Page 31 - All at Sea Fanzine Issue 68

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when Southend made it into any magazine publication, (Match magazine or 90 Minutes) I made sure that I bought two copies – one to keep, and one to cut out. So courtesy of a full page Q&A article in 90 Minutes with Phil Gridelet (yes, a national magazine dedicated a whole page to Phil), I not only had a picture of the mid eld maestro by my bed but also Gaby Roslin, who he proclaimed in said article was his celebrity crush at the
time, which does date the article rather. Find me another person in the country that had Phil Gridelet and Gaby Roslin on their wall and I’ll give you my house.
Just next to that
was a series of pictorial
cut outs from the
Evening Echo from the
Monday after we won
promotion at Bury in
1991, with the headline
“THE MOMENT WE DID
IT”, next to pictures
of Ian Benjamin (who
my cat is named after)
turning on a sixpence,
and then the joyous
scenes that followed
(limbs in the away end
let me tell you). This has
faded somewhat, but
given I wasn’t able to go to that game, it sat there as a reminder of what I needed to see happen before I die for years until promotion was nally achieved again, 14 years later.
Just below that, amongst others, was my ticket for the Newcastle drubbing in 1992 to take us top of the second tier. £4.50 won’t get you a pint in a lot of pubs now, but in those days it paid for me to go to one of the greatest games in the club’s history, and obviously I have the tatty proof, still sitting there with tired blu-tac all over the back.
What cost me even less, nothing in fact, was a half-signed large team photo from that season, given to me courtesy of my class mate, Kevin Young, whose family knew Steve Tilson. I often sat there wondering how it came to be that some people signed this photo and others didn’t. The key man for me was Dave Webb, who unfortunately had not put pen to paper on
my photo. I will then never forget how, upon visiting Kevin’s house for a sleepover, seeing the exact same photoin his room but despite being a Spurs fan himself, he had secured the photo with noticeably more signitures on it, not least the one of the main man himself, Dave Webb. These things stick with you, they really do.
And then to cap o my room of lovely tat, right by my sleeping
head was the cherry on the icing on the cake. Next to my signed pro le picture of Ricky Otto (my cousin’s work experience at Roots Hall was good
for two things – a free ticket to see us draw 0-0 with Sunderland and a
signed Ricky Otto card) was the love of my Southend United life. My favourite and most
likeable player of my lifetime who went onto not only play for us for six years but then
improve himself by not just playing in the top ight but also the England team itself
– Sir Christopher Powell of Roots Hall. Every night he sat there, smiling back at me in that red and blue 1994/95 kit, with more friendship bracelets on him than I actually had friends.
God he was cool. A player so talented with his left foot that fortunately he didn’t need to use the right one. A player held in such high esteem that even a fairly signi cant period playing for the hated Claret and Blue Hamsters can be forgotten. Even that.
Little did he know of his prominent position in my hierarchy of stu and nonsense. And now here he is, 22 years later – back to steal my heart all over again. I say steal it, of course it was his all along, and I have a feeling the missus is starting to realise this. Chris, welcome home.
Piers Hewitt @piershewitt
February 2018