Southend boss Kevin Maher says he needs clarity about the club's future before he can implement plans to improve the playing squad this summer.

The Shrimpers missed out on a place in the National League play-offs despite beating Wealdstone in their last game.

The club is up for sale after a winding-up petition was dismissed in March but non-playing staff have not been paid for the last two months.

"We need to act quickly if we're going to take this on," Maher told BBC Essex.

"We're in a great position as a football department to take it forward and be up at the top end of the table next season.

"That's got to happen quickly, it's a big period coming up now. I know what I need to do, and what we need to do as a staff, but we need clarity on what's happening."

Asked if he was anywhere near getting that clarity, Maher replied: "No."

He was appointed manager in October 2021, having made 386 league appearances for the club between 1998 and 2008.

After finishing 13th last season, Southend were well-placed to secure a play-off spot following an 11-match unbeaten run from mid-September to November.

But they lost all seven games in March and were unable to make up the lost ground, ending up eighth in the table, two points below Bromley.

Maher said he was delighted with the way the team had played for the shirt "despite a lot of stuff they've had to deal with".

And he also paid tribute to supporters after 8,434 turned up at Roots Hall for the Wealdstone game.

"We could have quite easily ended up like [relegated] Scunthorpe and Yeovil and Torquay [given what's happened off the pitch], and that's testament to the people who came in the building 18 months ago and the work that's gone on behind the scenes in terms of recruitment," Maher continued.

"To get eight and a half thousand in Roots Hall, that's what I've had here in the Championship and to do that in National League is unbelievable."

He added: "I work with the players on a day in, day out basis and I know what they're capable of. We need a little help at the right time, which we didn't get, and that's probably why we've come up short."

2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score      
Wrong joker result gives you minus 2
Correct Random Badger gives you 2 points

The random badger is used for any random prediction used once in each matchday sequence. For instance, a scorer at a particular match, the number of red cards in the matches or yellow cards or own goals or owt you want really within reason, I do need to be able to check whether it's correct or not. Please don't put stuff like....."Commentator says...."  
The joker   is played for one match in each sequence and if correct you get double points. So if you've predicted 1-0 and it finishes 2-0, you get 4 pts, but if you've predicted 2-0, that's 8 pts. But if you get it wrong, it's minus 2.
Jokers and badgers are optional. You don't have to play one if you don't want.

The prize for winning the league is one rep point.

Cup games: In the event of a draw, it's half the points if you've predicted a draw when it gets to 90 mins and the full points if it's still a draw after extra time. Half the points will be awarded for correctly predicting the winner of the match if it goes to penalties. Similarly with the badger, if your random prediction is affected by this, it'll be half the points.

Random score generator: I will be using the random score generator again for those who miss predicting, so we shouldn't get some people too far behind that after missing a couple of weeks they lose all interest, because I know it's not easy getting on here every week.
To be fair to everybody, this is going to be like, say if three people in one week miss their predictions, the first one in the table will be given all 0-0, the second one down the line will get 1-0 and the third will get 0-1 and so on, like if there's four missing the 4th will get 1-1, then 5th 2-1, 6th 1-2. and if there are so many missing, might as well pack in.
And if you miss two weeks on the trot, I'll stop until you come back on again. Not doing it for half a season like I did t'other year.  

End of season Play Offs: The one who finishes top of the league will still be champion, but after the season finishes there will be Play Offs between the top 4, with 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd. This will take in stuff like the EFL Play Offs, FA Cup Final, final day of Prima Donna League, European Finals etc. It will be one matchday for the semis and one for the Final. It will be the individual scores for each matchday against the allotted opponent, with some kind of tie breaker for a drawn match.

The prize for winning will be enormous. Another rep point.

Thursday May 4th:
Town v Sheffield Utd
Town scorers:
United scorers:

Monday May 8th: (all 15:00)
Town v Reading
Town scorers:
Reading scorers:

Birmingham City v Sheffield United
Burnley v Cardiff City
Luton Town v Hull City
Middlesbrough v Coventry City
Millwall v Blackburn Rovers
Norwich City v Blackpool
Preston North End v Sunderland
Queens Park Rangers v Bristol City
Swansea City v West Bromwich Albion
Watford v Stoke City
Wigan Athletic v Rotherham United

Table after Matchday 37:

1. jjamez = 862 pts
   
2. Baggiebob(BBB) = 833 pts
   
3. themaclad = 814 pts
   
4. theo_luddite = 809 pts
   
5. St Charles Owl = 796 pts
   
6. neonfoxinthebox = 778 pts
   
7. Lord Snooty = 742 pts
   
8. ritchiebaby = 711 pts
   
9. SHEP_HTAFC = 704 pts
   
10. Amelia Chaffinch = 690 pts
    
11. Devongone = 656 pts
    
12. WakeyTerrier = 171 pts

Aldershot Town forward Josh McQuoid says he will receive treatment this summer after being diagnosed with a rare cancer in his leg.

The 33-year-old former Northern Ireland international has been diagnosed with sarcoma, which affects the tissues that connect, support and surround other body structures and organs.

McQuoid has continued to play since getting the diagnosis a few weeks ago.

"It's early days but the prognosis so far is positive as it can be," he said.

"It's been a tough few weeks but I'm lucky to have such a great family and group of friends who are supporting me all the way.

"I want to thank my team-mates, the manager and all the staff, who have been supportive at this time."

McQuoid is in his second spell with the Shots, helping them stay in the National League this season, and has previously played for clubs including Bournemouth, Luton and Weymouth.

He added: "Hopefully this message can grow awareness around any lump or bump. It's normally nothing but it's better to be safe than sorry."

Staff at National League side Southend United have not been paid for the last two months, BBC Essex reports.

The majority of backroom staff at the club have not received their wages for April and are still awaiting payment for March.

Southend beat Wealdstone 2-1 in their final game of the season but results elsewhere meant they finished two points outside the play-off places.

The Shrimpers were put up for sale by chairman Ron Martin in March.

Two weeks prior to the announcement, Southend had a winding-up petition against them dismissed after the club paid £1.4m owed to HM Revenue & Customs.

That was the second such order in three years, with Southend having a previous winding-up order dismissed in January 2020.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/65369753

So it comes to pass that Celtic are on course to record a historic 8th treble-winning season - massive favourites to beat ICT in the Scot Cup final and an element of "pay-back" in this final after one of the most infamous and unfair refereeing decisions in Scot Cup history - in a 2015 Scot Cup semi-final v ICT when a CB named Josh Meekings clearly deliberately handled a goal-bound Griffiths header a foot off his own ICT goal-line and the incident bizarrely missed in a triangulated view from three different SFA ref officials/numpties - a pk and an automatic red card avoided, and ICT went on to win their 1st Scot Cup!! The Hoops won't bother re that piece of football infamy, but an absolute thrashing would be appreciated from many Celtic fans with little leniency applied and not so fickle either. Re the match, Celtic winning from a bullet header by Jota (Tavernier's defensive frailties exposed again while three other Rangers defenders "switch off" and expecting a free kick that never materialised!!), providing the all-important winning goal and Celtic's defence "toughing out" the match a bit more than normal with both CBs, Carter-Vicker and Starfelt, outstanding in the way they resolutely defended a "clean sheet" with Joe Hart doing everything asked of him in the Celtic goal. Unfortunately the Canadian full back, Johnston, picked up a nasty ankle injury after having an excellent game up to that critical moment in the 2nd half when he was injured. Again, Celtic not at their best, winning this match in 2nd or 3rd gear and still prob should've scored a couple more goals, but got the job done and the Rule Britannia brigade's season is done - no trophies won and lotsa debt into the bargain with few assets to sell on either!!

To say we were pants yesterday is an insult to pants. At least pants are functional. The first half was a vision of footballing purgatory. We only had three players. Clements looked like he'd seen full backs play before and was trying to do it. To his credit Colclough even managed to look vaguely dangerous. And Dobra was turning sharply and beating people, but his passing indicated an early appointment at Specsavers. The rest had peaked by managing to wear matching kit.

Second half we got slightly better and Maidstone took their cue to metamorphose into perennial losers. Dallas began inhabiting his own body and was fine. Clements continued to get crosses in and took his goal with a touch of class. Sadly Mandeville may be player of the year but wiry is becoming skeletal, he can play and produced one lovely pass, but he begins to look as though a puff of wind might deposit him on the Sheffield Road. Luckily King started to play and that means we improve in open play and become positively dangerous from dead balls. Our strange goalkeeper again achieved selection and inspired no confidence. Against a team which hadn't won in 21 games we again selected Jones so that restrained our attacking options, as did Oldaker's hair. Is there a barber's strike in Derbyshire?

But we're through to the semis. If we were against Boreham Wood or Bromley I can see the point of Dallas at centre forward, because lobbing balls in for McCallum or Quigley would be feeding their centre backs and helping them to another clean sheet. Dallas's pace would scare them if we can manage to play him in. Against Notts County (by some miracle) I'd go with a bigger option to keep their centre backs occupied and to stop them getting forward.

The bizarre thing is that there is some talent when Cookie decides to put it on the field and let it play. Akinola's energy would benefit us against any of the teams we might now play, but he has less chance of starting than Sheckleford or Horton ......... Notts County have several players capable of playing at a higher level, but they are also vulnerable, especially in defence and, like us, between the sticks. The play-offs are theirs to lose, but I can see ways they can achieve precisely that,

Former Eastleigh owner Stewart Donald has agreed a deal to purchase Eastleigh, five years after selling the club.

Donald was chairman of the National League side for seven years before selling the club in 2018.

He then led a consortium which took over Sunderland, but the former Premier League club failed to win promotion out of League One under his stewardship.

Donald sold a controlling stake in the Black Cats in 2021.

Last year, the businessman said that he would like to return to Eastleigh if he could sell his remaining stake in Sunderland.

Donald went on to sell a portion of his shares in Sunderland to owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus in June 2022 but said in an interview with with BBC Radio Solent that he still retains a 9% shareholding in the club.

Eastleigh said Donald's takeover was subject to approval by the National League, English Football League and Department of Culture, Media and Sport and that he would purchase a controlling stake from the four majority shareholders.

Premier League

Derby        17pts 3CS 4CR 10GB -3BB 0SB
Sanjay      15pts 3CS 5CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
SCO          11pts 1CS 3CR 10GB -3BB 0SB
Stairs          8pts 1CS 2CR 0GB 6BB 0SB
Zinman        5pts 1CS 2CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Blue Baggie  3pts 1CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Minizin        -1pt 0CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Snooty        -1pt 0CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 1SB

Well this may have changed things up a bit! A wide variation of scores with that last minute equaliser for Preston causing both great anguish or joy (or utter irrelevance for those of us predicting a Preston win!)

Derby is battling to hang on to his prediction league title and won't have done his chances any harm with a table topping performance thanks to 3 correct scores including the gamball. He is closely followed by Sanjay as he continues to climb towards safety - 15 points after losing on his gamball was a great return as he scored on the week's high of 5 matches. SCO was another beneficiary of Preston's late goal scoring a maximum on his gamball. Sadly he didn't get a lot else but that goal was enough to put him into double figures to help in his fight against relegation.

A bit average - or worse - after that. Stairs is in a familiar mid-table position thanks to avoiding the gamball and scoring a bonus maximum, his 2nd in a row after a season of failure with that ball. Zinman also secured a rare bonus point, but not a lot else as his bid for the title suffered while Blue looks to be on the beach though he could yet be pulled into the relegation battle.

A disaster for Minizin and Snooty in their efforts at both ends of the table. Both scored on just 2 games with no correct scores and losses on the major balls. They did however both collect the scoreball point - could that be vital as we approach the end of the season?

Derby 296
Minizin 289
Zinman 288
Stairs 271
Blue 245
Sanjay 237
SCO 221
Snooty 213

All change at both ends of the table. Derby leaps to the top of the table and with Zinman closing on Minizin just 8 points separate the top 3 as we enter the fianl 2 weeks of the season. We will have to check the rule book to see what happens if there's a tie - I seem to remember that it goes on reverse alphabetical order but SCO may have other ideas. Stairs isn't out of it but may have to play his gamball if he is to have any chance of crashing the title party - Derby's move this week shows what is possible so will he be tempted?

A few weeks ago Blue Baggie looked safe in mid-table but Sanjay's resurgence means that he is just 8 points away from being dragged into the play-offs. SCO's gamball maximum lifts him off the foot of the table but still some way off safety - both he and Snooty will need a couple of very good weeks to avoid the trap door.

Zin


Championship

Lady Jane 17pts 3CS 1CR 10GB -3BB 0SB
Themaclad 17pts 1CS 3CR 10GB 3BB 0SB
AAA 15pts 1CS 3CR 5GB 3BB 1SB
BaggieOne 7pts 1CS 2CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Twerton 6pts 1CS 2CR -3GB 3BB 0SB
Amelia 2pts 0CS 2CR -3GB 3BB 0SB
BBB 1pts 1CS 1CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Dingle -1pts 0CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 1SB

Well the rollercoaster season for many predictors continues!!!  Lady Jane puts in a much needed good result in joint first place with 17 points.  She was one of two players to get a spot on Gamball and backed that up with 2 other CSs but missed out on a great result by missing on the Bonus.  Themaclad, the epitome of a rollercoaster player, was the other one in joint first level on points with LJ, also getting a spot on Gamball and getting a CR on the Bonus.  AAA rounds out a solid top 3 with 15 points, he actually played the Gamball and scored a CR on it as well.

Big drop to BaggieOne with 7 points and Twerton with 6 points, both missed on the Gamball but scored on the Bonus, B1's scoreball kept him a point ahead in the end. 

Another drop off to the bottom 3.  Amelia, after a couple of good weeks drops to just 2 points, BBB drops to his standard form of missing on his balls and Dingle posted his worst score of the season with -1!!  He looked to have the title in the bag but as an Owls fan I know thats never the case unless the fat lady is actually singing!!!

319 Dingle
301 Lady Jane
295 AAA
293 BaggieOne
277 BBB
208 Themaclad
197 Twerton
189 Amelia

After a few weeks of no positional changes we see a number of them this week.  Dingle is still top but his lead has shrunk to just 18 points, exactly half what it was last week!!  LJ is up to 2nd place and is the second player to crack the 300 points mark.  AAA is up a place to 3rd place and the PO spot, while BaggieOne has dropped 2 places to now sit outside the promotion places!!  2nd, 3rd and 4th are separated by just 8 points going into the final weeks!!

BBB has lost touch a bit now with the top 4 but is still well clear of the bottom three.  After seeing it all get tight at the bottom, this weeks scores saw each gap stretch a bit, still all to play for in terms of the wooden spoon!!

Cheers
SCO