Our player-of-the-year is a free agent and looking for a new club
Following discussions between player and manager, Paul Sturrock has agreed to let defender Simon Francis leave Southend with a year left on his contract and without a fee to be paid to the club.
He told www.southendunited.co.uk: "I have spoken to Simon several times over the past couple of days. Simon feels that he needs to be playing his football at a higher level than League Two to develop his game. Simon's wages represent a significant percentage of the budget for next season. Allowing him to go means we are now free to strengthen our squad with players that want to be at Southend."
So along with Ex-Captain Adam and Macca, Simon becomes another freebie for a club to pick up on the cheap, well that's before they look what they have to pay him!
Brentford, who were after him, have recently signed a right-back so will probably drop out, maybe Crystal Palace, who picked up Adam Barrett and have former Shrimpers in Dougie Freedman and Dean Austin in management roles at Selhurst Park, may feel he's worth a punt.
Francis himself said in a statement two months ago: "It's now a case of wanting to make the most of my ability. I believe I can do better as a player than League Two but Peterborough wasn't the right move for me at the time (January transfer window)."
Along with Macca's lost £200k move to Millwall, he's since joined Charlton for bugger all, bet the club wish Simon had thought the Posh was a 'good move' now where they could have picked up a further £150k, and fat Fry might take a look again now he's even cheaper.
Once again, and we still await Mildenhall and the Moose so it might not be the last time yet, good luck to Simon in his future career, great memories of his attacking ability, not so many of his day job.
The Francis Files
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Simon Charles Francis | ||
| Date of birth | 16 February 1985 (1985-02-16) | ||
| Place of birth | Nottingham, England | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2002-2004 | Bradford City | 55 | (1) |
| 2004-2006 | Sheffield United | 12 | (0) |
| 2005 | → Grimsby Town (loan) | 5 | (0) |
| 2005-2006 | → Tranmere Rovers (loan) | 17 | (1) |
| 2006-2010 | Southend United | 157 | (4) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:55, 11 May 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). | |||
(Player information supplied by Wikipedia, for the full article go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Francis_(footballer)