Ronnie Whelan

Ronnie Whelan was a football icon, incredibly successful at Liverpool and an inspirational player for Eire. He took charge of the team following Steve Thompson's walk out and was injured in his first match in charge and never played first team football again. <br><br>Results in his first month were poor, but things began to gel and by February the Shrimper's were 4th in the first division and very much challenging for the Premiership again. The tide turned at WBA who had lost 15 games on the trot prior to the game, but they got their first win for 4 months and Blues season ended with 3 wins in the last 18 games and 14th place.<br><br>His second season started poorly, improved with a win over early season front runners Bolton, saw Blues in 16th place in November, but then only 3 further wins in the next 26 games saw Blues hard won place in Division 1 lost and Ronnie left. Sadly his last act as manager was to release local boy and crowd favourite Steve Tilson who joined Canvey Island.