Has anyone seen Mr Scally,s report, Gillingham will have a new stadium within 3 years and our sights are set for the Premiership !!!!. Now I have been a loyal fan for now for over 40 years and many times have worn Rose Tinted Glasses. I would love to see my favorite team up there and in Europe, BUT come on Mr Scally, spill the beans, have you been on some sort of Hallucinating cigar or have you sold us out to the King of Dubai ?????? No Man would make a statement like this unless he new more than he was letting on OR Drugged and Drunk !!!! This is a light hearted post but would love to see your thoughts UTG http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22064380#asset
Cheers allbluelenny - I am going to have to give this some serious time & reviewing later of what is being suggested. ps. must have missed this before, just noticed it is about 5-6 weeks old.
http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/205056-Premier-League?p=4544034#post4544034 Thought I recognised this...
Not sure how I missed this interview but here is my personal opinion on it. Firstly I would like to correct Paul Scally on one point. He has never had the whole stadium on his back as 'we want Scally out' - I don't believe I have ever spoken bad of our chairman after all, he saved our club. Secondly but respectfully, I do not share his dream for several reasons. Let us look at Martin Allen, if there is any aim and belief for him to get us to the Premiership why did he not sign a five year contract? Now that can probably be responded with many a reason but commitment and a dream is not being validated in contract terms. Therefore I have to question whether Martin Allen is the man to get us to the Premiership with the said same commitment. Paint it away with argument if you so feel. Thirdly our stadium. It is suitable for our needs. However, I accept that is based on my personal belief we are supporters not customers. No one can truly believe we have a genuine supporter base of more than 11.5k, so why would we need an 18,000+ stadium to stand half empty or a third full in the face of any decline. The most dreaded thought of any genuine supporter is to feel lonely in a sea of empty plastic. Maybe it is needed for financial stability in Premiership football but personally I would like to see the modern face of our game changed. Mr Scally can start by joining the call for safe standing, which will increase the maximum attendance at Priestfield. We have opportunity to lead the way forward at an early stage of our climb or are we looking to be just another marketing brand for the modern game. Martin Allen showed a new face and mentality to drag us out of league two, we need the chairman to share that same bite, that will duly reap him his reward, while at the same time maintaining the face of tradition or can the two not be truly combined in the greed of the modern game. There is no doubting the Chairman's passion but let us not see that in words but in actions that will keep us ageing old moany's happy. If he succeeds he will get his due applauds but if he fails and delivers us with the burden of a white elephant then that shout at the very beginning of this comment, might be heard to come from my lips for the first time ever. All said respectfully but with the seriousness of my passion and beliefs. ps. thanks for the reminder of the original thread superbob, obviously I never missed it first time, always said my memory was bloody terrible.
Scally was certainly on the end of some criticism for the handling of the club when we went out of the Championship...the financial situation was bleak at one stage...but he got us out of it and has put us in a good position. But I think most have stood by him. As for the stadium, I think it's a stroke of genius how he intends to so it. The stadium is going to effectively pay for itself. He's doing what the New England Patriots did but on a smaller scale; Gillette is a huge complex with cinema, restaurants, a hotel and retail outlets...it's a remarkable stadium...and it generates so much money. When they announced their intentions I loved the idea. It's a gamble because they may well sell out the opening game, but until we get back to the championship (if that ever happens) we will struggle to fill the majority of it. However, the money the complex will generate would be great for the club. We shouldn't get in to any financial mess and it could generate some much needed money for the club to push forward. There is the potential for a big club here...look at the Wembley attendances. But until this club starts getting ambitious and moving forward with these ideas, then we will constantly be stuck at this level. Scally has talked up his ambitions for a very long time but he's taken his eye off of that. This stadium could be the thing that propels us forward. As for the Allen deal, I was under the impression a two year deal was more the boards thinking...they didn't want a long term commitment. Providing we don't shoot back down again, I'm reasonably confident we will keep Allen. I would love for us to do a ground share as well. The Broncos have talked up moving, and there were rumours they want to share with Gillingham and bring a rugby league team to Kent. I'm not sure how popular it might be but I for one wild love it. I was living in Lincolnshire when Hull got their double promotion. Clubs with small histories can do well under the right management and conditions. Theirs is a great story made possible by a chairman with a plan.
Damo666 - welcome to the board and thank you for what I see as some very valid opinions, which is needed to move this club forward and one's that I hope our chairman at least reads for thoughts from the supporters if we are allowed a say. Not suggesting he would read not606. I would like to cover a few of your points if I may. Ground share: I am not a supporter of rugby, hence it has no attraction to me, however, I know many people enjoy this sport therefore I bow to such an idea as a community objective. I would prefer to ground share with another sport such as rugby, than ground share with another football club - accept in desperate temporary financial support of a lower league team. The only concern I see with ground sharing with sports such as rugby, would be the care of the Priestfield turf. Probably a minor point and one that should not obstruct any financial support. Martin Allen's contract: I cannot remember the terms re 'boards thinking' in regards to Martin Allen's two year deal but if the board's view differs from the Chairman's, then that would be one of concern for me. I don't know more to the background of it so cannot expand on that, other than the interview gave an apparent three year plan and yet by pure assumption of your thoughts, the board is only a short sighted two years. I have said before if Martin Allen is as every supporter appears to be suggesting the right man for the job, then this needs to be rectified in contract terms if possible. New Stadium: You add valid points on why a new ground would not end up a white elephant, however, that does not appease my fears to which you appear to agree that we might end up in an half empty stadium. Your points in regards to complex just remind me of Oxford but a big no thank you, not for me. Over priced, over marketed., cold souless areas which is already destroying the working class game. It all looks nice on plans and maybe once built I will have a change of heart. Not that I will have a choice. I suppose people would need to highlight to me similar developments and the pros and failures of clubs that have gone this route.
