Soccer: Howard's Say...

It saddened me to hear of the death last week of true Southend United stalwart John Woodcock.

John was one of the all too few people to climb from holding office in the supporters club to a seat on the board and then club President.

He was truly a man who lived by the motto it's not what my club can do for me but what I can do for my club.

His philosophy was in sharp contrast to that of former chairman John Main who simply refuses to go away and stop damaging the good name of the club.

I see Main is still whinging on about what he claims is the way he was treated when axed by the Blues owners and has tried to defend his short time at the helm.

I've always credited Main with being a superb PR man, winning over the fans, but I'm afraid he presided over a period of financial disaster, slumping team fortunes and the signing of second class players on first class money.

He was also a very strong supporter of the decision to sell Roots Hall and the training ground to pay off debts - something which I feel we may yet realise was a grave error leaving the club without any assets to fall back on.

Unhappily all too often people who take control of not only soccer clubs but various other sporting bodies often suffer from delusions of grandeur.

I've seen so many suddenly change their persona overnight and forget the reason they were put into office in the first place - to protect the interests of supporters or members.

It's certainly not a trap someone like John Woodcock would fall into - a sincere man from an ordinary background who was just as happy making tea for visiting directors as he was being involved in major decision making as long as it helped Blues.

I've just been honoured by being elected Vice Captain of my golf club and the first thing I told the secretary was he had permission to slap me down should I ever start thinking I'm bigger than the club I love so dearly.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.