AET or pens - imo. Not expecting a classic but hope that Brownie wins the day. Once Southend cross the white line they must bring there best game to the table mind. The punters expect nothing less.
Phil Brown wants Southend to make headlines against Wycombe Wanderers The manager is tired of fielding questions about previous employers Hull City and is fully focused on Saturday’s League Two play-off final please log in to view this image Phil Brown's Southend team defeated Stevenage in the semi-finals and he believes their achievement deserves respect. Photograph: Stephen Pond/PA Wire/Press Association Images Paul Doyle Once classed among the most colourful managers in the Premier League, Phil Brown has in the last five years got used to passing mostly under the radar. Yet he was still surprised this week to discover many people seem more interested in him as the former manager of a top-flight club than as the leader of a side who will contest Saturday’s League Two play-off final at Wembley. “The disappointing part of the media this week has been that everybody wants to talk to me about Hull City,” says Phil Brown, who was sacked by the club just before their last Premier League relegation in 2010. “As far as I’m concerned there’s only one game this weekend and that’s Southend United versus Wycombe Wanderers.” In truth, even Southend fans were initially unenthused by the play-offs. A run of eight clean sheets and seven successive victories going into the last day of the regular season had ignited hopes of automatic promotion but all that optimism unravelled when a 1-0 defeat to Morecambe sent them into the post-season knockout competition they have learned to dread, having lost in the semi-final twice in the previous three years. Brown had to remind everyone to be happy before this year’s semi-final against Stevenage. “I went to a player of the year and sponsors’ dinner on exactly the same date as I did last year and the difference was phenomenal,” he says. “Last year everyone was so positive about reaching the play-offs but this year it was all doom and gloom. So I had to take the microphone and – no, not sing – just give a few words about what a good achievement we’ve had this year. We achieved a points total [84] that in 19 of the last 20 seasons would have been good enough for automatic promotion.” Brown’s players showed no ill effects of the Morecambe defeat as they deservedly prevailed over Stevenage in the semi-final, while Wycombe disposed of Plymouth Argyle. The showdown, then, will be between the two teams who finished just outside the automatic promotion slots, separated only by goal difference. Brown is generous in his praise of the rookie manager who stands between him and promotion, saying Gareth Ainsworth’s transformation of Wycombe has been one of the greatest managerial feats of the season. After escaping relegation on the final day last term, Ainsworth inspired Wycombe to a haul 34 points bigger than in the previous campaign. “People talk about José Mourinho being manager of the year, but for Gareth Ainsworth to go almost from relegation last year – being in the bottom right up until the last day of the season and then surviving – to what he’s done this year, he’s got to be close to one of the managers of the season, for sure. “Ronnie Moore [of Hartlepool United] is the only one I’d give other plaudits to. They are the kind of managers that people need to be giving accolades to because it’s fantastic what they’ve achieved. Ainsworth has had a great season but unfortunately I’ve got to put a spanner in his works this weekend. He’s after me and I’m after him; that’s the nature of the game.” Brown has yet to get the better of Ainsworth this season. Wycombe inflicted Southend’s heaviest defeat of the campaign in December when they won 4-1 at Adams Park before the sides drew 2-2 at Roots Hall in March. “What has surprised me about Gareth and his team is the way they’ve kept going,” Brown says. “He’s complained about not having the biggest squad and he’s had a lot of injury problems but he has been able to replace them – for instance, by bringing the two lads in from Brentford, Nico Yennaris and Sam Saunders, who’ve played a big part in the final 10 games for them – so he can obviously spot a quality player and that’s key to a manager. So he’s surprised me in how he’s kept going. He’s there on merit.” Brown has spent this week trying to plot a surprise of his own. “There are formation and teams selections to be played with and we have a number of options based on the fact we have the whole squad to choose from except for Adam Thompson [dislocated shoulder], so there are one or two little twists left to play, something they’re not expecting.”
Does Browny have any of his old City backroom staff with him? I expect Browny calls them his Brigade or Crew
The commentator's trying desperately to talk this game up, every time he compliments a team on their football, someone hoofs it into no man's land.
