LIAM Ager is the latest Blues fan to have his say on the happenings at Roots Hall.

You learn more about yourself the harder things get.

Our reaction to difficulties in life says everything about who we are as a person.

How much can you tolerate? How much responsibility will you take? How determined are you to play your part in putting things right?

This time last year Chris Powell’s appointment seemed to have pulled Southend clear of the relegation zone.

There was talk of promotion over the summer and it felt like the club, and all those associated, was moving in the right direction.

We even signed an exciting young player from non-league!

As the season began, Tom Hopper and Simon Cox looked a formidable duo and we were up with the chasing pack.

We were united.

Then October came, and everything went to pieces.

Hopper and Ben Coker were ruled out for the rest of the season, replaced by a striker that needed an average of six games to score and a left-back that left the club on loan as soon as Powell arrived.

And then it got worse.

It’s hard to be a Southend fan at the moment.

Our pedestrian descent into the relegation battle has the tedious inevitability of a sun disappearing over the horizon.

The squad is tired and the fans are weary but there is hope, dwindling in the twilight.

There are eight games left, eight chances to clench our fists, grit our teeth and fight for survival.

There is no time to hold our head in our hands in the dressing room or point fingers from the stands or boo when we concede.

Shrewsbury, Wycombe, Walsall and Rochdale are all in the same position as us and everybody has to play their part.

Uncle Ron has backed the manager and now the town must back the players to get the club over the line.

Times are hard so ask yourself: How much will you tolerate?

How much responsibility will you take? How determined are you to play your part in putting things right? We will all play a part in these eight games.

We are all Southend United.