The final say: Even by Southend United's standards it has been a crazy few days

The Shrimpers seem to constantly conjure up new ways of generating unexpected moments of drama.

But even by their own rather unique standards and the recent hectic history it has been an eventful few days at Roots Hall.

Blues have been struggling badly all season and those trials and tribulations have been regularly poured over on these very pages.

But, amid the poor results and lowly League placing, chairman Ron Martin continued to publicly back Mark Molesley as manager.

In fact, little more than two weeks ago, Martin confirmed Molesley would still be manager at the end of the season.

However, on Thursday evening it emerged that would not be the case.

But was it the right decision?

Opinion seems divided among the fanbase and there are certainly two sides to the argument.

Molesley was clearly hindered by a transfer embargo which was not lifted until December and, in fairness, he made Blues far tougher to break down and beat during his time in charge.

But, on the other side of the coin, Molesley had eventually been able to bring in 20 players and still seemed destined to go down.

My online Twitter poll saw 59 per cent of supporters agreeing with Molesley’s departure.

However, if it was going to happen it should have been done far sooner in my opinion.

For me, it was back him or sack him time after the 5-1 defeat at Port Vale at the end of January when there were still 20 matches left to be played.

But Martin kept the faith until deciding to part company with just six games to go.

And, adding to the drama, it was Phil Brown who he turned to.

Brown previously spent five years in charge of the Shrimpers and will always be best remembered for being in charge for the eventful play-off final against Wycombe Wanderers at Wembley.

But, since leaving Blues in January 2018, Brown had a short spell with Swindon Town before heading out to India to manage abroad.

A Roots Hall return seemed unlikely but the 61-year-old is now back in a last ditch attempt to stop the Shrimpers falling out of the Football League.

He started his second spell in charge with a 0-0 draw at home to Crawley Town on Saturday.

And there lies arguably the only thing consistently guaranteed by Blues right now, a real struggle to score.

The Shrimpers have now netted three goals in their last 11 games and have also gone seven home games in succession without hitting the back of the net.

Furthermore, Blues have scored just 24 goals in 41 games, the lowest amount in the whole of the Football League and quite clearly lack quality in the final third.

Somehow or other Brown must find a way to improve the poor form in front of goal but that will be easier said than done given the options at his disposal.

Brown went with Greg Halford up top against Crawley but the versatile 36-year-old is not a natural front man while Timothee Dieng, who was given a more attacking role, went off with a concerning looking hamstring injury.

Brown will now be looking elsewhere in his squad as the Shrimpers look to pull off what has appeared to be an unlikely escape act for the majority of the season.

With just five games to go, Blues remain second from bottom in the League Two standings four points behind Colchester United who sit just above the relegation zone.

The Shrimpers do still have their Essex rivals to play but, despite the excitement that clash is already generating, it could mean very little depending on results this weekend.

Blues head to play-off chasing Exeter City while Colchester host Walsall, who sit 20th in the standings.

After that and the local derby, it is the U’s who have the tougher run in as they face three of the top nine in their remaining matches.

Colchester have also been in poor form of late but it is the Shrimpers who have the biggest fight on their hands.

The returning Brown, who waited until after the Grand National to conduct his post match interview on Saturday, will be hoping to help Southend gather pace in the final furlong.

Right now, relegation seems on the cards.

But then when could we ever really predict what would happen next with Blues?