Why complain

[MK Shrimper]

I hate playing this lot. We just can't seem to beat them! Not to mention the arctic conditions at the away game.

They do seem to be a bogey team for us, but it's a cracking new stadium to visit and it's about 8miles away from me :)

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

I dont understand some of our fans, it seems that unless we are hammering teams 5-0 every week, they sit and wallow in depression and moan about everything from Ron Martin to the length of the grass at Roots Hall.

Last night, we showed that we can accept defeat gracefully. We werent ready to be a Championship team and that showed yesterday. We did extremely well this season to acheive what we did. With the limited resources we do have compared to the other top 6 teams, a play off position was a good achievement.

If we had spent millions and been thrashed 5-1 - then I could see reason for complaints. Donny simply outplayed us right down the the final whistle. Credit where credits due, we were beaten by the better team and agree with Tilly that they are the best side in L1 this season.

Last night was an oppurtunity to say well done to Donny, brilliant result for them and go on and beat Weeds at Wembley. But more importantly to credit the fans. Everyone was truely amazing and to create and atmosphere like that after having seen 5 goals go past the sticks is quite frankly amazing. It shows that our supporters are developing with our club. Some will say that the players didnt deserve to get that support and maybe that's true for some of them but the majority battled until the final whistle.

This season I think its fair to say we slightly overachieved. Next season we can build on this. We now have a good squad to start from. Dont get me wrong we need some new additions to it but we have a great foundation to build on.

Despite the result last night we have had a good end to the season. Unbeaten in what? 13 or 14 was it. No reason for complaints there. Onwards and upwards next season, we have Col U and Orient to entertain! No complaints please.

Well bloody said! Exactly my feelings. We've still had a good season, especially when you consider our position after Christmas. We've been excellent since January and Tilson deserves credit for the signings he made. With a few exits and arrivals in the summer we can continue to progress. I dont we would stay up in the Championship with our current squad. Doncaster showed us last night the standard required. In an ideal world we'll get promoted in 2 seasons ready for the new stadium.

 

[Csboy]

Its been a great season. If we can keep a hold of the likes of Gower and Barnard and sign a few more quality players I think next season could be even better.

 

[haveaguiness]

I dont understand some of our fans, it seems that unless we are hammering teams 5-0 every week, they sit and wallow in depression and moan about everything from Ron Martin to the length of the grass at Roots Hall.

Sorry but i can't agree with this.

It is not a case of winning every week 5-0, but it is when players show no passion on the pitch, have awlful game after game and are still being picked. To me that is defiently something to moan about.

There are still too many players in the team that play week in week out even when they are playing awlful. Why do you think we don't have a very strong subs bench? It's because players know if they join they won't start and will sit on the bench for 85 minutes every game waiting for a player to get injured. Then when they get in the team even if they score a hat trick and are the best players on the pitch, they will know they are going to be dropped when the other player is back!!!

Tilson has done an amazing job over the last few years, but needs to start being a bit harder on some of the key players, let them know that they aren't going to start every week if they are playing bad. We should have money to spend because of the stadium being approved but whats the point of strengthing the sqaud if all the players we bring in will never get played?

 

[ms brush]

".....We should have money to spend because of the stadium being approved but whats the point of strengthing the sqaud if all the players we bring in will never get played?"

I think that you'll find that any money that the new stadium generates wont be available for at least a YEAR - until the first parts of the whole development at Fossetts are complete at the earliest (ie retail units, or the hotel, or the flats...!!) That is because the Ron's people need to SPEND a few million quid building the place before it starts making any money - so the team wont benefit from ANY of it until the whole development starts earning money.

For many reasons (like we're not Championship material yet - we were found out last year, and got relegated!) I believe its a really good thing we are staying in League 1 for another season. Quite simply, the team can survive on less money in wages, and by being sensible with bringing in new players. This is how football should be, and where the true skills of football management are showing. Ron has got it sussed - Tilly and Brush are a superb team, and what they have achieved for us over the past couple of years is nothing short of miraculous!!!

Tilly has been saying for a long time that he's got a real challenge attracting players to Southend, and as a result he shows deserved loyalty to those players who want to work with him, and loses interest in those who dont. That is quite simply because we do not have the money to pay stupidly high wages to any of our players - and some of those that become available, who have been earning silly money, wont necessarily be any better than the players we have already got in the squad. You only have to look at some of the players who have gone to clubs where they earn alot more money - Gutteridge, Constantine, even Freddie. Have they been successful elsewhere - er no!!

Modern football has lost its way in many ways; the money men have far too much influence, and everyone thinks they can buy success. That works for a while - but it will never be enough for these people who invest silly money (why do you think Jose Morhinio got the sack from Chelski - Abramovich wanted success, and as winning the Premiership title and the FA Cup are obvious signs of failure.... it was because Jose he didnt win the Champions League he was shown the door!!!). I personally think that this sort of thing is immoral. It is bad for the fans of these clubs (just look at Leeds - Love or hate them, they got in the position they are in as a direct result of trying to buy success!), its bad for English football at all levels, and it is hurting clubs like ours immensely.

Football is about the fans, the clubs and the players. We showed on Friday that our support is strong, we believe in our club - and our players, regardless of the result - we didnt let our players down; they certainly did not let us down, because we were there in the play offs on merit, and as a DIRECT result of their efforts all season. We had a memorable night - and showed the entire nation what being a true supporter is all about!

 

[madaboutblues]

when players show no passion on the pitch, have awlful game after game and are still being picked. To me that is defiently something to moan about.

There are still too many players in the team that play week in week out even when they are playing awlful.

Sorry but didn't we just have a run of 16 games with only one defeat.

On the night, we were second best on the pitch but definitely the winners in the stands. I have never felt so proud to be a shrimper as I did on Friday. If yiou don't believe me watch the game on Sky. I am the lady at half time singing my heart out to "We all follow the Southend"

 

[madaboutblues]

Hear hear Ms Brush.

When non SUFC football supporters asked me last week if I thought we would win on Friday, my reply was "my heart says yes but my head says it would be too soon."

Well i still think that but with a full heart after the night we all had on Friday. I love this team with a passion. We just weren't good enough on the night but over the season it has been just great.

So thankyou to everyone and here's to next season. Lets hope it is as much fun as this one - but Friday will take a bit of beating!

 

[Harold Bishop Killer]

I hate playing this lot. We just can't seem to beat them! Not to mention the arctic conditions at thelast away game.

My best away day ever!!! And it all started so promising with Goater's subline finish!

 

[haveaguiness]

Sorry but didn't we just have a run of 16 games with only one defeat.

On the night, we were second best on the pitch but definitely the winners in the stands. I have never felt so proud to be a shrimper as I did on Friday. If yiou don't believe me watch the game on Sky. I am the lady at half time singing my heart out to "We all follow the Southend"

Ok ill take one and say i was a little strong, but my point is that even when you are on a winning run it is good to make changes in your team. It gives other players a chance to show what they can do in a winning team and to keep your "better" players fresh. And not every player is going to be at there best even if you are winning.
I think this showed towards to end of the season as alot of the players looked burnt out and were drained, whereas if they would have had 2 or 3 games rest in between then maybe they would have been more fired up and looked more energetic. Bailey for one. This is only his second season in the football league, and his first season at this level and i think it showed a lot on him towards the end of the season, even though he was still good, he wasn;t as good as he was at the start of the season.

Do you see my point?
You cant compete at a high level playing the same team week in week out even if you are winning, its too draining on the players

Well done to you for being on TV aswell...

 

[bucket&spade.f.c]

Sorry but i can't agree with this.

It is not a case of winning every week 5-0, but it is when players show no passion on the pitch, have awlful game after game and are still being picked. To me that is defiently something to moan about.

There are still too many players in the team that play week in week out even when they are playing awlful. Why do you think we don't have a very strong subs bench? It's because players know if they join they won't start and will sit on the bench for 85 minutes every game waiting for a player to get injured. Then when they get in the team even if they score a hat trick and are the best players on the pitch, they will know they are going to be dropped when the other player is back!!!

Tilson has done an amazing job over the last few years, but needs to start being a bit harder on some of the key players, let them know that they aren't going to start every week if they are playing bad. We should have money to spend because of the stadium being approved but whats the point of strengthing the sqaud if all the players we bring in will never get played?

i understand the point your trying to make, and i agree with it, Sam knows i dont agree with her starting post as she had to nlisten to me Friday, Saturday and last night go on about it

Sorry but didn't we just have a run of 16 games with only one defeat.

On the night, we were second best on the pitch but definitely the winners in the stands. I have never felt so proud to be a shrimper as I did on Friday. If yiou don't believe me watch the game on Sky. I am the lady at half time singing my heart out to "We all follow the Southend"

yes having a great run of 16 game with only one defeat, should of ment we would of given it ago and give Donny a good game, how wrong could one be, it was a rubbish game we just killed over and let Donny walk all over us.

and by that i felt let down, also cant see how you could be proud that night it was a disgrace

 

[Mick]

Sorry but didn't we just have a run of 16 games with only one defeat.

On the night, we were second best on the pitch but definitely the winners in the stands. I have never felt so proud to be a shrimper as I did on Friday. If yiou don't believe me watch the game on Sky. I am the lady at half time singing my heart out to "We all follow the Southend"

Yes, but who wouldn't have swapped that for an unbeaten run of three games right at the end.

Second best on the pitch but winners in the stands? Winning in the stands counts for nothing tangible, but good luck to those supporters who managed to turn an unmitigated disaster into something enjoyable for them.

As for never feeling so proud, I really do think beating Man Utd shaded our hammering at Donny, just a bit.

 

[sufcintheprem]

".....We should have money to spend because of the stadium being approved but whats the point of strengthing the sqaud if all the players we bring in will never get played?"

I think that you'll find that any money that the new stadium generates wont be available for at least a YEAR - until the first parts of the whole development at Fossetts are complete at the earliest (ie retail units, or the hotel, or the flats...!!) That is because the Ron's people need to SPEND a few million quid building the place before it starts making any money - so the team wont benefit from ANY of it until the whole development starts earning money.

For many reasons (like we're not Championship material yet - we were found out last year, and got relegated!) I believe its a really good thing we are staying in League 1 for another season. Quite simply, the team can survive on less money in wages, and by being sensible with bringing in new players. This is how football should be, and where the true skills of football management are showing. Ron has got it sussed - Tilly and Brush are a superb team, and what they have achieved for us over the past couple of years is nothing short of miraculous!!!

Tilly has been saying for a long time that he's got a real challenge attracting players to Southend, and as a result he shows deserved loyalty to those players who want to work with him, and loses interest in those who dont. That is quite simply because we do not have the money to pay stupidly high wages to any of our players - and some of those that become available, who have been earning silly money, wont necessarily be any better than the players we have already got in the squad. You only have to look at some of the players who have gone to clubs where they earn alot more money - Gutteridge, Constantine, even Freddie. Have they been successful elsewhere - er no!!

Modern football has lost its way in many ways; the money men have far too much influence, and everyone thinks they can buy success. That works for a while - but it will never be enough for these people who invest silly money (why do you think Jose Morhinio got the sack from Chelski - Abramovich wanted success, and as winning the Premiership title and the FA Cup are obvious signs of failure.... it was because Jose he didnt win the Champions League he was shown the door!!!). I personally think that this sort of thing is immoral. It is bad for the fans of these clubs (just look at Leeds - Love or hate them, they got in the position they are in as a direct result of trying to buy success!), its bad for English football at all levels, and it is hurting clubs like ours immensely.

Football is about the fans, the clubs and the players. We showed on Friday that our support is strong, we believe in our club - and our players, regardless of the result - we didnt let our players down; they certainly did not let us down, because we were there in the play offs on merit, and as a DIRECT result of their efforts all season. We had a memorable night - and showed the entire nation what being a true supporter is all about!

I really hate quoting large posts but if quoting it means that it gets more exposure and is more likely to be read then I'm happy to do that with this one as it's not only very balanced but very well structured.

It's a strange situation in football where fans can appreciate that most players are paid too much and most fans pay too much but don't appreciate that most football clubs are such poor business models that they shouldn't even exist. I would say player return on investment and variable costs of matchdays at lower league level are two of the most important things for professional football clubs to be aware of.

Lampard and Makelele probably contributed equally to Chelsea for the three years or so before last season on the pitch on comparable but the amount of revenue they each generate, I imagine would be vastly different. Lampard is an attacking player involved in most goals and his Englishness is something Chelsea and Sky love. Makelele, in contrast is a very arrogant player susceptible to misquoting in the press and is barely involved in action in either penalty box. Lampard deserves to be paid more because he generates more money to the football club even if Makelele has a similar impact on the performance of the team.

The variable matchday costs is something more relevant to Southend as, if you compare debt to revenues, we were probably in as much trouble as high profile cases such as Leeds but got lucky at key times (e.g. appointing Tilson and not Ian Atkins in 04). In contrast, Leeds missed out on their chance (playoffs) and it went horribly wrong putting them in more financial troubles. I remember hearing about our break even figure a couple of years back and it was between 5000 and 5500 bums on seats IIRC. For a club averaging around 3500 fans per match in our midtable League Two position, this was a shocking disparity. It's guesswork for me to estimate what it would be now as the costs of running the club will have changed hugely but I doubt we're running at much above the break even mark at 8173.

It's a laboured argument already but it's worth labouring again and again until the arguments for spending big in the summer stop appearing so regularly. It's clear that Ron Martin isn't rich enough to invest money in to the club without a significant chance of returns and this is undoubtedly the best way for the club to be run. I don't want to be the club whose owner pulls the plug on unlimited funding and suddenly the sky falls down. As a result, we must only buy players on wages at a level which we can afford based on the current level of revenue less current costs.

From what I have read, we will expect FF to help boost revenue in two ways. Firstly, the cost of running a matchday will fall substantially leaving more of our major revenue source to be spent on the team - a boost in efficiency. Secondly, the retail development around the ground will give us non-matchday revenue which will not only boost revenue in the good times, but help sustain revenue in the bad times - a reduction in risk of the business.

For these reasons, it would be incredibly rash to make any financial gamble in the position we are when we will have more funds available to the club in a season and a half pending final approval and construction. With the limited funds Tilson has had, he has built a team competing with those with huge fanbases funding transfers (Leeds, Forest) and those with more economical stadium set-ups (Swansea, Doncaster). Only Carlisle have been more effective this season and we have finished above both Huddersfield and Millwall who have got more bums on seats.

As I illustrated in a previous post, very few relegated teams get anywhere near promotion and Leeds always looked the likeliest of the three with the money they spent. We've done well to get in the playoffs but Doncaster played a blinder and got all the breaks the other night. It happens sometimes and shouldn't really come as a shock for a team who got beaten heavily away at all bar one of the top 6.

I want this season to be remembered as a step towards longer term success rather than the one before we blew our hard work away on a gamble for instant gratification.

 

[sufcintheprem]

God dammit, I hate it when I end threads! Will post in instalments next time.....

 

[BaileytheQuitter]

God dammit, I hate it when I end threads! Will post in instalments next time.....

Happens to me so often. Such a sinking feeling!:'(

 

[MissWestStand]

http://www.southendunited.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10444~1314902,00.html

See this, we were awesome despite what some say!