A New Season

Well today Southend United Kick off the new session with a game at away to Accrington Stanley and they will be looking for their first win of what I hope is a successful session. According to the boss, Phil Brown, "We're off the back of a good pre-season, but more importantly we only have the one injury." 

Hopefully after last sessions performance the team and the manager will be looking to build on the performance of last session and aim for the top of the table. Last year after a little bit of a wobble at the start we managed a good run in the league before running into a patch of poor form before hitting the highs again. If we can avoid that dip in the middle we have a good chance of ending in the top of the table and get promoted without having to go through the playoffs again. 

All in in all it is going to be an exciting session and I am full of a lot more hope this year that we will achieve something this session than I was last year. I just hope we get the new ground soon. If we are going to go up into league one it will be so important that we have the new ground to earn us the revenue to stay up there and play good football in the years to come. 

UPDATE 10th August 2014 - Southend United won there first game, it looked like a game in which it look like it could be a frustrating draw when they had the majority of the play until Lee Barnard scored from the spot to seal a win.

Freddy Returns

Last year was a good session for Southend United the team came together and performed so much better than anyone would have thought of at the start of the session. We even managed a streak of great form that saw the team at the top of the table mid session. The thing we lacked was the capacity to capitalise on that streak and we missed out on gaining promotion.

Now the manager, Paul Sturrock, is building his team on last years success with promotion in mind, with hopefully a session in league one the following year.  Of course the signing everyone is talking about is the return of Welsh International Freddy Eastwood who scored the winning goal when Southend beat a full strength Manchester United at Root Hall in 2007. Over the years he has become a Southend legend and he just moved to the club for another two years.

I can't wait for the session to start this year, it going to be a hard one, as always, but an exciting one too. The football in the lower divisiona is hard and competitive, but I'm sure with the manager we have we will do well. Last year we had a good team and it already looking that at the start of the session we will have a great team.So come on you blues....

The Best Team Won

Like many in the country I have been following and watching the English football team playing in Euro 2012. It is hard not to given the coverage on the television, on the radio and in the news. To be honest I feel, like many, they have exceeded expectations this time round by managing to win a difficult group.

As I sat down to watch the match with Emily we were both hoping that England might get lucky and pull it off and beat the Italians, but we were realists and we knew it was going to be hard and they would have to play at the their best, if not better.

In the end, it was a good game but England were totally outclassed. They hung in on in there like true professionals but it was like watching a premier league side play someone for the first division, and England was the side in the lower division. It was all about stopping them scoring and hoping for the best. 

Well the best never came for England. They held on to the end of extra time and they should take credit for that, but when it came to moment that mattered they just didn't have the finishing power and the best team on the night won, and rightly so.

Well Done Southend United

A few people might have noticed the odd football post appearing in the blog from time to time. Those that know me better will know I have followed Southend Untied for many a year, and tonight we have something to celebrate. I have taken a lot of stick for following them but I proud of the football they play and what they have archived.

Tonight with a three nil win over Barnet we secured a place in the league two play-offs.  It might not be the greatest achievement, like winning the league, but given were we have come from and the mess the club was a couple of years ago financially it shows we are going in the right direction again. All we need to do now is keep winning and make it past the post and into league one in the play off final at Wembley.

Sky ruins Saturdays

Anyone that knows me will know that for years I have been a Southend United supporter. I follow the team in what ways I can, although I live miles away from the ground and have for many years. One of the things that is exciting after the whistle has blown is looking at the table to see where your side ends up. Those minutes trying to find out if you have gone top or you just failed to make it because some other team has pipped you to the post, are part of the magic that is the results.

The problem with what Sky are doing to the football is they are spoiling the fun of Saturday at five when the results are read out on the radio or shown on the television. By having games on Saturday evenings, Sundays and Monday evenings means that seeing the league tables on Saturdays for the higher divisions means nothing and in theory can give the teams still play an unfair advantage since they know the results of the games played earlier. 

I tend to agree with the point that the manger of Arsenal, Arsène Wenger, made that the television companies are having to much of a say in the fixture lists. He is right that it is unfair on the clubs and like him I can see that some clubs might be influencing the television companies themselves. It is the league that should be dictating the fixtures and the television companies shouldn't be allowed to change them. As it with the way the demand the games to be play they have ruined Saturday results show.

Southend United

Something I don't talk about very much is that I follow Southend United and have since I left Essex back when I was eighteen. I would have said support but I really have never had the chance to see them so I think it is fair to say follow to acknowledge all those people that go to Roots Hall week after week and whose money have kept this tiny club going over the years.

Most people will have first come across this lowly club when Freddy Eastwood caused a massive upset by scoring the most amazing goal to knock a star studded Manchester United in the fifth round of the Carling Cup a few years back. It was one of the most beautifully executed free kicks I have seen, and I know that any player in the Manchester United Squad that had taken it, and like Freddy scored from it, would have remembered with with pride. It was performances like that which built the confidence in the club that resulted in us ending up in the Championship. But confidence only gets you so far and the there wasn't the money to keep us there and now we are back where we started in Division Two.

This session has seen the side being rebuilt and plans being put in place to secure the financial future of the club which is still at the moment losing money week on week. Thankfully the rebuilding of the side is going well and a cohesive team is being formed that is capable of winning matches at home and away against all comers. Once the constancy of the side comes into place they will be in a strong position to go for a spot in the play off if not later this session then in next. In fact I would go as far as to say with some effort they could even be in a automatic promotion place next session if they carry on improving as they have been in recent matches. As for the financial side of club, that could be it's downfall especially if it doesn't get it's new ground sorted soon and bring in the money through the gate.

People sometimes ask me why follow such a lowly club, well the answer is simple, the football is hard and although the games might not have the style of the top premiership matches they are full of guts and fight and everyone gives there all. It is what football to me is all about, teamwork and commitment.