Yet another odd managerial sacking?
Paul Sturrock was today sacked as Southend manager and has already been replaced by Phil Brown.
The really odd thing is that Sturrock has been told he will be back as manager for Southend's first ever Wembley trip against Crewe in 2 weeks time but Brown will be in charge for Friday's game against Bradford?
Sturrock has said he planned to leave in the summer when his contract expired which might have a small bearing on the decision but once again you have to feel a bit sorry for him.
When he came in for Steve Tilson in 2010 it was a bit of a shock, but he performed miracles getting a team together before the season kicked off, with 24 hours to go Southend only had one contracted player and had a transfer embargo meaning no-one could sign until it was lifted.
He managed to persuade about 17 players to sign pre-contracts including a collection of cast-offs and non league players and luckily permission was given the night before game 1.
They finished mid table in his first season, and lost in the play-offs last year, this season we are just 2 places from the play-offs with 7 games to go.
All this with a back drop of constant winding up orders and no money to spend, so I reckon he's done pretty well considering.
I do like Phil Brown but I'm not sure how long he will stay around even if he is given a chance, although he's been out of work for 18 months despite over half the league teams changing managers recently so maybe Southend was his only option.
