Southend (H) Pre season Sat 30 July

[spike]

I really dont understand the reasoning about playing the same two trialists in the last 4 games as surely it must be decision time , I cant believe that Kingy needs that amount of time to decide so perhaps its that the trialists are using us with ambitions higher , seems a shame as the No11 especially has looked good enough to be in our league squad !!!!!
I thought the No2 [ in previous games or No17 today ??] would also give us depth in the full back positions , perhaps Kingy has spent ALL the budget ?????

There's a few too many uses of the word "perhaps" in there for my liking Dukey. SK and the club seem to have a pretty good handle on things so why not just sit back and trust them to get it right. There are numerous possible reasons for the situation and my interpretation of events is completely different to yours and I see their repeated inclusion as a good thing. But even if you've got it right, playing incognito as a triallist seems a very strange way to be touting yourself for a move elsewhere. As for the budget, it's disappointing that people look at the quality in the squad and automatically assume this means we have been on a spending spree whereas I am reliably informed that isn't the case. The way I see it, Steve King's job is to build as strong a side as is possible with whatever budget the club can afford him and personally I am very impressed with the job he's been doing. Should he try and get it increased that would be perfectly understandable, but it wouldn't worry me because I have absolute confidence if we can't afford it he won't get it. Steve Irving and the board are far too sensible to over-stretch the club's finances. In reality, no manager in history has ever ruined a club by over-spending, only the people holding the purse strings are able to do that. So if a manager is always pushing to improve and the board are constantly reining him in, that is the perfect scenario in my opinion. I have absolutely no concerns whatsoever about how we control our finances whilst people like Steve Irving are at the helm.

The squad are shaping up nicely and I haven't been this excited about a coming season for quite some time. Let's just enjoy it.

[Lennylenny]

Was a really good game to watch and a good crowd seeing they brought very few,we need to sign I think his name is mead as he looks special. Budgets should flexible if someone comes along who will put another 50 in the gate( people follow a winning team ) we should ( if those in charge really want to go up) be forward thinking enough to do this, I have every faith that this would happen. We are behind the black ball when it comes to budgets as we do everything( rightly so) above board where as I suspect some teams have more brown envelopes going round than the post office! Many clubs have a player fund funded by fans who wish to contribute, this can be made available if a player comes along so it doesn’t affect the budget.I ran one at Lewes and it worked really well. St Albans is a mighty hard start to season , but really looking forward to it

[Park Life]

I really dont understand the reasoning about playing the same two trialists in the last 4 games as surely it must be decision time , I cant believe that Kingy needs that amount of time to decide so perhaps its that the trialists are using us with ambitions higher , seems a shame as the No11 especially has looked good enough to be in our league squad !!!!!
I thought the No2 [ in previous games or No17 today ??] would also give us depth in the full back positions , perhaps Kingy has spent ALL the budget ?????

There's a few too many uses of the word "perhaps" in there for my liking Dukey. SK and the club seem to have a pretty good handle on things so why not just sit back and trust them to get it right. There are numerous possible reasons for the situation and my interpretation of events is completely different to yours and I see their repeated inclusion as a good thing. But even if you've got it right, playing incognito as a triallist seems a very strange way to be touting yourself for a move elsewhere. As for the budget, it's disappointing that people look at the quality in the squad and automatically assume this means we have been on a spending spree whereas I am reliably informed that isn't the case. The way I see it, Steve King's job is to build as strong a side as is possible with whatever budget the club can afford him and personally I am very impressed with the job he's been doing. Should he try and get it increased that would be perfectly understandable, but it wouldn't worry me because I have absolute confidence if we can't afford it he won't get it. Steve Irving and the board are far too sensible to over-stretch the club's finances. In reality, no manager in history has ever ruined a club by over-spending, only the people holding the purse strings are able to do that. So if a manager is always pushing to improve and the board are constantly reining him in, that is the perfect scenario in my opinion. I have absolutely no concerns whatsoever about how we control our finances whilst people like Steve Irving are at the helm.

The squad are shaping up nicely and I haven't been this excited about a coming season for quite some time. Let's just enjoy it.

Thats pretty much how i see it as well Spike.
Very happy with how things are running on and off the pitch and really looking forward to the start of the season.
COYD

[DA Mikey]

https://www.southendunited.co.uk/news/2 ... ford-draw/

Apologies if it has already been mentioned, but it would seem that Nathan Ferguson was in Southend’s team yesterday. He of the stunning goal at the Gallagher 5/6 years ago.

[Park Life]

Another good competitive game and very happy with how things are progressing.
We have a really decent squad with everyone playing well and i wouldn't usually single players out but a couple who have impressed pre-season are Luke Allen and Danny Leonard as they are providing very good attacking options.

Must admit, i am disappointed with Southend who cancelled a friendly with us a few seasons back then after saying this would be a first team fixture played their under 23's for the majority of the game, not great when fans are paying. Having said that their under 23's were decent and although we still have a few out/recoveing this was a really good test.
Would also like to know why they were allowed to play without any numbers on their shirts? Really annoying as difficult to know whose who and even Sunday morning teams arent allowed to do that, surely they have a kit somewhere with numbers on?
I feel much better getting that of my chest

Referee got right on my nerves, decided not to caution anyone in the first half (and they had two absolute stonewall cautions) then books Vinty in the second half!

Another decent crowd for a pre-season friendly as Southend didn't bring anywhere near as many as i thought they would.

So to summarise, all the good things were to do with DFC and all the bad things weren't

[Rixsto]

Was JBA a trialist for Southend yesterday did anybody notice, didn't manage to get to the game yesterday due to work so could only get twitter commentary.

[babylon]

My first look at the squad and I was not disappointed.
The calibre of player Kingy has brought in is incredible.
No predictions from me but I came away feeling confident about the season ahead.

[Reginald Horsfield]

Ladies and Gentlemen just watch this
https://twitter.com/dartfordfc/status/1 ... 04579?s=19

Sublime

[Ozymandias]

Better sign that No 11 quick. Energetic, always looking for the ball and a supplier of quality crosses. Not frightened of taking on the odd player too. Does anyone know the kids name?

[Llamaman]

He is called A. Trialist, not sure about the first name. Even if he does sign he wont be around for long. Looked up his playing record, you wouldn't believe the number of teams he has played for and never stays anywhere for more than a few games. Not the sort to build a team around in my view.