If we could have signed just one player - any player...

...currently plying their trade in the championship, who you think could have saved us from relegation - who would it be, and why?

I will save Norpig the trouble and say Alf.

If I could sign any player, being reasonable I would have Gary Cahill back.

He can defend and would probably sort the rest of our defence out but he also knows where the goal is from a corner as he loves scoring those.

It would have to be Le Fondre, we went down due to severe lack of firepower.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

y2johnny wrote:......currently plying their trade in the championship

karlypants wrote:I would have Gary Cahill back

Apologies Nat, must have missed that bit.

I don't think Alf would have kept us up, Andre Gray might have given us a sniff.

Natasha Whittam wrote:I don't think Alf would have kept us up, Andre Gray might have given us a sniff.

Although not relevant to Johnny's thread, do you feel Cahill would have helped in a big way?

karlypants wrote:Although not relevant to Johnny's thread, do you feel Cahill would have helped in a big way?

Of course. Our defence has been awful. Gudni would be an improvement on the current donkeys and he must be about 50 by now!

was talking with the youngest, reckon if we still had Craig Davies, we would still be in a fight to stay in the league, good target man, holds the ball up well and chips in with an odd goal.

Anyone remember a chap called Jutkiewicz, he would do the same job.

The signs were there for all to see when Dougie couldn't get Jutkiewicz for £1mill at the start of last season, he would have become the new SKD and he did give a 'fuck', Madine or Juke?
He will be no use to Burnley next season, coming back from injury, season long loan would be good, imagine him upfront with Clough, Woolery or Clayton = goals

I don't think one player would have made the difference. We are so comprehensively fucked by the colossal financial mismanagement we have suffered in recent years it would have taken a miracle to keep us up. Just look at the recent pathetic performances. I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel and frankly think we will continue to be piss poor next season. Avoiding relegation again will be our priority.

xmiles wrote:I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel and frankly think we will continue to be piss poor next season. Avoiding relegation again will be our priority.

I'm inclined to agree.

We currently don't have a manager and likely won't for weeks to come. Not the best preparation for a season in a new division. While Phil Brown's name is being banded about I'm sure he will only consider the role if he is promised the finances to infinitely improve the squad. Why would he leave a sound Southend squad who have already experienced League 1 and had a reasonable season, fully understand their strengths and weaknesses and areas they need to improve, and have probably already discussed their available budget for next season.
Sports Shield and Bolton don't know shit about who or what we will look like next season and that would come as concern to any prospective manager. Other than for sentimental reasons (or a 10 year contract), I can't see anyone in current employment above League 2 wanting to touch us.

Add to that the powderpuff bunch coming through through the ranks, the shite that Lennon and Freedman brought in, and the crooks running down their contracts with no intention of going anywhere, it doesn't look promising at all.
I do hope everyone is right about Holding, and the other youngsters being given a go, but we're conceding an awful lot of goals and not scoring many. I can't help wondering if everyone is caught up on the same wave about Holding etc. as they were about Clough and Vela not too long ago - I'm far from convinced that they're that good but hopefully they're just young, tired and burnt out on the shit they have had to put up with this year. Regardless, I'm pretty sure the Liverpool and Everton links won't resurface any time soon.

Next season we'll be up against 2 other teams relegated from the Championship plus 3 who lost out in the League 1 play-offs this season. Add to that a bunch of other sides who have figured out the league this year (Southend for example) and are currently planning to strengthen for next season and we're already looking at mid-table.

Best of luck to Holdsworth and I really hope he knows what he is doing (he doesn't b-t-w because he hasn't done is before) but I'm not at all hopeful of anything better than bottom half at best next season which typically involves some kind of relegation worry along the way.

I have stopped delighting in Tranmere's downfall this season - something I waited many year to do - because I seriously fear that we may be switching places with them in the non too distant future.

Eddie Davies has an awful lot to answer for.

Oh, to answer the article question... Andre Grey and Ross McCormack look pretty handy to me or any big bastard CBs who aren't frightened to head a ball would have been nice to have in our squad this year.

Messi or Ronaldinho would of saved us.

karlypants wrote:I will save Norpig the trouble and say Alf.

 cheers KP 

finlaymcdanger wrote: While Phil Brown's name is being banded about I'm sure he will only consider the role if he is promised the finances to infinitely improve the squad. Why would he leave a sound Southend squad who have already experienced League 1 and had a reasonable season, fully understand their strengths and weaknesses and areas they need to improve, and have probably already discussed their available budget for next season.

I read shit like this and wonder if I'm living in a different world to these bellends.

How many times over the last 5 years has a manager stayed at a smaller club when a bigger club comes knocking. I'll tell you, virtually never.

Managers are just like players (most were players), they think they're the best manager in the world and it's only a matter of time before Barcelona offer them a job. But they need a stepping stone to get there, and they really don't care how they do it.

Trust me, if Brown or any other manager currently managing at a smaller club is offered the job they'll be at the Macron within the hour.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

finlaymcdanger wrote: While Phil Brown's name is being banded about I'm sure he will only consider the role if he is promised the finances to infinitely improve the squad. Why would he leave a sound Southend squad who have already experienced League 1 and had a reasonable season, fully understand their strengths and weaknesses and areas they need to improve, and have probably already discussed their available budget for next season.

I read shit like this and wonder if I'm living in a different world to these bellends.

How many times over the last 5 years has a manager stayed at a smaller club when a bigger club comes knocking. I'll tell you, virtually never.

Managers are just like players (most were players), they think they're the best manager in the world and it's only a matter of time before Barcelona offer them a job. But they need a stepping stone to get there, and they really don't care how they do it.

Trust me, if Brown or any other manager currently managing at a smaller club is offered the job they'll be at the Macron within the hour.

They usually jump at the chance of a bigger club because of the money on offer. There are no guarantees we will be offering Brown more than Southend can, you ringpiece.

Top new avi, Fin.

Breadman wrote:Top new avi, Fin.

I watch it regularly at work. Helps put a smile on my face occasionally when wondering why everyone is mental and I'm regretting not taking my Dad's advice of becoming a landscape gardner in Lytham.

As you can probably imagine, there is a healthy correlation between where I work and many characters in this movie.

You only have to watch about two minutes of any episode of The Jeremy Kyle Show to see that Mike Judge got it spot on.

Very underrated film.