Assistant Boss Paul Brush confirmed on the official site, www.southendunited.co.uk, that they expect to hear back from Anthony today about him joining the club on a permanent basis.
In the meantime, after much speculation on the whereabouts of Tilly last night, which led to some sterling detective work on message boards and websites alike, (where it turns out we were all wrong), Brushy also confirmed the full management team are continuing their UK tour, well the southern part, taking in several Premier League reserve friendlies, but really repeating what we were told last week.
"We spoke with four clubs on Tuesday and watched two matches Monday and three yesterday. Those signals have been positive but sometimes when you make a step forwards you all off a sudden make a step backwards. However, I think it is important to remember that this weekend is only the beginning of the season and not the deadline of it."
Well thanks Brushy for pointing that out. This is similar stuff that keeps coming out from the Hall but I suppose it's good something is.
TLG does not doubt T&B are doing their best and fully expect them to do the business as usual but they cannot be surprised at the concern that's being shown that here we are, three days before the big kick-off, and we can't even take a full team photo and will be down to the bare bones if any more players pick up injuries or get an unlucky red card on Saturday. (Or a deserved one, but that would stop us moaning at the ref.)
Brushy again reminded us that the Premiership starts a week later than us while continuing; "A lot of the local Premier League teams have picked up injuries in their pre-seasons, they are going to wait until they are sure of what their needs are first before worrying about ours".
Local, how local, how many targets are there behind closed doors at Reading and QPR? We picked up Mulgrew from Wolves, that's certainly beyond the M25.
TLG can only sum up the frustration a lot of Shrimpers feel by quoting Trust secretary Trevor Bashford from tonights Southend Evening Echo; "We are a little bit worried about the lack of investment in the team. Players of real quality have left as well but we have to trust Steve Tilson and hope that he's able to pull a few more rabbits out of hats for us again. We urge fans to be realistic and if we don't start well then we don't want them to turn against Tilly because from the outside it seems as if his hands have been tied."
That's why a statement by Ron Martin, even at this late stage, would be welcome.
Of course we don't want the wrong player but to leave this all to the end of August yet again is leaving a lot to chance. Well, we'll have a good clue on Saturday at 17.00 how it's going, at least we'll know who started at left back.