End Of The Road For Pettefer

Pettefer, 25, has become the sixth first team player that has been confirmed as pursuing their life away from Roots Hall after Duncan Jupp and Mark Bentley left for Gillingham, Shaun Goater and Bart Griemink both retired, and Andy Edwards, likewise to Pettefer, was told he was being released by the club.

To be honest, ‘Petts' can consider himself unlucky not to be remaining with the Seasiders especially considering that he was the only player to start in every single match throughout the 2004/05 promotion League Two campaign.

Manager Steve Tilson was quick to acknowledge this, telling the clubs official website: “Petts has been unbelievable for us, he was unlucky last season and got a lot of injuries which affected how many games he played, but the year before he played every single match and was terrific.”

And Tilson paid tribute to the former Portsmouth mans superb work-rate for the side, which was so important throughout that League Two promotion season and was respected tremendously by the fans: “His attitude was always different class and you would find it hard to meet a nicer guy in football so it was definitely a hard decision letting him go.”

The Blues manager also expressed his reasoning behind his decision, and after the season Pettefer has just had injury-wise and the lack of experience outside of League Two, it makes sense: “We could have kept Petts as a squad member but how many games would he have actually played and how many squad players do you need?”

The 5ft 7ins tall midfielder started his career with Portsmouth, but having only made three first team appearances, two of which were from the substitutes bench, in two years of his professional career at Fratton Park, Pettefer signed a season long loan deal with Exeter for the 2002/03 season. Having endured a relegation from the football league with the Grecians, there was one positive as he managed 34 starts and a solitary substitute appearance, scoring once and earning some invaluable first team experience.

Having played reserve games for the most part of the 2003/04 season, Carl first joined the Shrimpers towards the end of the 2003/04 season, making his debut against Colchester in the LDV Area Final First Leg having come off the subs bench and making a further ten appearances, including the LDV Final defeat against Blackpool, before breaking his leg away at Huddersfield with only three games to go of his loan spell.

Despite the leg break however, things were about to get much better. Portsmouth allowed the battling winger to sign for Southend on a two-year contract on a free transfer, with ‘Petts' actually signing the deal prior to the final home game of the season against Torquay United on the pitch.

The following season was the best in the midfielders short career as he played in every single game in every competition the Shrimpers played in and also grabbed his only goal for Southend, away at Northampton in 2-0 win in the LDV Vans Trophy 1^st Round – a cracking shot that flew into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area. Pettefer later played in his second LDV Vans Trophy final but again only received a runners-up medal for his efforts – losing this time to Wrexham – but it wasn't all depressing, the former Bournemouth loanee also won promotion and played the full 120 minutes in the Play-Off final as the Shrimpers beat Lincoln City. It was the third time Carl Pettefer had played at the Millenium Stadium – not even David Beckham had achieved that feat.

But whilst there were the many highs, the lows came back around as injury's restricted the midfielder to just six first team starts this season, four of which came before an ankle injury four matches into the season. If it hadn't have been for that injury, would we be seeing the 25-year-old again at Roots Hall next season? It is certainly more likely we would have.

In total, Carl Pettefer made 74 appearances for Southend United – 68 of which were starts – which is a superb achievement over two years especially when you consider he was injured for the majority of the second year. Likewise with the other players released this summer, Pettefer can consider himself as making history with the Blues as one of the players that saw Southend promoted twice in consecutive seasons – a feat that doesn't happen often for our club. Everyone from TLG would like to thank Carl for his superb service to the club and would like to wish him the best of luck in the future.

Adam Duffill
www.thelittlegazette.com