On Sunday afternoon Paul Sturrock was sacked as manager of Southend United with the club a mere six points outside the League Two playoff spots though, with The Shrimpers having won just one of their last six games, chairman Ron Martin's itchy trigger finger got the better of him and the ever-affable Sturrock was out on his ear.

Martin then issued a flimsy club statement to announce Sturrock's departure, listing in great detail the many, many ways in which the club were failing, also including the bizarre claim that Southend "are not a League Two club".

The very next day, Southend appointed Phil Brown as Sturrock's successor, announcing that the former Hull City manager would officially taking charge of The Shrimpers for their league fixture against Bradford City this coming Friday night.

However, in the interest of being "fair and just", chairman Martin then offered Sturrock a one-time-only "privilege" to come back and take charge of Southend one last time for the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final against Crewe the week after the Bradford game, seeing as though it was the Scot who put in all the hard yards guiding The Shrimpers to Wembley in the first place.