Two Saturdays from now the waiting ends. Southend United open the 2026/27 National League season away at Altrincham on 8 August, a 3pm kick-off at Moss Lane, and the first competitive game of the Kieron Dyer era. The fixture has been in the diary since the league released the list on 10 July. What was less clear, until this month took shape, was what kind of Southend side would be getting off the coach.
Dyer was appointed head coach on 8 June, stepping in after Kevin Maher, Darren Currie and Mark Bentley all left the club at the end of last season. That is a lot of familiar continuity gone in one summer, and the rebuild since has moved at pace: eleven new signings and counting, with the head coach clear that he is not finished yet.
Three friendlies, and what they actually showed
The pre-season programme at Roots Hall has produced a draw, a defeat and a draw, and each told us something different.
The 1-1 with West Ham United on 18 July was the trial ground. A young side held its own, and two of the trialists on show that day now have contracts. Wednesday’s 3-1 defeat to Northampton Town was the roughest evening of the summer, though the opposition context matters: the Cobblers came down from League One last season and looked like it. Max Dyche headed them ahead from a James Maxwell free-kick inside seven minutes, Matty Warhurst volleyed a second from Maxwell’s cross before half-time, and Northampton went three up before the night was out. The consolations were real, though. Sahid Kamara’s trickery down the right was the brightest thing on the pitch, Lewys Twamley had an effort blocked in front of goal, and young Oli Hyams took his late goal well.
Saturday’s 1-1 with Leyton Orient, lost 5-4 on penalties with Anthony Hartigan the only taker to miss, was the fullest picture yet. The game was played for the JE3 Trophy, the fixture in memory of Justin Edinburgh, and the occasion carried the weight it deserved. Southend started brightly, Charley Kendall and Darren Oldaker both going close before Leon Parillon put Southend ahead with a cracking goal, cutting in from the left and unleashing from the edge of the area into the top right corner. If that is a sign of things to come, bring it on. The equaliser stemmed from a defensive error. Dyer called it his happiest performance of pre-season. His post-match reading was that the side is starting to dominate the ball the way he wants, that the front players finally penetrated, and that the mistake which cost the goal is a price he will accept for playing out. His caveat was fitness: nobody in blue has yet played a full 90 minutes, and Orient’s players had two behind them.
Results in July settle nothing, and it is worth being straight about that in both directions. What pre-season is for is minutes, shape and a first look at the new arrivals. On that measure, the Orient performance is the most encouraging evidence of the summer, and the fortnight ahead matters more than the scorelines behind.
The new faces, properly introduced
Four of the new arrivals demand a proper introduction, three of them landing in a single day on 21 July.
Ryan Colclough is the experience. A 31-year-old winger with Crewe, Wigan, Scunthorpe, Chesterfield, AFC Fylde and, yes, Altrincham on his CV, he worked with Dyer at Chesterfield and arrives with league-winning know-how and a reputation as a direct, quick one-v-one winger. There would be a neat irony in him lining up against his old club on opening day.
Sahid Kamara is the potential. The 22-year-old winger came from Braintree Town on a two-year deal after a trial spell in which he was impossible to miss, and his early showings against West Ham and Northampton back that up. He has spoken about joining a massive club with real history and about buying into the attacking philosophy, and the head coach clearly sees a player worth coaching up.
Tommy Backwell is the glue. A midfielder formerly of Bristol City and Cheltenham Town, he earned his one-year deal on trial, and the coaching staff value exactly the unglamorous things he does: anticipating second balls and winning individual duels. Joe Duncan completes the quartet of arrivals in focus, a goalkeeper in on a season-long loan from Bristol City.
Each of these four probably deserves a proper profile of his own, and we will get to that.
Where our optimism thins out
Here is the Talking Shrimpers view, plainly. The signings show intent. Eleven arrivals, a clear playing idea and a coach recruiting to a plan is a better summer than plenty we have lived through. But two gaps are still glaring: the striker, and a dependable backup goalkeeper. Dyer knows it, he has said publicly that the Spasov money is earmarked up front and that strikers win you the league, and there is a deadline in place for decisions on the remaining trialists. Until those arrivals land, we are worried. A squad this new could need a prolonged bedding-in, and a head coach who is himself new to the job, still finding his managerial feet, amplifies that worry rather than calming it. Altrincham away is exactly the kind of fixture where an unsettled team gets found out.
Boyes, and the sound of a taxi
Then there is Harry Boyes. The reported facts first: Southend have turned down an offer from York City, several League Two clubs are monitoring him, and the club face an obvious dilemma with his contract running to June 2027. Dyer’s public position, given to Chris Phillips at the Echo, is that the left-back missed the Orient game with a genuine ankle problem, is on a strengthening programme, and that his commitment is beyond question.
Our understanding at Talking Shrimpers is that it has gone further than interest: we believe Boyes has asked to leave, and in our experience that is usually the sound of a taxi being called. Nothing about his 43 league appearances in last season’s FA Trophy-winning side suggests anything but a good professional, and Dyer’s defence of him rings true. But we have seen this film before. We expect him to be gone soon, and the sensible question is not whether but what the fee funds.
The fortnight ahead
So the checklist for the next two weeks writes itself. A striker through the door. A second goalkeeper. The Boyes situation resolved one way or the other. And a first eleven at Moss Lane that looks chosen rather than assembled. Two Saturdays out, this feels like a squad most of the way through a big rebuild, with the hard part, the last few per cent, still to come.
Match and transfer detail in this piece draws on Chris Phillips’ reporting for the Echo, official announcements from Southend United and Altrincham FC, and Football Lowdown. The opinions are ours.