nickbennett_blog

Tag: Southend

  • Week of turmoil ends on high

    So Chelsea fans will be appreciating the same lack of transfer action that Southend fans have suffered for the last 2 years. The last day of the transfer window should be one of intrigue and excitement, but following the blues has always meant this day has been approached with a due sense of trepidation. It seems that this fear was again warranted as within the final hour of deadline day the blues website was updated twice to inform us that our already depleted squad would be 2 players lighter. The most difficult thing to accept with this news is the almost pantomime’esq PR spin applied to the news. Geoffrey King (our chief executive) was the one to announce the release of the crowd favourite Alex Revell. His comments seemed cold and harsh, especially as the player in question gave his all and was plagued with injury.

    A second announcement informed us that Kevin Betsy would also be leaving us. This news was delivered in a more traditional matter-of-fact dates and stats kind of way. After the deadline, the final site update came with the news that we had turned down an offer for our midfield lynchpin Alan McCormack. This so-called ‘good news’ was delivered by none other than our chairman Mr Ron Martin.

    Now I can appreciate that if the club is in financial trouble, and that freeing up two squad players to free up some money to bring in fresh blood makes good business sense. But this message is never conveyed by the people that run the club. Maybe the reason behind this is to prevent mass hysteria but to be quite frank it’s fairly obvious that all is not well.

    I can never appreciate the full complexities of running a football club, so I’m sure the chairman and directors have a very tricky job. However, all the fans ever really want is clarity of the situation. Too often fans are left in the dark when they have a right to know the truth.

    Fans had promised a demonstration at last night’s Leyton Orient game. This as far as I could make out from the East bank consisted of one banner asking politely for Geoffrey King to hand in his resignation. Maybe the fan’s anger was eased by the impressive performance of the team. A 3-0 victory against the old enemy was what everyone at the club needed. I think however that later on in the season when we get some injuries/suspensions to our 16-man squad, and the results aren’t going our way this ill feeling will return.

    Just to finish off I’d like to thank Steve Tilson and Paul Brush. Both have acted dignified throughout the whole affair and are doing an incredible job. I just hope that their heads don’t ever start to rule over their hearts and that they decide to move on.

    Up the blues!

  • Banging our heads against a Millwall

    So we were given a flashback to the violent 80’s this week. Some bloggers have commented that ‘they’ve not enjoyed an atmosphere like that for years’. We hosted the infamous inter-city firm last Friday, and intimidation was the order of the day. It’s easy just to be dismissive of their behavior, however, there were elements of their support that made me envious. The camoradary spirit is second to none and their vocal support is an amazing carcophony of noise. There’s a few things have been said in the press by commentators who’ve been into the game for 5 minutes and think they’ve got all the answers. Needless to say I’ve not agreed with any. So here are my unique and slightly controversial thoughts on the matter. For starters I’ve always found football is a very tribal affair. In a multi-cultural society, it’s challenging for your average Caucasian male to find an identity that makes him stand out. Your average hooligan is unlikely to be accepted into the local yacht club!

    To feel a sense of belonging and purpose they pledge their allegiance to a football side. This gives them the opportunity to become part of a unique family. This is one of the best things about supporting a team. I’ve been going to the hall for 16 years and in that time I’ve met some great characters. For me though I’ll always have things I’ll want to do outside of football. Some individuals will live and die for their team which is excellent if they focus their energy correctly. Too many of the Millwall fans want to focus their energy on violence. Part of the problem is the reputation that Millwall has gained for itself. Every new generation of fans will feel obliged to ensure that Millwall’s bite is as bad as its bark.

    The most upsetting thing about football violence is when innocent people that are there purely to enjoy football are caught up in the violence. I’ve never been to a ground where there wasn’t a section of the crowd that was there purely to fight someone. These groups have been meeting each other for years under the radar meeting at venues to have their punch-ups. This is an ideal solution for all concerned as long as the venues are somewhere where innocent people are unlikely to be. Any team whose fans try to bring this violence into the ground should be docked points or have their fans banned from away grounds. Too often we’re seeing the same away fans getting away with murder at grounds because the authorities are afraid to act.

    So what’s been happening on the pitch I hear you ask. Well, Millwall was 0-0 and we lost at Swindon yesterday. You’ll find more professional match reports out there than I could give. Besides at the Millwall game, I spent 90 minutes watching my back. An amusing incident did take place in the East bank though. One of the Southend youth players is a Millwall fan (and very unprofessional) and got a whack for his over-exuberant support of the opposition. Only at Roots Hall ladies and gentlemen!

  • Scummers top!!!

    Two weeks in and Col U are sitting at the top, hopefully not an ominous sign of things to come. Our start couldn’t be more frustrating! Two leads thrown away with silly mistakes. Yesterday’s 2 – 2 with Walsall did bring some financial reward in my accumulator but taught me a lesson in not betting on the team you love. From now on I’ll be only betting on games I’ve no loyalty towards. We’re also through to the next round of Carling cup and we got our dream draw against a Premiership side….Hull away!

    The Premiership started this weekend with a bit of a bang. All the top sides getting victories showing that this year could be the year where it’s at least a 3 horse race. I think Christiano Ronaldo’s departure could be the difference this year, and if I had to take a punt I would say Chelsea would be a good bet. We already have a little bit of controversy. Bryan Gunn is the first Managerial casualty and we’ve already had the first referee blunder of immense proportions. Crystal Palace’s disallowed goal is just another example of why we need goal-line technology. Ice hockey has a system in place, so why can’t football?!?

    ESPN has replaced Setanta and having watched the Everton vs Arsenal game I was quite impressed with their coverage. And thankfully ITV has handed over its coverage of the football league to the BBC. Hosted by Manish ‘The Football League’ show is not a bad round-up show. There’s a lot of stuff that probably could be cut from the show, especially Jackie’s fan’s emails section. If I wanted this I’d listen to 5 live. The fact that it’s on iPlayer is a godsend, especially if you have a faulty sky box.

  • New Season, no optimism

    So a new season is upon us and with that comes the hope of promotion? Not quite! This season’s goal will be the same as last year…survival. Plain and simple. Survival, not just in footballing terms but also in financial terms. I can appreciate why people choose to subscribe to the better leagues and stay at home. It’s cheaper and less hassle. However, you can never fully appreciate the whole drama of a match or a season from your living room.

    So who’s going to keep us afloat? Our chairman (like many others I’m sure) is saying all the right things, but he will always be viewed as a suspicious businessman. A new stadium looks like a distant dream in this difficult time. Football in the lower league as a whole is taking a massive financial hit. This is despite the astronomical figures being spent in the top leagues here and in Spain. Recent examples of Luton’s demise and Tranmere’s E-bay listing does concern me as these are teams I put on par with us. I can only pray that a bored oil sheik may one day stumble across Roots Hall and decide to take a punt. Notts County fans must be delirious!

    Do we look worse off than others in the league? It’s difficult to say, not knowing the ins and outs of all clubs. For us, though the fear set in after last year’s postponement of the team photo due to a lack of playing staff. This year’s team photo was released this week with a miss-match of short-term contracted players, loan players, and eagerly promoted youth players. It doesn’t bode well that we’ve lost our player of the season for ‘greener pastures’ for the past two seasons. It’s worrying that these ‘greener pastures’ are Charlton and Huddersfield!

    I’ll be there tomorrow taking my usual seat in front of the Columbo look-a-like, behind the weirdo, and to the left of Dagenham Kev. I’ll be berating the referee and complaining (under my breath) about the behavior of our resident hooligan. It will be as if I was never away. Why do I do it? Because this is Football, where the underdog can prevail. With our die for the cause captain and our dedicated loyal manager, anything can happen!

    Come on you Shrimpers!