Phil Brown: Southend United boss signs new two-year contract

Phil Brown picked up nine points from a possible 18 in his six games in charge of Southend this season, but could not avoid relegation from League Two

Southend United manager Phil Brown has signed a new two-year deal with the club following their relegation to the National League.

The 61-year-old returned for a second stint with the club after they sacked Mark Molesley on 9 April.

Brown led the club for their final six games of the season but could not keep them in the English Football League.

"We need to move things on quickly and relegation is never a nice feeling," Brown told the club's website.

"Everything has been agreed in principle and I'm a man of my honour, and I'm sure the chairman is too. As far as we're concerned, we'll go forward together.

"Uncertainty is a big word in the game of football. To kill any uncertainty, to give clarity to everybody and show people which direction we are going in at this early stage is key."

Brown previously managed the club between 2013 and 2018 and had led the club to promotion to League One in 2015 through the play-offs.

In between his spells with the Shrimpers, Brown managed Swindon Town as well as Pune City and Hyderabad in the Indian Super League.

Analysis

BBC Essex sport editor Glenn Speller

Given another two or three games, Phil Brown might have pulled-off the seemingly impossible and saved Southend United from the drop to non-league football.

While it is a good enough move for the club, it is also an opportunity for Brown to re-establish himself in English football and become one of very few to have managed in the top five tiers in this country.

He knows the club, he knows the owner and he knows the size of the task facing him in turning around a club whose culture has become one of losing regularly over the past three years.