Focus Shifts To On The Pitch

After a summer of turmoil and drama behind the scenes at Roots Hall, Southend fans can finally look forward to the forthcoming football season after the club settled their debts with HMRC on Monday and escaped administration (for another year, at least). It means that the transfer embargo which has been on them for some time now should be lifted before the start of the season, allowing the 17 players who manager Paul Sturrock has signed on pre-contract agreements to officially register with the Football League and play Stockport County on Saturday, including today's 3 new signings - Chris Barker (1-month loan from Plymouth), Josh Simpson (6-month loan from Peterborough) and Adam Bouzid. The embargo hasn't officially been lifted yet, despite Ron Martin's assurance (another broken promise) that it would be sorted by yesterday, but I imagine it's just a case of paperwork and bureaucracy. Again it was Sainsburys who saved the day, underwriting Southend's debts for the next 12 months. I may tell my mum to start shopping at Sainsburys!


Looking ahead to Saturday's opening match with Stockport (and how nice it is to be talking about football not finance), it is hard to make predictions with Southend at the moment given that we have an almost completely new team who need to gel. But there is certainly a feeling of positivity around the place, helped by Tuesday's impressive 1-1 draw with West Ham United (albeit their reserve team). Defensively the team looks solid, with Tunisian centre-back Bilel Mohsni looking like a gem of a discovery from the French amateur leagues and new signing Luke Prosser impressing against the Hammers. The central midfield partnership of captain Craig Easton and Anthony Grant, now the longest-serving and arguably best player at the club, must be one of the strongest in the league. The side's weakness appears to be up front as we lack a proven, regular goalscorer. Blair Sturrock and Barry Corr are experienced at this level but have poor goalscoring records, whilst Harry Crawford, Matt Paterson and Scott Spencer are all young, unproven strikers but they should get a fair few goals between them. Contrary to recent seasons in which conceding goals has been the problem, this season may see a lot of low-scoring games. Stockport were the last visitors to Roots Hall for a league game, having also been relegated from League One, and like Southend they have substantial financial problems. The Shrimpers won 2-1 on that occasion and it should be a close game again. But whatever the result, we should just be thankful that we have a team to field. Ron Martin is far from a hero but at least the club is above water for another 12 months.

Billy Blenheim