JOHN White is determined to feature more regularly for Southend United next season after committing his future to the club for another season.

The 30-year-old defender has signed a 12 month deal to stay with the Shrimpers.

And White - who made just 15 starts last term - is eager to play far more of a part this time around.

“I didn’t play the amount of games I wanted to last season and I certainly want to play more next season,” said White.

“I’ve already been working hard in what I call pre pre-season training and I’ll be making sure I’m working as hard as possible in the build up to the season.

“As a team we also want to improve on last season and we have to make sure we start well.

“If we had done that last season then we would definitely have been in the top six, if not the top two so we have to make sure we do much better in the first few games next year.”

White - who has been with the Shrimpers since 2013 - made 15 starts last season and has now appeared 151 times for the club.

The defender featured more regularly towards the end of the previous campaign, starting three of the last five games.

And he is happy to have signed a new deal.

“It’s nice to have got everything sorted out,” said White.

“It’s been spoken about for a little while now but contracts take a long time to get sorted and finalised.

“We obviously had a lot going on towards the end of the season so it was difficult to get things moving when we had other things to concentrate on.

“But I’m delighted it’s done and I can look forward to the season ahead.

“There was plenty to think about, including not playing as much as I would have liked, but my family and I are settled in the area and it would have been a big wrench to leave.”

White, who captained Blues in their League Two play-off final success against Wycombe Wanderers in May 2015, is capable of playing all across the back four.

And the Shrimpers’ assistant manager Graham Coughlan is happy to see the defender staying at Roots Hall.

“John’s a good lad, he’s a good character and a great professional so it’s great news he’s signed a new contract,” said Coughlan.

“He’s shown his versatility during his time here by playing in a number of roles.

“We’re delighted he’s staying to help up progress.