The Sturrock Revolution Continues

I thought I better update you on the latest events at Southend United as there have been a further five signings since my last blog. Goalkeepers Glen Morris and Rhys Evans, right-back Sean Clohessy, centre-back Graham Coughlan and winger Louie Soares have all signed pre-contract agreements during the week, meaning that Paul Sturrock has now signed 12 players in the space of 7 days, which must be some sort of record. I've also never known us to sign so many trialists. Like five of the previous signings, Coughlan is a familiar face for Sturrock having played under him twice at Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth and the experienced centre-back will act as player-coach at Roots Hal, helping out with the reserve team and the defensive coaching. Clohessy, who came through the youth ranks at Arsenal, is well-known to assistant manager Tommy Widdrington having played under him at Salisbury, who Southend play in a friendly tonight.

After months of doom and gloom, players leaving, financial problems and nothing but bad news, things are starting to look up for Shrimpers fans. They have a well-known, experienced manager who is succeeding in persuading players to join the club. Sturrock is assembling a squad of his own and a squad that has a good mixture of experienced players who have done it at this level before (in some cases with Sturrock himself) and bright young players who want to prove a point and who want to play for a manager of Sturrock's calibre and wisdom. At Monday's match with Derby County, which ended in a 1-1 draw, the team showed impressive committment for a friendly match and it seems that they all want to play for Sturrock. That's not a dig at Steve Tilson at all but it did seem towards the end of last season that a number of the players didn't want to fight for the club anymore. As long as the transfer embargo is lifted at a court hearing on August 2nd, Southend fans can be confident that they have a team capable of challenging for promotion in League Two. A number of the new players, in particular Mohsni Bilel and Ryan Hall, impressed on Monday night and the team overall had a nice balance to it and played some good football against Championship opposition. We shouldn't get too carried away with positivity but after what we've been through, I think we can be forgiven for feeling a bit optimistic about the forthcoming season and a fresh start.

Billy Blenheim