The Stag of West Ham shares his thoughts on the Shrimpers of Southend

European Cup winner, Brian Dear, discusses his connection to Southend United, how they have fallen from grace, and why he thinks they’re making a glorious return.

Sitting opposite me in the run-down Roots Hall stadium, is European Cup winner, Brian Dear. Despite his successes with ‘the irons’ in claret, he chooses to wear blue today, because he’s here to support a little non-league club, Southend United.

Brian ‘stag’ Dear, 80, is a former striker for West Ham United. He played the majority of his career with West Ham between 1962 and 1969, making 69 league appearances and netting 33 goals. Even now, he still holds the EFL (English Football League) record for the quickest time to score 5 goals (20 minutes either side of halftime).

Just a short train journey from West Ham is the 118-year old club, Southend United. Recounting his playing days, Brian said ‘Goeff Hurst, Martin Peters, Ronnie Boyce, Johnny Sissons, myself… some Fridays, if we had a home game Saturday, we used to come to Southend and get well looked after’. West Ham’s connection to Southend comes through another of Brian’s West Ham teammates, the English footballing legend, Bobby Moore. From 1984 to 1986, the World Cup-winning captain stood as manager of Southend.

Brian turned to catering and became a pub landlord after hanging up his boots. ‘I had a pub in Southend, when Bobby Moore was the manager here, and I used to come to the games’ is how Brian describes his professional connection to Southend beginning. He added with a smile, ‘I don’t really think Bob really ever wanted to be a football manager, the best players don’t always make the best managers, but he did his best here’.

 He continued, ‘the chairman then, Vic Jobson, he wanted Bobby to be the manager… and he said ‘why don’t you come and do some stuff for me’ and that’s how it all started’. 

Brian has been attached to Southend in some capacity for around 50 years, watching the matches, supplying catering services and now acting as an honorary club trustee.

 For those familiar with the broader spectrum of English football, the woes experienced by Southend United over recent years come as no surprise.

 Southend are no stranger to large crowds. Brian recalls, ‘when I used to come here with the guys on a Friday night, there were 12, 13, 14,000 here.’ At their highest, Southend United reached the Championship (the second tier of English football), finishing 12th in the 1991/92 season. 

 However, after a series of unfortunate events and a double relegation in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons, Southend have been left in the Vanarama National League (the fifth tier of English football)- meaning they are no longer deemed a ‘professional’ club. After a 10-point deduction earlier this season, they sit at 11th place, 5 spots below ‘promotion playoff’ territory.

 ‘We got relegated, then we got back, then we went down. And over the last few years, we’ve just deteriorated’ is how Brian describes modern life at Southend. Touching on the recent protest from fans in regard to the desire for (now ex) chairman, Ron Martin, to make his exit from the club, Brian said ‘the crowd are a brilliant crowd, but they’re a football crowd. When you’re winning it’s great, when you’re losing, it’s this one out that one out’.

The primary source of Southend’s misfortune stems from financial troubles, which has left to a series of fines, transfer embargoes and points deductions.

 ‘We overstretched how good we were going to be…things seem to get out of hand, and you still want to do things, and pay things, and spend things like when you’re doing well’, is how Brian discussed Southend’s financial troubles. He continued, ‘when you get in that position it’s very difficult to get out of it… its spending your money wisely and getting the right players, to get you where you want to be’. 

 Despite recent trials and tribulations, Brian, along with the fans, believe that Southend United is beginning to return to its former glory. ‘We’ve got a manager who played for this club, who loves this club, and we have good players around him. And now we’ve amassed some good people, local people, and one from Australia [Southend’s new part-owner, Australian business man, Justin Rees] who’s thrown his hat in the ring, making things much better for the club’. He furthered, ‘we have a very good scouting team here… and some of the lads are now coming to fruition’.

On Southend’s current position, Brian expressed, ‘we’re in a good place, it’s going nicely at the moment’.  He said contentedly ‘it’s all coming together, and hopefully it’s going to be like when we were going to Wembley and getting promotion. It’s what football clubs are like in the lower divisions, the lower clubs are family clubs, the kids have grown up in it… they want to see their home club do well’. Brian remarked, ‘we will come again, this will blossom again this club’.

 Whilst it is unlikely that Southend will achieve promotion this season with only 7 games left to play (though not impossible through promotion playoffs), the fact that they’re still in the running despite a transfer embargo and a 10-point deduction just goes to show how much heart, grit and determination Southend United still have as a club. With such a rich history, capable squad and loyal fans, the soon-to-be second-coming of Southend is one that all football fans should be waiting for excitedly.