Southend Utd FC,
Roots Hall,
Victoria Ave,
Southend-on-Sea
SS2 6NQ

Southend are known as “The Shrimpers”, a reference to the area’s maritime industry that is included as one of the quarters on the club badge.

Founded on 19 May 1906 in the Blue Boar pub, Southend won the Southern League Second Division in both of its two initial seasons and was admitted into the Football League in 1920. It spent the next 44 years in the third tier of English football, before dropping into the 4^th Division in 1966. They spent the next 24 years moving between the third and fourth tiers, winning promotions in 1971–72, 1977–78, 1980–81 (as champions), 1986–87 and 1989–90. They were promoted into the 2^nd Division for the first time at the end of the 1990–91 season. After six seasons in the second tier, they suffered a double relegation in 1997 and 1998. Under manager Steve Tilson, Southend again secured a double promotion in 2004–05 and 2005–06 to win a place in the Championship as L1 champions. However, they only lasted one season in the second tier and then, after two top half League One finishes, were relegated back to League Two in 2010. They secured promotion as play-off winners in 2015, but suffered another double relegation in 2020 and 2021, amid deep financial problems that several times pushed the club to the brink of liquidation, to drop—after 101 years in the Football League—into the National League.

The future is now looking much better for Southend United following a takeover in July 2024 by The Custodians of Southend United consortium headed by Australian Justin Rees. In November of that year the club’s future was further boosted by new investment from US-based technology entrepreneur Shivaas Gulati.

By Supporters Club Coach – this is by far the cheapest and easiest way to travel. For information about Away Travel, including precise details of pick-up locations – look here. For this match, the departure times are Stonehouse Brunel Way – 8.45am, Sainsbury’s Dudbridge – 9.00am, The New Lawn – 9.15am.    

The prices for coach tickets to this match are as follows (Supporters’ Club members get a £3 discount): Adults £35, U-16 £20, U-11 £10

To book a seat with the supporter’s club discount, please call 0333 123 1889  on Monday, Thursday, or Friday at 11am to 2pm.  Please try to book early.

By train

From Stroud it takes about three hours to get to Southend-on-Sea by train. This weekend, there are engineering works (and a convoluted arrangement involving a rail replacement bus through the Essex-most suburbs of London) on the line linking Liverpool Street with Prittlewell and Southend Victoria, which is generally the most convenient for visiting Roots Hall. Instead, we recommend taking the c2c line, which is unaffected, to either Westcliff or Southend Central stations, both of which are about a 25-minute walk away from Roots Hall. Buses on numerous routes (check Google Maps)  are also available from Southend town centre.

This journey involves changing trains at Paddington (to the Elizabeth Line downstairs), Stratford (to the Jubilee Line for a one-stop hop) and West Ham. The return fare from Stroud to Southend costs about £74, but judicious use of advance purchase tickets and/or split ticketing can reduce this sum by as much as one-third.

The last train back with connections to Stroud (arriving there at 11.06pm) leaves Southend Central at 7.18pm, Westcliff at 7.20pm and Leigh-on-Sea at 7.25pm. This involves changing from Fenchurch Street to the underground at Tower Hill or Aldgate nearby, getting the tube to Paddington, with a final change at Swindon.

Roots Hall has been Southend’s home since 1955 (although they had played on a site nearby before the First World War). There is no denying that nowadays it is looking a little the worse for wear. The background to this is principally that a former, now bankrupt owner, had long intended (or stated that he intended) to sell the ground and move the club to a new out-of-town location, Fossetts Farm. Talk of this move went on for the best part of 30 years, with no progress being made, and Roots Hall effectively being neglected in the meantime. In the 1980s another previous owner had sold off some land immediately behind the South Stand, effectively reducing the size of one part of the stadium, too.  With a new consortium taking over the club in 2024, talk of a move abated, and some steps to make Roots Hall a more welcoming venue are being taken. Even in its current imperfect state, it is the only ground of a club in the current National League to get a mention in the lyrics of a song by Tranmere-supporting cult band Half Man Half Biscuit.

Sammy the Shrimp, Southend’s mascot

This fixture has been designated a special “Southend City Day” fixture “dedicated to recognising the community, culture, and spirit of Southend while welcoming supporters of all ages for an affordable, family-friendly matchday”.  Special pricing – for away fans too – applies:

Adults, Seniors (62+), Young Adults (17-22): £10

Junior (9-16) Child (8 and under): £5

Carer: free

Away supporters are hosted in block NF of the North Stand (entrance via turnstiles 13 to 16), with access to these areas being via Victoria Avenue, and not, as in the past, via Fairfax Avenue.

Tickets can be purchased here.

Kevin Maher started his playing career at Spurs but spent most of his career at Southend where he played 385 times. He also played for Oldham, Gillingham & Dagenham. Although born in Ilford he represented Ireland at U21 level.

Maher started his coaching career at Southend U21s and has been manager at Chelmsford and twice caretaker manager at Bristol Rovers before returning to Southend as manager in 2021.

John Still was appointed as Southend’s Head of Football in November 2021.

Overseeing the scouting and recruitment departments at Roots Hall, he has more experience than almost anyone in the game, having turned professional in 1967 and managed since 1976. After a short-lived playing career, Still’s first job as manager came at Leytonstone when he was just 26, and he’s gone onto take charge of both Barnet and Dagenham & Redbridge over three separate spells, also managing Luton Town and Peterborough United. Still was the first manager to guide three clubs out of non-league into the EFL and was Luton’s manager when they were promoted to League Two to start their rise to the Premier League.

ShrimperZone

The small matter of last year’s play-off semi-final, which saw Rovers defeated on penalties after 120 exhilarating minutes at the New Lawn apart….

The Shrimpers’ most recent visit to the New Lawn was in November 2025. On that occasion two goals scored within two minutes of each other, towards the end of the second half – by Harry Whitwell and Kyle McAllister, respectively – were sufficient to overturn the one-goal lead the Shrimpers’ had established not much earlier.

Seemingly, not QUITE as well as Billericay Dickie.  Although league positions may be deceptive with several games in hand, in part thanks to FA Trophy progress leaving the Shrimpers to face fellow seasiders Southport in the semi-final later in the month, with the winner there to face the victors in Wealdstone v Marine.

After last year’s trip to Wembley (via the New Lawn), the Shimpers – who had only climbed into the play-off zone at the very end of the 2024/25 season – hopes had been high for a re-run or better this time round. And for a time earlier in the season it looked like Southend would be among the seven teams destined to at least contemplate life in the EFL next year….but more recently they seem to have fallen away a little too much, and that future seems no longer guaranteed. A January 3-3 draw with lowly Boston Utd (following a 1-1 draw with them at Roots Hall in September) might be the unwelcome fly in the (Rossi’s) ice cream, although it’s also the case that they have held high-flying York City to two draws, too. In short, while Southend’s performance has generally been pretty decent, it has fallen a little short of pre-season expectations. It would foolish to rule out their return to the play-off zone, where they spent much time earlier in the season – the question is at whose expense that might be. It could even be us….

Southend Utd’s crest  – a version of which has been in use on-and-off since the 1960s – is largely self-explanatory, comprising the three saexes (swords) of Essex, waves representing the sea (or, at least, the outer reaches of the Thames Estuary) a football, and a shrimp to represent the local seafood industry, it hasn’t always been so. For much of the 1980s and 1990s an anchor replaced the football, while, more curiously, the shrimp was replaced by a lion. Not that the wildlife of South Essex had become suddenly exotic and wilder than usual, but for whatever reason the club’s owner, Vic Jobson, clearly wanted the club have a slightly more aggressive  – not say roaring – image. The change wasn’t popular with the fans, but the shrimp didn’t reappear until 2000.

Southend-on-Sea officially obtained the status of a city in March 2022, in large part in tribute to one of the town’s former MPs, David Amess, who was brutally murdered by a jihadist while hosting a surgery in the usually peaceful suburb of Leigh-on-Sea. The whole conurbation – most of which is included in the city – stretches for around 10 miles along the coast, from Shoeburyness (a former military outpost) in the east to the cockle sheds of Leigh-on-Sea (frequently named as the happiest place to live in England) in the west, by way of bustling Southend and cosmopolitan Westcliff. As a polycentric city – and contrary to John Betjeman – Southend has more than just the pier. While the longest pleasure pier in the world (with its own railway), and the adjacent amusement parks are an important part of the city, alongside the splendid architecture of the currently mostly disused Kursaal, the city also has two theatres (both in Westcliff) that cater well beyond end-of-the-pier fare. The cliff gardens, between Southend and Westcliff, are beautiful, and there is splendid Victorian architecture around this area too, while the art deco cafe of local ice cream firm Rossi awaits down by the beach. There are miles of golden sandy beaches – probably t he best being at Shoebury Common and Chalkwell, and the coast-front Old Town of Leigh-on-Sea is filled with pubs and cockle-sheds. Southend itself is so named because it was founded as the south end of the older settlement of Prittlewell, around Roots Hall. The remains of the 12th century priory there are now a museum, while there have been archaeological findings of note nearby, too.

Much more than just the pier.

Leigh-on-Sea sailing club

Art Deco Westcliff

At high tide, the Crowstone, at Chalkwell (it has a counterpart in Kent), marking the easternmost point of jurisdiction of the Port of London Authority

The cockle sheds of Old Leigh