Since the end of last term, those worried fans have seen a whole host of players leave Roots Hall and the size of the squad has been significantly reduced.

Manager Steve Tilson has only 14 fit senior players who have started a first team match at his disposal.

But in an exclusive interview with Echosport’s Chris Phillips, chairman Ron Martin explained the lack of transfer activity at the club this summer and why he still expects Blues to be pushing for promotion this season.

ECHOSPORT ASKS...

Ron, last season ended with the side losing in the play-offs. How do you think the team will do this year and what are your own expectations on the season ahead?

RON MARTIN:

Our ambition hasn’t lessened, in fact it’s grown. We were disappointed by the end of last season and losing so badly at Doncaster, which I don’t think we deserved.

The only bright spark was the fantastic support we had and that encourages me to make sure that Southend United are successful and we are all working towards the same goal.

We want to get out of League One as quickly as we possibly can. We will be building a team to achieve that objective.

ECHOSPORT ASKS...

Do you think the squad is big enough for that though? There are only 16 outfield players to pick from at the moment.

RON MARTIN:

It’s obvious we need to reinforce the ranks. Those people we have here are of good quality and those we let go were not going to make it with us anyway.

Steve Tilson and Paul Brush thought they weren’t good enough, other than Mark Gower. It was disappointing to lose him to Swansea City.

I spoke to Mark directly and we held discussions for a couple of months. We thought we were very close to agreeing terms.

But he then spoke to Steve and said if we improved our offer a little bit more he would stay. I approved it but Mark and his agent went to speak to other people and the rest is history.

It’s a disappointment but we can’t break the wage structure for demanding players. I wont do that, we’ve carefully managed the club over the years and we’ve come a long way.

In the last seven years our turnover has quadrupled. There have been monumental changes but we have to manage it sensibly. We have all the green lights we need for the stadium and we’re very well placed for the future.

We have now signed Anthony Grant and are also in discussions with three other players. We would hope that they will be signed in a day or two. Two of those we’re buying and one is on loan.

ECHOSPORT ASKS...

What’s happened to the £1.5million that was raised by selling Freddy Eastwood?

RON MARTIN:

What people have got to realise is that we enjoyed a successful season in the Championship but coming out of it hit our turnover by £2.4million.

People always ask what happened to the Freddy Eastwood money, which was £1.5 million, but that left us still £1million short because we kept the wage bill largely the same and we haven’t changed it.

Our wages for a League One club are quite high so while we have a limited squad right now all the players are on quite high wages. That’s because we are ambitious and we want to get back in the Championship.

The better players demand high wages so we have to try and balance the books. Steve hasn’t come to me during pre-season and said ‘I want this player or that player’, so I haven’t had any decisions to make other than the last few days.

Steve is being cautious, not only in the quality of the players but their mindsets. We want players who are committed to Southend United.”

ECHOSPORT ASKS...

And what about all the money that was raised from people buying shares in the club. Where’s that gone?

RON MARTIN:

We invested the money from the shares before it was even raised during the transfer window back in January.

After cost we raised £200,000 which isn’t a great deal of money in footballing terms but it was all invested in the squad.

We also continue to invest in our youth department and we spend £400,000 a year on that.

With that we can bring in our own players and they have the right mindset.

We get to know them over the years and know if they can fit in to our plans. Sometimes you buy people in and they aren’t the right characters.

You have to give the youngsters a chance as well or you won’t know what their capabilities are.

You have to take risks and looking back maybe we were a little resistant with Franck Moussa.

He’s more than proved his capabilities now and I’m sure he will be an excellent player for us.”

ECHOSPORT ASKS...

Many fans were also disappointed that we didn’t sign Charlie Mulgrew on a permanent basis after his successful loan spell at the end of last season. How come he wasn’t signed?

RON MARTIN:

I would have sanctioned the move for Charlie and we were told he wanted to come to us.

There was a split view in the camp about whether he was the right player for us and whether his capabilities were good enough.

I personally thought he was but I don’t pick the team and for him I suppose there might have been a draw for him to go to Scotland.”

ECHOSPORT ASKS...

Did we get any money from Wolves selling Freddy Eastwood to Coventry. Was there a sell on clause agreed when he sold him?

RON MARTIN:

We didn’t get any money from Freddy because it wasn’t above the £1.5million we sold him for.

If it had of been we would have got 25 per cent but that clause is still in place if he gets sold again in the future.”

Darryl Flahavan also departed since the end of last season after eight years at the club. It was thought he would have stayed if he was offered a two-year contract but was only offered one year.

ECHOSPORT ASKS...

Whose decision was that?

RON MARTIN:

All the decisions were made by the management, I just make the financial decisions.

It was felt that we only wanted to give him a year. Flavs is a good keeper but he isn’t very tall and he doesn’t command his box.

He’s a good shot-stopper but we hope the keepers now — Steve Mildenhall and Ian Joyce — will be a bit more authoritative.”

ECHOSPORT ASKS...

Another concern is that two of the main players from last season, Nicky Bailey and Peter Clarke are still on the transfer list. What’s the latest with them?

RON MARTIN:

They are still on the transfer list. There has been a tentative offer for Bailey from a Championship club but we rejected it.

We spent £300,000 on Clarke and it’s disappointing that that investment has been written off in two years. He could walk away for nothing at the end of the season and I wish he would sign a new contract at a sensible wage.

We offered him an increase in money and you have to remember that we bought him going into the Championship so he’s on Championship wages already.

Nicky has two years left but his wage demands were very significant. We offered to double his wages but he still wanted more so and you have to draw a line somewhere.

We won’t break our wage demands for agents but we’re still happy to talk at any time. We want a happy environment and people who want to play for Southend.

ECHOSPORT ASKS...

But Matt Harrold and Richie Foran, who are also on the list, are not part of our plans.”

That reduces the size of the squad even further though. It has to be a concern?

RON MARTIN:

We may be going into the season with a small squad but we will continue to build whenever the opportunity arises.

I hope the fans understand that all the management are pro-active but we won’t make snapshot decisions on the wrong players.

It will be the right people we will bring in and I have no doubts that we will compete as well this year as we did last year.

It’s not in my nature to be an also-ran and it’s the same with Steve Tilson. I hear some cynics say how are you going to do it with the squad you have and to them all I say is watch this space.