Jeff Stelling speaks out on the situation regarding Southend United as manager Kevin Maher praises his unpaid players after beating York City.
The National League club are currently in serious financial trouble and have severe cashflow problems while another winding-up petition to defend.
After a long while, the seriousness of Southend’s future is finally starting to get noticed by the mainstream media.
On Soccer Saturday, before Kick off#southendunited pic.twitter.com/oKrbTQUApF
— Em x (@xEmx03) February 4, 2023
Jeff Stelling said before the 3pm kick offs: “This is very much the crisis club, Southend United.
“A winding up order has been adjourned, but that debt to HMRC is described as large and the chief executive this week of Southend said Southend are losing £2 million a year.
“Some office staff have not been paid for December or January. They owe money to the St John’s Ambulance and are under a transfer embargo.
“Southend United are a football club on the edge of a precipice at the moment and I know all their fans want to make people generally aware of just what a situation they are in.
“It is a perilous situation, despite the fact that on the pitch, that intrinsically in the top nine of the National League.”
Jack Bridge’s second half brace pushed Southend United into the National League playoff places with a win over York City of 2-0.
The penalty spot was the first to be taken on 64 minutes, after Bridge had fallen under a challenge.
Bridge took the initiative and hit straight down the middle, while Ethan Ross dived to his left.
The second was just seven minutes after the first. Bridge turned away from his defender in the box and then shot over Ross to score the goal. This result condemned the Minstermen for a third consecutive loss.
“I can’t talk highly enough of the players, how they’ve been and how they approached the game,” said manager Kevin Maher as per Echo News.
“It was a difficult game, difficult conditions and difficult circumstances too.
“The important thing was to come out on the right end of the result and 2-0 is perfect.
“The performance didn’t have to be brilliant but the result was important.
“It’s hard to play free-flowing football on a hard, bobbly pitch at times.
“We can’t move the ball as fluently as we want so we knew at times we would have to grind it out and find a way.
“We’re trying to win the games and it’s come down to two moments from Bridgey.”
Southend United boss Kevin Maher praises players who bag victory despite not being paid https://t.co/3oxciqzOLV
— Chris Phillips (@CJPhillips1982) February 4, 2023
Maher quashed social media rumours that some players wouldn’t play because they were not being paid, saying as per Echo News: “I was messaged about it as well and never in a million years would that happen with this group.
“I keep mentioning it, but they’re so good as a group.
“I get the situation we’re in rumours start and then people think it’s true but the players are brilliant.
“We’re lucky to have them here.”
Maher said this week that the club are not looking to sell players, despite their ongoing financial difficulties.
January saw Southend given more time to pay a debt to HM Revenue and Customs that was described as “large”.
“I’m not surprised people are looking at our players,” said Maher. “But they’re our players, they’re staying.”
The club is still looking to find the money to move from Roots Hall to a new stadium one and a half miles away.
“Take the situation away – the assets we’ve got around the place tells you that the footballing side is adding good value, good players,” he told BBC Essex Sport.
Chief Executive Tom Lawrence says their ageing stadium, Roots Hall, is “a money pit” and estimates the club’s funding gap at around £2m per season.
Southend has seen a series of winding-up petitions in recent years.
There are reports of late payments to staff and talk of a possible “phoenix club” being organised by Shrimpers’ fans to restart the club if it is wound up.
Despite the ongoing problems, Southend are in the playoff places.
“We’ve got a chance of achieving something brilliant this season,” said Maher. “The fans can give that extra energy to the players. They’ve got a team that will go to the nth degree for the shirt.
“We want to produce a team that makes the fans proud. It’s difficult for fans with the uncertainty.”
On the win against York, he said: “It was a difficult game on a difficult pitch in difficult circumstances, so it was just about coming out the right side of the result really. 2-0’s a perfect result with a clean sheet.
“The performance didn’t have to be brilliant but the result was important. It’s hard to play flowing football on a dry, bobbly pitch, so it makes it hard to move the ball as fluently as we want. We knew we’d have to grind at times and I think we deserved the win from how we went about our work.
“It came down to two moments. Bridgey’s won the penalty and scored it and then it’s a great finish (I think!) for the second. He was the key. We altered his position slightly and it was hard to get him on the ball in the first half, but we tweaked it a little bit and went a little bit lop-sided.
“Whenever he’s on the ball he can create problems, so credit to him. He’s getting his numbers up and he’s a hell of a player.”
An excellent second half from Southend United, and Jack Bridge in particular. Blues were fully deserving of the three points in the 2-0 win over York. Reaction @BBCEssexSport
📻📻⚽️⚽️ pic.twitter.com/VPHDABy1yh— Nick Alliker (@BBCNick) February 4, 2023
“I think they’re deflated.” York boss David Webb admitted as per The Press.
“They felt like that if we took our chances then it could have been a different game.
“That was the feel from in there, we couldn’t ask much more from them from what they’ve given us. We just didn’t take our chances and ultimately we got punished.
“Before we came in I don’t they had won in nine or ten.
“We haven’t done enough in that, we’ve only won a few games, so I think the situation was there before we got here.
“It’s up to us now that we’ve been put in charge of the club to get ourselves out of it. It’s on us, so we’ve got to go again and work hard on Tuesday.
“We’re confident because in terms of the performance we worked hard. Ultimately we didn’t score goals.
“But the effort was there, the work rate was there, we just didn’t finish our chances and we got punished.
“We’ve got a lot of injuries at the minute but obviously there are no excuses for that.
“That was our back four and we didn’t have anybody else, then we had a few that came in late this week and trained on Thursday or Friday and didn’t get a full week.
“Shaq [Forde] has had a cold all week so he’s been suffering, so we saved him right to the last minute when we made our selection because if he is fully fit then we need him involved in the game.
“But obviously we have got lots of games coming up and when he’s hardly trained this week we cannot risk just throwing him on.
“[Michael Duckworth] would have been available but yesterday he felt his groin. He felt it a little bit on Thursday so we saw how it was on Friday and he tweaked it again, so he couldn’t be involved in the squad.”
Here’s how fans reacted as Jeff Stelling speaks out on the Southend situation while manager Kevin Maher praises his unpaid players…
@shrimperlee: It is about time – thanks @JeffStelling @shrimperstrust Now time for @SkySportsNews @talkSPORT @BBCSport and others to get the message out there
@Chefbradpoker: Thanks @JeffStelling 💙💙💙💙🥳🥳🥳
@ejll____: thanks @JeffStelling, finally a bit of coverage
@peebeebee76: Thank you @JeffStelling 👏
@MattyMarr17: I saw it at the time but listening to it again 😢 thank you @JeffStelling
@rubybrownxoxo: Finally a bit of notice. The club means so much to us and it’s good to see people making it known what’s happening to us. 🔵⚪️
@andy_maul: This is where we are at. Perilous is an understatement come 1st March 2023 it could all be over.
@RutlandShrimper: @SkySports @SkySportsNews @JeffStelling Thank you for highlighting the huge problems at Southend United. We fear for our future Keep us in all football fans thoughts when you can
@tommy2holes: Thank you @JeffStelling for highlighting the terrible situation at our club. We have an owner who wont pay any staff or bills and refuses to sell.
@NGP1978: Finally some Media bringing a Voice to the cause @SUFCRootsHall
@mondazeo88: IT’S ABOUT DAM TIME @SkySportsNews!!
@Stoneyonlyone: No club should be in this a situation. #southendunited
@woodstockcatman: At last the media are starting to take interest. Too little too late I fear for @SUFCRootsHall 😥
@DonsEssex: @JeffStelling top man, as always.
@harry_finn96: Jesus officially been outed to the world #RIPsouthend
@SearchTerry: This is all Southend United fans have asked for, just for figures in the public eye with a platform just to highlight our concerns, nothing less nothing more
@KetchleyShane: Thankyou @JeffStelling we need more people like you that are willing to make the wider football community aware of what is going on at our club.
@TimHobden1: We’re on the edge of a precipice, make no mistake. @SUFCRootsHall has been part of my life for 35 years, that they may not exist come the end of the month is unthinkable.
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