Tilson, who joked that himself and Paul Brush may have to come out retirement in a separate interview for exclusive pay-site Blues World, told www.southendunited.co.uk: “Things are taking time but we have another month until the start of the season so there is no great panic.”
However, the 38-year-old is beginning to get frustrated with the high demands of players now that the Shrimpers have moved up a level and into Coca-Cola League One. Talking after missing out on Lloyd Owusu, who decided to join Brentford instead of the Seasiders, Tilson commented, “Players are asking for a lot more money, so it’s making things take a while but I’m sure we will get there before the season starts.”
“We’ve gone up a League but players are asking for ridiculous money and in other cases players we have tried to sign we’ve lost out on,” the veteran added. Grant Holt, another target, decided to remain at Rochdale, and so, with Lawrie Dudfield still stalling on a new contract offer, United are left with just Wayne Gray and Freddie Eastwood in the forward department.
To compound matters, the departure of Ross Maclaren, a vital cog in the coaching wheel at Boots & Laces, has meant that Tilson has been left to coach the youth team and interview prospective candidates as the new head of the Centre of Excellence before the first team squad gather for their first session of pre-season training on Wednesday. Blues’ Youths open their pre-season campaign this Saturday against a Chelmsford City XI in a match that will be covered by TLG.
It is worth remembering, though, that two key members of the Shrimpers promotion success had not been signed at this stage of last year. Spencer Prior made his bow in the opening pre-season match at East Thurrock United, but only trained with the southeast Essex outfit until late July, when he finally committed himself to the League Two cause. And the aforementioned Eastwood, top goalscorer with 24 goals in 42 games, was only secured on loan during October, so Tilson’s refusal to be alarmed is correct.
“In an ideal world it would have been nice if the new faces were in for pre-season, but as long as we can get them in for a couple of weeks before the start of the season then things won’t be too bad,” the Southend United Player of the Millennium concluded. The Roots Hall club have five matches to settle the squad down between July 16th and July 30th.
Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com