Following a bitter 1-0 home defeat against fellow League One strugglers Tranmere Rovers, it’s fair to say the pressure really is on Gillingham manager Mark Stimson at the moment.

Amongst many who follow the mighty Gills, there is one topic of colossal debate: should chairman Paul Scally keep the faith in Stimson, or should he cut his losses and give him the sack?

Keep Him

The most emphasised reason to keep Mark Stimson is that the fact this guy got Gillingham promoted from League Two last season, at the first attempt; it is a well-known fact that gaining instant promotion is an almost impossible task in a lot of cases.

Another line of support is that Gillingham last season had one of the best defensive home records in England, and this season the Gills have the joint best defensive home record in League One; the krbs Priestfield Stadium really has been a fortress quite often under the Mark Stimson era.

Further reason to keep Stimson stems from the fact that League One this season is stronger than ever, with clubs like Norwich City, Leeds United, Charlton Athletic (Clowntown Pathetic), Southampton, Millwall, MK Dons, Huddersfield Town, and (to a certain extent) Colchester United all having Championship quality stadia and finances.

These clubs make Gillingham pale in comparison, so it’s no wonder Stimson has been finding the going tough under a much tighter budget than a lot of other League One clubs.

Under Mark Stimson, the club have also signed young, ambitious players who have that desire to play for Gillingham Football Club; pre-Stimson, the club was on its knees, dying, as the Gills continued to sign old, experienced journeyman on over-inflated wages who couldn’t care less about the club.

And lastly, another one of the most emphasised, and somewhat clichéd, reasons for keeping Mark Stimson as manager of Gillingham is that chairman Paul Scally simply does not have the finances to reach a compensation package with Stimson to give him the sack.

If Mark Stimson was sacked by the Gills, the financial implications could be just as serious as relegation.

Sack Him

Gillingham’s away record is the stand-out reason why most anti-Stimson Gills supporters want the man sacked.

In the two-and-a-half seasons under Stimson, Gillingham have won 13 away games in all competitions, drawing 12, and losing 34 matches. This season the team have not won away from home.

Mark Stimson’s tactics have also been questionable, with the Gills playing too defensively at times and adopting a defensive 4-5-1 when losing, focusing on preventing any further damage rather than trying to score.

Which leads onto the next point: Mark Stimson is not prepared to take enough risks. The Gills do not counter-attack enough, most likely due to fear of failure and a loss of possession of the ball, and so cannot score enough goals, hence why Gillingham have only scored three goals in their last nine games.

Also, Stimson seems to have lost the support of his players. Talking to KentOnline, the Gills boss said: “We spoke before the game about clearing our own lines and not passing back on a very poor pitch, but didn’t take it on board,” before going onto criticise his players for not sticking to the game plan.

Perhaps this is why the Gillingham players are not performing to their best, and hence the poor results? They simply are not listening to Mark Stimson and his instructions.

All in all, under Mark Stimson the Gills appear from the average spectator to the die-hard regular a team that are not the close and cohesive unit required to be successful at any level of football.

So there are the advantages and disadvantages of Gillingham’s chairman, Paul Scally, sacking manager Mark Stimson and opting for a fresh approach.

Should Stimson be sacked? Well, that’s the beauty of football; everyone has an opinion to give on such issues.

It’s the same with every football club across the world; the die-hard fans, who see their football team as the one true love of their life, will have always have differing views on what is right to take their beloved club forward.

The Gills boss saw his side lose yet again on Saturday in a 4-0 defeat away at Brentford, continuing a perfect record of not winning any competitive match away from home this season.

Couple that with no wins in the last eight matches, some undoubtedly dire performances on the pitch, an acrimonious exit from the FA Cup, and a newly found place in the League One relegation zone, and you have the typical Football League manager under severe pressure.

Severe pressure that should ultimately result in one of two things: his resignation, or Stimson’s sacking. But why?

Lack of desire

For the thousands of Gillingham fans that spend around £20-30 each match for 23 games a season, and up to £50-60 for some away matches, it can be quite an insult when the players don’t put in a good performance.

It’s then twice as insulting when they display a complete lack of desire to win, and even more incredulous when the manager, instead of doing the job fans effectively pay for him to do, sits back and somewhat shows the same lack of desire!

Seldom does Stimson ever come out to the technical area and bark out instructions to the players or motivate them when they are losing or playing poorly; it’s usually the assistant manager out there shouting to the players.

If Stimson, like he has been doing, displays the same lack of desire as the calamitous players on the field of play, then what on earth is he doing managing a professional football club?

Antiquated tactics

Same old story, same old performance, week in, week out.

Since the start of 2010, Gillingham have been on the slippery slope down to self-destruction, with the players churning out less than average performances resulting in bitter disappointment.

And why is that? Since the Boxing Day defeat (ironically, against Brentford!) that further dashed the sterling record of the former fortress of the krbs Priestfield stadium, a fresh, new approach has not been introduced.

In terms of formation, the Gills are tactically astute, with a well placed defence and midfield, and a good attacking set-up in a striker and support-striker in a solid 4-4-2 line-up.

However, the problem is the counter-attack and focus of play. Simply put, the Gillingham players out there are not prepared to take risks.

Or rather, Stimson is not prepared to take risks. The Gills do not counter-attack enough, most likely due to fear of failure and a loss of possession of the ball, and this of course can result in some costly mistakes due to a lack of defence.

As for focusing play, it’s annoying when you see any team play the long-ball game.

Stimson wants to get the ball forward to the likes of Simeon Jackson, Mark McCammon, James Walker and Rene Howe as often as possible, and probably thinks this can be achieved by playing the ball over the top of the defence, i.e. a long ball game.

Little does he apparently realise that channelling the ball along the floor with a series of short or long ground passes and through balls along the floor is the best option.

Why is it the best option to use? Because team after team come up against Gillingham, use that tactic and seal a deserved win; and also because the ball-over-the-top focus of play clearly is not working.

On current results and performances, it does not seem likely that Stimson will realise this in the near future.

Football is a results-based business and sport, and with Stimson unable to grasp successful tactics at this level, a new tactician is needed quickly if Gillingham is to beat the drop.

No Fan Support

Stimson gets verbally abused weekly by the Gills fans, with the section of supporters in the KM Medway Stand at the krbs Priestfield regularly sharing their less than happy thoughts with Mr Stimson.

And following yet another away defeat on Saturday at Brentford, the fans let Stimson know how they felt as he came over to them and applauded their support.

Stimmo was met with an air of disdain as his team put in yet another poor display, with the manager not once getting out onto the technical box and publicly showing everyone his desire to spur on his players.

On the lips of almost every Gillingham fan, and on almost every Gillingham forum on the Internet, the words “Stimson Out” have become synonymous with the situation the Gills are currently facing.

So the message to London-based businessman Paul Scally is: as chairman of Gillingham Football Club, do the right thing, sack your current manager (Mark Stimson), and go for a new approach to save this club from despair.

The club’s debts, whilst perhaps controllable, are still there and will not go away until the performances and subsequently results on the pitch improve; that is the only way this club will move forward and eradicate it’s financial burden.

In the words of Mark Stimson, “Will the chairman stand by me? Who knows?”

If he knows anything about football, he won’t stand by you Mark. You’re not the right man for the job, simple as that.

It was the “Clash of the Titans” on April 11 down in the fourth level of the English football hierarchy, as third-place Wycombe Wanderers played host to sixth-place Gillingham in the Coca Cola League Two.

A goal from John Akinde on 41 minutes gave the home side a 1-0 victory, much to the despair of Gillingham and their army of traveling supporters.

It’s a result that means the Gills have only gained one point in four games. Hardly the kind of form required for a push at the automatic promotion places.

At the end of the match, walking away from High Wycombe and back down south to Gillingham, I could’ve felt anger, despair, misery, etc, at the final result.

But instead, I went away from Adams Park having witnessed one of the best away games I’ve been to this season.

Not just for what happened on the pitch, but also all that went on off it.

When I say Gillingham bring an “army” of supporters to away games, I really do mean it.

In an attendance of 6,306 at Adams Park, around 1,000 must’ve been Gills fans. But had you just heard the game and not seen it, you’d have thought there was only one set fans present, and they wouldn’t have been Wycombe ones.

The Gillingham faithful were relentless for almost the entire 90 minutes, constantly roaring on their team, and roaring down the home fans all around the ground.

On the pitch both teams were present however, but even that only lasted 45 minutes. After the interval, only the team in their yellow away colours were present on the Adams Park turf.

As one of the Gillingham faithful taking on the other 5,000 inside the ground, here was my view of all that went on in the Gills-Wycombe match, a.k.a “Clash of the Titans.”

The Ref’s a Magic W****r

I know it is rather cliché, blaming the referee when your team loses, but in this case, even for League Two’s very poor standard of officiating, the referee today was diabolical.

From a totally unbiased point of view (well, as unbiased as possible!), Mr L Mason, a.k.a “the w****r in the black!”, waved away four, yes four, penalties that Gillingham should’ve been awarded.

Well three actually, if you don’t include the first one which we did actually receive, after “the w****r in the black!” initially waved it away, only to be told by the assistant referee that actually, you fool, it was a penalty. (the penalty was missed, but more on that later).

Apart from waving away smack-addlingly obvious penalties, “the w****r in the black!” was also busy doing magic tricks with those yellow cards of his.

On both sides of the equation, according to “the w****r in the black!” pushes to the ground became dives by the other player, ordinary slide tackles became malicious two-foot lunges, and standard shoulder barges became deliberate attempts to push the opponent into the hoardings.

Basically, any sad little excuse “the w****r in the black!”could think of to dish out a warning.

These are the types of referees you all complain about constantly in the Premier League. But trust me, those referees are like Pierre Luigi Collina’s compared to “the w****rs in the black!” you often get down at this level.

You only sing when you’re winning! Or not…

As I’ve said before, the atmosphere from the Gillingham faithful away at Wycombe was outstanding throughout the entire game almost.

However, that’s far more than what could be said of the home fans.

Us Gills fans in the Dreams Stand certainly felt like we were in a dream, or certainly not in the real world/football match, as we couldn’t even sing: “Sing when you’re winning! You only sing when you’re winning!”

Similarly to the home of Charlton Athletic FC, The Valley Stadium, Adams Park, certainly when Wycombe Wanderers play there (or today at least), is like a funeral in the home areas.

Not even when they went 1-0 up did the home fans start singing. There were some cheers, but that was as loud as it got from the 5,000 Blues fans inside the ground.

So instead of the Gills fans’ comeback chant to counter-act the usual cockiness of home fans, we found ourselves attacking those home fans for their lack of passion with a bit of: “Sing when you’re winning! You DON’T even sing when you’re winning!”

The (lack of) passion was so bad in the home areas, that the only thing which showed there were some Wycombe fans who cared about proceedings in the game was a fat man banging a drum with a few fans clapping along, occasionally singing what really does seem to be their one and only chant: “Wycombe! Wycombe!”

“Simeon Jackson, dah dah, dah dah!”

“Referee! Penalty!!” Cue the magic tricks, and then the “lino” (assistant referee) telling “the w****r in the black!” that he’s a fool and it was indeed a penalty; the player was fouled inside the box.

And so, with a perfect chance to put his side back in the frame and level the scores at 1-1, Gillingham’s most reliable spot-kick taker Simeon Jackson steps up on 51 minutes.

‘Jacko’ is a U-20 Canadian international who is Gillingham’s top scorer at the moment, with 17 league goals and 18 in all competitions when you include his strike against American goalkeeping legend Brad Friedel, and his Premier League team Aston Villa, from the Third Round of the FA Cup.

Along with centre-back Simon King, Jackson is undoubtedly the best Gillingham have, and there’s always a sigh of relief (today was no different) when he steps up to take our penalties.

Following a long delay whilst Wycombe players desperately pleaded with the assistant referee, after keeping his cool for so long, up stepped Jackson to take the penalty… and blaze it over the crossbar.

A moment of disbelief then ensued, before the 1,000 of us came to realise the harsh, brutal reality of it; a perfect chance had just been wasted. Simeon Jackson had actually missed from the spot.

It remained 1-0 to the hosts, and it was an atrocious kick by “Jacko”. But that didn’t stop us.

“Simeon Jackson, dah dah, dah dah! Simeon Jackson, dah dah, dah dah!” We were not going to make the player who has done so much already for us this season feel too guilty about it.

In the end we lost, but what can you do? It’s not just Simeon Jackson’s fault, is it now?

Over-sensationalist Eton Schoolboys

If there was ever proof that Gillingham Football Club are supported by more than just lowly tramps in the ghettos of Gillingham, it was today in the Dreams Stand at Adams Park.

Throughout the entire game, chanting aside, all I heard behind me were a few gentlemen engaging in conversation about how “in my executive box at Old Trafford, I sit and wonder how Gillingham are just not as good as Manchester United“, combined with their running commentary on all the action THAT I COULD ALREADY SEE happening in front of me on the pitch.

In their very eloquent manner of speech, akin to an Eton schoolboy or the like, with their running commentary these ‘Eton schoolboys’ made this League Two encounter seem like the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final.

“As we approach the hour mark, this will be a massive 30 minutes for Gillingham, wouldn’t you agree, chaps?” said shortly after Gillingham missed the penalty and were still trailing 1-0.

I half-expected them to have microphones and radios with them, delivering commentary for BBC Radio 5 Live or something like that.

But instead, I saw four out-of-place young gentlemen with three-piece linen suits, glittering jewellery and rather unnecessarily expensive looking Rolex and Omega watches.

I was very tempted to ask the stewards if they could escort these lost gentlemen back to their executive boxes they probably hired in the adjacent Frank Adams stand.

In any case, I was half-glad I didn’t, because at least for the entire 90 minutes I was provided with a rather sensational live commentary of Gillingham vs. Wycombe Wanderers, delivered in this eloquent manner of speech from these young chaps who most likely have actually just finished their schooling at Royal Eton College.

Apart from all of the above, I also saw Wycombe Wanderers forward John Akinde beat the offside trap, as well as the Gills’ defence, and slot home the eventual winner past a helpless visiting goalkeeper, Simon Royce.

And just to finish, courtesy of kentonline.co.uk, here’s what another person thought of the match at Adams Park.

Gillingham manager Mark Stimson said: “I don’t think we [Gillingham FC] deserved a defeat.

“In the first half they were probably better than us but in the second half we battered them but just couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net, but if wasn’t for the want of trying.

“I can’t fault the boys’ effort and I think that was appreciated by the people who travelled with us and we have to take that into the remaining four games.

“If we take that luck which they had with their goal, which we thought was off-side, then we will be okay.”

Today was yet another stupid, totally avoidable defeat against a team we see on the fixture list in this vital run-in and think: must win, should win.

We must win at home to Barnet, as there are only six games to go and if we are to get into those automatic promotion places, or even just consolidate our security in the League Two play-offs, we must win our home games.

We should win at home to Barnet, as they are all the way down in 20th. We should definitely be beating the lower-ranked teams.

But if you had been a neutral knowing hardly anything about the Gills, no way would you have known this was a must-win, should-win game for the team in blue.

With their oh-so unelegant, amazingly careless passing and lacklustre shooting (you thought they might’ve actually practised their shooting at the training ground, but from today’s match, it clearly appears not), the not-so mighty Gills brilliantly managed to produce one of their most unspectacular, mind-bogglingly shit performances of the season.

To be honest, I wouldn’t have minded if the Gills were consistently poor, but the thing is they are so inconsistent.

One game they are on another planet, playing their opponents off the pitch with beautiful yet effective, fast-flowing football that culminates in fantastic performances with brilliant results.

Such games come as a very welcome bonus to us long-suffering (in most cases) die-hard Gillingham fans.

However, the next game, they’re all over the place, with sloppy, uninspiring defending, slack passing that goes to nowhere but that fan in Block G of the KM Medway Stand, and lacklustre shooting that almost knocks out one of those guys standing up at the back of the Rainham End.

The thing that insults me the most as a Gills fan is that one game they play great, and yet the next, they have the audacity to appear to actually choose to play poorly.

It’s as if they just can’t be arsed to play, and that’s the most insulting, soul-shattering thing about it. Us fans, splashing out a considerable amount of money, come rain or shine turn up at the krbs Priestfield for every game, just to see these pampered things (trust me, I’ve seen behind the scenes, and these players have the best facilities in League Two) decide that today, they can’t bothered really. That’s how it appears to me, sitting in Seat 192, Block G of the Gordon Road Stand.

The audacity, how dare they. Effectively, we pay their wages, and this is how they thank us? Deciding that after doing well last week, they just won’t bother today.

My Gillingham brethren, don’t abuse Mark Stimson. Okay, he makes evidently poor decisions at times, like taking Andy Barcham off today, but I see him regularly whenever I help out at the Gills, and he is a really nice guy. He seems committed to the cause at Gillingham Football Club.

And that’s far more than what I can say about some of these players. Committed to the cause? Don’t make me laugh. Where was the running off the ball today then? Nowhere to be seen. Hardly any darting runs by the wingers, or the strikers, and I hardly saw any movement off the ball from the midfielders.

But if you players argue against that and say it’s because of fatigue as we approach a mad rush of games in the season’s finale, then I simply say to you:

Then don’t bother with your Premier League or Championship aspirations. Those players are up there for a reason. They train hard (by the way I have seen you guys train plenty of times before), they’re committed, determined, focused.

Stamina is vital for any athlete, and those players make sure their stamina is at the required level to perform consistently throughout the season.

If your players are dropping off in performances and are starting to feel tired, then pull your finger out, train harder, and make sure your stamina is high enough. Simple as that.

It is not Mark Stimson’s fault, my fellow Gills fans. What can he, Scott Barrett and Mark Robson do when the players appear not to apply the coaching, tactics, and set-plays from training into the match?

I’m sure if these players followed all instructions from the coaches, then they would not lose, or they would’ve at least been able to put a fight against lowly Barnet.

If you are still following this epic rant from a disappointed Gillingham fan, my American readers here on this American-based Open Source Sports Network called Bleacher Report, just in case you didn’t know, my beloved Gillingham lost 0-2 at home today against a side ranked 16 places below us. Not good, is it?

Anyway, I closely analysed today’s game instead of drifting off into another world after seeing yet another sloppy performance.

I have picked holes in Gillingham’s play and come up with reasons why we are performing so badly at times.

I firmly believe that if already Mark Stimson, Scott Barrett and Mark Robson haven’t picked up on the problems, then they should read this article, see the problems, and decide what should be done to correct them.

Here are my observations on why Gillingham lost 2-0 against Barnet at the krbs Priestfield Stadium in the Coca Cola League Two encounter:

External Issues:

Here are the issues affecting the players and coaches which are not entirely their fault.

Where’s the noise, lads?

The apparently ever-so vocal Rainham End was almost silent today, never singing any Gillingham chants or spurring the players on. They were so unusually quiet that I doubt the players even felt motivated to win today.

It was so bad that at times, all you could hear in the ground was those 12 Barnet supporters standing up in the away end, quietly singing:

“Can you hear Gillingham singing? Woah, woah. Can you hear Gillingham singing? I can’t hear a fucking thing! Woah, woah! Sshhhhh!”

“You don’t know what you’re doing!”

Every game I complain about the referee’s decision, saying “how on earth can he give that?!” The rest of the stadium are usually in agreement, singing “You don’t know what you’re doing!” to the ref.

While today that was saved for the manager after taking off Barcham, it just dawned on me today that it is just not today’s ref who is poor. It’s the referee for every one of our games, and every team’s games.

The refereeing standard in League Two is poor, very poor. I am a qualified official in Table Tennis, but part of learning officiating is grasping the general rules, applied in almost all sports.

I look at those referee’s in our matches and their performance, I check with the FIFA rule book, and I see that these referees, in some cases, get a few, sometimes pivotal, decisions wrong.

I’m not like you normal fans slagging off the ref; I have been a ref myself in football, and know the rules and what it’s like. These referees get some silly decisions wrong, and that’s why they officiate in League Two.

They are not good enough to officiate the important matches at the top of the English football hierarchy, in the Premier League and Championship, etc. Honestly, just ask Stuart Atwell.

Internal Issues:

Here are the issues affecting the players and coaches which are entirely their fault.

What the hell is Benno Doing There?!

Mark Bentley, though he and the coaches may like to disagree, is a midfielder, who appears to have an attacking nature.

Which, after seeing his performances of late, forces me to ask, why does he play at centre-back?

Converted there at some point this season, his performances have been shaky at best.

At times a lack of communication and understanding with fellow centre-back Kingy (Simon King) and goalkeeper Roycey (Simon Royce), combined with lapses in concentration, a lack of aerial dominance, lacklustre clearances, a tendency to pass it around inside the box, and worryingly frequent own-goals, are just some of the millions of reasons why I find it mind-boggling that Mark Bentley has been chosen as King’s CB partner ahead of the more solid and reliable centre-back-strangely-cum-centre-forward Garry Richards.

A perfect example of Benno’s (Mark Bentley) defending was today when, inside the box, he was beaten by veteran Barnet striker Paul Furlong.

Furlong would have retrieved the ball perhaps able to put a cross in, but even that was doubtful. But Benno tried to take no risk, and was going to prevent Furlong from pulling the ball back across the box.

No, not by tackling him, silly. Benno is a midfielder, isn’t he? He’s not used to situations like that. So what he did to prevent Furlong was to rugby-tackle him, and then seem confused as to why the referee actually got something right this time and deservedly gave Barnet a penalty.

I had the best view in the ground of that incident, even better than the ref I presume, so he did a great job in making the right decision. Gillingham, through the stupidity of Mark James Bentley, had shot themselves in the foot, and made the score 2-0 to Barnet.

Just fucking clear it!

Silly, silly, silly goals have been conceded when the defenders dilly and dally around at the back; passing it, passing it, passing it, shit, we’ve lost it. Fuck, they scored. Again.

Yes that’s right, despite what Simon King told Gillingham’s Official Matchday programme contributor Chris Dicketts, the no-nonsense lash-your-boot-through-it approach was not visible today against Barnet, or in any game for that matter.

Time and time again, they pass it around at the back, until usually Mark Bentley, weakly taps it back, and the tired, chasing opposition forward cannot believe his luck, as he takes advantage and grabs the ball, before going through one-on-one with Royce before coolly slotting it past the keeper and into the back of the net.

And once again, the Gills have contrived to concede yet another sloppy, totally avoidable goal.

Corner! One, two, three, back to the keeper, yeah?

After running down the wing and failing to get anywhere, players like Andy Barcham and Dennis Oli prefer to settle for a corner. Thing is, that’s as close to the goal as it goes.

For example, in today’s game, we were 2-0 down, and desperately needed that goal which could give us enough momentum to at least snatch an equaliser later in the match.

Andy Barcham had won Gillingham a vital corner. Nicky Southall took it, played it short to the diminutive forward Simeon Jackson, who was already surrounded by two tall, imposing defenders, and had no choice but to play it back to midfielder Curtis Weston, who also was surrounded by opponents.

Weston had simply no choice but to play it back to the centre-back, who had no options going forward, and could do only one thing if he wanted his side to retain possession; play it back to the keeper.

Goes back to my earlier point about movement off the ball, doesn’t it?

And this also suggests that next time, Leslie Nicholas Southall, you should simply play it into the box. C’mon, you’re the only player to have played in all four professional leagues in England, surely you should know better than to just play it short?

Now go! Forwards! No, not that way, dammit! Fucking forward!

The opposition have a corner, which breaks down and the ball comes to the centre-midfielder, either Curtis Weston or Adam Miller. What should they do?

They have the two or three forwards ahead of them, in Simeon Jackson, Mark McCammon, and/or Dennis Oli. What DO they do?

Take a touch to move forward, find the one that clearly would have some space, and play it through to them. Then, the counter-attack would be on, with the others soon to join, and with the forwards already up here, we’d have the numerical advantage in the opponent box.

The above is the scenario that would occur if the centre-midfielder did actually choose to play it forward. But shame, that never happens, as Weston or Miller always like to run for it themselves, but then are approached by a defender, and are forced to go back.

That disrupts the rhythm, the ball is delayed in going forward, the Barnet boys are back in position, the Gills attackers clearly aren’t getting the ball and so obviously come back to make a shorter option, and no-one has therefore pushed up well into the opponent’s half. The counter-attack has ended.

The great opportunity is missed, and it’s back to square one for Gillingham. Another reason why we failed to create potentially goal-scoring opportunities today.

I am a season-ticket holder at Gillingham, and I have been an avid fan of the club for many years.

I aspire to be a sports journalist in the future, so thankfully that has made me able to do what other fans cannot, publish their anger and show it to the world, as well as the Gills players themselves, in the form of a well-written, informative, accurate article which uses words subtly to express the feelings written at the beginning.

This article is not just mine, but it is the article of the thousands of Gills supporters who no doubt are in agreement with me about the mighty, or currently not-so mighty, Gillingham Football Club.

From:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/150738-gillingham-football-club-the-problems

After dominating for large parts of the game, Gillingham were forced to settle for just a point away at Brentford with a 1-1 draw.

The Gills had initially fallen behind to the League Two leaders, when the home side’s first real chance of the match turned into a goal.

David Hunt hit a well taken free-kick to put the Bees ahead on 42 minutes, much to the delight of the home fans.

However, Gillingham responded in the second half with a hatful of decent goalscoring opportunities, most notably when Mark McCammon headed just wide seconds after the re-start.

The Gills got the important lifeline they required just before the hour mark, when Andy Barcham was felled inside the box and a penalty was given.

Canadian international striker Simeon Jackson stepped up to take the kick, and slotted home to bring the visitors level and also score his 18th goal of the season.

Gillingham huffed and puffed towards the end, having much more possession and creating several more chances than the hosts.

In the end though they were made to rue such missed chances, as it finished 1-1 at Griffin Park, meaning the Gills remain in fourth place, while Brentford still resume their position at the top of the League Two table.

Reaction

Gillingham manager Mark Stimson was disappointed his side did not claim all three points in their top of the table clash at Griffin Park, but maintained that a point is still satisfactory.

Speaking after the match, he said: “I felt we deserved the three points.

“We’ll take a point but we’re disappointed, because we didn’t come for anything else, we went for the three points.

“We didn’t get them but we played very well and one will do us.”

The Gills boss also said that it would’ve been harder had his team not got a point, and that his players need to stay focused for the remaining games this season.

He added: “The boys will take a lot from the game. They know they deserved something from the game and if they hadn’t got anything then I think it would have been tricky to pick them up.

“We’ve got six games left now and we have to focus on what we have to do and want to achieve.

“If we play like that for the next six games I’m sure we will win more than we lose.”

Lastly, Stimmo went on to praise the club’s supporters, and the “phenomenal” amount of them present away at Brentford.

The Gills supremo said: “The army of supporters that we had with us was phenomenal.

“We had around 1,800 in the ground but it sounded like 6,000 and they appreciated at the end what the boys put in. I’ll have a lot better Sunday than I did the week before.”

Gillingham’s quest for promotion glory from League Two was dealt a serious blow yesterday, as the Gills lost 3-0 to relegation strugglers Grimsby Town at Blundell Park.

Jean-Louis Akpra Akpro’s strike on 33 minutes gave the home side a 1-0 lead, after following up a shot from Nick Hegarty which had struck the post.

Up until that moment, it had been all Gillingham, with the hosts offering little in attack.

Grimsby started better after the interval, and made it a double on 57 minutes. Hegarty received the ball in the area and placed it past Gills’ keeper Simon Royce.

The away side went on steaming on in desperate pursuit of an equaliser, but it wasn’t to be, as things only got worse.

A miserable day for Gillingham got even worse as Barry Conlan swept the ball home from close range in ther closing stages of the game.

Reaction

Gillingham manager Mark Stimson was expectant that his side’s unbeaten run wouldn’t last too long, saying that his players simply weren’t capable of keeping it up all the way to the end of the season.

He said: “I expected to get something from the game because of the run of form we’re in but the players are only humans.

“There was no way the run was going to last until the end of the season. There were a few people who might have got excited and carried away with it but second top versus second bottom can always be a bit of a banana skin.”

However, Stimmo went on to praise his team’s performance in their last few games, and was in an optimistic mood for the remaining seven matches.

The Gills’ boss added: “The team has been absolutely phenomenal for the last eight games and you have to give credit to them. They weren’t anywhere near what they’ve been like in the last eight games but that’s football.

“They don’t go out there to not put up a real good performance and it just wasn’t to be and we’ll get over it.

“There are seven games to go and if we can get the place rocking like Grimsby did then I’m sure we will have a really enjoyable last seven games.”

quotes: www.kentonline.co.uk

The 20-year old striker moves to Stonebridge Road looking to gain more first-team experience a league below in the Blue Square Premier.

Cumbers has been a consistent scorer in the Gillingham Reserves with seven goals this season, and also bagged a first-team strike with the last goal in the Gillingham’s 4-0 home demolition of Rotherham United back in November.

Cumbers will join ‘The Fleet’ in time to play in Saturday’s FA Trophy semi-final first leg against fellow Blue Square Premier side Stevenage Borough. He will remain at Ebbsfleet until April 9th, with his last game being a league match against Kiddiminster Harriers.

Source: www.gillinghamfootballclub.com

How on earth could a…a…a Slumdog…possibly win Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Almost the same question had been asked to me for the past week.

How on earth could a Gillingham fan, a Slumdog Gillingham fan, possibly get tickets to watch Manchester United play Tottenham Hotspur in the Carling Cup Final at Wembley?

In with the nearly 89,000 millionaires in one of the world’s finest stadiums, I really did feel like a Slumdog sitting next to people so rich in watching pure quality week after week in arguably the world’s greatest football league.

I am a Gillingham season ticket holder, and I get to see “real football”; pure, honest lower league football.

My companion is a Tottenham season ticket holder, he gets to see extravagant football; exciting, pulsating, jaw-dropping Premier League football.

I found out the fellow season ticket holder sitting the other side of me, this clean-cut fully suited elegant business-looking man, was actually an FC Barcelona season ticket holder, who thought he’d come to London to see what “real” British football has to offer.

League Two sandwiched in between the Premier League and La Liga. Despite having a £60 ticket for today’s game, clearly I was not a Slumdog Millionaire, just the Slumdog in with the millionaires.

Only 24 hours before sitting in front of a worldwide audience, I was at the relatively unknown KRBS Priestfield stadium, watching my Gillingham team scrape past AFC Bournemouth in front of a whopping 5,353 four levels down the English football hierarchy.

Fast forward a day and I’m at the place where the 2011 UEFA Champions League Final will be held, the home of English football: the new Wembley. And there in North London sits 88,216 millionaires, and a Slumdog awaiting to be dazzled.

I look at my programme and the squad lists of both sides and dream of seeing even just one of them week in week out. How I’d love to have Heurelho Gomes in goal for the Gills.

As this showpiece event, the exciting, highly-anticipated, most least prestigious trophy of top-flight football with a name changed regularly by a sponsor begins, I sit back in awe and wonder and watch hundreds of millions of pounds worth of talent strut their stuff in front of the world.

In the opening stages, a young striker has a chance before another youngster, this one a Republic of Ireland international, hits a shot I can only dream of that goes just narrowly wide of the mark.

Then the winger in white, a £1m man who has played at the highest international level, terrorises the French international red left-back, whose £5.5m worth of talent cannot stop him getting destroyed.

This winger in white, called Aaron Lennon, is definitely a player Mark Stimson should bring to Priestfield, if at all possible…

This Lennon guy seemed real good, but he just couldn’t get past the Red Captain, a man plucked out of a Peckham council estate who goes by the name of Rio Ferdinand.

Ferdinand is England’s first-choice center-back with John Terry and has 72 caps to his name. He’s also the world’s most expensive defender with his team, Manchester United, reportedly shelling out £33m for the guy.

He seems good, I like this guy; he seems almost as good as our man, the one and only Simon King, who seems destined for the top after commanding a £250,000 transfer fee.

As the game wore on I saw pure pace, power, skill, accuracy, technique, strength, creativity, and that special touch of pure class from a Portuguese man who is wanted by some men in white (who are called Real Madrid).

From his audacious free-kicks, to his slick passing, to his creative mind-blowing skills, Cristiano Ronaldo is a player that would even make Gills legend Nicky Southall proud. If he can be compared to Nicky Southall, then this man should definitely be the FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballon d’Or winner.

Another man who I simply stared at in amazement was a chap called Roman Pavlyuchenko; the first ever Russia international to play in the Carling Cup Final.

The green-booted £14m striker hit shots that would go down well in yesterday’s action at the Six Nations rugby tournament. League Two PFA Player of the Month for January, Simeon Jackson, has 14 goals to his name this season and is a slightly cheaper option with a transfer fee of £150,000. I think I’ll stick with this one for Gillingham.

As a slumdog I felt like a millionaire seeing football of such a high caliber, and was so thankful when the best player in the world failed to win the trophy for Manchester United.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s brilliant effort smacking the inside of the post before rebounding out to his younger, more expensive, £17m Portuguese compatriot Nani. Nani, who stunningly did nothing with the ball, but hit it out for a goal kick.

Thankfully for me, that meant the Slumdog called Yoosof was gifted to another 30 minutes extra of millionaire football. It came and went, with a player more legendary than ex-Gillingham player and now Dover Athletic manager Andy Hessenthaler, welsh wizard Ryan Giggs, coming on, but not able to add to his mind-blowing tally of trophies in this extra time period.

However then came the most intense, dramatic, thrilling, pulsating, agonisingly painful moment of the game.

The penalty shootout was upon us, and even though being also a United supporter, I saw myself as a neutral because I was in the white side of the stadium. I could not look as memories of the true love of my life came flashing back.

The last penalty shootout I saw live prevented a much anticipated and I hoped for a trip to the greatest stadium in England to play in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final. At the KRBS Priestfield stadium, my beloved Gillingham succumbed to Paul Ince’s MK Dons on penalties in the semi-final.

It was at that point where all the hard work had evaporated; a few lucky kicks giving the less hard working visitors a somewhat undeserved, exciting and unforgettable day out.

As the slumdog recalled those events, the red millionaires were cheering and waving all up and down in delirious delight.

A young £18m Brazilian midfielder called Anderson converted the last spot kick, after Manchester United had converted their three others through Ryan Giggs, Carlos Tevez, and Cristiano Ronaldo to create a cacophony of excited happiness around approximately 50 percent of the stadium.

An unsure Jamie O’Hara and a David Bentley miss ensured Croatian international defender Vedran Corluka’s successful penalty would count for nothing.

It was dead silence in the Tottenham Hotspur end as Spurs could not hold onto their Carling Cup crown, meaning the UEFA Cup will now be almost impossible to reach. But if it’s any consolation, at least they’re in the top flight…for now.

The most pivotal point in deciding the champions had bypassed this Gillingham slumdog, although I got over my agony just in time to see Rio Ferdinand lift aloft the trophy in front of a half deserted Tottenham area.

After staying around to see the official World Club Champions parade around yet another trophy, the agony that had finally shifted out of my mind came back. I forgot I wasn’t in Gillingham, and would have to wait my turn amongst 30,000 others to climb aboard the packed tube back to Central London.

However, I managed to get over the agonisingly boring disappointment of waiting by simply recalling the events of what I had just saw in that mighty fine theater of dreams.

I was a Slumdog, who was treated to some real millionaire football from quite possibly the greatest team in the world, Manchester United*.

*Officially of course; we all know the “real” greatest team on earth is Gillingham FC.

A goal from Adam Miller in the 79^th minute was the difference between the two sides, as the Gills move up to fourth in the table after securing their third successive league win.

As usual, Gillingham were determined to get on the front foot right from the off, and they signalled their attacking intent just three minutes in, when John Nutter crossed into the box for Simeon Jackson, only for the striker to head horribly wide.

Exeter found their way soon after though, and had a great chance to score when, albeit against the run of play, Neil Saunders hit a long-range shot that appeared to be going in, only for it to then hit the cross-bar, much to the relief of the Gills players and keeper Simon Royce.

In the 20^th minute, Gillingham hit the cross-bar themselves, when a sweet free-kick from Nicky Southall, reminiscent of the one he scored against Millwall last season, cannoned straight off the upright.

The home side had a few more chances before the break, most notably when Andy Barcham blazed over from close range in the 35^th minute.

After the break, the Gills again appeared the more dominant, having more possession and carving out more opportunities, although not many clear cut ones.

Gillingham did have the ball in the back of the net on 58 minutes, when Adam Miller converted Nicky Southall’s cross, although he was ruled for offside by the assistant referee.

However, it mattered little as the Gills did eventually take the lead, with Miller again putting the ball in the back of the net, after the stand-in captain converted a Simeon Jackson effort from close range.

On-loan signing Jamie Peters was given his Gillingham debut in the final minutes by manager Mark Stimson, much to the delight of the home fans. The tricky winger didn’t disappoint, as his pure pace and skill bamboozled the weary Exeter defenders in the closing stages.

After the moans and groans by the home fans at the announcement of four additional minutes to be played, Gillingham held on after a barrage of Exeter attacks, to see the game out and secure a much deserved 1-0 win.

It’s a win that now means the Gills move up to fourth in the Coca Cola League Two table, having won their last three games, and now gone unbeaten in twelve league matches.

Gills Sign Duo on Loan

Back to first-team matters now, and manager Mark Stimson has bolstered his squad with the signing of two players on-loan, as he looks to continue building a side that can have a realistic chance of gaining promotion this season.

One of the players is right winger Jamie Peters, a 21-year old Canadian international who was on the books of Kaiserslautern as a youngster, shunning offers from EPL giants Chelsea and Manchester United before joining Ipswich Town in 2005. He joins the Gills on-loan from Ipswich on a one-month deal.

The other player is 19-year old full-back Rene Steer, who is currently on the books of Arsenal. He joined the Gunners’ youth academy as a 13-year old, and progressed through the ranks before signing professional terms in 2007.

Steer played in the Gillingham Reserves’ midweek defeat away at Brighton, and has made quite an impression on the manager, who said: “Rene is a young player with tremendous pace; he is very comfortable on the ball as you would expect from someone that has spent six years at Arsenal.”

The gaffer went on to say: “Jamie has quick feet and is another player with terrific pace. Both lads have joined for a month initially and I hope they will come into the squad and help us to maintain the momentum we have built up in recent weeks.”

Pugh Loaned to Grays

Andy Pugh, a product of the Gills youth team, has been loaned out to Blue Square Premier side Grays Athletic on a one month deal.

The 19-year old striker has had his first-team opportunities at the KRBS Priestfield severely limited, as he has made only two first-team appearances this season. He has however been a regular in the reserve team.

Pugh joins the Essex based club in search of more first-team experiences, and there is hope at Grays he can help lift them above their current 18^th place in the league, and help them stay clear of the drop zone.

Youth Alliance Cup Postponed

Gillingham’s under-18 side were scheduled to play against Brentford in the third round of the Youth Alliance Cup on Saturday morning, but recent bouts of heavy rain has meant their pitch will be unplayable.

The decision to postpone the game was taken on Friday afternoon.

Stuart Thurgood Released

Midfielder Stuart Thurgood parted company with Gillingham on Friday, after agreeing to cancel the remainder of his contract.

Thurgood was one of manager Mark Stimson’s first signings, joining on-loan in November 2007 before making the move permanent in the 2008 January transfer window.

In the 2007/08 season he made 12 appearances for the Gills, but after the 4-0 hammering away at Northampton Town in February, Thurgood was chucked out of the side, and finished the season on-loan at Grays Athletic (the club who have currently signed Andy Pugh on-loan).

In August 2008, he rejoined Grays on-loan, and now having been released by Gillingham, he is expected to return to the Essex club for the remainder of the season.

source: www.gillinghamfootballclub.com