Southend chief executive to leave in major restructure

Southend United have been based at Roots Hall since 1955 [Getty Images] Chief executive Tom Lawrence and head of football John Still are to leave Southend United as part of a restructure of the National League club. Former Peterborough United and Luton Town manager Still will depart with immediate effect, while Lawrence will stay on until the season is over - both were appointed five years ago. First-team coach Jason Demetriou, a Cyprus international who also played over 240 games for the Shrimpers, will also leave when his contract expires in the summer and there will be redundancies among non-football staff.

The club are creating director of football and general manager roles which they say will result in "clearer accountability, improve operational efficiency and strengthen the foundations around both football and non-football operations". Southend were taken over in the summer of 2024 by a consortium headed by Australian businessman Justin Rees , nine months after former owner Ron Martin had put the club up for sale. And the consortium, Cosu (Custodians of Southend United) abandoned previous plans to relocate to the Fossetts Farm area, confirming that the club would remain at Roots Hall.

The restructure announcement comes at a time when Southend are pushing to reach the play-offs for the second season - Tuesday's 2-1 win over Yeovil Town leaving Kevin Maher's team seventh in the table. And supporters also have a trip to Wembley to look forward to after beating Southport 3-1 last weekend to secure a place in the FA Trophy final. "Anything we do that distracts from [what is happening] on the pitch, we would do it reluctantly," chairman Rees told BBC Essex when asked about the timing.

"This process that's led to the restructure has taken a while, as these things do, It's not the sort of thing you can neatly do in an off season. "Once we were clear on the direction we wanted to travel what became important then was to move forward and ensure that if there is any disruption - which we do our best to minimise - it doesn't spill out into a second season. " The club say the appointment of the new director of football is likely to happen "imminently" and there will also be a head of recruitment joining.