I’ve Supported For 55 Years And Could NEVER support ANOTHER team! – A Fan’s Perspective: Southend United
This is Part 1 of 3 separate article’s of the stories of fans who support clubs which were under fire (Whether that be FFP, Chairperson Issues etc.) This is a Fan’s Perspective.
If you’ve read my previous article’s then you would’ve already heard of Southend United – I won’t go into too much detail about the club in the upcoming section but if your looking for a highly in depth look at the Southend-On-See club then press here to be taken to the previous article.
Who Are Southend United FC?
Southend United is a team you can currently find in the Vanarama National League – with 10 points deducted at the start of their season due to administration – Southend has not had an easy past few years in Non-League football. With Ron Martin failing to pay outstanding bills to the HMRC and being rumoured to have plans to wait until he can liquidate the club to use the Roots Hall stadium as a new big ploy to do a housing redevelopment. Southend are a team with an extremely rich history with the highest ever league the club ever reached being the EFL CHAMPIONSHIP – Just one promotion away from top league succses.
Sadly Southend never had the chance to even reach for such a dream. They was shot down quite quickly. More can be found on my previous article above.
Despite their dreams being crushed – club at risk of liquidation and an owner waiting to bide his time in hopes he can eventually redevelop the grounds – the fans never stopped believing. Southend United is a family. This is a fan’s perspective:
Martin Harris’ Perspective: The Fan Who Will Never Stop Supporting!
I personally didn’t have a chance to speak to Martin as he responded to one of my posts on Facebook where I was asking for fan’s piece’s and thoughts – Martin responded straight to my post but I wanted to make sure his story was told as I was totally in love with what he wrote. It was simply amazing.
Martin had sent me the following:
“I’ve been a fan for around 55 years now and despite our relative lack of success could never support another team. Most of that time we’ve spent in the bottom 2 divisions of which is now known as the EFL and I get very envious of clubs like us. (E.G Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton) after spending so much of their lives in the lower leagues. They’ve had far more success. As Such, with the awful management of the club by Ron Martin over the last 5 to 10 years, resulting in the terrible position we now find ourselves in (with the massive debts towards the HMRC and local businesses, some of which told Martin they would never work for the club again as the only way these businesses could be paid was by taken Ron Martin to court) was the sole reason and the inevitable that led to Southend being relegated outside of the EFL and into the Vanarama National League.”
“Things then got worse and in the close season last year – we almost went bust and could have lost OUR CLUB!“
“We were fortunate enough to be allowed to even START this season but even with all the negative’s – one positive emerged , a siege mentality by the team led brilliantly by Maher, Currie and Bentley. This also brought all the fans together in providing incredible support, not just vocally but also in the large numbers who turn up every week both home and away! Hopefully now the new consortium, led by Justin Rees, will. complete the takeover very soon and we can start looking forward towards the future.”
“Life in the national league isn’t terrible, but to be out of the football league for a club and a cit of our size is… depressing.. the fans deserve so much more!”
“There’s so many poor crowds and tiny grounds at many clubs at this level and it results with poor views and poor atmosphere’s. A majority of these clubs have horrible 3G pitches which are banned in the EFL of course. Assuming the takeover does get finalised in May (at the latest hopefully) will help enable us to start next season without the handicaps of a small squad, a transfer embargo and a points deduction.. and of-course the financial stability we need, hopefully we can get ourselves out of non league football and back into the EFL where we belong!
UTB!
Mark Harris
Life in the Vanarama is clearly a strange one for near enough life long fans like Mark Harris who has to see his club go from the success of playing in the EFL to being reduced to a National team who is clearly much more suited for the EFL despite the ongoing issues the club held with former chairperson Ron Martin.
Whilst I, myself, am not a long term fan of Southend United like I once was when I was a younger lad; I still feel hurt seeing my young boyhood club be playing in the National league outside of the EFL – It just doesn’t feel right to be witnessing this. I remember the day my grandad took me to my first Southend United match – given I don’t remember the team nor the scoreline.. I just remember my beanie and scarf I wore alongside the chocolates I snuck underneath the cardigan I was made to wear (Trust me it was horrific! You’ll never catch me in one of those again!). One thing I can personally say for certain is that Southend United is not just a community of locals from Essex watching their football club.
Southend United Is A Family. The Shrimper’s Aren’t Just A Nickname But It’s OUR Families Name. We Stick Together Through Thick And Thin.
I might be a West Ham United Fan – who also works on behalf of the Concord Rangers FC Social Media team until the end of the 23/24 season – but my love for Southend United is undying. This is the club where I got to bond with my grandad and celebrate a talented set of players scoring incredible goals – got to see fans celebrating and jumping in joy after a win – to see people who had to go through such hard times with Martin – Now Thrive.
That’s the Southend United Way. United as a family.
That’s the fan perspective. A Family United As ONE.
UTB 💙
