1906 - Southend United were formed at a meeting convened by Oliver Trigg, the landlord of the Blue Boar pub, and his band of fellow soccer enthusiasts.

1908 - The Blues were promoted to the First Division of the Southern League after winning the Second Division title.

1919 - Southend moved grounds to The Kursaal.

1920 - The Blues saw election to the Football League confirmed and were on to their fifth manager when Tom Mather took over and led the team into its first season in Division Three South and 17^th place. The highlight of the season was a 4-1 defeat of Spurs in the fourth round of the FA Cup in front of 11,661 fans.

1932 - Southend enjoyed their best season prior to the Second World War when they finished third, but missed out on promotion despite being only four points behind the champions Fulham.

1936 - The Blues team this year included David Jack, football's first £10,000 signing and goalkeeper George MacKenzie, who won nine caps for Ireland while at the club and thus becoming United's most capped player.

1944 - Southend re-emerged as a team after the Second World War.

1950 - Under Harry Warren, who ranks alongside Ted Birnie and Dave Webb as one of our more successful managers, the team were top after six games and remained in the top three for most of the campaign. However, their nerve failed with four games left and a 2-1 defeat at Northampton followed by a 2-2 draw against Leyton Orient, when victory would have given them the runners-up spot, meant the chance had gone.

1955 - This year proved to be a momentous one for Southend, as the club moved to its current home Roots Hall. The entire cost of the project had been raised by the supporters club who, together with the ground staff, shaped a ground out of nothing. August saw its first competitive match there, as the Blues beat Norwich City 3-1 in front of 17,700 fans.

1956 - January saw one of the most famous games played at Roots Hall when Bert Trautmann's Manchester City visited Essex in the fourth round of the FA Cup with the German goalkeeper starring in muddy conditions, as his side edged the win 1-0.

1958 - Southend amazingly remained in the Division Three South until 1958 when the North and South sections were disbanded and a Fourth Division was introduced. As a result the Blues found themselves becalmed in Division Three for eight seasons.

1966 - Southend were relegated for the first time in their history in a season that included a club record 9-1 defeat at Brighton.

1968 - Southend scored 19 goals during the first two rounds of the FA Cup having beaten King's Lynn 9-0 and Brentford 10-1. Billy Best scored eight times over the two ties and Gary Moore seven. The run came to an unfortunate end when the Blues narrowly lost 2-1 at Mansfield in the fourth round.

1972 - An Arthur Rowley inspired team gained promotion back to Division Three, as Southend finished in second place and just three points behind champions Grimsby.

1976 - In spite of Peter Silvester's 23 goals and an FA Cup run to the fifth round, Southend were relegated to the fourth division.

1978 - Arthur Rowley was replaced as manager by Dave Smith and in his second season he gained promotion back to the Third Division behind runaway champions Watford.

1979 - The first season back in the third division was remembered solely for the two 3^rd Round FA Cup games against Liverpool when the game at Roots Hall attracted a record attendance of 31,090.

1980 - The club were relegated back down to the fourth division.

1981 - Having kept Smith on as manager, the Blues were promoted again in style and broke club records galore, winning every home game in the league until January and only conceding six league goals at Roots Hall all season. They went on to claim the championship with a draw in their last home fixture.

1983 - After a stay of three seasons, the club ended back down in the fourth division. The summer saw a black cloud descend over the club in the shape of Anton Johnson. His consortium sacked Smith as manager and took control of the club.

1984 - This season was disastrous on the field, as players came and went and crowds regularly come under the 2,000 mark

1987 - Southend won promotion back to the Third Division after they teetered on the brink of extinction during a three-year period. Anton Johnson was arrested and £70,000 of the club's Christmas money went missing. This saw Robert Maxwell and Ken Bates come to the rescue and lend the club money.

1989 - The Blues returned to the basement league.

1990 - Southend returned back up through promotion, as a final day win at Peterborough meant that the Blues had sneaked up into third place.

1991 - Southend embarked on by far their most successful spell in their history. Having started the season as favourites to go down, Southend achieved promotion to the then Second Division for the first time in their history under Dave Webb. Three wins from the last seven games would secure promotion and history was made at Gigg Lane, Bury, when Ian Benjamin's famous goal eight minutes from time made the dream a reality. Sadly the chance of the championship was lost when victory eluded the team in its last two home games and having led the table for most of the season, the club had to settle for runners-up spot.

1992 - The club had a successful first season and even famously led the table for a couple of hours on New Year's Day following a 4-0 home win over Newcastle. Stan Collymore signed for the Blues from Crystal Palace for £150,000.

1993 - Having spent just over seven months at the club with a record of 18 goals in 33 games, Collymore is sold to Nottingham Forest for a deal worth £4.2 million.

1994 - Southend enjoyed a famous trip to Italy in 1994 to take part in the Anglo-Italian Cup where they lost on penalties to NottsCounty in the semi-final.

1997 - Having enjoyed six seasons in the First Division, Southend were relegated after finishing bottom of the table this year.

1998 - Worse was to follow just 12 months later under Alvin Martin when Southend returned to the basement league after finishing bottom of the Second Division.

2004 - The club finished in 17^th position in Division Three with Steve Tilson becoming the sixth manager of the club since 1998 following the sacking of Steve Wignall. The one bright spot saw Southend reach the final of the LDV Vans Trophy at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff after defeating local rivals Colchester in the area final. Over 17,000 travelled to watch arguably the biggest day in the club's history despite the Blues suffering a 2-0 defeat against Blackpool.

2005 - Southend repeated the act a year later when they returned to the Millennium Stadium for their second consecutive final appearance in the LDV Vans Trophy. Sadly the result was the same though, as the Blues lost 2-0 after extra time to Wrexham. But the season proved to be a much bigger success in the league with the Blues winning promotion to League One via a 2-0 defeat of LincolnCity after extra time in the play-off final.

2006 - Southend earned their second consecutive promotion after they are crowned champions of League One. Having already secured promotion to the Championship a week earlier in a 2-2 draw at Swansea, the Blues go out and complete the job in their final match of the season on May 6. A late goal from Wayne Gray against Bristol City at Roots Hall hands them a 1-0 victory and completes an amazing achievement considering the club were tipped for relegation at the start of the campaign. Shaun Goater also retires from the club on the ultimate high, with the Bermudian striker bringing down the curtain on a fabulous career with the perfect accolade of a league winners medal.