Just picking up where I left off on Friday regarding the recent Q&A and to reiterate that our entire Business Plan is based upon progression. I know it doesn't seem that way on the pitch at present but that is not for the lack of trying.
Your Club is an ambitious Club and I am ambitious for its success. We are not a Club (and I could name many) who are content to stay in the lower echelons of League One or Two. If we were, there would be no point in going to the considerable efforts, and cost, to build a new stadium that will be capable of maximising the Club's potential. To simply be satisfied at playing League football will never be a 'turn on' for me as Chairman. Unless I can make a difference to the Club's future prosperity, consequential success and growth, my frustration would only escalate. It was for all those reasons we have tried to maintain the growth in tandem with the Stadium planning so that when the construction was complete, there would be a smooth transition into our new home and with all the infrastructure to support a bigger and expanding Club. This is why we have invested in youth, also why we are building an Indoor Academy and why we have invested in our work behind the scenes such as the Community Programmes. It's no coincidence we won the Community Club of the Year in 2009/2010 and this is a direct result of our investment to grow the Club throughout our catchment. The following slides put our work into perspective and demonstrate just how far we have come as a Club over the last 5 years. I plan that further funding will be available to continue these community programmes.
Click here to download the above slide (PDF)
Click here to download the above slide (PDF)
In fact, that investment will be accelerated as we approach the move to the new Stadium (I am trying not to call it 'Fossetts'), as before too much longer I would hope to identify a sponsor for the Stadium Naming Rights - I want to avoid another Ashburton Grove (Emirates) scenario. The sooner the Club can agree a Stadium name - pending being on site - the better for everybody.
I know an element of what I'm saying here is of little or no interest to some supporters who are only focused on what happens on the pitch for 90 minutes on a Saturday . So am I, but I equally understand that to have the best opportunity of maximising that success on a Saturday afternoon (or tomorrow night against Brentford!) a great deal of 'hidden effort' has to take place to build the supporter base and create further interest in our Club. This will ultimately provide the sustained resources to enable the Club to compete week in week out. I often hear people say that a particular Club is "going for it this season". Whilst I understand the mentality, I think that, unless it is supported by solid foundations and eventually a well oiled machine, any success will be relatively short lived.
This is what is so upsetting about the interruption to our growth path. Firstly it would have been great to stay in the Championship for more than one year - but also to have been able to avoid the delays through the Inquiry and not have the receipt of planning approval arrive at a time that coincided with the Banking crisis and recession. Still, we are where we are and can expect to be back on track.
On the football front, it is difficult to pinpoint when this season started to go wrong for there have been times, and particular matches, where we have all thought that Southend United could live with anyone in this League - the games against Charlton (both home and away) and also in the same week against Norwich. I know that having a 'team' is all important - and not just a group of capable players. In our more successful years the number of players used was quite limited (24) whereas this year we are only one short of a Club 'record' (36). For whatever reason we were not able to attract the targets during the close season which extended into the August Transfer Window and necessitated loan players thereafter to make up numbers.
I included at the Q&A a graph of the number of players utilised over the last 5 years and you can see that, since relegation from the Championship, there has been less continuity.
Click here to download the above slide (PDF)
Click here to download the above slide (PDF)
I think this is particularly the case in the 'striker' department where we seem to have had a revolving door at times - including this year. This of course includes loan (as opposed to lone!) strikers that just have not performed as we might have hoped. Some of those were purchased on longer term contracts such as Foran, Harold, Paynter, James Walker and Alex Revell. Whilst we managed to get something in return for Billy Paynter, the investment in the rest had to be written off. Gary Hooper has gone on to do well and we had little to no choice to let Lee Barnard go along with Dougie Freedman. There is no doubt Lee has been missed.
Tomorrow I will conclude what was said from the floor at the Q&A and add any further commentary that might be helpful.
Up the Blues,
Ron Martin
Chairman
