The Poolie Bunker

Despite finishing in the Playoffs AND winning the FAT at Wembley on Sunday-
SARFend have today AXED their manager Kevin Maher and his whole backroom team.

Word I'm hearing from my Shrimper outlaws is, it could be a cost cutting exercise - the fanbase are fuming. Particularly given how Maher stood firm in the face. of adversity, when they barely had a pot to piss in, under previous madman chairman Ron Martin.

If the reason is due to them having no cash, then from our point of view that's a good thing, as it's one less team for us to worry about. This is assuming LC was correct this morning on the radio that we have a competitive budget to aim for promotion!!

Pretty odd news from Southend although York kicked out their manager during the season (cant quite remember when) and replaced him with Maynard. Maybe thats what the Southend have in mind? Pretty tough on Maher who has consistently turned out a winnning team since relegation.

If it is down to cash, then the fans have a right to be fuming, because apart from the dismissal of loyal staff who stood by the club …it can only be interpreted as lowering expectations by the owners and hoping for a miracle on the cheap…it never happens.

its a club with a death wish. how many times have they got into a mess with money. know quite well in the mid 80,s in division 4 they were paying over double the wages for a left back than a northern club were paying for a striker. again it shows that high gates and interest in the town mean sod all. cannot see other se clubs paying muh less that them no matter how few they get through the gates.

Seems cup success does not me you keep your job despite the crap he has endured during his time there dealing with a previous dodgy chairman and a prolonged take over.

The one that's even harder to understand than Southend sacking Maher is that Mark Hughes is still in a job at Carlisle.

The bloke spent 18 months trying to get Bradford promoted to League One with one of the biggest budgets in the division. They sacked him when they were 18th in League 2. Roll on 2 seasons without him and they made the Championship play-off final.

'Sparky' brought his magic to Carlisle in League 2 and got them relegated to non-league. You'd have thought that promotion back to the EFL at the first attempt was the minimum requirement, but no, he's still the gaffer.

You'd expect with their squad and a half decent manager they'd definitely be back in the EFL. Hope he keeps his job for next season.

Not sure they can afford to pay him off.

Kev Maher's departure certainly brassed off the majority of the fan base (me included), but there were changes going on behind the scenes. The Club have recruited a Director of Football and a Director of Recruitment and basically that pair between them would bring new players in and direct the style of play for the season. Kev being an outspoken sort of bloke realised that he would be coaching the side only and have no input to other bits. We have a newish board member who is in love with AI and his software company and it appears that we are following the moneyball route this season. No retained list yet, but we expect a lot of the current squad to be off. We may, or may not, be in the play-off mix this season, and you may well have a bigger players budget than us. A shame, but it is what it is, and we'd really like to turn you lot over after our last visit.

Too many people want to run football clubs just like any other business…which it isn’t.