Stand up and sing farewell

Last updated : 04 May 2009 By Shrimpers24
Well, most of them actually, the trouble is the heart of this present squad that has lost only 5 games out of the last 18 could be torn out so take the chance at ten to five Saturday afternoon to applaud the players who may never be seen in a Southend shirt again.

Who will definitely/maybe/probably be here: Captain Adam Barrett, Mildenhall, Sankofa, Francis, Herd, Betsy, Grant, Christophe, O'Keefe, Barnard, Laurent, Revell, Freedman, Scannell.

TLG will discuss these players contribution another time, but you could make a decent mid-table team from the above and should score a few goals!

Wild card interest from other clubs and may go but bloody hope not: McCormack, Moussa, Walker.

Since his return from injury and once he got a few games under his belt Macca has been outstanding in midfield chasing every lost cause as usual with no little skill attached, just his goal scoring a touch blunted, especially without his ex partner Nicky, 'I'm about to have another dream', Bailey.

However, he would have been noticed and don't be surprised if a club puts in a decent offer even at Championship level. Not saying it would be accepted but it might be, there are new floodlights to be bought.

The Moose has been a revelation since regaining a regular place and at his young age would have been mentioned in a few visiting scouts dispatches, a club with some dosh may well feel it's worth making an investment and the offer of playing in his preferred central midfield position added to his international ambitions may be too tempting to turn down for both player and club.

James was struggling even before the injuries, a scorer of great goals, (he deserves our support for that equaliser at Borient alone), than a great goal scorer, (Doncaster away play-off semi-final, ouch), if he starts a few pre-season games would not be surprised to see him go out on loan at least, we have a lot of strikers and, arguably, could do with on more if Robbo fails to sign up.

Don't worry, it will never happen.

Start writing the leaving cards: Clarke, Dervite, Robinson.

If these three all stay I will place a bet myself on automatic promotion whoever joins us in League Two next season. However, I feel the writing is on the wall, or on a new contract elsewhere, for all of them.

Dervite is favourite, his words on the official site Friday was basically a farewell speech: "My time at Southend has been great. I came here to play football and I think I did quite well in the team. (You did Dorian, quite well.) The fans have been great at the club; they sing all the time and it helps on the pitch. The players have helped me to settle in easily and I will keep good memories of my time at Southend. I have been in touch with a few people at Tottenham. They have called me a few times and come to see me as well. I need to keep playing regular football to get experience, so if I am not playing at Tottenham hopefully, I will be playing somewhere else. I will go on holiday first and relax and will have to wait and see."

A Spurs supporting mate believes they may be a chance of a season loan but believes they want him to try Championship football where he certainly would not be out of place. (How many times do you see Dorian actually leave the ground to win a header, look closely Saturday, you may not get another chance.)

Then again that didn't work for Sawyer, a transfer target which along with others will be the subject of a TLG article when the dust settles, and it might be better for him to play in a confident winning side pushing for promotion than a potentially relegation bound second tier side. Well, that's the line Uncle Ron should be selling to Harry and let's hope he buys it. Probably not.

Robinson is not the finished article by a long shot so another season in League One, at least his parent club are already in the Championship, might be just what his bosses want. Not sure of the Watford striker situation but he may be surplus to requirements anyway, so let's get in there, I hope Deano is doing his bit on his new boss at the Hornets.

Last but not least Clarkey. Could be named player-of-the-year this afternoon but most improved player since Dervite joined would be the best award. Has looked a far better player with the Tottenham loanee next to him and must be on some side's wanted list, especially for nothing. If not, I'm sure his agent is reminding them.

He wants Championship football and he might get it. However, without a commanding player next to him, his return to this level of football could be swift, unless we are talking about a team already here, or on it's way, watch the Norwich and Barnsley results closely Sunday.