Based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, Southend United Football Club is a professional association football team that plays in the National League, the fifth division of English football. One of the quarters on the club badge refers to the area’s maritime industry, hence the nickname “The Shrimpers” for the team. The team plays the Essex derby in competition with adjacent Colchester United, with whom it has a long-standing rivalry.
Southend was inducted into the Football League in 1920 after being founded on May 19, 1906, in the Blue Boar bar. Southend won the Southern League Second Division in both of its first two seasons. Before moving down to the Fourth Division in 1966, it played English football in the third tier for the following forty-four years. They moved up and down the third and fourth divisions for the next twenty-four years, winning promotions in 1971–1972; 1977–1978; 1980–1981 (as champions); 1986–1987; and 1989–1990. At the conclusion of the 1990–91 season, they received their first promotion into the Second Division. Following six seasons in the lower division, they had two separate relegations in 1997 and 1998. In 2004–05, Southend once more achieved a double promotion under manager Steve Tilson.
The club is situated in Roots Hall Stadium in Prittlewell, although it has been preparing to relocate to a projected new stadium at Fossetts Farm since 1998, when property developer Ron Martin, who eventually became chairman, acquired ownership of the team. Martin listed Southend United for sale in March 2023. An agreement was reached in October 2023, but the club had to remain at Roots Hall. As of July 2024, the sale was still pending due to concerns that the team would be wound up.
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