After being humbled 4-1 at home to AFC Wimbledon on Saturday, Southend fans would have been hoping that things could not get much worse for the club this week, however this has not been the case for the Roots Hall outfit. 

Following weeks of speculation that former Celtic and FC Barcelona player Henrik Larsson was deep in talks with the club, the Essex based club has now released a statement confirming that they are no longer in negotiations with the Swede and his intended backroom staff members Johan Mjallby and Tommy Johnson.

This has been due to a failure in agreeing terms with Tommy Johnson, who had been lined up to be the club's new head of recruitment as part of Larsson's intended backroom staff.

With the Southend chairman Ron Martin stating the following via SouthendUnited.co.uk:

"Within the last hour Tommy Johnson advised Henrik, and subsequently me, that he had decided not to join Henrik and Johan having today accepted an alternative offer."

Martin then goes on to conclude with the following statement:

"As a consequence of Tommy Johnson withdrawing, all discussions with Henrik Larsson and Johan Mjallby have, unfortunately, come to an end too."

The Verdict

This is potentially a huge blow for Southend, particularly as they have seemingly been negotiating this deal with Larsson and team for a good few months, only to be left empty handed at the last minute.

The club must now regroup and aim to appoint a successor to Bond, who is capable of guiding the club away from the relegation zone as quickly as possible, particularly with tough home games to come against Ipswich Town and Doncaster Rovers respectively this month.

Whoever takes over the reins will certainly have a job on their hands, with the Shrimpers having so far failed to pick up a victory on home turf, a fact that hasn't been helped by the team's leaky backline, which has conceded an astounding 32 goals already this term.

With the Shrimpers already seven points adrift of 20th place Accrington Stanley, the powers that be at Roots Hall will surely now be facing a race against time to get a man in the hot seat before their situation worsens.

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