"....Where Gillingham as a football club is becoming a profit organisation only, rather than eleven players trying to win a football game for the passionate fans watching on. If there was one thing that could change, then that would be a moving on period for Paul Scally. Or make Gillingham football club somewhere people want to go and spend their Saturday afternoons, a club other teams fear playing, a club that deserves to begin to rise, with the right motives and people involved. When the Priestfield gets going, there’s no other ground like it." http://www.tibsnews.com/blogs/gillingham-football-club-a-side-held-back-by-its-chairman-paul-scally/
It's a good, honest article. It doesn't really give answers to our problems - but, in fairness, it doesn't claim to have any -nor is it the responsibility of the writer to provide those answers. I don't think that any fan really has the definitive answer. There are aspects about Mr.Scally of which I am grateful - but equally find myself unable to trust him as far as I could throw him. I am sure that, without elaboration, many of us would have our theories on this last point---- I could elaborate - but I feel to do so would only serve to do damage to the Club, and would serve no other purpose. I'm not sure that Mr.Scally 'moving on' would be the answer. I am STILL afraid that this situation would open up a Pandora's box as far as the Club's finances / DEBT is concerned - no matter what the accountants among may say. If Mr. Scally decides he wants to leave - would he have to try to get / wait for, a buyer ??? or would he simply walk away and let the Club sink. The writer is fairly critical of Scally living in Dubai - and only occasionally coming to see the team play. I can sympathise with the writer's sentiments - because I too feel that the Chaiman should 'be there' - but it is his prerogative to spend ( or not ) his money on which air fare he chooses - although conversly one could say that if Mr.Scally is making money out of the Club, he should show it respect by attending on matchday - regardless of where he may live. His absence could indicate that Mr.Scally loves money more than the Club ( I'd be a damned sight richer if I hadn't attended so many matches ! ) I would dearly love to have somebody come along and make a big investment in the Club - but I don't think that we'll ever be attractive enough. Realistically, we are a club destined to be in the lower leagues - with an occasional ( temporary ) miracle of asperations of Championship football. I have always said that I don't necessarily mind THAT - but I would like the team to be a bit more adventurous than in the last couple of seasons - otherwise the Club will not attract customers on a Saturday afternoon. For now I think that I'd rather stick with the devil I know - because I fear that alternative might be NOTHING.
Good read but no matter what Paul scally has done in the past or whatever faults people think of him now, without him buying the club we would never have gone to wembley once never mind three times, priestfield would be a Lidl now or some flats and Peter Taylors choice on match days did get me confused sometimes, the only thing i sort of not understand was the dismissal of Pulis. our best manager next too Martin
My problem with this is that it is very one sided. There is very little attempt to add any positives and it feels like KOL comment on steroids. Too much needless stuff in there like the bit about PS having a Millwall badge on the floor of his swimming pool.
Gemini - whilst I understand your reservations -and can easily agree with you - the writer starts by posing a question about the status of the club as it relates to Mr.Scally. I think that that writer has produced more than enough evidence which casts a doubt regarding Mr.Scally's intentions of the Club. Mr. Scally has been our chairman for a couple of months short of 20 years. If there is a Millwall 'badge' on the floor of his swimming pool, I find THAT strange - when did you last see a manager of a club wearing a coat with the badge of his previous club. Given Mr.Scally's long association with Gillingham, it would make his decoration of his pool all the stranger - it might beg the question; Where does GFC come in his list of priorities - the writer suggests that the Club comes after money - and the writer needs not to apologise for this - because Mr.Scally is the person who dictated the order of that list. As for Mr.Scally 'buying' the club - whilst I am grateful for his business acumen ( without it the Club would have folded in the mid 90s ) - he hardly emptied his wallet in paying off the creditors a few pennies in the £ ( showing from the start where his priorities lay ) - I almost feel ashamed for selfishly being grateful for a club to support , whilst those who were owed a lot of money were persuaded by Mr.Scally to lose a lot of their money.
This is a pretty unfair and slanted article and fits the usual Gillingham idiocy of not being beware of what you wish for. i am no Scally fan and in my opinion what he did to Taylor was an act of monumental stupidity, but others disagree. However I do have some respect for Scally. He makes no secret of the fact that he will not put money into the club and since he owns it he is entitled to run it his way. He wants the club to be successful and so long as this does not conflict with his own interests, for most things what he wants and what the fans want coincides. He also says he will sell if someone wants to buy and although this is a bit disingenuous when he sets the sale price, it is still a fair enough approach. The key question is would anyone else do the job better? The answer is theoretical since we do not know of any buyer but the probable answer is no, and it might be a whole lot worse. The key thing is that the club is really Scally's pension fund and one day in the not so distant future he will want to cash in at whatever price he can achieve. For the moment we should be grateful that he is there.
bristol407 I am confused ! How can you claim that the article is unfair - on whom ? The Club ( probably - not that it can do anything about it - the article is primarily about Mr.Scally -any criticism inferred on the Club is regrettable - but unavoidable due to association with PDS) or Mr.Scally ( definitely not ) YOU have gone on to make comments that clearly supports the writers affirmation as to what Mr.Scally wants out of the Club ( and as a businessman I don't blame him.) I suppose from a selfish viewpoint I hope that the Club exists until I have to take a more celestial position.
I pretty much agree with Bristol. The article, whilst being written and well articulated, was completely one sided and essentially pointless. It is simply one man's rant against imagined wrongs committed by the clubs chairman and ignores all the constructive things that Scally has done for the club, such as reigning over the most successful period in the clubs history!! That is completely ignored because the Scally has the nerve to suggest moving the stadium out of a site that will ultimately limit the expansion potential. So what if Scally is a Millwall fan, do you think every chairman is fan of the club they chair? We had a fan at the helm with Smith and the club nearly went under!! An excellent plan!!
I struggle to see how this is a must read, if this guy is a gills fan there's some holes in his memory never mind his argument. I'd be willing to bet money that the writer of the article is in attendance of a college aiming to study a journalism degree? 2/10.
BSG The writer of the article obviously has an 'agenda' - but has stated certain facts ( albeit that they may well be a little one-sided ) I recognise that Mr.Scally came to GFC at a time they needed a shrewd businessman - and - to his credit, he used his expertise to persuade creditors who were owed a lot of money to accept pittance - to keep the Club alive. ( Well done and thank you.) Scally, the Club and fans then had the good fortune to have success never before seen. I'm not entirely certain how much credit should be given to Mr.Scally - but to be kind, let's call it a lot ! ( plus a fair deal of luck with a few home-grown gems ) Now,I'm entirely on the side of PDS in his quest for a new stadium - we simply cannot hope to EVER progress in our present venue. I am sure that Mr.Scally has had enormous trouble in this quest - and its' fruition doesn't look any time soon. And to be further fair to Mr.S, we, the fans, cannot really understand the politics etc that is involved - but the quest surely cannot be conducted via long distance over different time zones ! I suspect that we reached an impasse on this subject -waiting for an unexpected bit of luck and co-operation from local authorities and somebody with a lot of money - the writer should recognise this and accept that sometimes Mr.Scally is not in control of destiny. Maybe the writer has hinted that the chairman should not be allowed to live in one of the World's most expensive countries - at the expense of yours truly ( and a few thousand others ). I have said that the chairman is permitted to spend his money as he likes - but also qualified it by saying that some more of that money should be spent in coming to all the games - perhaps then he would be able to see the total extent of the on-field problems we have. There have been plenty of other incidents that have attracted adverse publicity for the chairman and GFC - we all know some of these high profile matters - and, to my recollection, all the incidents have concerned Mr.Scally. Mercifully the writer has not included these dark times in the text - and thereby further embarrass the chairman. The writer ridicules the Brian Moore Stand - I'm not sure if it's fair to do so - because I wouldn't really want Scally to spend a disproportionate amount of money on the Town End - but I think the writer is including this aspect as further 'evidence' that Mr.Scally may be more interested in putting money into his own pocket rather than the Club. The article may not be bursting with positives., but there are probably acceptable points of the article as well as the more cynical viewpoints. Human nature being what it is, finds it easier to criticise than to praise especially when things are not going right. Mr.Scally is in a position of power - but with that comes responsibility. The infrastructure of the ground may have greatly improved in the time that Mr.Scally has been chairman - but to most fans their idea of improvement is on the pitch - we seem to be heading for the same division that Mr.Scally found us in 1995 whereas our illustrous chairman has moved onto exalted climes. The writer has chosen to kick Mr.Scally when he is personally up, looking down. .
Always right - a good honest article ? Are you having a laugh ? This is about the most one sided load of complete claptrap aimed at Paul Scally that I have ever had the misfortune to read. Some of the personal stuff is laughable. Apparently PS only attends high profile games. Really ? Apart from anything else this demonstrates that the writer of this rubbish doesn't attend games. Because if he did he would know that PS is in the directors box for at least half of all our home games. I haven't got the energy to respond to his points one by one. However, I would just ask one question. There were two other similar sized clubs to Gillingham that were in the Championship at the same time that we were. They were both hit by the same sort of financial problems that we were. They both over extended in the same sort of way that we did. They both have similar backgrounds to us with historically similar crowd levels. Those two clubs are Stockport County and Grimsby. Ask yourself where they are now. For one I think that PS has done a more than ok job in keeping us afloat and where we are in the league. I pray to God that rubbish articles like these don't end up wth him packing his bags and going elsewhere because I don't see a queue of wealthy investors wanting to take us on. If there were so many people around gagging for the opportunity to put money into football clubs why are Grimsby and Stockport in the position they are ?
Waldogills - welcome ( where have you been for 8 months ? ) I found nothing to laugh about in the article. I have given further comment about its' content - and a different 'slant' on the article, with some of my more 'balanced' views about the business dealings of Mr.Scally. The article may well have been written with an agenda in mind - to pick up on negatives, and criticise Mr.Scally, but it could have dragged up even more dirt ! My other replies in this thread state that it is in human nature to be critical when things are going wrong - hence the timing of the article. I concede that the article is one - sided - but not all positives are missing - and the quoted negatives are FACT - wether they are enjoyed by you, me or Mr.Scally. Mr.Scally chooses to be a tax exile - and thereby does NOT attend all games ( FACT ). He does NOT miss the 'big' games - FACT ( his prerogative ), but I'm not sure I can give Mr.Scally much credit for attending half the games ( your quote ) - when he urges us fans to come to ALL the matches - even on a cold Tuesday night in January. The history of other football clubs are not the subject of the article. I could actually use a contrary argument regarding the surprising success of a couple of clubs of similar size to Gills who have enjoyed football at a much higher level. I accept that the article may have 'cherry picked' some of the more negative aspects of Mr.Scally and his business dealings at and with Gillingham, I have probably more sympathy with the sentiments of its' author than do you - but if you fully read my reply ( No.10 above ) - you will see that I have given 'disagreement ' with some of the article. Each paragraph of the article contains mainly facts. I will concede that such a production of a piece that concerns itself with such factual negativity, does little to enhance the morale of the fans - but the article WAS written and offered for comment. I did not like to be reminded of so much negativity - but have respected its' factual accuracy - let's hope that our fortunes can change - to give the writer a chance to report on more pleasant issues. I too do not see too many people smashing down the door of Mr.Scally's office to offer wads of cash. I have always maintained that the club I love will always be very humble - I haven't got a problem with that - no do I have a problem with a businessman who is successful - but I share 'misgivings' that are apparent in the article - that Mr.Scally had done well for himself whilst the Club is going back to Division 4, when Mr. Scally arrived. Despite our downturn in football fortunes, Mr.Scally has prospered and is obviously a very shrewd businessman - to protect his acquired wealth. ( not that we wouldn't all do the same ! ) Maybe you may think that this is none of the business of the author - but it IS our business - because the fans are helping to fund Mr.Scally's lifestyle - whilst I sit here in the cold - not laughing at anything I read about my Club. Let's hope I can have a laugh at 5 pm tomorrow.
I read the title, then i read the first sentence and it said enough to me about the author. I'm quite annoyed by the article to be honest. I'm so tempted to remove it but no one has requested that, so my hands remain tied under the consequence of free speech. But just a clear reminder this is not an anti Scally site, please take this dribble elsewhere in future.
Feel free to remove this post. I am not, personally, "anti Scally"; I have no idea who Matt Clewes is; - but as this is a recent GFC-related post I thought it warranted sharing (dribble or drivel, or not) ...
I think that is a little harsh brb, whilst I don't think the article is particularly balanced I wouldn't say it was anti-scally
Sorry BSG but if you don't think that this article is anti Scally, then I don't think that you can possibly have any critical judgement at all. After all it does start by asking whether he should leave the club. So that's not anti Scally is it ?
Ok let me rephrase that, I didn't think it is absurdly critical of Scally, obviously it was anti Scally, but I thought some of the complaints were valid if a little over done.
The article reads like its gone through Google translate, or been penned by an eager first year -English as a foreign language - student. Has ps wound someone up in Dubai?
Christ, I just wasted 5 minutes of my life that I'll never get back. Where on earth did you get the impression that was a "must read" article glad all over? I personally think it was the most one-sided load of clap-trap I've ever read. And if the posters above are correct that he sounds like a first year journalism student, I think he's gonna fail miserably. I've actually now got a lot more respect for Paul Scally having read that article. Whilst reading all the rubbish I found I kept reminding myself of all the good things he's done. I'm personally glad he's at the helm of our club rather than 60 or 70 of the other chairmen of football clubs. And brb - I don't mind if you want to remove it. But best to leave it there or the anti-PS mob will be all over it like a rash. Probably doing PS more good it being visible and people stating what rubbish it is.
