Southend United
Formed 1906
Founder member of Division Three (South) 1920
Kit History
1906-1915 a
1919-1922 a
1926 p
1928-1936 b
1936-1954 b
1954-1955 a
1957-1958 b
1959-1960 b
1960-1961 b
1961-1965 b i n
1965-1967 a n
1967-1968 a n
1968-1969 a g n
1969-1970 a g
1970-1973 c l
1973-1975 a l
1975-1976 l
1976-1978 a l
1978-1980 a l
1980-1981 m
1981-1982 a
1982-1983 k
1983-1984 a
1984-1985 b
1985-1986 k
1986-1987 f
1987-1988 k
1988-1990 b h
1990-1991 a h
1991-1992 o
1992-1994 d
1994-1995 d
1995-1996 d
1996-1998 d
1998-1999 d g
1999-2000 b
2000-2001 b
2001-2002 d
2002-2003 d
2003-2004 d
2004-2006 e
2006-2007 e
2007-2008 e j
2008-2009 e
2009-2010 e j
Background
Football had been played in Southend
for some time before the modern club was founded. Indeed a team known as
Southend United is recorded as early as 1898-97 but they have no connection
with the present club. It was not until 1906 that the landlord of the Blue
Boar Hotel, Oliver Trigg, met with fellow enthusiasts to form a new professional
football club to take the place of Southend Athletic, which had just gone
out of business. Southend United were immediately admitted to the Second
Division of the Southern League, winning promotion to the First Division
in 1908. During the Great War United's ground at Roots Hall Fields
was turned into allotments and United moved to a new ground next door to
the Kursaal Pleasure Park in 1919. Photographs show the stadium dwarfed
by a giant water-chute, one of the principle attractions of the seaside
resort at that time.
In 1920, Southend became founder members of Division Three when the old Southern League Division One was incorporated into the Football League. They remained at this level until 1958 when the regional divisions were scrapped and "The Shrimpers", as they were called, were placed in Division Three.
The club left the Kursaal in 1934 to move to a greyhound stadium at Grainger Road before returning to their original Roots Hall home in 1955. The ground was built from scratch over two years with funds raised entirely by the Supporters' Club. Over the years the club became associated with mud - whether because of the state of their pitch or the endless vistas of the Thames estuary at low-tide is unclear.
During the 1960's the club adopted striped shirts for the first time and in 1968 they decided to adopt all-navy shirts. They were instructed to change these because they were too similar to the black shirts worn by referees: after the team played in shirts borrowed from various clubs, the supporters chose West Brom's stripes which were adopted for the rest of the 1968-69 season and the one that followed. The navy and white theme was revived in 2002 when regulations were more liberal and income from the sale of replica strips drove clubs to redesign their kits on a regular basis.
In 1968 United were relegated to the Fourth Division and that's where they stayed until 1972 when the team began a yo-yo career that brought four promotions and as many relegations over the next 18 years. During this period red trim was introduced and then, in 1985, yellow replaced white. In 1990, having been relegated the season before, United were promoted in third place, having led the Fourth Division table for most of the season. The following season, against all expectations, United were promoted again in 1991. For six splendid seasons, the Shrimpers played in Division Two/Endsleigh League Division One, even sampling European football with a tie against Fiorentina in the Anglo-Italian Cup.
In 1997 the bubble burst and Southend were relegated to Nationwide Division Two and then immediately to the Nationwide Third Division, the lowest tier of the Football League. A dramatic revival began with promotion in 2005 followed by the League One title in 2006, taking the Shrimpers back to the second tier, or the Championship as it had become known.
In November 2009 Southend avoided being placed into administration after agreeing to pay £2,135,000 in unpaid taxes to HM Revenue & Customs. The club had originally faced a winding up petition over a tax bill of £690,000 but HMRC applied to have to club put into administration as the debt spiraled.
Sources
- (a) Southend United FC (Images of Sport: Peter Miles & David Goody)
- (b) Southend United Database - independent site run by Robin Michel with an amusing and original section on club colours
- (c) Football Cards
- (d) empics
- (e) Official Southend United website
- (f) Football Focus
- (g) "Rob P"
- (h) David King
- (i) Greger Lindberg
- (j) Football Shirt Culture
- (k) The Centenary History of Southend United (David Goody - Shrimper Publishing Limited Aug 2007) provided by Paul Smith
- (l) Alick Milne
- (m) Chris Worrall
- (n) Jack Bond
- (o) James Welham
- (p) Keith Ellis