Southend United F.C.

Southend United
Full name	Southend United Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Shrimpers,; The Seasiders,; The Blues
Founded	1906
Ground	Roots Hall; Victoria Avenue; Southend-on-Sea; (Capacity: 12,306)
Chairman	Ron Martin
Manager	Steve Tilson
League	League One
2008–09	League One, 8th
Home colours	Away colours

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Southend United Football Club is an English football club based at Roots Hall Stadium, Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, who currently play in League One of the English Football League. The club plans to move into their new 22,000 seater stadium located at Fossetts Farm at the beginning of the 2010/2011 season.

[edit] History

[edit] 1906-1958

Southend United F.C. was formed in 1906 and played in the Southern League until 1920 when they co-founded the Football League's new Third Division; they finished 17th in their first ever season. In 1921 the Third Division was regionalised with Southend United joining the southern section and here they remained until league re-structure in 1958. Southend came close to promotion twice when they finished 3rd in 1932 and 1950, the club's highest league positions until 1991.

[edit] 1958-1981

Southend United joined the new national Third Division in 1958 where they remained until 1966 when they suffered their first ever relegation, plummeting into the Fourth Division. The club had to wait 6 seasons until 1972 to experience the club's first ever promotion as runners-up behind Grimsby Town. In 1976 Southend suffered relegation again before taking another runners-up spot behind Watford in 1978. Another relegation in 1980 was directly followed by one of the most successful seasons in the club's history as they won the Fourth Division Championship in 1981, breaking a series of club records in the process.

[edit] 1981-1987

Many of Southend United most gifted players were sold due to a financial strain. The club were relegated into the Fourth Division in 1984 to embark on a fight for survival both on and off the pitch. One of the club's darkest hours saw a season average attendance of barely above 2,000. They narrowly avoided the lottery of re-election to the Football League.

[edit] 1987-1992

Promotion in 1987 was the beginning of a golden era for Southend United. Relegation in 1989 was a mere blip as two successive promotions in 1990 and 1991 saw Southend United become "full members" of the Football League for the first time in the club's history and in 1992 Southend United finished 12th in the old Second Division, their highest ever position in the Football League to date. On New Year's Day 1992 the club briefly topped the Second Division but their dreary late season form stopped any hopes of a unique third successive promotion that would have given them a place as a Premier League founder member. Manager David Webb then stepped down.

[edit] 1992-2003

Southend United were managed by Colin Murphy, Barry Fry and then Peter Taylor over the next three seasons. In 1995, former Liverpool player Ronnie Whelan agreed to become player-manager, and Southend finished 14th in Division One in his first season as a manager, a year later the club suffered a relegation. Whelan was discharged and replaced by Alvin Martin, who was unable to avoid a second consecutive relegation which put Southend into Division Three. Martin left in April 1999, with Southend fifth from bottom in the Football League. At that present time the club was under serious threat of bankruptcy consequently the board decided to sell Roots Hall in preparation for a proposed move in 2003. In late 2003 former Southend United player Steve Tilson was appointed manager with Paul Brush as his assistant.

[edit] 2003-Present

The duo turned things around dramatically and Southend reached their first ever national cup final in 2004 when they met Blackpool in the final of the LDV Vans Trophy at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Over 20,000 Southend fans travelled from all over the world to be part of history, but the team couldn't quite rise to the occasion and Blackpool won 2-0.

In 2004 Tilson and Brush were installed as a permanent management / coaching duo and responded by guiding Southend to promotion via the play-offs in 2005 whilst also making a second successive appearance in the LDV Vans Trophy final. Once again the trophy eluded the Shrimpers as they lost 2-0 to Wrexham, but the third appearance at the Millennium Stadium in the League Two play-off final against Lincoln City brought success as Freddy Eastwood and Duncan Jupp scored the goals that gave the club their first ever taste of promotion via the play-off system and their first major piece of silverware since 1981.

On 29 April 2006 the Shrimpers were promoted to the Football League Championship, the second highest tier of English football, after a tense 2-2 draw with Swansea City at the Welsh club's new Liberty Stadium. Southend were crowned League One champions on 6 May 2006, the final day of the season, after beating Bristol City 1-0 at Roots Hall in front of almost 11,400 fans. The 87th minute winner came from Wayne Gray, who had come on as a substitute for Shaun Goater, who was playing his last professional game. Fans from his former club Manchester City had made a special trip to the game to give their hero a special send-off at the end of a long and distinguished career. For Southend United the championship title, the club's first in 25 years, was just one stop of an amazing three year journey from the depths at the bottom of the Football League to just one level below the Premiership, a journey that not only saw two successive promotions but also three visits to the Millenium Stadium, Cardiff. On 6 May 2006 manager Steve Tilson was named as the League Manager Association's Manager-of-the-Season for League One.

The club has a local rivalry with fellow Essex side Colchester United. The two clubs were promoted from League One at the end of the 2005/06 season after a long battle for top spot was eventually won by the Shrimpers. The rivalry extends back many years. At the end of the 1989/90 season Southend's promotion from the Fourth Division coincided with Colchester's fall from the Football League and the clubs had to wait almost 15 years before meeting once again in competition when they met in the Southern Final of the LDV Vans Trophy; the Shrimpers triumphed 4-3 on aggregate to secure their first ever appearance in a national cup final. The two clubs met again in the same competition the following season, with Southend emerging as the victors once more after a penalty shootout.

One of the Shrimpers' most memorable victories was in the fourth round of the League Cup against trophy holders Manchester United on 7 November 2006. United fielded a side with 10 internationals including Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. Southend won the game 1-0 thanks to a 30 yard free kick from Freddy Eastwood. Southend goalkeeper Darryl Flahavan was voted man of the match ^[1] after a treble of saves from Manchester United's Portuguese winger Ronaldo. With this meeting being the only ever between the two sides, it left Southend as the only team in English football to have a 100% record against the Red Devils.

Southend drew another Premiership team in the next round, Tottenham Hotspur. The Championship side forced Tottenham to extra-time, only to be undone 5 minutes from time by a Jermain Defoe goal, which replays later showed was offside.^{[citation needed]}

Southend United started the 2006-07 season reasonably well, beating Stoke City 1-0 on the opening day. Just a few games later Southend beat Sunderland AFC 3-1 at Roots Hall Stadium. After that, Southend did not win a league game for 18 games until the 9 December 2006 when they beat Southampton 2-1. The Blues then followed this with a convincing 3-1 win over promotion-chasers West Bromwich Albion, on New Year's Day 2007, and an away victory over Cardiff City that took them to five games undefeated. A 3-1 victory away to Birmingham City on 31 January 2007 saw the Shrimpers lift themselves from the bottom of the Championship, moving above Leeds United on goal difference. On 9 February 2007 the Shrimpers defeated QPR by a scoreline of 5-0. It was to be a nightmare return for Southend's former goalkeeper Simon Royce, conceding in only the 9th minute when his attempted clearance rebounded off of the onrushing Lee Bradbury and into the net.

Regrettably, the form did not last and after a humiliating home defeat to Colchester and many others, the Shrimpers were relegated to League One. Freddy Eastwoodand Jamal Campbell-Ryce were both sold; to Wolves and Barnsley respectively. Despite this, Southend were able to finish sixth in League One at the end of 2007-08 thus qualifying for a play-off place against Doncaster Rovers. Southend drew the home leg 0-0, but lost the second leg 5-1.

On 3 January 2009, Southend drew 1–1 against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the 3rd round of the FA Cup to take them to a replay at Roots Hall Southend were defeated 4-1 in the replay at Roots Hall.^[2]

[edit] Stadium

The club has had three stadia: the Kursaal, the Greyhound Park, and the rented out Writtle Street, after many years of good service the club moved to a renovated amusement park on the Kursaal and played there until 1955 and their current stadium Roots Hall. Roots Hall was the club's first stadium and was built on a council landfill site in 1954/55 with simple fencing to hold back spectators. Roots Hall has been the home of Southend United since August 1955 after the site was purchased in 1952.

It took ten years to fully complete the building of Roots Hall, the first game being played here on 20th August, 1955, a 3-1 Division Three (South) victory over Norwich City, but the ground was far from complete.

The main East Stand had barely been fitted and ran only 50 yards of the touchline, whilst only a few steps of terracing encircled the ground, with the North, West and the huge South Bank still largely unconcreted. The North Stand had a single-barrelled roof but this only ran the length of the penalty area whilst the West Bank was only covered at its rear by a similar structure. Although the ground was far from finished, during the inaugural season this was the least of the club's worries, for the pitch at Roots Hall showed the consequences of having been laid on top of thousands of tonnes of compacted rubbish. Drainage was somewhat of a problem, and the wet winter had turned the ground into a quagmire.

The pitch was completely re-laid in the summer of 1956 and a proper drainage system, which is still in place, was constructed whilst the West Bank roof was extended to reach the touchline, creating a unique double-barrelled structure.

The terracing was finally completed soon after, but the colossal task of completely terracing the South Bank, all of its 72 steps, was not completed until 1964. The North Bank roof was extended in the early 1960s, and the East Stand was extended to run the full length of the pitch in 1966. Floodlights were also installed during this period.

Roots Hall was designed to hold 35,000 spectators, with over 15,000 on the South Bank alone, but the highest recorded attendance at the ground is 31,090 for an FA Cup third round tie with Liverpool in January 1979.

Until 1988 Roots Hall was still the newest ground in the Football League, but it was then that the ground saw a significant change. United had hit bad times in the mid 1980s and new chairman Vic Jobson sold virtually all of the South Bank for development, leaving just a tiny block of 15 steps.

In 1994 Jobson self-designed a new stand at the South End^{[citation needed]}. Seats were installed onto the original terracing whilst a second tier was added, with the upper level giving some of the best views in the country. The West Bank had already become seated in 1992 upon United's elevation to Division Two whilst the East Stand paddock also received a new seating deck, bolted and elevated from the terracing below. In 1995 the West Stand roof was extended to meet up with the North and South Stands, with seating installed into each corner, thus giving the Roots Hall we see today, with a capacity of just under 12,500.

Southend United currently play in the 12,392 all-seater Roots Hall stadium, which has been their home since 1955. The future of this location has been in doubt since it was sold to property developers in 1998. Planning permission has been granted for a new 22,000 seater stadium to be located near to the team's training ground at Fossetts Farm.

On 24 January 2007, Southend Borough Council unanimously agreed to give planning permission for the new stadium at the proposed Fossetts Farm site with Rochford District Council following suit 24 hours later. The application was subsequently submitted to Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, for government approval. However, the application was unexpectedly "called in" at the beginning of April 2007, a move which at best delays the development by some considerable time and at worst might jeopardise the whole project entirely. The inquiry began in September 2007. In October 2007 a "final" inquiry began where chairman Ron Martin called for supporters to show in numbers at Southends local governing headquarters. As of last time hundreds flocked to the streets. On 6 March 2008, after years of frustration for the Southend faithful, Fossets Farm was given the green light by the Government. The club hope to move in at the start of the 2010/11 season and hope that the first game there will be Kevin Maher's testimonial.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Club honours

Coca-Cola League One Champions: 2005/2006
Coca-Cola League Two Play-off Winners: 2004/2005
Third Division Runners-up: 1989/1990
Fourth Division Champions: 1980/1981
Fourth Division Runners-up: 1971/1972, 1977/1978
LDV Vans Trophy Runners-up: 2003/2004, 2004/2005
Southern League Second Division Winners: 1906/1907, 1907/1908
Southern League Second Division Runners-up: 1912/1913
Essex Professional Cup Winners: 1950, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1962, 1965, 1967, 1972, 1973
Essex Senior Cup Winners: 1983, 1991, 1997, 2008
Essex Thameside Trophy Winners: 1990

[edit] Club records

Biggest Victory: 10-1 v Golders Green, FA Cup, 1934/35; 10-1 v Brentwood, FA Cup, 1968/69; 10-1 v Aldershot, Leyland Daf Cup, 1990/91
Heaviest Defeat: 1-9 v Brighton & Hove Albion, 1965/66
Highest Attendance (All Comps): 31,033 v Liverpool, FA Cup, 10 January 1979
Highest Attendance (League): 21,020 v Leyton Orient, Division Three (South), 9 September 1955
Lowest Attendance (All Comps): 945 v Cambridge United, Associate Members Cup, 16 December 1986
Highest Average Attendance: 12,089 1949/50 Division Three (South) - Southend Stadium
Lowest Average Attendance: 2,103 1984/85 Division Four - Roots Hall
Most Appearances (All Comps): Alan Moody (506 - 1972-1984)
Most Appearances (League): Sandy Anderson (452 - 1950-1962)
Most Appearances (FA Cup): Alan Moody (32 - 1972-1984)
Most Appearances (League Cup): David Martin (25 - 1986-1993)
Most Appearances (Other Cup): Kevin Maher (26 - 1998 to 2008)
Most Goals (All Comps): Roy Hollis (135 - 1954-1960)
Most Goals (League): Roy Hollis (120 - 1954-1960)
Most Goals (FA Cup): Roy Hollis (15 - 1954-1960) and Billy Best (15 - 1968-1973)
Most Goals (League Cup): Sammy McMillan (15 - 1967-69) and David Martin (15 - 1986-1993)
Most Goals (Other Cup): Brett Angell (10 - 1990-1994)

[edit] Player of the Year

Year	Winner
2000–01	Kevin Maher
2001–02	Darryl Flahavan
2002–03	Leon Cort
2003–04	Mark Gower
2004–05	Adam Barrett
2005–06	Freddy Eastwood
2006–07	Kevin Maher
2007–08	Nicky Bailey
2008–09	Peter Clarke

[edit] Current squad

As of 12 June 2009.

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Steve Mildenhall
2	DF	Simon Francis
6	DF	Adam Barrett (Captain)
7	MF	Anthony Grant
8	MF	Alan McCormack
9	FW	Lee Barnard
10	FW	James Walker
11	FW	Alex Revell
12	MF	Damian Scannell
14	MF	Franck Moussa

No.	Position	Player
15	DF	Osei Sankofa
16	FW	Dougie Freedman
18	DF	Johnny Herd
20	MF	Jean-François Christophe
21	MF	Kevin Betsy
24	GK	Ian Joyce
25	GK	Clark Masters
26	FW	Francis Laurent
30	MF	Stuart O'Keefe
37	FW	Justin Hazell

[edit] Youth squad

As of 28 May 2009.

No.	Position	Player
––	GK	Daniel Bentley
––	DF	Kane Ferdinand
––	DF	Teddy Nesbitt
––	DF	Adetayo Osifuwa
––	DF	John Owinja
––	DF	Duran Reynolds
––	DF	Callum Whittaker
––	MF	Medi Adalimba
––	MF	Jamie Dennis

No.	Position	Player
––	MF	Merrick James-Lewis
––	MF	Marcus Milner
––	MF	Julian Okai
––	MF	George Smith
––	MF	James Stevens
––	FW	Kyle Asante
––	FW	Harry Crawford
––	FW	Freddy Ladapo
––	FW	Michael Ngoo

[edit] Famous players

2008- Dougie Freedman - Former Crystal Palace and Scotland striker, signed a two year deal with an option for an extra year.
2008- Paul Furlong - Former Chelsea, QPR and Watford striker, signed on a free transfer from Luton Town
2006 Michael Ricketts - England capped striker who was sacked by the club after only 2 substitute appearances, allegedly for being overweight.
2005-2006 Shaun Goater - Experienced Bermudian striker who played for Southend in their successful League One promotion campaign. This was towards the end of the striker's career, he is now playing in the USL Second Division.
2004-2007 Freddy Eastwood - A striker of Romani background who scored a hat-trick on his debut against Swansea City. He was signed from Grays Athletic and went on to score a famous free kick against Manchester United in the League Cup. Eastwood played a major part in Southend's consecutive promotions. Eastwood later on signed a four-year deal with Wolves in 2007/2008 season after completing a £1.5m move from Southend.
2003-2005 Michael Kightly - Former Tottenham trainee who only made 13 appearances over 3 seasons and was released. Signed by Grays Athletic; labelled the "Ryan Giggs" of non-league football by Sir Alex Ferguson and was signed up by Wolves.
1997-98 Neville Southall - Veteran goalkeeper who was loaned to Southend from his long-time employers Everton.
1996-1998 Jeroen Boere - Another ex West Ham United player he was Dutch and played as a striker, died in his Spanish home on 16 August 2007 at the age of 39.
1995 Lee Chapman - Experienced striker who was loaned to the club from Ipswich Town and played just one game.
1995-97 Mike Marsh - Former Liverpool midfielder who had two seasons at Southend before retiring through injury.
1994-97 Ronnie Whelan - Experienced former Liverpool and Éire defender who had three seasons at Southend and for the latter two of those seasons was player-manager.
1992-93 Stan Collymore - One of the most controversial strikers in English football, Collymore established himself as a regular goalscorer before being sold to Nottingham Forest, and later represented England.
1990-96 Chris Powell - Talented defender signed from Crystal Palace who later had three spells at Charlton Athletic, as well as playing for England and serving as PFA chairman since 2005.
1989-1993 and 2004-2007 Spencer Prior - Tall centre back who won 4 promotions whilst with the Shrimpers. He went on to sign for Norwich, Leicester City, Man City and Cardiff before re-joining Southend in 2004.
1988-90 Justin Edinburgh - Young full-back who was sold to Tottenham in 1990 and collected an 1991 FA Cup Final winner's medal the following year.
1985-86 Frank Lampard Sr - Veteran full-back who had success earlier in his career with West Ham. He is also the father of England's International Frank Lampard.
1984-1985 and 1985-1990 Roy McDonough - Controversial striker who held the English record for the highest number of red cards in a career
1979-83 Garry Nelson - Much travelled striker who later wrote the successful book "Left Foot Forward".
1971-73 Peter Taylor - Had a short, uneventful spell as player before joining Crystal Palace and England, later Shrimpers, England Under-21's and England senior team manager.
1965-67 Eddie Firmani - first player to score 100 goals in England and Italy.
1906-08 Harold Halse - Scored 91 goals for Southend before moving to Manchester United, playing in three FA Cup Finals and turning out for England.

[edit] Famous managers

1997-99 Alvin Martin: West Ham United & England - Sacked after two disastrous seasons which saw Southend fall into the bottom half of Division Three
1995-97 Ronnie Whelan: Liverpool and Éire : also former player - Sacked after the first of Southend's two successive relegations in the late 1990s
1993-95 Peter Taylor: Tottenham Hotspur & England: also former player - Sacked after failing to get Southend anywhere near the top of Division One
1986-87, 1988-92, 2000-01, 2003 David Webb: Chelsea - Had four spells as manager, winning two successive promotions in his second spell
1984-86 Bobby Moore: West Ham United & England: captain of England 1966 World Cup Winners - Failed to make his mark in management
1970-76 Arthur Rowley : holds the record for the most career goals in the Football League (434 from 619 games) - Had six years as manager during the 1970s
1934-40 David Jack: Former Arsenal player: first player in the world to be worth over £10,000 - Failed to grab many headlines as a manager

[edit] International representatives

Lot Jones (Wales 2 apps 1920)
Jimmy Evans (Wales 4 apps 1922-1923)
Charlie Turner (Ireland (FAI) 7 apps 1936-1937)
George McKenzie (Ireland (IFA) 9 apps 1937-1939)
Jimmy McAlinden (Ireland (IFA) 7 app 1948)
Tom Scannell (Republic of Ireland 1 app 1954)
Sam McCrory (Northern Ireland 1 app 1957)
Derek Spence (Northern Ireland 29 apps 1980-1982)
Ronnie Whelan (Republic of Ireland 53 apps 1995)
Tesfaye Bramble (Montserrat 1 app 2004)
Jamal Campbell-Ryce (Jamaica 12 app 2006)
Freddy Eastwood (Wales 10 app 2007)
Peggy Lokando (Democratic Republic of Congo 1 app 2008)
Adam Federici (Australia 1 app 2008 + 3 for 2008 Olympics)

[edit] Rivalries

[edit] Press

Southend United's main press coverage is from The Echo, a local newspaper serving Essex. The current Southend United reporter is Chris Phillips.

[edit] References

^ "Southend United FC Stuns Manchester United". WSN. 2006-11-07. http://www.wsn.com/2006/11/07/football/news/england/southend-united-fc-stuns-manchester-united_343365/. Retrieved on 2009-03-11.
^ "Chelsea 1-1 Southend". BBC Sport. 2009-01-04. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/fa_cup/7803244.stm. Retrieved on 2009-01-04.
^ "All time results between Colchester United and Southend United". http://www.soccerbase.com/head2.sd?team2id=2393&team1id=612.

[edit] External links

[0] "Southend United FC Stuns Manchester United". WSN. 2006-11-07. http://www.wsn.com/2006/11/07/football/news/england/southend-united-fc-stuns-manchester-united_343365/. Retrieved on 2009-03-11.

[1] "Chelsea 1-1 Southend". BBC Sport. 2009-01-04. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/fa_cup/7803244.stm. Retrieved on 2009-01-04.

[2] "All time results between Colchester United and Southend United". http://www.soccerbase.com/head2.sd?team2id=2393&team1id=612.

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