My opinion, we are about where I expected in the table, but the goals we have let in realy need sorting.

Southend United v Berkhamsted FC

Saturday 17 October 2026 · 15:00 · FA Cup

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One topic for pre-match build-up, live discussion and post-match reaction. Live Match Centre posts automatic match updates here. Follow the Live Match Centre.

One topic for pre-match build-up, live discussion and post-match reaction. Football Hub posts automatic match updates here. Follow the Live Match Centre.

Use this room for the build-up, live discussion and post-match reaction. Follow scores and commentary in the Live Match Centre.

For those who don't know the story, The Shrimpers-online first started back in 2004.

It began as an independent Southend United supporters' website, but the forum quickly became a huge part of it. It wasn't just somewhere to talk about the result on a Saturday. People discussed players, transfers, away days, club news and pretty much everything else that came with supporting Southend United.

There was plenty of debate, plenty of disagreement and, most importantly, plenty of banter.

And it wasn't only Southend supporters.

Supporters of other clubs were always welcome too. Away fans would turn up before a match, tell us about their team, join the discussion and have some friendly banter. Some stayed around long after we'd played their club and became familiar names on the forum.

For around ten years, The Shrimpers-online had its own little football community.

Then life got in the way.

Work and other commitments meant I no longer had the time to give the website what it needed, and eventually The Shrimpers-online disappeared.

I always regretted that.

Then, in 2026, I brought it back

When I decided to rebuild The Shrimpers-online, I originally thought I was bringing back a Southend United website.

It has turned into something considerably bigger than I expected.

What started again with news, match reports and information about Southend United has grown into match previews, live match coverage, fixtures and results, statistics, the Ticket Tracker, Southend United history, away guides, the National League Hub, Southend Live and much more.

And then came The Clubhouse.

We've already started building things such as the National League Challenge, Guess the Attendance, leaderboards, games and other features, with plenty more planned.

But there was always one important part of the old Shrimpers-online missing.

The community.

That's what Conversations is here to bring back.

This isn't supposed to be just another football forum

I'd like Conversations to become the social side of The Shrimpers-online.

Somewhere you can talk about Southend United before, during and after matches. Somewhere to discuss players, transfers, tactics, away trips, memories and everything happening around the club.

But it doesn't have to stop with Southend.

We can talk about the National League, other clubs, other football and whatever else develops as the community grows.

And just like the original Shrimpers-online, supporters of other clubs are very welcome here.

In fact, I've added a little touch especially for you.

Your club gets a little bit of The Clubhouse too

The Shrimpers-online will obviously always be a Southend United website.

We're Shrimpers. The navy and gold aren't going anywhere.

But if you support another club, I wanted The Clubhouse to recognise that rather than make you feel as though you're simply an away supporter standing in the corner of somebody else's forum.

So when you've selected the club you support, you'll notice parts of your Clubhouse experience take on the colours and identity of your own team.

It's only a little touch, but it's an important one.

If you're a Boreham Wood supporter, an Aldershot supporter, a Carlisle supporter, a Yeovil supporter — or you follow any of the other clubs joining us on this National League adventure — you're still entering The Shrimpers-online, but there should be a little piece of your own club waiting for you inside The Clubhouse.

I wanted to do that because away supporters were part of the original community.

I'd love them to become part of this one too.

Come in before we play you. Tell us about your team. Tell us who we need to watch. Recommend a pub or somewhere to eat when we're visiting you. Give us your prediction.

And when the match is over, don't feel you have to disappear.

Stay.

Join the discussions.

Take part in the games and challenges.

And, of course, enjoy a bit of football banter.

You might be entering The Shrimpers-online Clubhouse, but we'd like it to feel like there's a seat here for you as well.

The Clubhouse is still growing

One thing I want to be open about is that none of this is really "finished".

The Clubhouse is being built and improved as people actually use it.

There will be new features. There will probably be things that don't work quite as expected. And there will almost certainly be ideas that none of us have thought of yet.

That's why the people joining at the beginning are important.

If something could be better, tell me.

If there's something you'd like added, suggest it.

And if something breaks, definitely tell me.

I'd much rather build The Clubhouse around the people using it than decide everything myself and expect everyone else to fit around it.

A few simple things

You don't have to agree with everyone.

In fact, it would be a pretty boring football community if we all did.

Debate things. Defend your opinion. Have a laugh. Have some friendly banter.

Just remember there's another person on the other side of the screen.

Whether the badge next to their name is Southend United or somebody we're playing on Saturday, we're all football supporters.

Twenty-two years later...

I don't know what I expected when I brought The Shrimpers-online back.

I certainly didn't expect it to grow as quickly as it has, or for me to end up rebuilding so much of what the old site once had while creating things I could never have built back in 2004.

But opening Conversations feels a little different.

Because in some ways, this is where The Shrimpers-online started.

A Southend supporter created a website.

Some other supporters turned up.

And they started talking about football.

Twenty-two years later, we're doing it again.

Only this time we've got live match centres, ticket trackers, prediction competitions, personalised club colours and a shrimp called Shrimpie™ running around the place.

Technology has moved on a bit since 2004.

So whether you remember the original Shrimpers-online, discovered us since the return, support Southend United, support another club or have only just found us:

Welcome to The Clubhouse.

Welcome to Conversations.

Pull up a chair, introduce yourself and get involved.

Let's see what sort of community we can build this time.

Up the Shrimpers.

ShrimperJim