Southend: no fun by the seaside

Relegation to League Two, winding- up petitions and managerial madness – it’s been a miserable two years for Southend United. But, finally, there be may hope

Routine has proved a salvation for many throughout lockdown – but not Southend United supporters. Suffering Shrimpers haven’t seen their side above 18th in any table since March 11, 2019, that despite a drop to League Two on points per game last summer. Through new bosses and new challenges, things have remained consistently bleak for the Essex outfit.

Even prior to coronavirus, Southend were struggling to pay their players on time. But then June 2020 brought a suspended points deduction and niggly fine, after they had fielded an ineligible player four months earlier. The club’s staff were furloughed, the players refused such measures and manager Sol Campbell quit. Having finally replaced him with Weymouth boss Mark Molesley a month before the season kicked off, by late January Southend still propped up the League Two table. Could it get much worse?

“The club is on a long- term decline and it doesn’t look as if it’s finished yet,” says Liam Ager of Southend’s

All At Sea fanzine. “I expected us to be in a relegation battle, and to be bottom for much of the campaign has actually been quite fair.”

Gaffer Molesley ( below, right) has gone from working twice a week with semi- pro footballers at Weymouth to what Ager describes as “probably one of the worst jobs in the English game”. He picked up where Campbell left off by juggling loanees, free agents and youth players thrown in at the deep end, and is the fifth permanent boss to give this gig a go since 2018.

The former Bournemouth man has, however, got some change out of the Seasiders in patches. Southend strung together a five- game unbeaten streak in December, overcoming Grimsby 3- 1 in a relegation six- pointer. On- loan Arsenal prodigy James Olayinka was integral to the upturn in form, but the 20- year- old has returned to London to receive treatment for a nasty ankle injury. Although Olayinka is expected back at Roots Hall when fully fit, it is typical of a miserable season so far on the south coast.

“Annoyingly, at the end of January we lost four games in a row when we had the chance to make up ground on teams around us,” laments Ager.

And if Southend fail to stay up?

“We don’t want to get relegated, of course,” adds Ager. “But I think – and hope – the club is in a good place not to fall into obscurity like Stockport did in recent years.”

Nor is it all bad. Crucially, Southend settled tax debts of £ 493,931 with HMRC in October, made possible by a deal to sell Roots Hall to developers last April. In its place, the Essex side will eventually move into a swanky new home at Fossetts Farm, as part of a joint venture with the council.

Molesley was even able to recruit players in January – loan pair Reeco Hackett- Fairchild and Tyler Cordner, plus Nathan Ferguson from Crawley – after chairman Ron Martin lifted the team’s transfer embargo. Wideman Ricky Holmes, midfielder Jacob Mellis and ex- Shrimpers striker Nile Ranger then bolstered the ranks in February.

Time moves at a different speed in lockdown. It’s been a long while since Southend had anything to be positive about, but much like the rest of the nation, perhaps salvation isn’t as far away as it seems.