KEVIN Bond has been confirmed as Southend United's new manager.

The 61-year-old took charge of the Shrimpers for the final six games of last season and kept the club in League One with a 2-1 win against Sunderland on the final day.

But Bond will now be remaining at Roots Hall after signing a two year deal and he cannot wait to get started. 

"I couldn’t be more pleased,” said Bond.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the last few weeks of the season, although it was a pretty tense experience, and I can’t wait to get started on planning for what we all hope is a bright future for Southend United.

"To a degree when you come in, in difficult circumstances, you’re firefighting a little bit and you haven’t really got enough time to make many changes, so you have to deal with what’s in front of you and put one or two things in place which you think may make a difference."

However, Bond is determined to build on the Shrimpers' survival.

"Thankfully we got what we needed to get to stay in League One which is great and now we’ve got a longer period of time in order to put things in place which will hopefully move the club forward," said Bond.

"That work starts right now on the playing staff side and the planning for pre-season.

"This is a really busy part of the season and it’s all about organising this period leading up to the first game of the season.”