Financially troubled Southend United needed Southend Council's permission to play at Roots Hall Stadium. However, the club has announced that Saturday's opening Vanarama National League game against Oldham Athletic will go ahead as planned.

Supporters help with stadium preparations

Southend United - who crashed out of the Football League at the end of the 2020-21 season - have been before the courts a number of times in recent months, with an injunction granted in May to ensure the club's survival by allowing payments to players and accountants. The club has debts of £2.5m, of which around £300,000 is owed to creditors. It also has to pay off a tax bill of £275,000.

Last week staff salaries were paid for the first time in three months. The Shrimpers are due back in court over their debts on August 23. Meanwhile Mr Martin, who has owned the club for 25 years, has repeatedly stressed that he intends to sell the 117-year-old club. Southend West Conservative MP Anna Firth, who joined the campaign, praised the "army" of supporters who showed their help and said Blues fan Lawrence Austin, who organised the event, "deserved a medal". In Southend-on-Sea itself, as well as many people are interested in sport, there are also those who prefer to stay online. A lot of them check out Slot sites UK to play the best online slots and casino games from the comfort of their own homes.

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Decades of Roots Hall

Southend United had played at Roots Hall ground since its formation in 1906, but moved out in 1919 and spent more than three decades renting other facilities. In the 1950s, however, the club sought a site to build a new club-owned stadium and decided on Roots Hall, where it had previously played. The new venue was opened on August 20, 1955 during a match between Southend and Norwich. It was the last new stadium in England to open until 1988. Roots Hall recorded its highest attendance of 31,033 in 1979 when Liverpool visited for an FA Cup match.

The stadium underwent a series of changes in the 1990s when it was converted into a full-size stand and part of the south stand was sold off to developers to keep the struggling club afloat. It was replaced with a small, two-storey stand. Over the past two decades Southend has tried to build a new stadium at a site in the north of the town, commonly referred to as Fossetts Farm, but repeated bureaucratic and financial problems have so far stalled the project.

The concept for a new stadium for Southend United FC was conceived back in 2006 and had planning permission from 2008. However, the project could not be finalised. According to the original version, a commercial partner (Sainsbury's) was to build a supermarket on the site of Roots Hall, the club's old arena. In turn, a new stadium and a large shopping arcade were to be built in the new location.

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