please log in to view this image please log in to view this image It wasn't to be for Gillingham who came up short against a Chesterfield side who proved too much for the Kent side and secured a 3-1 victory, ensuring their Champion status. Whilst the majority of the 10,000 fans were in ecstasy, the Gills contingency were left to rue a series of sloppy home performances which ultimately proved pivotal to any chances of making the play-offs. Over 1,000 loyal fans travelled from Kent in the hope of seeing Gills gain any kind of result which would of in hindsight, meant that Gills would have earned their place in those elusive play-off places. It was certainly a nervy encounter for both sets of fans, and with the pendulum of the game swinging one way and then the other, the game was impossible to call. After a goalless first half, the Gills were left to lament not capitalising on early second half pressure as Danny Whitaker took advantage of a mix up in the Gills defence to open the scoring on 54 minutes. The Gills refused to go down without a fight and equalised 12 minutes later where the kinetic partnership of Cody Mcdonald and Bayo Akinfenwa proved fruitful again as Bayo played through for Cody to notch up his 25th league goal of the season. With results going the Gills way, the table stood with them sitting in the final play-off position with 20 minutes to play. Chewing your finger nails during a game of football is never promising, but that was the sort of day it was and just as I thought the Gills might sneak in, that man Jack Lester restored the lead for Chesterfield who took command of the game. The Gills huffed and puffed, but couldn't get back on level terms and 5 minutes later, the Gills defence capitulated once again and Deane Smalley completed the scoring ensuring their position at the top of league 2, and conversely Gills narrowly missing out on the play-offs. So what now for the Gills. Despite the feeling still being raw, its vital to take the positives from the season. Although the first half of the season was one to forget, Hess managed to pull the side together and get them playing a brand of football that eventually proved most fruitful and meant that Gills played the second half of the season in great form and remarkably going on a 16 match unbeaten streak. Admittedly, we should have secured a play-off position from the position we were in going into the final 6 games of the season, but it wasn't to be and I feel that with some much needed deadwood being let go, and the chance for Hess to bring in his own calibre of player, we can push on next season.A lot of the side are still from Stimson's time, and it's no coincidence that these players are in my opinion, the ones who have let us down this season. Fuller, Julian and Nutter have quite simply not been good enough and Gowling didn't finish the season well at all. It's now time, for the management staff and Chairman, to sit down and assess how the club can move forward. To suggest Hess should be sacked is ludicrous as we need stability at the club and I feel confident in Hess being able to go at least one better next year. Its also frustrating to hear cries for Scally to leave, which again is appalling to hear. These few fans need to seriously think before making such comments. If Scally were to leave, the club would be in free fall and it wouldn't surprise me if we went the same direction as Lincoln and Stockport. Who would want to invest in Gillingham? The answer is no one. I can understand the frustrations from the fans, but lets get real. With the likes of McCammon being released and hopefully 3 or 4 more, Hess should have some much needed for wages which he can utilise to the best of his ability. Next season is the year to judge Hessenthaler as he will have the opportunity to fully incorporate a squad with his 'type of player.' Our main focus now should be to extend the contract of Akinfenwa and somehow hope that we can find some funds to sign Cody, that seems doubtful though. As the cliche goes, theres always next year and I do hope that with the right signings, we can have enough next season. Now, enough of my opinionated comments, what did you think of today? And what would you like to see happen now we know that Gills will be playing league 2 football again next season? Congratulations to Chesterfield on winning the title and good luck to the respective teams contesting the play-offs.
Good article batch. In my personal opinion, I don't think we deserved make the playoffs for 3 reasons. 1) Considering we were third bottom after almost half the season, Hessy had done very well to reverse our away form and to put us in this position. 2) The football played from what I'd seen had been poor at times and we have had so many opportunities to cement ourselves in the play offs but have messed up which is why we're in this position. Yes we went 16 games unbeaten but how many of them were late equalizers? Accrington had not been amazing but they've had a fantastic home record which is why they're 5th. We could easily have been in their position if we got our act together at home over the last 5 games. Quite frankly if we conceed 4 goals at home to two, let's be fair, rubbish teams then we don't deserve to be in the playoffs. 3) I think if we'd have got in the playoffs and got promoted, I don't think we'd have done any better in League 1 than last time because I don't think the squad is as good as it was under Stimson. We have relied too much on Cody and Bayo and our defence has been shocking this season. Whether we went up or stayed in League 2, I think defensively we need a big clearout. I'd get rid of Julian, Fuller, Nutter, Sinclair, Gowling, Oli, Spiller, Cronin and McCammon and replace them with consistent league players. I'm resigned to losing Cody regardless of where we are so I reckon Hess should do everything he can to get someone like Birchall from Dover. Maybe Stefan Payne could be the answer? If we can keep Bayo, get another 20 goal a season striker and have a strong defence, we can easily challenge for the title next year. In regards to Hessy, I think he put too much pressure on himself and the club with everything that was said at the start of the season. Hessy was appointed because with his relationship with the fans, he can stay for the next 5 years where he can build his side. The target for him is to get us in League 1 and to stay there for a few years and look to push for the Championship. A Pulis/Taylor/Hess era won't happen again in the near future. I would rather stay in League 2 for a number of years like Chesterfield have and have a proper go at promotion where we can stay in League 1 comfortably. That is the target for Gillingham Football Club
I did not got to today's game, however I certainly went to our last four home games, where we only achieved two points out of a possible twelve. Not promotion material by any stretch of the imagination, so disappointed but not disheartened, after witnessing an appalling start to the season, eighth is more respectable than, when we were staring at the drop zone. What was the point in going up this season anyway, we would have only come straight back down, building false hopes. Time to rebuild, time for a total clear out with the exception of a few, let's start with the defence or would it even be the mid-field, time to face raw facts, we leaked twelve goals in the last four games. Looking forward to another season with Hessy in charge but he needs to work with a smaller but stronger team - one last hope, get rid of the hoof ball. Chesterfield deserved champions.
Oh where to start, ???????? Strangely I have mixed feelings, I'm disappoint at missing out, yet again, by goal difference but i'm actually relieved that we don't have to go through with the playoffs. I feel that we have not achieved what we were capable of, missed opportunities, poor decisions have been made at times. There have been short comings on all sides, management, players and fans. There are a few things I'd like to see over the close season and going into the new season. 1 Hessy stay as manager, I personally believe he will be able to take us forward, I also don't think anything can be achieved if you keep changing managers. 2 what to do with the squad, who to keep, who will go???? Who can we bring in? I just don't know. For people coming in I would possibly like to see people who have constantly performed, maybe not spectacularly, at league 2 or league 1 level. But I don't go for this view of "all players who have played non league are rubbish nonsense" so I wouldn't be too disappointed with a couple of good non league players. 3 hopefully there will be a little less of the unrealistic expectations that we had this season, some people appear to think we should win every game 5 nil without even trying. Every point has to be earned the hard way as nothing is given easily. There's no denying that our worst results came teams that people expected us to win. 4 next season we need to look to the next game and only the next game. During both of our worst periods of the season, beginning and end I feel there was more focus on promotion than there was on who we were actually playing, and we came unstuck. There is so much more going on in my head that I can't quite put into coherent sentences at the moment. So I'll leave it here for now. One last thing I would like to comment on is my disappointment in how many of the fans have been this season, I don't think we have helped at times. All season there has been way too much negativity and fickleness. I doubt the players have missed what has been said, in the stands, on forums and on other media like kentonline, all season. There's too much in the way of personal attacks on people at the club and not enough getting behind people when things don't go right. For me personally I find it very hard to get the best out of me when people that should be backing me, encouraging me and supporting me are doing the complete opposite. So more than anything else, next season, I would like to see each and every Gills fan get behind the chairman, manager, players and back room staff because the only way we can move forward is if we all pull together.
Good article, and in general I concur with the opinions offered. Because of where I live (Rochdale) and financial considerations I only get to a few 'local' games each season, and so can't really offer an arguable opinion on which players should stay and which should be released based on regular viewing. However I did make it to Chesterfield yesterday (despite the best efforts of the Gillingham ticket office, but that's another story) and saw a side that whilst not exactly playing to the highest standard was certainly more cohesive that the first time I saw them this season at Bury. I do hope that some way can be found to keep Cody, his words and more importantly his actions are those of someone who has taken the club to his heart, and his workrate cannot be faulted. A team needs a player who they can rely on to score 20 goals in a season, and if Cody isn't going to be that player next season then they quickly need to find someone who will be. Based on what I have seen in L1 this season, I agree it is better that Gills consolidate in L2 and hopefully bring through a few of the younger players (assuming of course they are good enough) to play as a team. L1 is going to be a very strong league next season, despite the departure of Brighton and Southampton. I know that in the lower divisions these days contract lengths are relatively short - 1 or 2 years is a standard - but a promoted side needs to be able to have a core of good players that it is going to be able to retain in the first season in the higher division, and the Gills do not have that core at the moment. I do think that too much 'long ball' is being played, and this is something that has come in over the past couple of years. When Gills played Rochdale in the L2 playoff semi-finals in 2008-9, and in the final against Shrewsbury, their passing game was of a pretty high standard for that league. I'm not suggesting that they should try to play like Arsenal - a good long ball can be more effective than lots of pretty sideways and backward passes - but more variety in the way that the ball is played out of defence makes a team harder to play against. As far as support goes, I don't know what happens at home games, but the Gills away support in this region this season has been superb. To get 3-400 at Accrington, before the 'away games without a win' sequence came to an end, was remarkable. I'm sure there were a number of other Northern based supporters there, but a large number made the long journey to what is, frankly, ground that's hardly fit for the Conference. Nevertheless all credit to Accrington for making the best of what they've got as far as a team is concerned. Fans are allowed to display their disappointment. It's all very well players and managers say that they know they're not doing as well as they should / having a bad game / etc., but at this level gate money is a significant proportion of the clubs income - the supporters pay their wages. If you cock up at work, knowing that you've cocked up isn't going to prevent your boss from telling you that you've cocked up. He's just letting you know he's on your case, (for the purposes of political correctness, where the male gender is used the female gender may be substituted) so continuing to give unequivocal support for a team that's playing badly is tantamount to approving that level of play. At the start of a game, any game, support will be 100%. After that it's up to the team to justify the amount of support that they get for the remainder of that game. So that's it for this season. I must admit I got back home yesterday feeling pretty fed up, I suppose being so close the playoffs for 5/6ths of the game and then being nowhere near actually getting the required result at the end was the reason for that, but in the cold clear light of a new day the real situation becomes more clear. However the opportunities for watching next season are more limited - Bury are definitely up, Stockport are definitely down, so it might be once more sampling the delights of the Crown Ground if Accy lose out in the playoffs, or heading futher afield to Bradford (in fact not too far), Macclesfield and Crewe. For Andy Hessenthaler this season might be over, but next season starts now.
1963/64 - Gillingham finished the season as champions of the Fourth Division, conceding only 30 goals. 2010/11 last 5 games, F7 A12. Success is built from the back.
Merlin, let's not forget the 1995-96 Div 3 promotion season, when Big Jim let in only 20 (I think) goals during the entire 46 game season! Unfortunately, I'm not sure we'll ever have a manager as good as Tony Pulis again. And just look at what he's doing nowadays! !
I suppose we could do with two new centre backs. I thought we might have had a chance of Darren Dennehy if Barnet had dropped out of the league. I liked the look of the Morecambe centre back who looked like Colin Hendry - anyone know his name?
Quite right Hoadie! I hear that Norwich City have a couple of young, pacey strikers, who might not necessarily be needed in their Premiership campaign next year...
Yeah one by the name of Cody McDonald and also Korey Smith maybe, Chris Martin would not be bad either.
Not expecting too much next season. Don t think we will have a better team than this season especially upfront. Unless we can some good loanies like Cody, we will struggle with Swindon, plymouth and Crawley favs for promotion .
