Southend to appoint legend as assistant

SOUTHEND United are set to react to yet another devastating away defeat by appointing a legendary former manager as assistant to manager Steve Tilson.

The Southend Afternoon Echo Sportsdesk understands that chairman Ron Martin will appoint the former Southend and Torquay manager as assistant manager on Tuesday as he seeks to stave off relegation, an outcome he described as "fatal".

It is hoped that the former full-back will be the man to shore up United's shaky defence that has been leaking goals at an alarming rate and led to assistant manager, Paul Brush being sacked.

When Southend last slipped to an away defeat and into the relegation zone, chairman Ron Martin pulled the trigger and sacked Tilson's long term assistant, Brush. Martin, who promised Tilson would get to choose his own number two, was quick to appoint the sexagenarian Dave Webb as Tilson's assistant until the end of the season, despite Webb having been out of football for some time.

The legendary Webb's return, for no less than his fifth stint, provided a short term boost to the struggling League One side, who drew two and won one of their next three games. However the Webb effect appears to have worn off as the team surrendered an early two goal lead at Bristol Rovers and slumped to a 4-3 defeat.

Now Martin is hoping to capture lightning in a bottle twice - and for Southend to win twice in 2010 - by appointing the septuagenarian Dave Smith as assistant assistant manager.

It is hoped that the dream team of the three most successful managers in Southend United's history will save Southend, or at the very least placate fans. Chairman Martin though refused to be drawn on speculation that such appointments were gimmicks to cover over the fact that the club is subject to a transfer embargo and are unable to bring in any new signings and therefore have to make do with populist appointments of pensioners who have been out of football for years. However a source, who did not wish to be named, revealed that plans to attract the legendary Bob Jack back had to be dropped once Ron Martin saw the price mediums were charging these days.