Council must back United

Blues' chief executive Peter Storrie is to be commended in his efforts to get some of the missing thousands back to Roots Hall, but I fear he faces a huge job.

Initiatives like the new family enclosure where a dad and son can watch Blues in action for £10 is great news in that it promotes the club for the future.

A youngster who gets into the habit of supporting his local side often becomes hooked for life and backs them through good times and bad.

Storrie reported a home support of around 5,500 for the last Southend game against Peterborough and urged the floating fans not to give up on Alan Little's boys despite the 1-0 defeat.

But I'm afraid the fickle armchair supporters will take some persuading that the club has turned the corner and, unhappily, there are a lot of cynical followers in this part of the country.

One setback often means half a dozen good results before they are tempted to return, which is a disappointing fact of Blues life.

Mind you, the local council has a great chance to help Blues arrest that slide when the planning bid for a new super stadium comes in front of them this month.

I'm sure that a modern venue would quickly help repair the damage of several seasons of sad decline. Pride would be restored to the terraces and a successful team then, I believe, would really take off.

And so Southend Council have a huge responsibility to give the club a helping hand up the ladder which would also bring some much-needed publicity to a fading town needing a shot in the arm.

I have said in the past that I won't believe this new era has dawned until the first brick is in place - such is our council's poor track record in backing anything which smacks of progress.

Hopefully I will be proved wrong and that Peter Storrie's dream of Southend competing with his old club West Ham in terms of crowds won't be so wide of the mark.

And so you councillors, the ball is well and truly in your court. Don't let the present and future fans, or indeed Southend as a whole, down.

Grab this golden opportunity with both hands and don't allow small, petty problems which have dogged applications in the past to wreck this potentially bright new dawn.

I will be waiting anxiously to hear those positive noises come out of the town hall. The club needs and deserves your backing.

Stamp out yob culture at once

I never thought I would ever see unsporting scenes on a golf course which were worse than any I have ever witnessed at Roots Hall.

But the behaviour of the USA team, wives, caddies, marshals and supporters on that 17th green in the Ryder Cup has left the nastiest of tastes in my mouth.

Admittedly, Justin Leonard had holed a massive putt but European star Jose Maria Olazabal still had a crucial putt himself to keep the competition very much alive, but after all that hullaballoo his chances were nil.

OK, so the Americans have since apologised for their outrageous actions, but for me it's all too little too late.

And I would urge the golfing bodies on both sides of the Atlantic to come up with a code of conduct before the next encounter at the Belfry in two years' time or I fear golf will be sucked into a yobbish hole from which it may never recover.

Our golf fans, too, must not be drawn into a tit-for-tat scenario after the way the US fans behaved towards our players. Unless the powers that be act fast then I fear we could be in for crowd scenes reminiscent of soccer's dark old days - Samuel Ryder must be turning in his grave!

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