Bob's Board: Spaceman Spiff - Viewing Profile - Bob's Board

Morning Spireites - hope those of you who came to Essex made it back safely. I really don’t like the journey home from an away game after a defeat. Even though there have been great memories from those trips over the years - even after defeats - there have been some shockers (coming back all the way from Sunderland after getting annihilated 7-0 was a treat!). My own personal opinion is that 500+ of you folks yesterday was a magnificent effort when the match is live on the box. As far as I can remember, it was a very rare day when a League Two side used to bring more than that as an away following. Many sides in League One couldn’t manage it.

In terms of the match, I suspect that most of us would agree that this was right up there with the very hardest challenges we’ll face in the league this year. Great goal by your lads, and our goals of course needed a bit of help. Nevertheless neither would have happened without the great work, high press and great skills of some of our lads.

The ‘Southend were hardworking but not much more than that’ view is understandable just going on yesterday’s game, although I still think that’s harsh. We did show some great quality on the ball in moments, but it’s definitely true that yesterday was quite a poor one with the ball by our standards. It was an absolutely superb day for us without the ball, and ultimately that won us the match in the end. We do often look a lot easier on the eye, more fluent and fluid in our passing and movement. Loads of misplaced passes yesterday even from Bridge and that’s not like us at all.

I do also genuinely think that some of the criticism for your lads is way overdone. Cookie put it best when he said ‘the lads have earned one or two of those (mistakes)’ and who can disagree? You’ve had a record smashing start to an NL season and dumped Portsmouth out of the cup. All with heavy involvement from those who boobed yesterday. Those lads deserve to be forgiven IMO especially if they now throw themselves into training to ensure this is the rare defeat we all expect it will be. The group as a whole will benefit from sticking together and supporting the individuals through their occasional blunders or losses of form. If you’re not promoted as champions this year with a near or actual record points total I’ll eat my house. Then I’ll come and eat yours too! I’m very glad we only have to play you once more this year.

Andy Spireite, on 17 November 2023 - 10:12 PM, said:

I’m glad you say that. I hope your players think that too! It just shows that you weren’t really listening and that you don’t know Kevin Maher. He’s not your balls out stick two fingers up to the opposition and the world type. He was complimentary about Chesterfield, rightly so, bus focussed on the job in hand despite all the massive constraints he’s working under, (transfer embargo for one thing is only 14 months young now) not to mention the points deduction.

Nothing would please us more than you all turning up with that attitude tomorrow.

Well what can I say - we don’t have a fancy new stadium yet, like your good selves. Saltergate was a bit ropey I seem to remember, although kept in better nick than Roots Hall has been. This should be your last visit needing hazmat suits though.

Bankrobber, on 17 November 2023 - 03:46 PM, said:

Yep that’s correct. The consortium plan to develop Roots Hall over the next 1-3 years. Once the takeover completes we’ll hopefully hear more, but everyone’s delighted to be staying at our home, originally built by the fans themselves in 1955 and gifted to the club, then hived off and stolen by Ron when he bought the club.

frearsghost, on 17 November 2023 - 02:55 PM, said:

Absolutely right. The home end is just as bad - that’s what comes of having a property developer spiv as owner for 25 years, whose sole interest was the land our home is built on (so he could build flats with close proximity to the city centre). He’s failed to invest in the stadium for all of those 25 years, meaning we have not had the facilities to generate non-matchday revenue (or even capitalise on match days properly). It’s also meant that the place has fallen into a state of horrendous disrepair. The food and drink options, toilets, scoreboard, cleanliness etc are all in a really bad way.

The fans turned up in their hundreds to clean and repair the stadium on the eve of the season starting so that we could get the safety certificate - Ron refused to pay for the cleaning or repairs himself. Kevin Mather’s Tweet from the night of our home match with Oxford City (when the takeover agreement had just been announced) shows some great pics - including a young fan cleaning the tunnel entrance sign and also lots of good luck messages written on a whiteboard in Maher’s office:

https://twitter.com/...2404028784?s=46