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The only place to start when discussing Southend United is Roots Hall. It is one of the most interesting football grounds in the country because it effectively exists as a 1990s time warp, the reflection of a club that got forcibly stuck in time by its owner. I’m not hyperbolising for effect: this is from 1998 and the aesthetic is unerringly similar.
Things are changing at Roots Hall now – all four sides are at different stages of internal renovation. Work is ongoing in the Gilbert & Rose Stand to refurbish kiosks and create a club shop. Planning permission has been sought for the North Stand.
Opposite in the South Stand, architects have been commissioned. The East Stand is still at the funding stage. You see the keenness to make things happen.
Roots Hall stood still because Ron Martin, the former owner, never really wanted his football club to play here at all. The false promises and dawns over Fossetts Farm eventually dragged Southend United towards the point of no return. Literally and existentially, Southend moved nowhere other than down and everybody grew greyer and more bitter.
It is two years since Justin Rees and his consortium took over and found, to be blunt, an almighty bin fire. Liam Ager, of the Shrimpers Trust, Southend United’s official supporters’ trust, put it best: “Trying to untangle all the mess felt like when you pull some headphones out of your pocket, only the cable was 100m long.”
The last two years involved firefighting, rebuilding foundations and reconnecting with supporters.
But this summer, the owners took their biggest step towards a new future. A new sporting director, Oliver Gage, was appointed in April to oversee football operations. Kevin Maher, a club legend who had been in charge for half a decade and seen Southend through the worst of times, was relieved of his duties.
“One of the things I pitched about taking on this job was the concept of a transparent club, where we talk about how we operate, what we do and not be afraid of talking about who we are,” Gage says.
“We are only two or three years removed from not having a club, so what are we afraid of? Any situation we’re in at the moment is a good situation to be in compared to that. Nobody needs to feel sorry for us now.
“I think there was a slight culture around the place that just because we still had a club, anything else was a bonus. I didn’t have the PTSD of everything that happened. I got dropped into a club that gets over 8,000 fans in the National League, intimidating home atmosphere, top five budget in the league. We should be ambitious.”
Gage’s first big, public-facing decision was to move on from Maher and appoint a replacement.
There were raised eyebrows – and plenty of cynicism – when Southend handed Kieron Dyer his first senior managerial role at the age of 47. Dyer was a former international and a high-profile name. Southend, it appears, were taking a gamble.
“We got the application and I was expecting quite a lot of entitlement and simplification of the game,” Gage freely concedes.
“I left the first interview and texted the owner straight away to say ‘I think it’s gonna be really hard to beat Kieron Dyer – I can’t believe I’m saying this’.
“He’s tenacious, he’s ambitious, he’s passionate and he thinks a lot more deeply about the game than people give him credit for. He’s a modern tactician who has done extensive work in academy football and as a first-team coach.”
Life has certainly started promisingly. Boreham Wood are likely to be the team to stop this season, but Southend have taken 20 points from nine league games, sit second in the National League and on Saturday scored six goals in the first half of a match for the first time in their 120-year history. Sometimes you pick bad times to cover a club – this was not one.
Gage’s general plan for squad-building at Southend is to maximise the club’s advantages to build a young team with potential for growth and resale. The average age has dropped by 1.7 years from last season to this and 16 new players arrived as well as the manager and sporting director.
Southend’s location, successful history and facilities at this level make them an attractive proposition for new players – they signed players from Nottingham Forest, West Ham, Derby County and Bristol City this summer.
The key is not to get overexuberant and hand out long deals that can eventually hang heavy around your neck. And the successes can generate revenue when sold on.
Gage also explained how he uses data as part of his recruitment work (and, quite reasonably, points out that everybody sensible should). If you can get a list of 1,000 potential signings down to 10-15 who you scout in more detail, why wouldn’t you?
That said, change can be unnerving as well as exciting. If there was a little cynicism at Gage’s appointment – not least because he had been working in the US – the sacking of a manager, appointment of a household name and overhaul of a squad – with the mention of data – caused a reaction among some supporters that only increased the pressure on the new faces.
“There was a time in early June when it was really difficult for me,” he says. “We had a legendary former player and coach who did an incredible job under a set of circumstances. We decided to move away from him, which split the fanbase.
“Then some fan favourite, legacy players also left at the same time. We went all in. I don’t check the forums and stuff like that, but some of my mates do and they were sending stuff.
“You’re like ‘Oh shit, have I just gone in way too deep, too quickly?’ But you don’t get many chances to do something special in life and in football. If we’re going to do it then we’re going to do it – there’s no point messing around.”
That pressure is unlikely to subside. If Southend are at the top they will be expected to stay there and if they are not they will be expected to get there quickly.
Last month, Roots Hall – that wonderful timewarp that will now change for the better – hosted 9,155 people for a game against Kidderminster Harriers. The attendance was higher than five League One matches and 11 of the 12 League Two fixtures.
That is the potential here, and when potential has been trodden into the earth for years it only rises stronger when a new era begins. That is what Gage, Dyer and the owners must deal with. It is a privilege and a weight.
“I think it’s unfair to just say we’re the biggest club in the league so we should get promoted, because financially we’re not the biggest club in the league,” Gage says.
“We have the most fans, but we don’t lose the most money.
“That said, I needed to help the club to hit the reset button on ambition so we welcome that. Southend should be in League Two or League One. So I think it’s OK for fans to get frustrated about being trapped in the National League. Because I’m frustrated that Southend are trapped in the National League.”
Everyone here is convinced that they can get this right over time. Gage was appointed on a three-year deal and Dyer on a two-year contract plus an optional third year precisely because of that. There is no point selling long-term visions if everything changes in six months.
As Gage says, his only mandate is to be better than the year before whether the budget moves up or down. Do that and Southend United will get where they want to be.
If there is desperation among the supporters, it is because they have known the best and the worst. Southend United have endured an utterly bizarre modern age. They last finished in the top three of any division 20 years ago, but that division was League One and they won the title to get to the Championship.
How could that, and everything that happened afterwards, not warp your psychology and expectations?
Read more
So for now, let’s just stick with Roots Hall. Southend United are in a steady place. Things are being rebuilt, reopened and refurbished.
The place will soon feel a little less fraying at the edges, without ever losing the elements that make it feel so real and so special. Its home ends are virtually full every week.
If the people in them are expectant, it is only because they have finally been given things to believe in.