Source: FOOTYMAD
Sturrock speaks on the future of Southend United including no former Northampton Town striker
Southend United manager Paul Sturrock has been forced to scrap plans to sign former Northampton Town striker Adebayo Akinfenwa this summer. Sturrock: 'We simply couldn't afford to match Akinfenwa's wages."New Southend manager Paul Sturrock is attempting to follow a very popular former boss in Steve Tilson.However, no one can deny that Paul's made an amazing effort to create a whole new squad from scratch in a very short space of time.Now, as long as chairman Ron Martin proves to the judge the club is solvent, pays a few loans back, and the pre-contract agreements become real ones, we may see a Shrimpers promotion push next season. And while Luggy obviously hopes the team will get it on quickly enough to be at the higher end of the League Two table come May, Sturrock has warned the Blues faithful that patience may be required before his efforts bare a shedload of points.Sturrock told www.skysports.com: "We will definitely be ready as a unit for the season opener, but it may take a wee while for us to get running because of the amount of new faces that have to gel. We will be working morning, noon and night to get our ideas across to the players and build a side out of what we've got here already and those that I bring in."Fair enough, time will obviously tell, including a high court appointment on August 2nd!One player that was linked with Southend but will not be joining is the former Cobblers striker Adebayo Akinfenwa. Paul explained: "Adebayo came in to see me recently and he is a player I would have loved to have brought in, but when we discussed his wage demands it was just too far stretched as far as our budget is concerned. He would have been a great signing on the pitch, but we simply couldn't afford to match his wages."
