Thanks Kev - but is a new manager needed?

[Mr Browns Ghost]

We need to be honest with some of the players. Despite their loyalty and past heroics, some are just not at the standard that most fans expect. I genuinely don't believe Maher is the issue

Zach Jeacock1G
Collin Andeng-Ndi30G

Gus Scott-Morriss2 D
Nathan Ralph3 D
George Wind4 D
Adam Crowther5 D
Joseph Gubbins15 D
Harry Taylor16 D

Jack Bridge7 M
Noor Husin8 M
Jack Wood14 M
Cavanagh Miley17 M
George Moncur20 M
Keenan Appiah-Forson22 M
James Morton23 M
Mikey Faulkner26 M
Beau Macdonald27 M
Oliver Coker28 M

Macauley Bonne9 F
Danny Waldron10 F
Josh Walker11 F
Aribim Pepple19 F

Green up to standard
Red is not up to standard
Yellow Has potential / On the fence

KAF will come good absolutely he must be absolutely gutted he signed for us now.. fully agree with your comments on the red and green but would make a few more yellows red …

 

[Mr Browns Ghost]

Dave Martin
Brooklyn Kabongolo
Jason Demetriou
Louis Lomas
Ollie Kensdale
Wes Fonguck
Mauro Vilhete
Callum Powell
Harry Cardwell

All no longer in the squad. You have been talking absolute rubbish.

Talking of rubbish has anyone got a copy of that pod cast where you convinced yourself we would be up there toying for promotion or that long post you posted where you said the Tory deal with Ron Martin was a good deal for the town of Southend … sometimes everyone even myself spouts absolute rubbish …

 

[Mr Browns Ghost]

think he means at the moment. He has been poor since his return albeit a few minutes here and there. Saturday he was woeful and his attempt to tackle for the first goal was embarrassing to say the least. We all love Cav and we know he is a good player he has proven that but its disrespectful to drop the likes of Coker and Morton who have done little wrong and start Miley and Moncur. Interestingly someone said Saturday that in the old days when you had proper reserve teams players that needed minutes and coming back from injury would get minutes this way. That doesnt happen anymore so the only way Kev can get minutes in their legs is to play matches. I get that but he got it massively wrong Saturday. How does Husin keep getting picked. Again a good player but woefully out of form

He was poor before that too .. he was poor back end of last season the start of this season and now, the art of good management is to know when they have peaked loyalty will only ever keep us in part time pub leagues

 

[blues exile]

Dave Martin
Brooklyn Kabongolo
Jason Demetriou
Louis Lomas
Ollie Kensdale
Wes Fonguck
Mauro Vilhete
Callum Powell
Harry Cardwell

All no longer in the squad. You have been talking absolute rubbish.

Dave Martin
Brooklyn Kabongolo
Jason Demetriou
Louis Lomas
Ollie Kensdale
Wes Fonguck
Mauro Vilhete
Callum Powell
Harry Cardwell

All no longer in the squad. You have been talking absolute rubbish.

Suggest you look up the number of appearances these players made. With the obvious exceptions of Cardwell and Kensdale most of the others were fringe players. Unless of course you think Lomas, Kabongolo and Vilhete were first team mainstays.

 

[leeblue]

My comments are exclusively on the playing side and anything outside that should not be a factor especially as the players are being paid and have comfortable contracts. The results this season and the generally depressing standard of play are solely down to the coaches.

So to be clear missing out on virtually all our top targets due to the late takeover completion has zero impact on the playing side

 

[blues exile]

So to be clear missing out on virtually all our top targets due to the late takeover completion has zero impact on the playing side

You know that for a fact I take it. Care to name them?

 

[RHB]

You can say that again

Off topic, but I will be glad when the pre match thread appears for FGR. Lots of good discussion and posts on here, but a bit like some TV channels, repeats are constantly appearing. And without doubt I'm feeling really miserable now.

 

[BoyWonder2]

You know that for a fact I take it. Care to name them?

100% it is a fact, and I’ve listed names of players we have missed out on previously.

 

[onceknownasrab]

So to be clear missing out on virtually all our top targets due to the late takeover completion has zero impact on the playing side

Missing out on our top targets only suggests we could have been better than we are. Very few would disagree although the top targets may not have succeeded. It's all hypothetical. The issue is that many, myself included, do not believe we are as bad as we are showing and for whatever reason the failure is not getting the best from the team. I don't think we ever had a prayer of the autos with our squad but might have had an outside chance of the play-offs. To be honest I'm not upset by the prospect of another season in this league if we look like we have forward momentum. But we don't. If we don't or can't sign anyone else, well, that's football but, the fans deserve better from the side we have than we are getting.

 

[Texas Eslan]

Maher in! All day long. All season long in fact.

This season was never going to be the success that so many of you seem to be expecting.

Im blown away by the lack of empathy that nearly 30% of you on here are showing. Kevin Maher, Darren Currie and Mark Bentley were huge part of what kept this club alive over the last few seasons. Not just on the pitch but off it as well. They have performed miracles in near impossible situations, earning serious plaudits along the way.

Yet a large percentage of you now want to throw them out of the club because a shaky start to the season after we finally get rid of RM and are still reeling from his legacy. Where’s the loyalty, like Kev showed to us? Surely the minimum he deserves is a fair shot?

Some of the opinions as well…Kev needs to change his system…same breath, why did he change some of the players for the last game…! Seriously guys would you be happy with your 442, long ball to a big centre forward, hatchet man in midfield and big thuggish players all over the pitch? He is trying to implement a style of play that is technical and modern which will ultimately bear fruit.

Don’t care if you disagree, won’t reply again. Just needed to say the above!

 

[Hadleigh-shrimper]

Not this season unless we go down for me.

 

[thenobster]

Not this season unless we go down for me.

That’s the thing we’re trying to svoid

 

[Medway Blue]

Suggest you look up the number of appearances these players made. With the obvious exceptions of Cardwell and Kensdale most of the others were fringe players. Unless of course you think Lomas, Kabongolo and Vilhete were first team mainstays.

See, this once again goes back to my plea for people to stop viewing players as robots.

The loss of players does not solely impact on field matters. A fringe player, no matter how many appearances they have made, can still be a hugely important member of the squad - a popular person, a big voice in the dressing room, a joker on the training pitch, and somebody who lifts morale or is just part of a tightly-knit team.

Footballers are humans. Morale and environment plays a part in how they then play on the pitch. Losing teammates, regardless of how important YOU may think they are based on appearances alone, can change dynamics and affect morale/atmosphere.

 

[StanCollymore]

For me i do like Kev however are there other managers out there that could do a better job , of course there is and we are just blinkered if we think he is the only man out there that can bring us success
, I always try and judge league standings on Wage bill and generally that ends up determining where teams should finish , if you use that purely as a starting point then we are well under performing and Maher has recruited this team now , its not Moselys or Ron's .....its Kev's

the thing that has peeved me most is the style of play , i no longer gt excited watching us, i always think back to the Barnet away game 18 month ago where we look absolute class and i thought 2 more additions and we walk this league - barring the Eastleigh game i cant recall walking away from a game saying we have played well

The balance is wrong , he doen;t seem to know his best 11 and hes tinkering too much whilst making mistakes at the same time, he is still a fairly inexperienced manager and it does show at times .......stubborness will either make or break you in this game and i cant be bothered to find a previous post of mine around 4 months back where i predicted this would be his toughest test this season

I'm just about still in the 'lets not panic just yet' category but 3 more dross performances and it could get interesting - i wonder what Stan would say if he was still here , his departure has gone hand in hand with our small demise

Good evening all, hope you're well.

I'm posting purely as an interested pundit.

I can't and won't comment about COSU, I'm not privvy to what their plans are.

What I do know is what the plan was and in my opinion ( as proven at other clubs, proven) was bearing fruit, even under the previous ownership which in my opinion hampered every green shoot that grew due to owner delusion on a level I've never seen in my life.

The aim was simple so I'll put it in bullet points.

1. Owner bankrolls the club at a competive budget for the league.
2. A recruitment department that finds the best available ( ideally under 25) talent who can be developed, are hungry and have resale value.
3. Checks and balances amongst the football department to ensure the best players play for the club. No pals of agents, mates of mates, football nepotism, favours, etc. Cold, hard analysis, watching and recruiting. The CEO and owner then know that the players have been seen by several, a simple majority agrees and CEO/ owner sign off.
4. The Head coach is responsible for coaching and bettering the talent he has. That's it. He has zero business being involved in finance, stadium, nothing other than coaching, leading and having the final say as part of the recruitment department on whether he wants a player.
5. An assistant head coach and or first team coach who share broadly similar principles so when the head coach goes to Manchester United or is sacked after realistic KPI's aren't met over an agreed timescale, continuity reigns. Players get consistency, boom and bust cycle of 5 managers with 5 different ways of playing( = cash oozing from the club) is avoided.
6. B team rather than 21's or 23's. Right squad of quality youth who learn from senior pros coming from injury, on trial or who need minutes. Coached by First team coach alongside a senior pro taking first steps to coaching pathway.

That was the plan. Simple, effective and managed to get that mythical "80% right" of recruitment decisions which in turn had the team go through 2 long unbeaten runs during a disgraceful stewardship by the then owner. 2 long unbeaten runs, consistency building, most of the players contributing significantly, one or two always aren't going to work but by and large, forward momentum was building.

Owner(s) gives the budget.
CEO runs day to day and signs off.
Head coach coaches team.
Assistants provide continuity.
B team provides youngsters with a tailored football environment of games, potential coaches get an in house pathway.

When a club deviates from this, and haven't got the money to blow others out of the water, and the "we NEED to get 80% of decisions right" mantra gives way to little accountability or oversight.

Things unravel.

Stay well, and genuine good luck moving forward.

PS, for what it's worth, I believe Kev is 100% the right man to be head coach to coach the team, Daz Assistant Head Coach and Benno First team coach. Likewise Tom Lawrence as CEO, proved his worth during the Ron period and recent good and progressive information and ideas.


Stan.

 

[bazzashrimper]

I wonder to Stans point whether we had to deviate the plan to get numbers up with a couple of risks in there? If so - sounds like the management team are back on strategy if they are sitting tight and waiting for their targets to become available.

 

[* ORM *]

Good evening all, hope you're well.

I'm posting purely as an interested pundit.

I can't and won't comment about COSU, I'm not privvy to what their plans are.

What I do know is what the plan was and in my opinion ( as proven at other clubs, proven) was bearing fruit, even under the previous ownership which in my opinion hampered every green shoot that grew due to owner delusion on a level I've never seen in my life.

The aim was simple so I'll put it in bullet points.

1. Owner bankrolls the club at a competive budget for the league.
2. A recruitment department that finds the best available ( ideally under 25) talent who can be developed, are hungry and have resale value.
3. Checks and balances amongst the football department to ensure the best players play for the club. No pals of agents, mates of mates, football nepotism, favours, etc. Cold, hard analysis, watching and recruiting. The CEO and owner then know that the players have been seen by several, a simple majority agrees and CEO/ owner sign off.
4. The Head coach is responsible for coaching and bettering the talent he has. That's it. He has zero business being involved in finance, stadium, nothing other than coaching, leading and having the final say as part of the recruitment department on whether he wants a player.
5. An assistant head coach and or first team coach who share broadly similar principles so when the head coach goes to Manchester United or is sacked after realistic KPI's aren't met over an agreed timescale, continuity reigns. Players get consistency, boom and bust cycle of 5 managers with 5 different ways of playing( = cash oozing from the club) is avoided.
6. B team rather than 21's or 23's. Right squad of quality youth who learn from senior pros coming from injury, on trial or who need minutes. Coached by First team coach alongside a senior pro taking first steps to coaching pathway.

That was the plan. Simple, effective and managed to get that mythical "80% right" of recruitment decisions which in turn had the team go through 2 long unbeaten runs during a disgraceful stewardship by the then owner. 2 long unbeaten runs, consistency building, most of the players contributing significantly, one or two always aren't going to work but by and large, forward momentum was building.

Owner(s) gives the budget.
CEO runs day to day and signs off.
Head coach coaches team.
Assistants provide continuity.
B team provides youngsters with a tailored football environment of games, potential coaches get an in house pathway.

When a club deviates from this, and haven't got the money to blow others out of the water, and the "we NEED to get 80% of decisions right" mantra gives way to little accountability or oversight.

Things unravel.

Stay well, and genuine good luck moving forward.

PS, for what it's worth, I believe Kev is 100% the right man to be head coach to coach the team, Daz Assistant Head Coach and Benno First team coach. Likewise Tom Lawrence as CEO, proved his worth during the Ron period and recent good and progressive information and ideas.


Stan.

Probably the best post you’ve ever made on the zone Stan, thank you. I wonder whether Tom or anyone at the club would be able to provide a statement of how the top to bottom is currently organised. I don’t expect it would be identical but I wouldn’t mind betting it’s not too far off.

 

[Southend Elvis]

Good evening all, hope you're well.

I'm posting purely as an interested pundit.

I can't and won't comment about COSU, I'm not privvy to what their plans are.

What I do know is what the plan was and in my opinion ( as proven at other clubs, proven) was bearing fruit, even under the previous ownership which in my opinion hampered every green shoot that grew due to owner delusion on a level I've never seen in my life.

The aim was simple so I'll put it in bullet points.

1. Owner bankrolls the club at a competive budget for the league.
2. A recruitment department that finds the best available ( ideally under 25) talent who can be developed, are hungry and have resale value.
3. Checks and balances amongst the football department to ensure the best players play for the club. No pals of agents, mates of mates, football nepotism, favours, etc. Cold, hard analysis, watching and recruiting. The CEO and owner then know that the players have been seen by several, a simple majority agrees and CEO/ owner sign off.
4. The Head coach is responsible for coaching and bettering the talent he has. That's it. He has zero business being involved in finance, stadium, nothing other than coaching, leading and having the final say as part of the recruitment department on whether he wants a player.
5. An assistant head coach and or first team coach who share broadly similar principles so when the head coach goes to Manchester United or is sacked after realistic KPI's aren't met over an agreed timescale, continuity reigns. Players get consistency, boom and bust cycle of 5 managers with 5 different ways of playing( = cash oozing from the club) is avoided.
6. B team rather than 21's or 23's. Right squad of quality youth who learn from senior pros coming from injury, on trial or who need minutes. Coached by First team coach alongside a senior pro taking first steps to coaching pathway.

That was the plan. Simple, effective and managed to get that mythical "80% right" of recruitment decisions which in turn had the team go through 2 long unbeaten runs during a disgraceful stewardship by the then owner. 2 long unbeaten runs, consistency building, most of the players contributing significantly, one or two always aren't going to work but by and large, forward momentum was building.

Owner(s) gives the budget.
CEO runs day to day and signs off.
Head coach coaches team.
Assistants provide continuity.
B team provides youngsters with a tailored football environment of games, potential coaches get an in house pathway.

When a club deviates from this, and haven't got the money to blow others out of the water, and the "we NEED to get 80% of decisions right" mantra gives way to little accountability or oversight.

Things unravel.

Stay well, and genuine good luck moving forward.

PS, for what it's worth, I believe Kev is 100% the right man to be head coach to coach the team, Daz Assistant Head Coach and Benno First team coach. Likewise Tom Lawrence as CEO, proved his worth during the Ron period and recent good and progressive information and ideas.


Stan.

Stan, great points. Unfortunately you lost me when you said Kev is the man and the continuation with the coaches producing the same type of football....have you seen any of the games this season?

 

[blues exile]

It does.

COSU coming in didn’t fix every problem. Problems from the RM era are still be sorted now. Debts are still being paid off, work is still going on to get bits of the ground reopen and so forth.

Had RM gone tail end of last season, we’d have secured a number of our top targets and probably wouldn’t be having this discussion.

Off the field issues are not necessarily of interest to the players as long as they are being paid, why would their performances be adversely affected by work on the stadium and other such matters. Enough of increasingly lame excuses, the very real failure of the coaching staff to mount anything like a promotion challenge is the basic issue and no amount of attempts to distract from this changes the fact that instead of being promotion contenders relegation is a more likely option. The sooner this is recognised the better.

 

[Hadleigh-shrimper]

Stan, great points. Unfortunately you lost me when you said Kev is the man and the continuation with the coaches producing the same type of football....have you seen any of the games this season?

I have and for example v Charlton we was great. There has been lots of dross too I know. I personally can’t believe this is a discussion YET he hasn’t had a proper summer of say this is a free pass barring relegation. I think we will have a run at some point and end up 11-14th area. Then next season build and push for players . Kev has surely earned some credit in the bank over the last few years when most would have walked.

 

[BoyWonder2]

Off the field issues are not necessarily of interest to the players as long as they are being paid, why would their performances be adversely affected by work on the stadium and other such matters. Enough of increasingly lame excuses, the very real failure of the coaching staff to mount anything like a promotion challenge is the basic issue and no amount of attempts to distract from this changes the fact that instead of being promotion contenders relegation is a more likely option. The sooner this is recognised the better.

Okay then, they are emotionless robots who aren’t affected by anything.

Ask any of the players from last season if they were affected? I bet they all say no, of course not, once we were paid, everything was sorted. The countless court cases, and literally being minutes away from the club ceasing to exist didn’t affect them. Us not getting a safety certificate for Roots Hall until the last minute didn’t affect the players. The water being cut off at the training ground didn’t affect them. I tell you what definitely didn’t affect them, the games that almost didn’t go ahead because others weren’t being paid (security) and refused to work (thankfully TL and the amigos put their hand in their pocket). But everything is wrong because of the amigos and it’s al their fault and nothing affects the players.

Of course, it’s 100% the coaching staffs fault for everything. Collin having some shockers is Kev’s fault, defenders and midfielders missing tackles and losing battles is Benno’s fault, and our strikers missing chances is Currie’s fault.