Phil Brown

[tictactoe]

From that interview I am wondering if the players were playing to get rid of cooper if they’ve put in such a good display in training today. Like he said though it’s no good doing it in training and not on a match day. Jury is out for me whether this is a good appointment or not time will tell

[Matty]

Despite my concern about this appointment I must admit that interview is a breath of fresh air compared to the rest of the season. Just hope the results on the pitch will match.

[mickmike wilson]

I this reverse psychology? Everyone thought Cooper would be a good signing and proved a bad one. Now people think this is a bad one could it turn out to be a good one!!!!

Let’s hope you’re on to something

[mickmike wilson]

It smacks of desperation, but that is understandable, given our league position and the direst of consequences if we were to be relegated. It’s got to be good that he is experienced. I have no idea about his style of play; no doubt we will find out soon enough. Underpinning everything is the necessity to win. We will probably discover if our players are any good over the next few weeks as well. They need to show that they are professional footballers ready to do their job, and not just go through the motions.

This

[boyliegladbach]

Despite my concern about this appointment I must admit that interview is a breath of fresh air compared to the rest of the season. Just hope the results on the pitch will match.

Yes, a better first interview than Dunne and Cooper,

Sometimes things just click, let's hope this is one of them occasions.

[mall]

yes - but they were already as good as down when he came in.

They were more doomed than us, with 6 games to go. I believe he got 2 wins and 3 draws from those games, but it wasn't enough.

Brown returned to England to retake the reins at Southend who were six points adrift of safety at the base of League Two. Brown oversaw two victories and a run of six games undefeated at the end of the campaign, but it wasn’t quite enough to see them pull off a remarkable escape.

[mall]

I don't know whether to laugh or cry BUT I'll support him !

Come on Nige,come on have heart.
Look at the facts, Southend were bolloxed anyway when he arrived-a few more games and he likely would have saved them.

[mall]

He does have an experienced assistant in Neil Mcdonald.
I would imagine they will have been watching the last few Barrow games.
This has not just happened after Saturdays game.
The board must have been putting this in place for a while.
I wonder if Cooper knew that.

"I wonder if Cooper knew that."..........Of course Cooper knew that, it was all to evident that his interview with Adam was a goodbye one, his attitude and body language said it all.
As much as I like Mark Cooper as a bloke, I think Browny will show a lot more positivity and talk with fighting spirit and not project the shoulder shrugging deflated attitude that we were so used to with Mark.

[mall]

Southend fan in peace, we're all a bit baffled that Brown has managed to get another league job, he did well in his first spell but his second with us was a complete disaster.

A few have pointed out his record in the last 6 games of the season as a positive but if you look at our results against the same teams earlier in the season he actually managed less points against those teams than the manager before him got, he didn't really do anything special with us (especially considering a lot of teams were already thinking about their holidays), the match that did matter (Colchester) was awful and basically confirmed our relegation.

That isn't why he was a failure though, after all he only had 6 games with a poor squad so he was thrown in at the deep end, it's what he did this season that was a disaster. He did make a couple of good signings up front (although one only started scoring once he left because Brown inexplicably kept sticking him on the wing when he's a poacher) but he filled the midfield with aging players whose best days were long behind them and completely neglected to strengthen the defence (goalkeeper aside, who was admittedly a good find from Brown). As a result in every match we were getting overrun by younger players in midfield and our defence didn't fare much better.

We were getting thrashed on a regular basis and Brown didn't seem to have a clue how to fix it. He got so desperate that he phoned Akinola (a player Brown decided he didn't want and so he had relegated Akinola to the under 21s before the season started), Brown had to identify himself on the phone because Akinola didn't have a clue who was ringing him!

Phil Brown was sacked with us just outside the relegation zone on goal difference and you would have been hard pressed to find a fan that was sorry to see him leave. Our new management team took a month or two to find their footing (not helped by the fact we unexpectedly learned we were in an embargo when we tried to sign new players, which has since been resolved) but they've since turned things around. They bought in new, younger faces from semi-pro clubs eager to make the step up and also drastically improved the fitness of those that they deemed good enough to stay, in our last 15 league matches we've only lost 1, which highlights how poor a job Brown did.

Hopefully he's learnt a lot from his second spell with us because if he manages you with the same attitude he managed us you'll be in serious trouble. At least he doesn't have access to the transfer market, if you've got a decent squad that's been underperforming then he may be able to get them playing and keep you up, his management style upsets a lot of players but in the short-term it might make them play. If he does keep you up though don't make the mistake of thinking his deal should be extended, his transfer policy is extremely outdated and will likely find you in another relegation battle next season.

Well, there you have it then - we're Fu**ed.

[popular side]

We are starting that usual Negative vibe on here again,Manager crap,Manager useless etc.. Can everyone please give the guy a chance we all want the best for the club give him your full support till the end of the season you might be quite suprised........

[MrSmith]

Time will only tell if Brown/McDonald worked, I would be more concerned if Hornby/Shearer lose interest.

Why? We might actually get proper footballing people in who know how to run a club and pay the bills on time. They have failed at appointing a manager 3 times. They got lucky with Evatt! who wasn't even appointed by them other than that it's been a shambles on and off.

[Toffeebluebird]

I am OK with this, to be honest, seems I might be in the minority!

Whatever happened at Southend is not relevant, different situation, different club. We have our own destiny in our hands and we have some good players in this squad who just need to be used right. A good tactic is one that uses the players in the right way, whether that is more direct or more on the floor. Hopefully Brown uses his experience to look at these players and not only put them in the right part of the pitch but also have them using their best abilities.

[Bingo]

They have shambled there way into the football league; sure they have made mistakes but they have also made big strides forwards .. the holker street end, fan zone, other works.. lots more needs to be done to be an established football league club but without these guys putting money in I do wonder where we might be now

[MisterPleasant]

Time will only tell if Brown/McDonald worked, I would be more concerned if Hornby/Shearer lose interest.

Why? We might actually get proper footballing people in who know how to run a club and pay the bills on time. They have failed at appointing a manager 3 times. They got lucky with Evatt! who wasn't even appointed by them other than that it's been a shambles on and off.

Why do I think, looking at your 4 posts, there's an agenda here?

[olefogey]

Time will only tell if Brown/McDonald worked, I would be more concerned if Hornby/Shearer lose interest.

Why? We might actually get proper footballing people in who know how to run a club and pay the bills on time. They have failed at appointing a manager 3 times. They got lucky with Evatt! who wasn't even appointed by them other than that it's been a shambles on and off.

....and we might not, Steven Vaughan anybody. Whatever their mistakes, at least the present ownership have the club's best interests at heart, we could do a lot worse, imho.