SOUTHEND United don’t do quiet Saturdays.

Just seven days on from Ron Martin’s crazy decision to confront supporters chanting for him to quit the club at Solihull Moors came an even more eventful afternoon.

And it is one which will live long in the memory for all the wrong reasons.

In normal times, a dire 4-0 home defeat would be the main story in itself.

But, as depressing as it was, the score-line has been superseded by protesting supporters stopping play and Phil Brown being dismissed as manager.

Put simply Southend are a club in complete crisis, spiralling deeper and deeper out of control with every passing match.

And my god it hurts so much.

Sitting here now, I feel numb and incredibly upset at what has become of Blues.

One or way another, I have been watching the Shrimpers for more than 30 years.

But I now literally dread to going to games and I never ever thought it would come to that.

Long gone is any enjoyment or excitement and watching what is currently unfolding week after week honestly breaks my heart.

It feels as though the club is suffering a slow, painful death and I cannot be alone in thinking that way.

Supporters certainly seem to now be venting their fury in larger numbers and you cannot blame them.

This is a club which means so much to so many people and things should never have been allowed to get this bad.

The reasons for the rapid decline have been covered many times in these pages but the vast majority centre around Ron Martin and his running of the club.

Fans see it that way too, with sections of the support waving red cards against him early on before things turned uglier in the second half.

More than 100 supporters made their way from West Stand onto the pitch and across to the dug-outs to again chant for Martin, who was not at the game, to quit the club.

Their actions led to the match being halted for more than five minutes and attracted criticism from other supporters who also made their feelings known.

Throw that all together and it made for even more toxicity on Saturday, something which has long been synonymous with the Shrimpers.

Constant negativity surrounds the club and there never appears to be any light at the end of the tunnel.

Martin continues to insist he will not sell the club but can things ever get better with him in charge?

In my opinion, the recent record speaks for itself.

Blues now sit 20th in the National League and already seem to be facing yet another relegation fight.

That poor start led to Brown being sacked immediately after the final whistle on Saturday.

And the Shrimpers are now searching for their seventh manager since Brown was dismissed first time around back in January 2018.

Brown returned for the final six games of last season but by then the damage had already been done as the Shrimpers fell out of the Football League.

But, yet again, recruitment was mostly poor in the summer and Blues are again struggling to pick up points.

Brown has ultimately paid the price where that is concerned and certainly selected a puzzling starting line-up against the Spireites.

Sam Dalby and Rhys Murphy changed the game last time out against Eastleigh but started on the bench at the weekend with Hamzad Kargbo somehow getting the nod instead.

Brown has always divided opinion among the supporters and has, of course made errors his season.

But his biggest mistake of all was probably agreeing to return to Roots Hall in the first place.

Managing Southend must rate among the toughest tasks around right now and the club is sadly a laughing stock in footballing circles.

The Shrimpers have become an ongoing embarrassment and are now a complete and utter mess.

The problems go far, far deeper than who selects the side and anyone wanting to take the job must be mad!

In all seriousness the Shrimpers do need someone who knows this level of the game.

But how much can any manager really change here?

That question will again be answered in the next few months and it is not scare-mongering to suggest yet another negative outcome and another relegation could well threaten the actual existence of the club.