A DIE hard Southend United fan who travels up and down the country watching the Blues has celebrating attending his 1,000th game.

Scott Barber, 32, first went to Roots Hall as a seven-year-old back in September 1998 and has dedicated almost every weekend to watching his beloved club ever since.

Echo: Family - Scott Barber and his dad Peter BarberFamily - Scott Barber and his dad Peter Barber (Image: Newsquest)

On Tuesday night, Scott travelled to Birmingham to watch the Shrimpers storm an emphatic 3-0 win against Solihull Moors which marked his 1,000th game cheering on Southend.

The Rochford resident who admits he absolutely “hates missing games” also had a special shirt made to mark the occasion.

Echo: Occasion - Scott Barber with his special shirt and friend Scott Wallace at SX SportsOccasion - Scott Barber with his special shirt and friend Scott Wallace at SX Sports (Image: Newsquest)

Scott said: “After I joined a junior side, my dad thought he would take me along to Southend with him to see if I would like it.

“My first game was against Halifax Town, the game finished 0-0, but somehow, I was hooked and that was the start of my love affair with the Blues.

“I am immensely proud, although feeling slightly sick at the thought of how much this has cost me over the years.

“I started making a spreadsheet of all the professional fixtures I had been to during lockdown by going through all my old programmes and tickets.

“It has since become a weekly countdown, and it gained a lot of interest from fellow supporters of both the Blues and other clubs.

“This was when it started to hit home what an achievement it is to reach such a milestone at my age.”

During lockdown Scott built a garden pub called Ye Olde Shrimp that is filled with Blues memorabilia and signed shirts.

Scott and his wife Tracie also had tables named after Blues legends at their wedding and even had part of their pre-wedding photoshoot shot at Roots Hall.

Scott added: “I hate missing games and I get very down if I can’t attend a Blues game either home or away.

“I would like to hit another milestone as quickly as possible, and the next major one would probably be 1,500.

“From the footballing point of view, I would like to see us back in the EFL as soon as possible.”