I know this may sound harsh and probably is but i don't know if I can bear Peter Taylor for another season. After tonight you can blame referee's and many other aspects for what I witnessed, but I believe I've seen enough now of his tactics, his negativity, his dealings in the loan market, the continued inconsistency of WLWLWLWL <<< lost count. Weston for Linganzi - No Hessy - Playing a game of football ping pong along the back four, its February, its cold and miserable, I might as well blame him for that as well but joking apart... I've seen enough and decided maybe it's time to start afresh for 2014/15 season, hopefully he will and should get the job done of keeping us up in League One but after that I wave... GOODBYE.
brb Not harsh at all ! I will accept that the referee was awful. I could understand the sheffield players being upset when one of their own received a yellow card - pointing to Harriman's challenge early in the game - he should have been carded - but then Mr. Magoo with the whistle easily failed to award us two blatant penalties ( why does this always seem to happen when we're having a poor game ?)............. anyway One of my questions throughout the game was why did PT not give Harriman instruction to be tighter to the wing back ? Time & again Harriman allowed the wingback so much space to get in his crosses ( ultimately leading to the goal ). Despite the referee - in the first half we didn't deserve to be losing. We had plenty of the play & looked fairly comfortable. What did the players have in their half time drink ? - the performance in the 2nd half was terrible - and we have seen it too many times for my liking.............. and was Whelpdale playing for a new contract ? How many times have I said it's not the losing that I hate - it's the lack of effort ( a-la-2nd half ) I won't be able to go to Oldham ( Heathrow instead ) - but I will be following the game closely - I will expect better effort than today - otherwise I can easily become an armchair football fan every other week !
Who do you see coming in? In this position we can only really expect one of two options: a young up and coming manager but one who has only cut his teeth at a lower level (another Stimson) or a mid-level journeyman manager (another Taylor). Neither will be an improvement in my opinion. I don't think Taylor has the players to be able to play his style of football at present, that will come with time.
I agree with BSG on this one, let's gain safety for this season and then Taylor can build a team in the summer.
Whilst I share your thoughts - if you had been watching the second half last night - you would need to be measuring time using a sundial at night - the performance was poor - you are right - we haven't got players good enough for major advancement up the league(s) - but I was more annoyed at the level of effort in the 2nd half - I actually shouted that the team was worse than the referee - the only muted response was from my friends sitting next to me !
I think PT is probably doing as good ( or as bad ) as any other manager coming in after the start of the season, as he has. I think most of his loan signings have been good, especially Hewitt( has he got a 3 match ban?) and Inngs looks exceptional. He was unfortunate to pick up what looks like a hamstring, and I wonder if he would have been better limping off the pitch when he got it ,instead of laying down by the six yard box. All that did was to allow the Sheffield attack to not have to worry about being off side. Inngs would probably have got a yellow for leaving the field of play, but the game would have had to be stopped, because I don't think Barrett or Martin realised he was on the deck. If fact, whist he was laying there Barrett carried the ball out of defence and passed it upfield, and I'm sure he would have booted it out if he had known Inngs was injured. I wonder how many of you would have picked a different side before kick off? I thought it looked quite good on paper and I think Taylor did the right thing bringing on the subs when he did, hoping to give us more attacking options.I thought Harriman had his worst game for us, but he had no-one to take his place at right back. There were hardly any of those scintillating runs that Harriman usually does, and for whatever reason the mid field were very lack luster. Thought Barrett and then Legge when he came on,had good games ,but the rest (except Nelson) didn't stamp their authority on the game, and Whelps definitely looked rusty ( understandable as he's been out for sometime) and Weston was his usual useless self, but the manager can't know how they are going to perform until they cross that white line, and its too late then.As I say, would anyone have made any changes to the team sheet before the game? Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I know my old brain is getting rusty but i was watching the game last night and trying to work out who the heck he was playing. Where was Hewitt, probably still suspended or maybe even injured forbid! Then Smith who was substituted by an even more rustier than my brain, Whelps. Was Smith the one that was ripped apart at Stevenage, I understand the reasons but it don't fulfill me with confidence. We then have another new loan Inniss, ok fair enough he looked reasonably decent for 40 mins but what really any better than Legge or Davies. So many loans to no avail, just ask Ipswich or is it Watford I'm beginning to forget, when even the loanee's have had enough and want a different club. Then there is the Charlton lad Pigott warming the bench. Hessy out again for a poor Linganzi who was replaced by an even more woeful Weston. Conditions not good or too heavy maybe for Hess I hear you say. Please he was the only one with toughness last night to at least run up and down the touchline without tracksuit bottoms, hat and gloves. Jeez half the others looked dressed for a winter storm. I had less clothing on then the so called men running around. And no i'm not kept warm with any winter fat. Then there is Gregory, sorry to slate the special one but i ain't seeing anything special. The tactics were a bit like the chuckle brothers, to me to you. Whooooa guys your 0-1 down, not drawing or even in the lead. Sheffield United were probably sitting back laughing at you. That's ok lads you can keep the ball, like the big kids stealing the ball from the little kids on the local park after school. The ref was diabolical but no worse than what I witnessed out on that pitch from my team. I came away from the game and my lad who is normally pretty pragmatic. His retort as he came away from the game; 'that's a game i would prefer to forget.' How the hell can you suddenly change from 40 mins of effort too that?...what happened at half-time, why was Nelson out early, had he heard enough of pointless verbal in the dressing room, although up until half-time we were not that bad. Then 45 minutes of pure negative Taylor rubbish. Wouldn't be surprised if Nelson said stuff this come the end of the season. I said that PT was inconsistent, actually I'm wrong, I apologise, he is consistent in the guarantee of playing only for one half. In answer to vinney's question, I would have picked a different side, in fact come the end of the season I would be picking a different manager. I don't need hindsight I'm seeing it every other game. So back to winning ways on Saturday I assume against Oldham, to make him everyone's savior again. Please...
Sorry BRB but I really cant agree with you here, I understand you have the clubs best interests at heart but I don't think getting rid of Taylor would actually be in the clubs best interests. This season in my mind has been a write off ever since Martin Allen was given the chop, the new manager was coming into a squad that was evidently thin on the ground in regards to real quality League 1 players and the job could only ever be to keep us up and where are we? Under Taylor we've risen up into the safety of mid table obscurity. No mean feat. You make reference to the WLWLWL record that we have and whilst admittedly its inconsistent at least were getting points, I personally prefer it to the LLLLLL form we had under Martin Allen. The loan market is something that I actually think Taylor has used well and not to be too confrontational here but aren't you directly contradicting yourself by saying he's not brought in enough first team regular players or that they go back pretty quickly. If we bring in loanees that fill first team spots then the youth of the club won't get a first team place so here literally Taylor cant win here. You can't judge Taylor yet, yes he's managed us for the majority of the season but he's had a tough job getting us to where we are now and results had to take precedent over football ideology. When all is said and done I cant see Mr. Scally going for anyone else considering Taylor got us away from trouble and solidified our position in League 1 (Barring a awful end to the season), the sort of thing that is very attractive to a chairman. Also leading on from a point made by BSG, we as fans, are bound to have deluded view of their own club when in all reality we aren't going to attract many candidates who would actually do any better than Taylor, either managers desperate to get back into the game after being out of it for a few years after a succession of failures or someone from lower down the leagues who perhaps naïvely think they can go higher and higher in the game. Changing manager is something we seem to do a lot and whilst admittedly the Chairman as tried to give his managers time at times the change must be made but now, there is no need for a change, I have said before there is no secret to the success of Leyton Orient this year, they have got a manger in given him time to make the squad his own and push on. In the modern footballing world of knee-jerk decisions and constant change, stability is a overlooked art so to speak. However your entitled to your view, as am I, hopefully this is seen to be a debate and not an argument.
gfclukey - A very good post. Opposite opinion but a good one. You ask a question about loans, I might come back to that one in more detail sometime. As is normal for me it is quite lengthy but a shortened version my general priority with some exceptions is our own youth playing for positions before loans. If PT wants to bring a loan player in, please give me a decent left winger in place of Weston or whatever side of the pitch he is playing on these days.
I see both sides of this argument. On one hand he's getting all of these loans in and not giving our own players a chance and we are stupidly inconsistent. And on other we've risen up the table and play more attractive football. It was always going to take a while converting our Route One specialists into more ball players, however at the same time to overlook our own resources in search of others is ridiculous. We aren't made of money and to totally discard players like Allen, Grant and German is just frustrating. My opinion has not changed, keep Taylor til the end of the season allowing him to put himself back in the job market but please hire someone else for next season with a clean slate
brb Do you fancy swapping seats ? Apparently, from the Medway Stand, Peter Taylor doesn't think we gave a "rubbish attacking performance" and that the referee's performance was "decent" I'm fairly certain the roof on the Gordon Road Stand is hindering my vision. Seriously - PT needs to be honest. His first half assessment was accurate. What he needs to say is that we were rubbish in the second half - and I don't just mean in our attacking performance. If he thinks that the level of performance was acceptable we might as well not bother going to the remaining games if its going to be more of the same. - mind you, he must have been desperate when he pinned our hopes of salvation on Weston.http://www.gillinghamfootballclub.com/news/article/peter-sheff-utd-feb-20-1371732.aspx
What a load of ungrateful drivel. PT took over a truly threadbare squad who had achieved 9 points fom 11 games. Relegation certs (said the bookies who always know best). Amazingly, PT has garnered 29 points from 21 games with more or less the same squad playing reasonably entertaining football despite the frustrating shortcomings of several players. If, as seems quite likely, he can keep the Gills up it will be a heroic performance worthy of the freedom of Rochester and a job for life. The statue can follow if the team is still in League 1 in a couple of years. Last night was a reality check against a good side who were better all round but it was not a massive difference.
I think taylors doing enough to keep us up.When he came here thats more than most of us could have wished for.Before the Sheffield game people were actually stating how they were hoping for a play off place.Thats how much he has turned us around.We all agree that he doesnt have a lot of talent to play with so how about us giving him our support for what hes done.
I was with this for a while but I think it is celebrating the mediocre too much. Yes Taylor should be praised for steadying the good ship Gillingham, but staying in L1 is surely the bare minimum we should expect and not glorified as the work of a genius.
+ rep I will accept that I talk drivel - I don't mind your (bristol407) accusation ( as far as it concerns me ) - and I actually admire that you tell me your thoughts 'to my face' I understand that Peter Taylor has achieved a reasonable number of points - but let's not kid ourselves - Allen was taking us along the road to disaster - it was difficult to actually get much worse ! L1 has recently been described as our spiritual home. But surely we should not be content with just 20th place. I actually believe that a club of our 'stature' should be challenging the top 6 places in this league - and with a bit of luck we might return to the Championship. This is perfectly possible. The improvements under Taylor shows that this notion is not so farcical. My frustration centres with the [poor] performance in last night's second half. There wasn't a lot of commitment to try to attack to get the equaliser. Whilst our players are no world beaters, they have proved that they can try better. I've said many times that I have no problems if we lose - but have tried our best. I find it an insult to be served up the drivel we got in the second half. also bristol407 in my earlier post, I posted a link to the GFC OS with PT's thoughts after the match. I don't think that he was being honest with his evaluation - and I find it an insult that he should talk such drivel.
bristol407 I commended Taylor for the fact that he has turned us around however giving him a job for life is nowhere near in the best interests for the club. Taylor often employs negative tactics which cost us games, that and his total dis-regard for his current resources will effectively cost the club more in higher wages. If you want someone who turned a clear cut relegation team into a mid-table League One side then surely Mr Ronnie Jepson should have been given the job for life or have a statue made in his honour too then?
Peter Taylor also got us promoted. I do accept that he had a better team at his disposal, however one cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. The current team would have been totally crushed by the Gills team of those couple of seasons. We have got what we've got and I genuinely think that PT is doing OK……..and once on the pitch it's down to the players.
It is the negativity with PT that is one of the concerning factors. For the supporters to be positive the manager and team have to positive likewise. I know he was being realistic and it is the main goal League One survival and i don't want fake awakenings like MA but he's just gone too far the opposite extreme. It's about getting the balance right. If i employed tactics for any business that would ensure we break even, the expectation from the shareholders would be higher. As supporters we are those shareholders. So what is going to happen once we have achieved 51 points. Ok lads we are done for the season lets give the new blood a run out. Now that's fine by me but its not going to help Mr Scally's purse strings when many a supporter stays at home and he is having to offer more incentives, rather than the tease of chasing a possible play off place. How can we go from League Two Champs to a has been squad. That's not how i feel about the team but that's how its being treated by some supporters. Last season I was frightened to open my gob to speak in opposite opinion of mad dog, this season the reality has proven me right. All for the sake of a tin pot, rather than proper building. Yes, I accept Peter Taylor can be the route to proper building but he really has to dispense with the traits of his own negativity. Like MA on the whole I'm not blaming the players but the manager. He will accept the buck stops with him. bristol mentions the short comings of players but some of the games i've witnessed have not been the short comings of players but negative tactics, how can we go from 30/40 minutes of a reasonable display to 45 minutes of shameful stuff. What happened at half time, something did, hence Nelson standing cold alone. Surely as the man holding the fort between the sticks a team talk takes place as a team or did he feel it was nothing worth noting of importance. A bit like every supporter leaving their half-time refreshments until the team comes back out and enjoying the kids penalty shoot out instead during the break.
I plead guilty to exaggeration for effect. The real point is that Gills were heading for a hugely embarrassing relegation and it is a remarkable turnaround to be even contemplating a mid table end of season. Some people do not know when to feel truly grateful. In terms of ambition, the constraints can be seen from history, crowd size and potential, money (size of the owner's pockets) and relative strength of the local football leagues. None of these bode well for the Gills but there is no problem aiming to the top end of capabilities so long as disappointments are managed sensibly.
