It was the first season at the Stadium and results were not going well, (with the exception of the Rovers match), and some time after the Bristol Rovers game the club made an official statement.
Saturday 8th September 1934
SOUTHEND UNITED 5-1 BRISTOL ROVERS
Division 3 (South)
Bristol Rovers were eighteenth in the league having drawn their two home matches but lost both their away fixtures. The attendance at the Stadium was down to 8,912 (8,343 who paid for admission) spectators but the performances had been poor, but this match helped to restore the flagging belief of the local supporters. It wasn't just the margin of the victory but the overall improvement that was encouraging.
Rovers started strongly and put Southend under a lot of pressure in the initial fifteen minutes, but the defence was solid, had Bristol scored the match would probably ended in another home defeat.
Lane scored the first for the Blues then Johnson scored with a great shot, Rovers pulled one goal back but Lane restored the two goal margin just before the interval. Cheesmur had an outstanding game his artistry a delight to watch and made up for his lack of dash, and he had a big hand in the two second half goals. He sent a superb pass through to Clark to lob the goalkeeper for the fourth and a similar move set up Johnson to add a spectacular fifth.
Southend United: Whitelaw; Stevenson and Robinson: B .Jones, J. Wilson and Donoven; Lane, E. Jones, Johnson, Cheesmur and Clark.
THE UNITED'S POSITION
STATEMENT BY DIRECTORS APPEAL TO SPORTING PUBLIC OF SOUTHEND
On Wednesday the Southend United Directors issued the following statement through the Southend Standard: "It is not the custom of football club directorate and management to take the sporting public into their confidence as regards the measures being adopted for the betterment of local sport. All too often are excuses advanced for failure and disappointments with vague promises of a brighter outlook in the future. This is not the policy of the Southend United Board of Directors."
"There is no disguising the fact that results to date have been definitely below expectations and apart from the exhilarating display given against Bristol Rovers the United team has failed to justify itself a criticism that applies more to the men as a combination than individually. It might be expected that time will prove the healer as regards the malady of misunderstanding and lack of co-operation on the field of play but we are assured that at least three positions require strengthening before there can be confidence in the ability of the team to more than hold its own."
From the Southend Standard 27 September 1934
Fine words, but unfortunately Southend had to apply for re-election at the end of the season!