PHIL Brown reckons he is in a similar situation to Manuel Pellegrini.

The outgoing Manchester City boss has seen his team's Premier League form falter since it was announced that he would be going in the summer.

Brown thinks that much the same has happened with his Southend side after speculation began that he might be heading back to Bolton.

The Shrimpers have won only once in their eight games since Neil Lennon left Bolton and Brown was heavily linked with a return to his old club.

That slump destroyed their hopes of making it back-to-back promotions as Southend dropped from the edge of the play-off race to the bottom half of the League One table.

Brown said: "Since speculation (started) with myself and Bolton, Sunderland and whoever else, it looks like the players are uncertain and unsure.

"I'm not being big-headed but the same has happened with Pellegrini and Manchester City.

"Speculation surrounding who might be in charge there saw their results suffer and I think he had something like seven points from seven games."

Chairman Ron Martin has said he would be "surprised and disappointed" if Brown opted to leave Roots Hall. But while he insists that Bolton have made no approach, a cloud of uncertainty continues to hang over the Essex club.

Results have gone down the pan with four defeats in five since their last win against Sheffield United a month ago.

Highly-rated goalkeeper Dan Bentley is expected to leave in the summer when his contract runs out, with Bournemouth the latest club to be mentioned.

Brown left Bentley out of last week's 4-1 loss at Wigan, when he played youngster Ted Smith.

Having taken off both strikers before half-time at the DW Stadium, Brown is also considering a double switch up front for the final home game. David Mooney and Noel Hunt have both been plagued by injury but are fit again.

Brown said: "David and Noel were originally my main strike-force for the season and it could well be time to give them another go. I'm really thinking about recalling them both for the Bradford game."