Soccer: Storrie cuts his losses with Blues

Southend United's departing chief executive Peter Storrie has explained why he has decided to turn his back on the Blues.

Storrie made the move to Roots Hall at the start of last season after almost a decade of affiliation with the Shrimpers' Premiership neighbours West Ham.

However, the 48-year-old has decided to call it a day with the Seasiders after only 11 months in the job, leaving behind a mammoth £120,000 a year salary.

"I've decided to leave Southend because the club simply can't afford to keep me," Storrie said.

"I do a specific job to earn my livelihood, but the salary I'm getting paid at Southend isn't right for this level of the game."

Blues are currently losing more than £100,000 a month and Storrie admitted that his highly lucrative package was a massive burden for the struggling Third Division outfit.

"Over the past three or four months I've been looking very closely at our financial situation," he continued.

"And the future projections for the club's budget can't accommodate a full-time chief executive.

"Southend United is still set up as Division One operation that is playing in the Third Division and cuts need to be made for the sake of the supporters, who face another ticket increase next season.

"Drastic action needs to be taken to save money at Roots Hall and I believe strongly that any downscaling should begin at the top of the tree.

"If I were to stay on at the club picking up my current salary I would be nothing more than a hypocrite."

However, Storrie, whose current contract was due to be renegotiated on expiry at the end of July, was quick to defend his original Roots Hall appointment at the start of last season.

"I knew my salary would be a problem for a Third Division club," he explained.

"But Southend United knew how much I would cost and still decided that they wanted me."

Storrie, though, accepted that the past year had been more difficult than he had expected it to be - a million miles away from the glamour and glitz he had enjoyed in the Premiership with West Ham.

"Working at Roots Hall has been a real eye opener as it has allowed me to experience the other end of the market," he said.

"There are more and more problems at this level of the game and I'm sure a lot of the Premiership chiefs would look at things a lot differently if they came down here for a while.

"After being involved with Blues' financial struggles it really hit home how the smaller clubs need to be protected by the bigger boys.

"Because of the huge influx of foreigners into English football, you may not get many Third Division players directly joining Premier League clubs these days.

"But these lower division lads may sign for a First Division club before progressing on to the top-flight, which is a natural feeding cycle which needs to be kept intact for the good of the English game."

But just what did Storrie feel he had achieved during his brief stay on the Essex coast with Southend?

"It's been a very tough time, but I do believe we've made some very positive strides forward," he added.

"We've done simple things that have made the club more professional in its outlook and appearance.

"And I'd like to believe that we have attracted old businesses back to the club which were alienated from Roots Hall in the past.

"But results on the pitch haven't helped us in our quest for success, because, as in any other business, it is always easier to sell a product that is performing well.

"However, things have been done during my time at the club to improve the financial problems here, which I'm sure will start to decrease.

"It would have been a lot easier for me to do my job had the club been playing in a higher division because it makes the club more attractive to sell and it has been a frustrating time for me."

However, Storrie dismissed talk of any behind-the-scenes rifts with Blues chairman John Main affecting performances on the park.

Main described Storrie's appointment last July as "the final piece of his dream team jigsaw", but rumours suggested that the relationship between the two men was more nightmarish.

"All this talk of a power struggle between myself and John Main was absolute rubbish," he said.

"We had the usual healthy disagreements that take place at any club, but weren't at each others' throats all day long.

"The funniest story of all was the one about me wanting to become chairman. I've always been a chief executive and I have no desire to be anything else - all these rumours were utter nonsense."

Storrie also went on the defensive when asked about his controversial decision to increase Roots Hall admission prices by £1 last November - which led to fans calling for his head from the terraces.

"I took all the criticism for this decision, but it was something that had to be done in the financial interests of the club," he explained.

"We needed to bring in new players and this extra £1 paid for the wages of our two loan men - Nigel Pepper and Steve Jones - who were earning nearly £2,000 a week at Roots Hall."

On the field, Storrie also spoke of his disappointment at Southend's latest season of underachievement, which saw the Shrimpers slump to a depressing final 16th position.

"There was a lot of expectation here at the beginning of the season, but despite a very good start we finished up poorly," Storrie explained.

"As far as I know our wage-bill was only bettered by Northampton Town in the Third Division, who won promotion, which represents a big underachievement.

"On paper we probably had the best squad in the league, but despite a lot of hard work from our manager Alan Little it never came off for us, no matter what he tried.

"We gave away a lot of bad goals defensively, which gave us a mountain to climb most of the time, but we never got the run of the ball in a lot of games.

"But maybe the balance of the side wasn't right. The nucleus of the team was there, but Southend need to sign a dominant centre-half who can motivate players and a box-to-box midfielder if they are to make an impression next term."

So what does the future hold for Storrie who is now looking for a new employer and was recently linked with the vacant chief executive's position at Essex County Cricket Club.

"When I left West Ham I promised myself a couple of months off, which I never got because I joined Southend, and that is my first priority," he said.

"But there are a few jobs in the pipeline, both in and out of football, and I'll just wait to see what happens."

Finally, Storrie focused his thoughts on Southend's future, which he believes will be a bright one.

"Things aren't as bleak as they seem and I'm sure the good times will return to Southend," he said.

"Plans for the new stadium should finally be announced soon and there are some good young players at the club - Garry Cross, Danny Kerrigan, Tom McDonald and Leon Johnson - who will play a big part in Blues' future.

"But most importantly Southend can succeed because of their fantastic fans who have stuck by the team both home and away again during a another disappointing season.

"Their time will come, though, and hopefully, thanks to the hard work of everybody involved with the club, it will be sooner rather than later!"

Amicable split - Peter Storrie, pictured in front of chairman John Main, has parted company with Southend United

Picture: STEPHEN LLOYD

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