Football Season Review

A disastrous season for Southend United ended with relegation and an end to 101 years in the Football League. Owner Ron Martin has long been considered a big part of the clubs problems by supporters and protests marked the end of their spell in the Football League. Relegation was on the cards right from the start with the club under a transfer embargo. It would have tested an experienced manager, never mind a relative rookie in Mark Molesley, who was appointed after guiding Weymouth to promotion. He inherited a squad half made up of untried and tested youngsters and they made a desperate start, failing to win any of their opening eleven matches. There were glimmers of hope around the turn of the year as results improved and the January transfer window allowed Molesley to strength the squad with the additions of full-back Sam Hart and midfielders Alan McCormick and Nathan Ferguson. That hope soon disappeared again and Molesley was sacked with just a month of the season remaining. Phil Brown returned for his second spell in charge but was never had enough time to turn things around and relegation was confirmed before the end of the season. One of the biggest problems was a lack of a reliable goalscorer, illustrated in midfielder Thimothee Dieng’s conversion to a striker in the last six weeks. Stan Collymore has been linked with a possible takeover but the club remains in turmoil as they head into non-league football.

Player of the Season: Timothee Dieng