The New Goalkeeper

Emberson should sign next week

The announcement of Emberson as the new custodian will come as no surprise to many Southend fans. The rotund goalie was a faithful servant to Wignall when the Liverpudlian was in charge of north Essex rivals Colchester United, and is generally well-respected in the game. However, the fifteen-stone Surrey man was released by previous employers Luton Town after a falling out between Emberson and Hatters manager Joe Kinnear after a costly mistake. Kinnear has since left the Kenilworth Road club, but Emberson sees his future elsewhere.

And that place appears to be the south-east Essex coastline and Roots Hall. He has agreed to the finer points of a two-year deal with the Shrimpers, making him the number one at the club. However, at the moment the six-foot, two-inch 'keeper is on holiday in Spain, and the finality of the deal, as we learned with Mark Rawle, will not be conclusive until he visits the Hall and puts pen to paper.

Speaking to the club's official website, www.southendunited.co.uk, Wignall said, "I know Carl from old, he did a great job for me at Colchester and since then he has been very successful at Luton. He's a good competant keeper at a good age [29]". The former Doncaster Rovers and Aldershot Town gaffer then added, "It's nice to have the first-team keeper decided and now we will be having trials with two or three young keepers to see which lad we can bring in that's genuinely going to be pushing Carl for a place in the team". One of those men is already named as Marco Lindholm, a Swedish custodian.

Meanwhile, another trialist will be joining the ranks for pre-season training. Michael Husbands is a striker who has been released by Aston Villa at the end of the Premiership season. The 19-year-old did not play a game for the Villains, but made five substitute appearances for Nationwide Conference outfit Hereford United. Wignall said of the youngster, "He's a tall very, very quick striker, [who] can also play on the right".

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Carl Emerson Profile

Position: Goalkeeper

Age: 29 (Born: Epsom, 13^th July 1973)

Height: 6ft 2ins

Weight: 15st

Career (298 appearances, plus 5 as a substitute, 0 goals):

Millwall: 4^th May 1991-6^th July 1994 – 1 game, 0 goals

Colchester United (loan): 17^th December 1992-17^th February 1993 – 13 games, 0 goals

Colchester United (£25,000): 6^th July 1994-22^nd June 1999 – 217+1 games, 0 goals

Walsall (free transfer): 22^nd June 1999-14^th July 2001 – 9+2 games, 0 goals

Luton Town (free transfer): 14^th July 2001-2^nd June 2003 – 58+2 games, 0 goals

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Michael Husbands Profile

Position: Forward

Age: 19 (Born: Birmingham, 13^th November 1983)

Height: 5ft 9ins

Weight: 9st 13lbs

Career (0 games, plus 5 as a substitute, 0 goals):
Aston Villa (1^st August 2002-13^th May 2003) – 0 games, 0 goals
Hereford United (loan - 28th December 2002-4th May 2003) - 0+5 games, 0 goals

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Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com