9 years later it's still the same

Nothing it seems ever changes down at Roots Hall.

A pal gave me a cutting from a Sunday newspaper back in 1961 when Blues lost 1-0 at home to Watford.

The report of the match began "what a tough job manager Ted Fenton has at Southend". Substitute Fenton for Alan Little and you could be speaking about the current bunch who gave such a miserable performance in the goalless home bore with York City on Saturday.

When you consider that Blues could go out against a struggling side totally relaxed and free to express themselves without any worries about promotion or relegation then the display was nothing short of woeful.

It underlines the huge task facing Little during the summer if he is to bring in the new faces necessary to pep what looks a very limp, clueless and gutless outfit.

Genuine fears for Shrimpers

I wish sometimes that I wore a pair of rose tinted glasses that Blues fan Richard Coxell obviously owns.

His letter in last week's Echosport took me to task for fears I raised about the club's future following owner Ron Martin's meeting with supporters at a Shrimpers Club forum.

Richard seemed to strangely interpret some of my comments as being critical of the rejuvinated Supporters Club. Nothing could be further from the truth as I have the highest regard for those who run both the main club and the very successful Junior Blues.

I know from work I have carried out myself on various sporting committees that volunteers get very little praise or thanks for what they do but to pull in 350 members from a standing start two years-ago and to boast a junior membership of 300 is a tremendous achievement.

I note that Richard himself signed up an Everton fan for the Supporters Club and hopefully he will have similar success in persuading the thousands of West Ham, Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea followers in the area to join as well!

But where I am at odds with Mr Coxell is his comment that I could have been more enthusiastic about "the massive amount of money that Martin Dawn have put into the club to keep it alive."

Let's get things straight, Martin Dawn are not benefactors with a bottomless pit of money to throw at the club. They bought Roots Hall and the training ground for what many might think was a snip to help clear existing debts but, quite rightly for a public company, have to ensure that investment is safe and are charging the club around £500,000 a year rent.

And a further cash windfall will no doubt come their way from development of not only the training ground if it ever gets the go-ahead but also Roots Hall as well.

Chairman John Main, a man for whom I have the highest personal regard, was honest enough to admit when the takeover went through that Martin Dawn expected to make a profit from the deal and I've no doubt they will eventually get a healthy return on money they have put in.

I don't feel I was guilty of whingeing as Richard suggested but merely to express real worries, which I know are held by many Blues fans, of what might happen if the new stadium doesn't get the green light.

Hopefully all my doubts will prove groundless and that Martin Dawn will end up as the white knights who rode in and saved the club from extinction and led them into the promised First Division land where they will be watched by much larger crowds than are currently being attracted.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.