on Blair Sturrock bashing, and so I'll be told to go to that thread? I think he's truly awful, and I wonder how much we'll be throwing away by losing Paterson and Spencer just so the manager can play his own son (more something that would be associated with Sunday league that a professional club!).
I also worry that Sturrock's brand of football will turn away lots of season ticket holders for next season, and the club will therefore lose a fair amount of much needed income. If you compare attendances to the Wignall era (when we played similar football at the same level), then the loss of fans will probably be as much as 1500 per game, amounting to a loss in revenue of £500k per season, which is just what we need, isn't it?
Pringello ratings below:
Morris - 7 - absolutely nothing to do, so don't want to mark him down unnecessarily!
Clohessey - 6
Gilbert - 6
Mohsni - 7
Barker - 8
Grant - 6 - doesn't look so comfortable in the deeper role
Timlin - 5
Simpson - 5
Hall - 7 - created the goal with great cross, but did little thereafter
Corr - 7 - good header and won lots of ball. Badly missed once injured.
Sturrock - 4 - Two intelligent cross field passes, in fairness, but won nothing, terrible touch, gave lots of ball away, couldn't finish when put 15 yards clear on goal (someone earlier says it wouldn't sit up for him...he needed to nod it down for himself but didn't have the confidence (or ability) to do it), and was shown up even more so once we lost Corr
Jarvis - 5 - send him back to Cardiff, I'd rather we gave our own players (Spencer and Paterson) some games
Crawford - 7 - had done more in 5 minutes than Sturrock in 70. Looks a good prospect at just 18.
Soares - 5
I also worry that Sturrock's brand of football will turn away lots of season ticket holders for next season, and the club will therefore lose a fair amount of much needed income. If you compare attendances to the Wignall era (when we played similar football at the same level), then the loss of fans will probably be as much as 1500 per game, amounting to a loss in revenue of £500k per season, which is just what we need, isn't it?
Pringello ratings below:
Morris - 7 - absolutely nothing to do, so don't want to mark him down unnecessarily!
Clohessey - 6
Gilbert - 6
Mohsni - 7
Barker - 8
Grant - 6 - doesn't look so comfortable in the deeper role
Timlin - 5
Simpson - 5
Hall - 7 - created the goal with great cross, but did little thereafter
Corr - 7 - good header and won lots of ball. Badly missed once injured.
Sturrock - 4 - Two intelligent cross field passes, in fairness, but won nothing, terrible touch, gave lots of ball away, couldn't finish when put 15 yards clear on goal (someone earlier says it wouldn't sit up for him...he needed to nod it down for himself but didn't have the confidence (or ability) to do it), and was shown up even more so once we lost Corr
Jarvis - 5 - send him back to Cardiff, I'd rather we gave our own players (Spencer and Paterson) some games
Crawford - 7 - had done more in 5 minutes than Sturrock in 70. Looks a good prospect at just 18.
Soares - 5
leeblue
Members⭐🦐
pretty spot on there apart from the jarvis comment, he showed more than I have ever seen from patterson (bristol city apart) patterson looks weak/slow/low on confidence, jarvis looked strong, up for it and some skill too. Spencer I still not sure about, he showed last season he can score, but in general he looks rubbish.
Beefy
Life President
There have been many and there will be many more in the future, no doubt.
Pubey
Guest
Whoops I forgot my mark for TBV - 8/10 for me. I really liked "I will follow him" for Blair Sturrock, and it got a good laugh from him. Also it was great to hear "Paul Sturrock's barmy army" being sung for ages, without a hint of irony. Good effort lads.
I expect this to be completely misinterpreted, but here goes....
Maybe I'm being harsh when I question whether he really is Southend through and through. Maybe Barrett does represent Southend United. After all, many people (a majority?) who now attend (or would like to attend) Roots Hall grew up supporting other clubs and only converted to Southend later in life.
I'm led to believe that Barrett was a West Ham fan as a kid; he then started his career at Orient - supposedly bitter rivals of ours (but then maybe I'm not a true fan either as I don't get the Orient rivalry).
He certainly has strong ties to the area, but that isn't necessarily the same as supporting the club (on that note Tilly was actually a Leeds fan). I suspect Barrett was attracted back to the area, far more than to the club. I suspect he primarily wanted a job close to friends and family rather than to play for SUFC per se (not that there's anything wrong with that).
Having come to the club I have no problem in saying that he gave his all and was a wholehearted player who desperately wanted us to succeed. From what I've heard he has gone above and beyond the call of duty in the community representing the club. He's given far more to the club than I will probably ever give (although balanced against that, he's taken out far more from the club than I ever will), but despite all this I still don't think he bleeds pure blue (and yellow) blood so I feel uncomfortable when he is held up as the epitome of the club. I think that is people projecting their aspirations onto him, as Beefy says he's been romanticised into someone who dreamt his whole life of only ever wearing the scared blue and white (I'd say yellow, and benig that generation if Barrett had truly grown up a Southend fan, instead of he'd have said yellow as well), but I suppose if that isn't what a legend is, what is?
Beefy
Life President
I don't think Barrett has ever hidden anything about his pre-Southend life. He grew up around Southend so I'm sure plenty of people remember him from growing up. He was a West Ham fan who watched the odd match at Roots Hall. Even if he had been a 100% true Shrimper that shouldn't have stopped him taking the opportunity that Orient gave him. Robbie Fowler and Jamie Carragher are Everton fans. Carragher even has an Everton tattoo.
Southend were still his local club growing up and I defy anyone to say that he ever gave anything less than his best for us. He gave his best for Plymouth, Mansfield and Bristol Rovers too, of course. He's just that kind of character.
Southend were still his local club growing up and I defy anyone to say that he ever gave anything less than his best for us. He gave his best for Plymouth, Mansfield and Bristol Rovers too, of course. He's just that kind of character.
EastStandBlue
Life President
That's one of those old football fables that isn't true, I'm afraid, although he probably wishes he was playing for Everton right now...
Pubey
Guest
pity, i thought that rumour was true too. It is true that he doesn't have a belly-button though.
sky240286
Schoolboy
Spot on! Crawford in particular stood out for me when he came on, in what was a nervous second half.
fbm
Blue tinted optimist⭐🦐
Whilst I don't deny that Sturrock senior can probably see more plusses in Sturrock juniors performances than maybe other managers, I really do not consider that a manager with the pedigree Sturrock has would pass over players obviously better than Blair just so he "play his own son".
I think it's more down to the fact that he doesn't rate Spencer and Paterson.
But be honest - what on earth would Paul Sturrock, an established international striker and experienced respected lower league manager know about strikers?
:duh:
Yeah, but it was for Scotland.
Personally I'm enjoying watching Blair Sturrock play. It's rare at Southend that we get to watch someone with a footballing brain and I'm getting real pleasure watching the way he creates space for others. So many footballers play on auto-pilot without engaging the brain, it's rare to have someone who thinks about what they are doing. The way he and Josh Simpson (another thinking footballer) try to link up in that inside right channel has definitely been the real highlight of this season for me so far.
Beefy
Life President
I'm going to pretend I didn't read this and continue to post it as fact until I'm either told 13 more times or I see Carragher in a short-sleeve shirt. He's hiding something.
EastStandBlue
Life President
Apologies... It's like the end of a dream, isn't it?
DTS
The Business
Hello John,
Welcome to the site. I think for me you summed it up in your appraisal of Crawford but you could have also summed up Patterson or Spencer when you said did more than Sturrock did.
Whilst I dont think Sturrock is amazing by any means I am a fan as I think he brings other into the game and he is infact very good at holding up the ball. I would also add his control is second to none. I do appreciate this wont win us a game but it does help make space etc.
If you asked me to give you one redeeming feature of Spencer or Pattersons game I would struggle. Spencer is fast but to lightweight and Patterson I think could be a decent finisher but rarely gets a shot off.
I would rather see Jarvis given a chance for the next few games over Blair but I do think its unfair when people claim Blair is only playing becuase of who his Dad is as I really feel he is a better solution than both Spencer and Patterson at the moment.
Mandy Rice-Davies.
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