Whilst excepting that Sunderland are a big club (in league 1) and their squad is assembled at ridiculous sums of money, on the day there will be 11 players on each side. Sunderland will expect to win this game and this will leave all the pressure on them, we have the speed in our team now to catch them on the break.
I don't know Sunderland actual current financial situation, but had read reports they had rung up huge debts since their days in the Prem, one article i saw today suggested in 2016, they had the 13th highest debt in Europe but i didn't really read it much beyond the headline. However, with attendances into the 30k and away grounds in L1 likely to be sold out at more or less every game, then their financial clout will be far greater than penniless Gillingham. This is either going to go as we know one of several ways, an absolute 0-4 tanking, i will never forget that day at Wolves, the closest comparison or home advantage standing us in good stead for an incredible result. I fear the worst and hope for the best, life as a Gills fan as we all know. But as you rightly said grumpygit, we have speed in our team, keep the bloody ball on the ground, stay strong in defence and pray!
We were in debt until the club was sold. However the previous owner sold the club for £40m and took the debt of about £125m with him, so we are now getting back to being solvent. With most of the high earns leaving (22 left over the summer) and of the four left at the club only two being paid ,two of them took their agents advice and have yet to turn up at the club for preseason so the club are holding them to be in breach of contract and not paying them the £30k a week they think they are entitled to! There in lies the root of the problems at the club under the previous owners paying over the odds to get players to join and giving them silly contracts which no other club will match. That apart I still think we have a good squad for this level and I know that we will be a team that everybody wants to beat which means that we will have to play each game as a cup tie and we all know how those can end! As a team Sunderland are starting to play some really nice football under the new manager Jack Ross so expect us to keep the ball on the ground and have players running at your back four and midfielders happy to take on a shot from outside he box. If you are looking for a weak spot I still think we are light at the heart of defence and there is a mistake in there for you to exploit if you can. We have sold out our allocation for this game so you can expect a few away fans trying to get in with you lot, how would you feel about this/
Sunderland have a £30m parachute payment alone, that would put them massively ahead of most in league 1....I think our yearly turnover is about £6.5 to £7m, all that is before you start thinking in terms of £1m plus in shirt sales, then all the match day concessions, 22,000 season ticket sales, we really do live in different worlds. But, But, But, on the day it's 11 players against 11 players, all we need to do is turn up on the day
Thanks for explaining. In regards to away fans in the home, it's to be expected on games like this and does tend to be a bit of the norm. Our two local rivals, Charlton and Millwall on many ocassions have done so, and it normally ends in a bit of extra work for the stewards. However, that's more local differences causing the issues. We had Leeds fans come in the home ends, and personally i didn't have a problem with them, i had a Leeds fan sitting next to me and we engaged in pleasentries. The only time it might kick off is if they go in the Rainham End, they probably might not be welcome. But the family stand - Medway Stand - tend to be more tolerant. In the GRS Gordon Road Stand there are a lot of long term season ticket holders, you're stick out like a sore thumb. So if any of your lads to do it, go in the Medway and keep your heads down, otherwise the stewards might evict you. Enjoy your evening and be gentle on us.
Bring coats as the weather down here changes regularly and you will be certainly open to the elements!
Evening Gills (and Sunderland) fans, took in the match tonight, my first at Priestfield for a while, and what a thoroughly entertaining 90 mins that was. Sunderland certainly have better players than the Gills, and took their chances superbly, but were also assisted by a ref who for me had a bad case if bigger team syndrome and gave most 50/50 decisions in their favour. I think the Gills can hold their heads up high after that the 2nd half was pretty much one way traffic and with a bit of the rub of the green, a 2nd Gills goal at 3-1 could have changed the game and a number of decent chances and decent penalty shout were all had before Sunderland got the 4th with their only shot of the 2nd half? and killed the game off. The fact that the Gills fans cheered their team off at FT after a 4-1 defeat is proof that the Gills were a bit unlucky on the night - I am sure you will play worse than that this season and win. Have a good season
Last night the difference in quality between the two sides was apparent. In the first half some of the football they were playing with their accurate one touch passing would have looked more at home in La Liga than Skybet League One. Max Power who plays their number 10 was miles and above the best player on the pitch supported by Madja who caused our defence all sorts of problems throughout the night, Garmston especially struggling last night for me. In terms of Gills we did actually play some good football and 4-1 is perhaps slightly flattering considering some of the bad luck we suffered. Twice we had the ball cleared off the line, one of which only god knows how it didnt cross the line, and we also managed to hit the post and have quite a clear penalty turned down. At 3-1 we always looked a real threat and if any of those chances had gone in then maybe, just maybe the tables could have turned. Sadly it just wasn't meant to be. Think we can certainly take some heart from the game though. I've seen us play a hell of a lot worse before and there was enough chances there to keep the 2000+ Sunderland fans quiet for large periods of the game.
It's not all doom and gloom!.............. despite the scoreline. The match statistics show interesting figures; Shots on goal - Gills 16 Sunderland 10 Shots on target - Gills 2 Sunderland 4 Corners - Gills 11 Sunderland 3 The statistics won't mean much to anyone who didn't see the game. People tend to look at the final score and make up their own mind; " Oh, I see that Gills got stuffed at home." ............. But, for me, at our level, it's not all about the scoreline ! I accept that Sunderland had players who were more technically better. They moved the ball around very well, and were able to score from their chances - but- ALL of their goals were more as a result of some sloppy defending, and awful individual mistakes. If our defenders are going to make 4 basic mistakes in each game, then we need to start scoring more than we do (should) from our attempts. A combination of unbelievable misses and better defending by Sunderland, and our bad luck didn't help ! Gills ( and most other teams in L1 ), will not be able to match the extra quality of the Sunderland players. Most teams in L1 will be of our players skill level. Gills will always have a different style of play compared with more 'skillful' teams - but - Gills showed that their brand of football, could / should, have achieved a different scoreline. Yes - we could (should), have defended better - and we could (should), easily have scored several more goals -but - despite the scoreline, our prospects for the season as a 'whole', is not all doom and gloom.
Sounds like I missed a great game last night. Not going into the reasons why on a public forum. However, alwaysright is right (as usual) the first thought of any one that didn't go to the game, including me, was 'oh, we got stuffed' - I soon began to realise reading twitter and other social media outlets, including the positive comments on here, that getting stuffed couldn't be further from the truth. I expected to see a melt down and anti Scally rhetoric, I found anything but that, what a fantastic night it sounded and like all 'Cup Finals,' - 'if only.' Keep the faith and up the Gills.
It was a great game to watch. We played very well especially going forward just could not score with some bad finishing and bad luck. Sunderland showed some quality which was expected and scored a couple of good goals with quality finishing. 4 mistakes from Gills.Holy should of saved first one aswell. On the whole though we created a lot and if we play that way we will win more than we lose. Looking forward to next game. Hopefully fans who came will come again as was exciting to watch. Vital we need to extend Eaves contract b4 other clubs start sniffing.
We've now lost 3 games on the spin (EFL cup included) but all 3 could have been so different if we could defend, going forward we are a match for anyone and a joy to behold, defending is a white knuckle ride.
Don't know enough about your players, to really comment, but both full backs were poor last night ,though they were not given much help either. Looked to me that you were short in midfield of combative players, Byrne the only who put in a shift defensively.
Our left back particularly struggled. Usually he's decent going forwards but on Wednesday he had quite an off day. It's also fair about our midfield. Billy Bingham (number 16) played the left of the diamond when normally he plays as a sitting player and that often caused big gaps where he wasn't doing his usual defensive duties. Add to that the player playing at the tip of the diamond (14. Parker) is usually played as a striker, so again wasn't likely to put much defensive work in so we certainly had hampered ourselves in the midfield. We did have a more combative midfielder on the bench in Callum Reilly (13) who did come on in the second half but I think we were already 4-1 down by that point so the damage had already been done.
