Name: Southend United Football Club
Founded: 1906
Ground: Roots Hall
Capacity: 12,392
Manager: Kevin Bond
Last season: 19th in Sky Bet League One
A final day 2-1 victory over Sunderland at Roots Hall ensured that Southend United will be playing in Sky Bet League One again next term.
Substitute Stephen Humphrys’ struck an 87th minute winner for the Essex side against the Black Cats as Kevin Bond’s men survived in dramatic circumstances.
The Shrimpers finished 19th in the table, staving off relegation and a place in the bottom four on goal difference.
Southend won 14, drew eight and lost 24 of their 46 fixtures as they remained in the division under Bond.
Bond was appointed as manager of the Roots Hall outfit back in April, initially until the end of the season as he replaced Chris Powell with the club struggling towards the foot of the table.
The 62-year-old picked up eight points from his seven games at the helm to keep Southend up before he was named permanent boss in May.
Born in the West Ham area of London, Bond was a youth apprentice at AFC Bournemouth and Norwich City prior to turning professional at Carrow Road in 1976.
In five-years at Norwich, Bond made 142 appearances before leaving Norfolk behind for Manchester City in 1981 after a season spent in the North American Soccer League with Seattle Sounders.
The centre-back played 110 times in three-years at Maine Road before sealing a switch to Southampton in 1984, where he made 140 appearances during four seasons at The Dell.
Bond moved across the South Coast in 1988 when he signed for AFC Bournemouth, where he featured on 126 occasions before later finishing his playing days turning out for Exeter City, Sittingbourne and Dover Athletic.
Moving into management with Non-League Stafford Rangers in 1997, he later worked under Harry Redknapp in a coaching capacity and West Ham United, Portsmouth and Southampton, moving back into management at Bournemouth in 2006.
Returning to work as Redknapp’s assistant at Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers, Bond’s next management position would be at Hong Kong Pegasus in 2016.
Bond was appointed as Southend manager in April, keeping the club in the third-tier.
Tranmere Rovers’ current record against Southend stands at 21 games won, 14 drawn and 15 lost.
Micky Mellon’s men will welcome the Shrimpers to the Wirral when Friday night football returns to Prenton Park on 18th October while they will head down to Roots Hall on Saturday 11th January.