Is anyone else feeling surprisingly content with Taylor as Gillingham manager? I must say that I was very negative about the appointment of Taylor as I thought it was something of a cop out by Mr. Scally and admittedly it seemed a bit silly to give him the job on an interim basis to then only appoint him permanently after a month in which the players and Peter himself may of been nervous about what is to come. However despite not being my first choice when he was appointed, he is now my current favourite to get the job on a long term basis come summer and I am very excited about that prospect. Peter in his time here has taken Martin Allen's somewhat ramshackle squad, made them play more actual football on the ground and has importantly added an element of youth that was previously missing. I know that youth vs experience is somewhat of a running joke due to BRBs crusade but in all honesty it is vitally important to have a strong youth element at this level of the game if only to have assets to sell in the future if you look at Crewe and now Walsall there is a huge youth emphasis there and they are able to reap the benefits of the kids for a few seasons to then sell them for a large fee that can then be invested back in the youth and the club in general. Away from the youth I think the most important thing taylor could bring is consistency, if you look at Leyton Orient, a club I would say we were easily equal to in terms of stature if not slightly bigger, they haven't thrown money around they have simply stuck by Russ Slade not getting too low when its going bad not getting too high when it goes well and they look likely to go up or at the very least be in the play offs and I feel 2-3 years down the line that could easily be us if Peter Taylor is allowed to build a very tidy, young, passing team. Martin Allen's teams seemed to get by on a wing and a prayer but Taylor seems to put the players at ease and encourages good football, without this rapidly becoming a Martin Allen bashing I do feel that Allens only aim was to win the league at all costs and then struggled to get focused this season whereas taylor seems to have a clear plan of what he wants to do e.g. bringing hessenthaler to be the ball player of the midfield and Dack as the all action attacking mid adding a solid yet young foundation to build a team on. I know football can change in an instant but I feel if Peter Taylor can be given the job for a decent 3-4 year spell he could lay the foundation for another golden generation at Priestfield.
I must be honest i'm a bit of funny individual when writing stuff. If i can get myself in the right frame of mind then I can come up with self promoted inspired moments like youth v experience, however, those 12+ months back, I never thought in my wildest dreams how much near the point it was. I stared in the face of opposition to be honest because no one was allowed to speak ill of Martin Allen at the time. I don't do it for the sake of doing it or to cause controversy, i just say what i see and that might not be what the majority may believe. Peter Taylor is starting good in my opinion, Dack & Hessy to support my view. I'm still concerned about his tactics and i worry that if he brings into much young blood how will it affect our current crop. However, as always i will make my judgments as the journey unfolds. So far I'm happy. BUT...there is one important point you make gfclukey, you don't achieve this overnight. We got rid of Hessy a season too soon. He was on the verge. We all have a choice...instant glory like MadDog or long term achievement which we hope Peter Tayor can bring, but this all requires one thing...patience.
The only thing is, those young players he's brought in are loans, so at the end of the season they'll be off, so we won't get anything for them.
I would like to see Peter Taylor acknowledge the supporters more home, away and regardless if we win, lose or draw and bring back the inviting supporters down to the training ground because that was a major hit last season, I went to one of these at the back end of last season and we could speak to Martin Allen, ask him any questions we wanted, watch the players train and also had our pictures taken with the players, When the supporters, manager and players are close together then you feel as one as a club and we really saw that last season, The Supporters Coach arrived early at Accrington and we got to speak to Martin Allen outside the entrance to the away end. Slowly but surely we are putting the building blocks in place, beating Wolves and holding teams like Walsall and Peterborough to draws show that we are improving but what we have to do is make sure that when we get something against the top teams we follow that up with results against the teams in and around us, I do think we have got enough in the squad to stay up because Cody McDonald, Danny Kedwell and Adebayo Akinfenwa have 24 goals between the three of them and do the bottom end of the table the difference between staying up and going down is having someone who can stick the ball into the back of the net. It will be interesting to see what we do in the summer, does Peter Taylor stay on ?, how many players will stay on or leave in the summer ? and who will we be looking to sign ? it would be nice to have someone as Gillingham Manager for 3 - 4 years because Walsall and Leyton Orient have achieved a level of success with a long term plan and stability, should we stay in League One for the 2014 / 2015 season I think our aim will be stay up with a target of trying to improve our league position and points tally on this season, I think we need to stay in League One for a minimum of three season's before we start to talk about challenging for promotion or a playoff spot.
Quick!! Someone's stolen brb's computer.... Seriously, if it works out that we had MA as a quick fix to get us out of div2, then someone who can then help us steadily progress, that has to be a brilliant piece of hiring and firing. It would have been that much harder to just steadily progress out of div2. For a start, us fans wanted instant success. Hence the firing of Hess snr. There would also be the constant nag of "what if we go down?". We could (and have) just about afford to drop from 1 to 2. But if we went into the Conference it might well signal the end of GFC. Thirdly, there just aren't the funds available in div2 with the very much lower crowds. At least in div1 there has always been a smattering of larger clubs to ensure decent away followings. Assuming PT carries on with the good work (and we stay up), then following Hessenthaler with Martin Allen then Peter Taylor might just be the best 2 appointments Paul Scally could have made. And if we do stay up, I would expect Taylor to be given next season as well.
Haha i did question myself when i said it but what i meant is i wouldn't want young loan's coming in and stealing the places of Dack, Hessy and Davies. I think the one point in your comment i would be the opposite view of Sir Keefy is the bit about the Conference. It is a very tough league to get out of but certainly not one to be thought of any lesser than L1 or L2 and i would be very surprised if it signalled the end of GFC. Certainly a few teams i wouldn't mind watching us up against. L2 or Conference much as much the same to me. Non league to league status is certainly easily more accessible than it used to be. Suppose going to the conference would be a real test of Scally's metal. Slightly off topic, sorry lads.
You may be right there brb. I'm maybe thinking more of 10 or 20 years ago, when there was more of a distinction between "league" and "non-league". You are right that nowadays, with quite a few years of automatic promotion between the Conf & div2, there is not so much of a difference, especially in playing standard. There are a lot of ex-league teams down there. Although, we have proved before that we can survive (just) on div2 crowds. I'm not sure we would with maybe 1/2 those crowds in the Conference. Mind you, Luton seem to get bigger crowds down there than they used to in div2 or even div1. It is good that we can discuss this (Conference) with it being just a remote possibility at the moment. I am feeling quietly confident that PT has the know-how to keep us in this div and hopefully improve us (rather than the alternative).
A good point you raise about Conference attendances (Luton). I believe for some teams the attendances do increase at that level, although have no evidence at hand this moment to support that. I can remember Peterborough of old used to have massive gates if you look through the football archives. I feel Gillingham could also be one of those clubs that might have increased attendances at non league level. All the instant glory watchers would be gone and it would be the start of a new dawn so to speak. Back to basics, your bread and butter supporter. I'd love it. Some local fixtures...Dartford, Barnet to name a few few. I've said before many a time i would like to see a region divide of L2 and the Conference combined. ie L2 South - L2 North integrating the Conference. Natural geography might see some teams such as Wycombe opposed to this. I've gone off topic again...< doh >
Peter Taylor long term? No thanks. Win a game, draw a game, lose a game. Its been a constant cycle since he has joined. He deploys far too negative tactics. If Mr Scally wants us to get back to the championship then we need someone with fresh ideas not lets sit back and hope on the off chance we can catch them on the break. Too predictable and costs us matches and points. As to Hess, he had two years to get promotion and still couldn't do it. Says it all.
We seem to have a steady stream of loan signings coming in and out which in my opinion is very short term and disrupts the team (also a luxury not afforded to MA). Overall I've not been very impressed with Taylor and hope hes only with us for the short term.
LENNY!!!! where you been mate, long time no read...really missed yer. Good to see you back Young lads are doing well ain't they...Hessy, Dack...could always rely on the youth couldn't you fella Happy New Year to you Lenny
Haha, this thread sums up us Gills fans pefectly. One 3-0 away defeat and we're talking about the Conference! From reading this thread you would think we were 22nd in League 2, not (lower) mid-table League 1! Give Taylor a chance, he's not going to turn us into Lg1 world-beaters overnight. But yes, Saturday's performance was worrying.
Afternoon brb I'm afraid I've been away a lot but I intend to be posting a lot more regularly. Generally with the polar opposite view of you just for old times sake!!!
Welcome back, keep up the good work Lenny, debate is better with a polar opposite. As for Hansen's well known quote...i will add another (edited) controversial one of his..."the defender warrants shooting for a comment like that".
Surprisingly content? I had no doubts. I thought he was a great appointment, would keep us up and I still think he will keep us up.
