Come On, Come On… Gillingham!

[BJT]

“Come On, Come On...Gillngham! Win, Win, Win you Gillz….”

In Local Medway News

The chant beaming out from the Old Invicta FM each and every Saturday. I’m not sure if that’s still going as it’s been a while since I’ve listened to my local Radio Station.

Well The Gills are the closest football league club to me, so I figured for this FM I’m going to start early and see whether I can take this Kent club into the top Division.

Only stipulation – Premiership status has got to be achieved in true Gills fashion, proper ugly football at the core. It might take me a while to get there – unless the sack beats me first…

Local Mourinho Takes the Helm

In Medway News, known as “The New Special One”, Mourinho wannabee G1nh0 Mourinh0 takes the seat down at The Priestfields Stadium.

Expected to finish in mid-table Mediocrity, in his first stint managing in the football league, G1nh0 sure has his work cut out for him.

With finances limited, there won’t be a lot of investment that can be made in his first pre-season. There is also not much experience within the squad, so the senior figures will play a pivotal role in aiding their development and steering the club safe of the relegation zone.

Although the board are hoping for a mid-table finish, the media predicts a 16th spot in League One – which is in the lower half of the division.

The Club Status

The Gills play at The Priestfields Stadium which currently holds a capacity of 11,582 in an all-seat stadium.

Financially we have just over 400k GBP in the bank. With a transfer budget of 25,000 available to spend.

Areas G1nh0 will be looking to immediately improve upon is depth on the flanks and finding another striker. We also lack a coach to cover the defensive aspects of the game, and a scout to find talent. Recruitment will be crucial in the club’s future progression.

 

[BJT]

Plans Scuppered

4 Month Injury to Gills Talisman

Well just a few days into my reign, our best striker Dominic Samuel suffered an injury putting him out for four months.

The plan was to go for a 424 long-ball system, with a 4th striker being looked at in the market. However this injury has meant a complete overhaul of the system I intended to use.

I’m really going to have to play park the bus football this year. With our other two strikers both big lumps up top, I’ve decided to go for the 4141 formation but realising with the lack of fire power now up top, goals will be highly problematic this year.

Recruitment Direction Change

This also led to a direct change in the type of striker I went for. With our second target man striker really not at League One level, I invested in Charlie Wyke on a cut price deal from Sunderland.

He had decent enough attributes to do a job, and could also play in the 424 I originally had planned. However with no pace up front with my current available strikers, a big man up top by himself is the only way to go.

We brought in some kid loans to up our number count for the year, and also was able to invest in a wide inverted winger in Josh Morris who walks straight into the first XI.

Expectations

By losing such a key member of the first team, we would do well to meet board expectations of a mid-table finish, so no reason to deviate from this objective. But in reality, if you can't score goals you can't win games - and we don't have anyone who can put the ball in the back of the net on a consistent basis.

Keeping an eye for a left back for next season is also something I will need to constantly look for. Our current left back’s contract expires at the end of the year and is one of our best players – with zero intention of staying.

I refrained from letting him go (Connor Olgilvie) at this point of the season, but if he’s not performing till January I will have to try and offload him in a cut price deal.

Squad

It looks like we have players of sufficient quality to achieve the board’s objectives from the ratings provided, irrespective of our current forward deficiencies.

We’ve got a decent first XI to get through the year, but the lack of depth of squad players being able to comfortably carry out the job will most certainly hinder us this year with a top half finish likely the best we can hope to achieve.

Already forward planning ahead as you have to do, I'll need to take the cups seriously this year. It will bring in much needed cash in light of the current situation, and the club's ambitions in moving forward.

 

[BJT]

Solid Debut but more Injury Woes…

Gills 2 – 0 Northampton (1st Round - Carabao Cup)

My first competitive match as manager came at home against League Two outfit Northampton.Town in the first round of the Carabao Cup.

It was a game we should have won, and we did grabbing two goals to give us a comfortable 2-0 home victory.

New signing Wyke scored the first from the spot, and then grabbed his brace heading in from around 6 yards out.

New Signing out 6 weeks

However it was more bad news on the injury front. My new signing to play as RW in the first XI has already suffered a 6 week injury.

So now without a proper goalscorer and a provider from one flank, and the league season hasn’t even kicked off yet...

Boring Boring Gills

On the plus side, the board wanted us to reach the 2nd round of the cup and we’ve already hit that target.

That will make up for the entertaining football club culture objective, which well fans commenting after my first game in charge were already calling our performance dire….

Well, they did call Mourinho the European Pulis

 

[BJT]

Papa Johns Trophy – Group Game 1

Ipswich 0 – 1 Gills

Another board target was to reach the second round of this tournament. However with Crawley and Arsenal under 23s in our group and the top two qualify, I decided to play a complete second string side for this one.

Another Injury

And it was just as well I did so. A serious injury to my back up right back Robbie Mckenzie has left him nine weeks out after opting to give him special treatment. My squad is already depleted and we have our first league match coming up next.

Down to 10 men

We had settled into the game well despite having a second string side out, but then our Trae Cole on loan from Arsenal got himself a red on the hour.

Left to scrap with 10 men, I changed things up tactically and it seemed to give the Ipswich side a surprise. The change in approach proved dividends with sub but first teamer Jordan Graham finding himself in space free after a delightful ball from 19 year old Scott Robertson, firing it past their keeper at close range.

With minutes spare we then went defensive and wasted valuable time. They had their chances to equalise, but we held out for quite an unexpected victory given the side I put out.

It puts us in a good position to qualify for the second round - a good days work, but I'm already concerned with the injury list with six out for our first league game.