BARRY Fry has revealed his regret at walking out on promotion chasing Southend United side he believes would have made the Premier League.

Fry saved the Shrimpers from relegation before turning them into a dominant force in the second tier of English football.

But the charismatic ex Blues boss opted to join Birmingham City towards the end of 1993 after he was refused an improved contract to stay at Roots Hall.

“I thought I’d use Birmingham to get a better contract at Southend and it rebounded on me,” recalled Fry.

“I do think that team would have made the Premier League and that’s my big regret.

“At the time Vic Jobson had a board meeting and he said he wouldn’t let me speak to Birmingham which was fair enough.

“But then he changed his mind and said he would let me speak but that didn’t mean he would let me go which I found very strange.”

However, that resulted in another board meeting which Fry still remembers well.

“I said Birmingham had made me a good offer but that I’d sooner stay here if I could have a new contract,” said Fry.

“But Vic smashed the table and said ‘you will not get another penny off of us.’ “I thought in the seven months I’d been there I had been brilliant as we’d gone from nearing relegation to pushing for promotion.

“But Vic never offered me another penny to stay which I was disappointed with.

“He had also already spoken to Peter Taylor about going there.

“To be fair I did get on great with Vic and the other directors were brilliant.”

And one director even made a last ditch bid to keep Fry at the club.

“He didn’t want me to go and he came after me in the corridor after the meeting,” said Fry.

“He said he would personally give me this, this and this but I think the board are a team off the field and I didn’t want him to go behind Vic’s back and for them to fall out over me.

“Vic immediately said he would sue Birmingham as well, which he did and he got about £125,000 at the tribunal.”

After Fry’s departure the Shrimpers faded to finish in 15th place.

But the 75-year-old feels he would have got far more from the side.

“We were in a great position when I left and it was a team that was full of players who would have improved,” said Fry.

“Chris Powell was the best left-back outside the Premier League and we had a lot of good players who would only have got better.”

However, Fry still opted to leave in a move which still makes him an unpopular figure with Blues’ fans.

“The fans were brilliant to me but when I left they turned,” said Fry.

“They called me Judas and threw bricks at me but I headed them back!

“Up and down the motorway when I stop at services and I see Southend fans they tell me they hate me but that they loved my time there because it was exciting.

I took the hatred as a compliment which is probably mad to say.

“But they didn’t want me to go and I let them down.

“I really regret that.”