JOHN Still insists he jumped at the chance to become head of football at Southend United.

The 71-year-old, who has managed more than 2,000 games in his career, has won the National League title on three separate occasions.

And Still is now looking forward to trying to secure success with the Shrimpers, alongside boss Kevin Maher 

"I have known Kevin and his family since he was about 10 and when he became head coach at Southend we got talking," said Still.

"I’d retired from managing but was doing the recruitment for Dagenham and to be honest with you I was comfortable.

"I was happy doing what I was doing but Kev spoke about coming in and it was something I felt I had to do.

"I’ll be honest, I’m a Dagenham fan but I couldn’t say no to joining the club.

Still's appointment completes the new look management team at Roots Hall.

And he will now do all he can to help the Shrimpers avoid a third successive relegation.

"As far as I’m concerned, everything that I know and I believe in will be made available to Kevin, his coaching team and Stan (Collymore)," said Still.

"I’ve come in as head of football, but the manager is the head of the football.

"It’s all around the manager.

"My job is to give him as much help, information and knowledge as possible, as well as setting up a proper scouting system."

And Still is hopeful that will see Blues bringing in the right kind of players.

"I don’t know what has gone on before, but I can bring in selected scouts that have worked for me for years that will come and work for Southend," said Still.

"These are scouts that have found me some unbelievable players and I hope they will find the same for Kev.”

But Still will be taking a pro-active approach to finding players and wants scouts to be out watching as many games as possible.

"Players are everywhere and you’ve got to get out and look,” said Still.

“You get so much stuff sent on videos and over the screens, and that’s great, but nothing beats getting out and watching games yourself.

“That’s what we’ll be doing. We will be out and about trying the find the players we want.

"It’s easy to sign players and it’s easy to spend money.

“The key is to spend money on the right players, and that’s what we have to do.”

However, Still knows it will take time to turn things around.

"Today is a start,” said the former Dagenham & Redbridge boss.

“You can’t click your fingers and have all the new players you want today, but gradually we will find the right players at the right price.

"Over the coming weeks we will identify people that we think are going to be right for the football club.

“It’s then up to the head coach to say yes or no.

"It’s really important that people understand that.

“I’ve come in as head of football but we all work for Kev because he is the one with the final say."