Yesterday Clive Platt joined former U’s manager Boothroyd at Coventry City. A move welcomed by many Colchester supporters. Platt was either ‘liked’ or ‘despised’ by U’s fans. Personally, I find it tough to abuse or talk negatively about any player. I understand when fans throw certain accusations at him from the stands... Lazy, weak and useless.
Platt signed for a record breaking £300,000 from the MK Dons. Platt was seen as the ideal replacement for Chris Iwelumo who left for Charlton in the summer of 2007. Platt got off to a great start to the league campaign by scoring a last minute equaliser against Sheffield United on the first game of the 07/08 season. He went on to score another 7 goals that season including an absolute screamer against that team where the people speak funny and it’s ok to have relations with your sister.
The departure of Platt for a ‘nominal fee’ to Coventry allows Colchester to move on, perhaps with a change of play. Ward has experimented with a 4-3-3 formation through this pre season, a role I don’t think Platt was suited to. I do, however believe Odejayi will suit the ‘big man’ in this particular formation due to the fact he’s more mobile than Platt was. Hopefully this will be the end of the ‘big man’ up front for Colchester.
Rumours circulating hint that the U’s are looking into replacements such as Shaun Harrad, from Burton Albion who scored 21 goals in 35 appearances last season.
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.
Colchester United kick off league 1 with a long trip to Exeter City. They’ll be hoping to avoid defeat especially in the same manner they lost last season. The 2-0 defeat at the beginning of April summed up the end of the season for Colchester United; a disappointing performance in a match where we really should have attacked from the off and walked away with 3 points and a clean sheet.
Forget that though, first game often means nothing in relation to the rest of the season, beating Norwich 7-1? Point proved.
Dagenham & Redbridge begin life in League 1 with a dream away fixture at relegated Sheffield Wednesday.With no pressure on Daggers at all, I fancy them to spring a surprise – even a draw would be a brilliant result. This will be a great day for all Daggers fans and staff.
Southend United and their new look squad welcome Stockport County to Roots Hall on the opening day. Both relegated from League 1 last season and suffering monetary problems must be looking to bounce straight back up. I hope so anyway, I miss the rivalry already!
Braintree Town commence their season with a home fixture against newly promoted Farnborough. Farnborough ran away with the ‘Zamaretto Premier League’ title last season, so they’ll be no push-overs. Braintree have replaced striker George Purcell with ex Colchester United youth team product, Jamie Guy. Guy seemed to lose his way at Colchester and went out on loan to several clubs, hopefully regular football and goals will help rekindle the potential U’s fans saw in him.
Chelmsford City The Clarets travel to Basingstoke Town on the 14th August, Chelmsford will be hoping to improve on their playoff disappointment last season and push for promotion to the Conference Premier.
AFC Hornchurch begin their campaign on the 21st August, against Cray Wanderers. Horchurch struggled against the Wanderers last season having been defeated twice and not managing to score in either fixture. AFC will want to end this run of poor form against Cray and start another season in the Ryman Premier well.
Billericay Town face Tonbridge Angels at home first game of the season. Tonbridge will feel like last season was an opportunity missed having missed out on the play-offs due to a poor run-in, picking up a mere 4 points from their last 5 games. The Blues strengthened their squad with the signing of widely experienced midfielder Micah Hyde and will hope to see what their current squad can achieve.
Canvey Island make the trip around the Thames estuary to visit Margate for their season opener. Finishing just 5 points above Margate last season, Canvey will be wanting to start well and grab what could be a crucial 3 points come the end of the season. Canvey will want to repeat last season’s good form against Margate last season which included a 2-1 away win.
Aveley FC travel to Horsham on the first day of the season on the back of a strong season in the Ryman Premier. Despite losing their manager and many players to Braintree Town, Aveley fans will see how this season unfolds under the guidance of Alan Kimble.
Well, a lot has happened at Southend United since my last blog. Steve Tilson has been placed on 'gardening leave' (effectively sacked), Paul Sturrock has replaced him as manager with Tommy Widdrington joining him from Salisbury as assistant manager. And with the new management team has come an almost absoloute turnaround in players. Since my last blog, both goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall and right-back Simon Francis have had their contracts cancelled, with Mildenhall opting to be 3rd-choice goalkeeper at Millwall. He and Adam Barrett have both surprisingly been signed up by Championship clubs. And following last night's 2-0 friendly defeat to Dartford, Sturrock revealed that Franck Moussa, Jean Francois Christophe, Stuart O'Keefe and Francis Laurent have all decided that they want to join the exodus. The reasons for this are unknown (presumably they like being paid on time) but it's certainly disappointing, particularly in the cases of Moussa and O'Keefe who were both products of the youth system and who would've done well in League Two. Christophe won't be missed after having a dire last season and Laurent is an exciting player on his day but unfortunately his off-days are more frequent than those days. But it must be stressed they've only said they want to leave. Whether they will leave is another matter. Except Moussa, I don't think any of them will attract much interest and nor are they particularly high-earners who the club would like to get off the wage bill, as was the case with the other departees.
This came on the same day that Sturrock secured five more players on pre-contract agreements, since the club is still under a transfer embargo. Mohsni Bilel, Sofienne Zaaboub, Craig Easton (who's been named captain), Ryan Hall and Blair Sturrock have all signed for the club and all featured in last night's friendly. They join Peter Gilbert and Barry Corr as new additions. Five of those seven have worked with Sturrock before and it seems that the Scotsman is adopting a policy of signing players he knows and trusts (and even his own family!), with a nice mix of youth and experience. Rhys Evans, another player who is familiar to the manager, played in goal for the 1st half last night and seems likely to join the club. Out of the players who featured at Dartford, only Anthony Grant and youngster Harry Crawford were here last season. Attending Monday night's friendly with Derby will be a case of working out who's who. It's a team of strangers who need to get used to each other quite quickly.
Yet strangely, I have an optimistic feeling about the whole situation. Now that we've paid off our debts (apparently), the transfer embargo should be lifted at a hearing on August 2nd (fingers crossed), all these players who Sturrock has arranged will officially sign and be able to play on the first day of the season and Southend will have a fresh, new team to take on League Two. This huge change might be uncomfortable for some fans but that's football - players come and go, managers come and go. It's only the fans who are constant.
3 or 4 years of ‘footballing boom’, appears to be over for Colchester United and its fans - this isn’t going to turn into a rant about how Cowling is ‘gutless’ for promoting former assistant manager John Ward to manager. Far from it. Personally I like to see everyone getting a chance to prove their worth. “I like to get Crosses into the box and create lots of chances…” John Ward.
Cowling received mixed opinions after naming Ward as his number 1 although, he was probably prepared for it. Since the club were promoted it seems as if there is a totally different expectation from the fans. I’m not one to say “I’ve been supporting The U’s since 1945 blah blah blah etc etc etc” There are a lot of very strong teams in League One next season (Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton and Huddersfield to name a few). I’m so disappointed to hear when fans instantly condemn decisions by the club.
Ward appointed fans favourite Joe Dunne as his assistant, a move nearly every fan is pleased with. Both Ward and Dunne have mentioned meetings with RC after Boothroyd left where they discussed in depth about what they feel they could achieve at the club.
“We managed to get across what we felt we could do get some continuity straight away.” Joe Dunne
Dunne also brings up a point that many Colchester fans have also brought up when venting their frustration at losing another manager. 3 managers in 4 years! I don’t think fans appreciate that fact that Dunne mentions, with each new manager comes new players, new staff and ultimately, the players which don’t fit it with the new manager’s plans are given the cold shoulder. This happened under both Lambert and Boothroyd. White, Jackson and Ifil under Lambert and Corcoran, Maybury and Lockwood under Aidy. This must have been a massive influence on Robbie when making his decision, Ward and Dunne both stressed their desire to keep the backroom staff the same along with offering every player a fresh start.
The season ahead isn’t a particularly exciting one for U’s fans. No stand out games like Leeds, Southend and Norwich but we look forward to the challenge of Dagenham and Redbridge.
“What a wonderful story for John Still and the Dagenham boys… For us to have a local derby twice, it’ll be good for them as well as ourselves.” John Ward.
For SOTD and I, this fixture will have a hell of a lot more riding on the result than most CUFC and D&RFC fans.
Transfer activity took it’s time to begin at the WHCS but at the beginning of the week, news came that both David Prutton and Phil Ifil had left the club. Quite happy as I think both players were on a considerable wage, Prutton for his experience and Ifil for his potential. News also broke that we’d signed 2 new players, Brian Wilson from Bristol City and Andrew Bond from non-league Barrow. Particularly please with both, compared to the previous seasons; no high profile signings and the eagerness of getting the friendly’s to see what they are like.
