PHIL Brown insists he found it ‘unbelievably difficult’ without a chief executive at Southend United.

The Shrimpers chose not to replace Steve Kavanagh when he moved to Millwall in November 2016.

And ex Blues boss Brown felt that had a negative impact.

“For some reason the club didn’t replace Steve Kavanagh and I found it unbelievably difficult to deal with,” said Brown.

“We had the magic triangle really as Ron (Martin would call it).

“Steve would come at it from a football and business perspective, I’d be football and Ron would be business.

“It was always a healthy conversation and Ron would always have the final say which was fine.”

However, Brown also admitted Kavanagh was not the only member of staff to be missed after departing.

“We also lost Helen Norbury as club secretary and she was a tour de force really,” said Brown.

“She knew the game and all of the rules inside out but was never really replaced.

“It was basically just Ron and I after that.

“It can work but it can only work from the start.

“If I was appointed tomorrow and Ron was in charge then that’s the situation from the start so you either accept that or you don’t.

“But when the goalposts start moving and you don’t replace good people you’re weakening your hand and that’s what happened.”