Author Topic: Southend Football  (Read 81666 times)

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #200 on: 22 December, 2019, 03:54:04 pm »
Canning Town according to Wikipedia:
Quote
Thames Ironworks Football Club, the club that later became West Ham United, was founded by Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co. Ltd owner Arnold Hills and foreman Dave Taylor in 1895. Thames Ironworks took over the tenancy of The Old Castle Swifts' Hermit Road ground in Canning Town until their eventual eviction in October 1896.
So that would make them Essex all along, even if only by a river's width.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Wowbagger

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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #201 on: 23 December, 2019, 10:00:33 am »
Which brings us back to the homespun definition o Essex that I used to use when selecting chess teams:

North of the Thames
East of the Lea
South of the Stour
West of the Sea.

Hermit Road is quite definitely all of those things.
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Wowbagger

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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #202 on: 18 January, 2020, 05:05:55 pm »
Southend are on a roll. 4 games without defeat and today they doubled their tally of wins this season, courtesy of Accrington Stanley. They are now only 12 points into the relegation zone.
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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #203 on: 18 January, 2020, 05:14:38 pm »
Wow, I always check this thread, partly because of novelty of the title (not many people would include Sarfend and fupball in the same book, let alone phrase) but also because you have a refreshing attitude to the nonsense that is professional football!  Not only did Southend win, but they did it about as far away from home as it's possible to get in that division and at the home of, reputedly, the best pies in football.  Looks like Accrington ate them all!

Wowbagger

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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #204 on: 18 January, 2020, 08:40:35 pm »
In the very dim & distant past, I used to play rugby. I was a prop forward for our college team.

There was an occasion when the D. Telegraph covered one of our games. I think they had an attitude to sport, a bit like this thread, in which they would delve into the lower echelons just for the fun of it. The week they covered our game, we lost 108 - 0, the try being only 3 points. I don't recall who the opposition was, and I wasn't in the team that week.

The following week we played Preston Polytechnic at Preston Grasshopper's ground, and we lost 66 - 0. That was perhaps the least painful game I have ever played. I didn't have to do much. The opposition's scrum wasn't very big, but they were very fit and tight-knit. We never got the ball and they didn't cheat. Their wings and centres were fit and fast. They just scored whenever they wanted, which was at almost a point a minute.

I don't mention this out of sheer arrogance, despite my presence in the team making a difference of 42 points. It was more down to the pies. As we lay back, luxuriating in a traditional rugby club's communal bath, some old guy hobbled round with a huge tray of delicious hot pies. Whether they were sourced from Accrington I cannot say, but they were most welcome. One wag in our team asked, deadpan, "What are these made of? Last week's opponents?"
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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #205 on: 18 January, 2020, 09:49:17 pm »
Did Holland's pies ever get as far as Lytham?  They are legendary around here and they are delivered in fine old-style liveried vans of chocolate and emerald.  I think that strictly they are from Baxenden, which is in the Accrington foothills.  I think the cheese and onion ones we get from the chip-shop are Hollands, too.

Those are pretty impressive scorelines - very British, somehow.   I owe my now almost totally useless arthritic knee to the pursuit (not always successful) of slightly less British results at school and university!  Cartilege out at 18.  I played full-back - if you were prepared to play no. 15 you could always get a game!

Wowbagger

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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #206 on: 18 January, 2020, 10:07:00 pm »
Sadly, I have been absent from the County Palatine so long that I have never knowingly heard of Holland's pies.

I did a teaching practice in Lytham, but other than that I don't think I ever went there.
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Wowbagger

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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #207 on: 02 February, 2020, 08:34:10 am »
Southend and Bolton, the bottom 2, both won yesterday. Southend beat Lincoln 2-1. Lincoln equalised on 89 minutes and Southend’s winner arrived 6 minutes later. Exciting stuff!

Southend have now garnered 8 points from their last 5 games, which is the same number as were yielded by the previous 23. They have 16 games left and are 12 points behind AFC Wimbledon, who are outside the relegation zone.
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Wowbagger

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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #208 on: 18 February, 2020, 11:34:34 pm »
Since I last posted, poor old Southend have notched up another 4 consecutive losses. I was driving home from choir as the ground was emptying tonight. They still seem to be getting a lot more support than I would have expected for such a dire team. For most home matches they seem to be getting over 6000 turning up.
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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #209 on: 19 February, 2020, 03:02:47 pm »
More likely to be opposition fans enjoying a certain away win!

Wowbagger

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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #210 on: 19 February, 2020, 03:37:47 pm »
An awful lot of them seemed to be wearing Southend's colours.
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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #211 on: 19 February, 2020, 09:56:56 pm »
Oh dear!

Wowbagger

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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #212 on: 19 February, 2020, 10:56:10 pm »
https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/southend-united/attendances shows Southend's home crowds. There seems to be a tendency for nearer away teams to draw larger crowds. Ipswich, who drew the largest attendance, were doing very well earlier in the season and it's possible to travel from Ipswich to Southend in under 90 minutes by both rail and road.

https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/southend-united/attendances refers.
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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #213 on: 20 February, 2020, 12:13:40 am »
Ipswich to Southend by rail - the romance.  I'm thinking "Death On The (Leyton) Orient Express"!

Wowbagger

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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #214 on: 22 February, 2020, 05:33:49 pm »
Excitement at the end of the match today as Burton's player managed an injury time own goal to bring the score to Southend 2 - 3 Burton.

That's teh 3rd separate run of 5 consecutive losses that southend have had this season. Impressive!

Meanwhile, fellow-stragglers Bolton and Tranmere both lost. Wimbledon, in 20th position, are looking pretty safe.
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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #215 on: 17 March, 2020, 06:22:21 pm »
Was listening to an EFL podcast just now, and it mentioned Southend as being particularly precarious. Something like £600k owed, players not all been paid, etc. Gate receipts from the 5 home games scheduled (with Sunderland, Portsmouth and one other big club) could have made a dent, but behind closed doors...

Wowbagger

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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #216 on: 17 March, 2020, 11:25:16 pm »
Southend have been in dire straits for a very long time. Their owner, Ron Martin, regularly bails the out when their VAT is due.

He has ludicrous plans to build a (IIRC) 22000 seat stadium for a team that averages about 5000 per match.
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Wowbagger

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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #217 on: 09 May, 2020, 05:58:13 pm »
Today I became aware of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyIoFbuOSLQ

I've never watched the entire match before. Amazing to think that Southend beat a team including Rooney & Ronaldo.
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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #218 on: 09 May, 2020, 09:07:09 pm »
Amazing to think that Southend beat a team including Rooney & Ronaldo.

"We" beat Man U 0-0 in the FA Cup 4th round[1]. Their team included De Gea, Di Maria, Daley Blind, Macrus Rojo, Felliaini, Luke Shaw (as a sub), Januzaj, Falcao, Van Persie (as a sub). Not the pinnacle of Man U teams but hardly a B-team and still plenty of established internationals (many of them just didn't gel together).

Earned a very lucrative replay at Old Trafford (clubs share the gate receipts 50:50 from FA Cup games), it was worth something like £1.5m along with prize money.

Shows just how unequal the money is in football. I read somewhere that the monthly wages of just a few of the top earning Premier League players could wipe out all of the debts of EVERY club below the Championship.

The current football club owners are generally going to get screwed, but the clubs will come back in the future, hopefully run as phoenix clubs that have a solid vision for ownership and strategy rather than being used as debt sinks and tax write-offs for many of the current unscrupulous owners.

1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/30843611
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Wowbagger

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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #219 on: 06 September, 2020, 02:45:31 pm »
I was idly speculating (I do that a lot) about Southend and wondering when they were going to start playing again. A quick google revealed that it will be next week, and they become the first team ever to play Harrogate Town in the Football League. I suspect that they might become the first team to lose to Harrogate Town in the Football League...
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Wowbagger

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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #220 on: 12 September, 2020, 04:50:37 pm »
Oh dear...
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Wowbagger

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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #221 on: 26 September, 2020, 06:04:13 pm »
And I repeat, oh dear.

I noticed that Southend were 1 - 0 up into the second half and I wondered if this might be their day. However, once again they flattered to deceive and Morecambe scored twice in the second half to secure the win. I had a look at the Graun's match statistics and, if they are accurate, Southend had over 60% of the possession but didn't manage a single shot on target. It turns out that Southend took the lead after 5 minutes, courtesy of an own goal.

All of this leads to a serious point: what is the purpose of a "football"club that has no money, is entirely dependent on an owner who is only in it for the property development potential and whose supporters cannot get to the games. I can't remember the current state of the planning permission that Southend Borough Council have/have not yet granted to the club for its new stadium, but the sheer stupidity of such a project really is brought in to focus by the team's current performance.

Oh, and SUFC owe HMRC £500000. Ron Martin, the owner, has promised to pay that - not for the first time.

https://www.echo-news.co.uk/sport/18748425.southend-united-chairman-ron-martin-promises-pay-off-outstanding-tax-bill/?ref=ar

Edit: it seems that Morecambe's nickname is "The Shrimps". Southend's is "The Shrimpers". A crustacean version of "Man bites Dog".
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Wowbagger

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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #222 on: 10 October, 2020, 05:22:25 pm »
Poor old Saarfend were 2 - 1 up until the fifth minute of injury time...
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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #223 on: 22 October, 2020, 12:15:08 am »
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Wowbagger

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Re: Southend Football
« Reply #224 on: 22 October, 2020, 09:45:22 am »
That case was absolutely heart-rending. The pub where that assault started is about 100 yards from my house.
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