Gills have given Hessy a 4 year contract but I bet it is on a very low wage. So there is no risk on Gills part and hopefully when he plays more games I expect his contract to be increased in wages. I agree with brb that we do need young players to be given a chance to play in the first team instead of so many loan players stopping there progress. You cannot judge a player when he plays 5 or 10 minutes. Who remembers Jarvis debut for Gills when he came on, he was light wait and kept falling over.
Could someone answer my other point as to why Hess has been given a new contract when PT said that there would be no contract negotiations until safety was secured? Could this have a detrimental effect on other players who's contracts are nearing the end? Or does no one else see that there could be issues? I know I'd be upset if I had been told that there would be no new contracts for anyone until safety was secured and then it was announced that someone had been given a 4 year deal before aforementioned safety had been achieved.
It's a fair enough question and one I would struggle to answer. I couldn't remember reading the original comments so had to go and look for them and found them here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25871172? PT's contract is currently only until the end of the season, hence it would see strange he makes the decision on future players until his own fate is own. I can only express an opinion as if I was Chairman of the club, Hessy's signature would be assured of being offered pen to paper if I owned the club. After all for a four year deal this approval would only be secured on my say so, not on that of a manager who may only be around for the average life expectancy of two years. That's the trouble of speaking to the media but you have to question who's calling the shots if PT didn't know this at the time of opening his mouth, either that or the BBC are mis-quoting/reporting or PT did not think through the full context of what was being said on the spot of the moment situation. Although I find the latter harder to believe because those thoughts would have already have been in his head.
I think maybe the youngsters (ie Hess, Dack etc) might not be included in the general statement "no new contracts till we're safe". There is a bit of a difference between general 1st-teamers (who i imagine the comment was aimed at) that are on maybe their 2nd, 3rd, 4th club, on quite decent wages and would be looking to secure their futures. As compared with the young players who have their careers ahead of them regardless of whether we stay up or not and are probably on lower wages. Coupled with the 'general' player who's not going to get us a big fee (or any fee) if they move on, whereas the likes of Hess & Dack, if they left it would probably be for a hefty fee because of age. So it makes very good sense to tie them to long deals, rather than a player who's on good money, and still on that money if we drop a division. Maybe PT shouldn't have made such a sweeping statement, but I reckon the likes of Whelps, Leon, Gregory etc wouldn't be upset just because we've signed Hess long term. I hope not anyway. <edit> I rather wish PT hadn't made the statement purely because I think it would be very good business to extend Cody's contract. But if it was extended now, that might put some noses out of joint. I get the impression Cody & The Gills just fit perfectly and I think (if we keep him) he will be our main goalscorer for many seasons.
SirKeefy - excellent post and one my own thoughts agree with, covering the points better than my earlier post.
Just to clarify that I don't think it is wrong to give Hess a contract, I'm not questioning that, what I am questioning is the decision to release that information to the public when you have made previous statements as already mentioned. Sir Keefy, I understand what you are saying but why only Hess????? Why not all the youth players that deserve a contract extension??? In the past these announcements are usually made as a bulk thing. Or is Hess the only youth player deserving of a contract until then? It's just inviting people to say "well it's only because his dad is good friends with the chairman and manager and is a club legend!" Would have been much better for the club to have withheld this information until a later, more appropriate date.
its obvious Hessy has been given a contract now because he's young and looking at a bright future hopefully with the Gills. Its so that if over clubs come sniffing we can get a bigger transfer fee. The other young players will be either given academy places or 1/2year contracts in the coming months with the rest being released.
Sorry to say totally agree with Gemini on this young Hess is nothing special in my view this all about who his father is and the old boy network. Yes he is good and one to watch but all perspective is lost in my opinion. Would love to be proven wrong.
I think PT said in a recent interview about the Hess deal, that he thinks Hess Jnr is technically a better player than his dad, he just needs to get Hess Snr's tenacity, drive, steel etc to become as good a player. So PT obviously rates him very highly and why he's been extended maybe. Gemini, I agree about maybe the manager should not have made that statement public. But I also agree with whoever above said that it's probably to give the players a gee-up to keep playing well till seasons end. And as for the other youngsters and them not being offered longer deals, are any of them (apart from Bradley Dack) close to first team action? I know one or two have warmed the bench, but who else do you think should be offered a long term deal? Who else looks to be a 'real prospect'? There seems to me to be a large gap between Hess/Dack and the rest of the youth team players. I don't think many fans think of Hess & Dack as youth team any more. They are basically young 1st-teamers now. Hopefully there are a couple more about to make that step up. <edit> about the fans maybe thinking "only Hess is being signed because of his dad". I can't see PT putting his career and reputation on the line by signing a player long term unless he thought he would do the business on the field. I also don't think Scally would splash cash on a player just because of his dad. Whatever you think of PS, he definitely holds the purse-strings tight.
From what I've seen of Hess he controls the ball well, his passes are intelligent and find the target, he isn't scared of a tackle. Not the finished article by any means but he's young and improving all he time, this contract just means he can't be stolen by anyone without a sensible fee.
Agree grumpygit, all those words are attributes of Hessy and several you missed, observation, alertness, none of this head down waiting for something to happen. He's a thinker, plans ahead the game play, this is why he is not picking up any yellows.
I've just been having a look back at the apprentice names that signed contracts back in around March 2012, to check on progress since then, they were: http://www.lfe.org.uk/news/gills-offer-six-apprentices-deals Hessy - Now first team regular Dack - Now first team regular Josh Hare - CB currently on the bench Nathan Nyafli - Sad news about his injury that will now keep him out the game, saw him at Burton Jack Parter - LB ? did spend a loan period at Ramsgate, not sure where he is now George Humber - Forward ? I think he was released the same time as Jack Evans
