Page 3 - All at Sea Fanzine Issue 68

February 2018
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he can do. Mantom may look like someone you might see drinking a WKD Blue outside a council estate shopping parade but he has some pedigree at this level. Injuries have plagued him in the recent past, but he was a star man in the Walsall side that so nearly went up two years ago, and is a box-to-box mid elder who will try to plug the chasm left by Ryan Leonard’s departure (more on that later on in the zine).
As for the demise of Phil Brown, the only surprise is it didn’t happen earlier. His post- match interviews became progressively more morose, his team selections became more and more erratic to the point where he played ve at the back at home against Fleetwood (with Kightly in the defensive mid eld role), who were 16th. He seemed utterly incapable of halting the slide and things were unravelling at a frightening pace. Credit to Ron for wielding the axe but you feel if it had been done perhaps after the Wimbledon debacle, there would have been more opportunity for Powell to identify targets in the transfer window. Brown deserves respect for his tenure, and the history books will be kind to him given his overall record, but it was time to go.
This month you may have noticed that the zine is looking a little more professional and glossy. You may even have bought it thinking it was the programme and been shocked by actually having stu to read. This is due to our new partnership with CDT Associates, who are Southend fans and long-time readers of the zine. Working with them will help us improve the quality of the product and also lead to other opportunities in the coming months, so watch this space, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank them for getting involved.
Of course, nice looks are desirable but you need to have some substance under the surface, and thankfully we’ve once again been blessed with some high quality contributions this month. Welcome to rst-time writer Steve Webb, who lls us in about an unlikely match up with Fiorentina nearly 50 years ago (no, not the one with Batistuta).
Also writing for the rst time is Jordi Fens who o ers a sense of perspective about the trials and tribulations of this season.
Piers Hewitt has just become a dad-of-two, so he has celebrated by turning in a couple of pieces for us, and Ed Beavan has returned to India after his annual trip to England which
yielded two games, no points and a long trip to Rochdale to see the game postponed two hours before kick o . But he’s remarkably chipper about it (he only travelled from the Midlands). Speaking of postponements, James Welham was lucky enough not to make that long trip, but he’s not been so lucky before as he explains.
Peter Searles tells us why seeing Chris Powell replace Phil Brown makes him feel he has his club back, and Iain Macintosh (yes, he of the Set Pieces and Totally Football Show fame) also waxes lyrical about our new boss/ saviour (delete according to level of optimism).
We’ve also got the latest updates from Phil Brown’s gardening leave.
But let’s not be too harsh on our outgoing supremo. The history books will record his win ratio as level with that of Steve Tilson’s, and as a mark of respect if nothing else, Andy Kilgour ranks Brown’s 98 wins in charge of Southend United. Although as a nal kick in the teeth, perhaps, the list doesn’t include the play-o nal as technically that was a draw.
In addition, we also hear about the good work being done by the newly formed Southend United Ex-Players Association.
Thanks again for your continued support of the fanzine, I hope you enjoy the issue.
Jamie Forsyth @Jaimundo_ESX