Mixed emotions on this one, a legend who loves the club and has an eye for a good player but can't help feel we are just going round in circles
I hope your right henrygills, last time they were together saw us promoted, now that's one circle I'd like to complete.
Good appointment in my opinion clearly can spot a good player and may perform better as assistant manager without the pressure of being the main man. I know he's been manager twice and his last two years weren't complete successes but if we were offered a man who guided a club to there best ever finish and recently managed A club to just outside the play offs you'd definitely take him as a number two! Inevitable to see Hess return but not a bad thing at all!
Out of the three main stories to come out today, this is the only one that's disappointed me, I expected it of course, but it's utterly ridiculous! The 'Never look back' motto could not be further from the truth when it comes to us, I await the arrival of Junior Lewis or Nicky Southall aswell! It shows a distinct lack of ambition and I can't see it helping Jake Hess either. On a more positive note, the signings of Glenn and Aaron Morris sound okay. Glenn Morris has got over 100 football league appearances and Aaron sounds a good versatile player!
Not really sure what is ridiculous about appointing Hessy as assistant manager. Taylor is clearly a better coach and Hessy better at spotting the talent. Unless I am mistaken didn't he bring Cody, Bayo, Lee and Whelpdale to the club to name just 4. Whereas look at some of the distinctly average loan signings that Taylor brought in last season, I'm not sure Donervon Daniels or Connor Smith will live long in our memories. Hopefully Taylor has the tactical nous and ability to get the players fit that was Hessy's downfall
One of the most astute ones for Hessy had to be Gazza. From nothing to Prem league within a year wasn't it?
Cody has to be up there as well even though he got him on loan, Paul Scally even said that after he told Hess he couldn't stop the Simeon Jackson deal he asked immediately about the possibility of getting Cody as part of the deal. Decent enough manager just became a victim of his own success as a player with everyone expecting too much from him from the start.
Good seeing Hess back. I can't fathom the "utterly ridiculous" and "lack of ambition" comments liam. Signing someone with 9 years of managerial experience in 3 different divisions (including the championship), who knows the club inside out (as well as the manager and chairman), and a decent eye for a player as well as a decent coach. Oh, and recently employed scouting for EPL bound Burnley. Why would that be showing a lack of ambition? What kind of person as our assistant would actually be showing 'ambition'?
It shows a lack of ambition because we're going round in circles, we NEVER move on from the past, we're just stuck in this poxy bubble of recruiting the same old faces! Hess failed last time he was here as manager with a bigger budget than Allen had, didn't even make the play offs! Yes he succeeded in the championship but that was ten years ago, times have changed! I'd like to make clear I have naf all against Hess as a person, he's Gillingham through and through and will go down as one of if not the greatest Gillingham player of all time but that doesn't mean we should keep recruiting him every 2/3 years when we're looking for a different option! I have the same opinion of Peter Taylor but let's not go into that aswell . The kind of person that would be showing ambition would be an ex player looking to get into coaching, I don't know who but there are options out there! Is Hessenthaler for the umpteenth time really the best we can come up with?!
I think it was pretty obvious it would happen. At this stage my only concern, as previously mentioned, is if it will stunt Jake's development. Time will tell if Hess will be a decent number 2 or not, no-one really has any idea what influence Schofield had on the team, i guess we will find out in due course.
Where do you get the idea Hess had a bigger budget than Allen? the complete reverse is true, partly because of the overpaid dross on long contracts, why do you think Hess had no backroom staff ? because he had to choose backroom or players. If you don't like Hess that's fine it's your right to do so and I respect that, but don't just invent "facts" to strengthen your dislike.
So the appointment of someone with no coaching or scouting experience, and no qualifications would show more more ambition than appointing a qualified coach who has managed a club to its highest ever league finish and has recently been employed by a team who have just been promoted. If you add in to the equation the passion that he clearly still has for our club then this appointment makes sense to me.
lets just wait and see what the season brings,I have to say I'm a little more excited at Hessy's arrival as no2 to Taylor. As mentioned by several others he has a knack of bringing in good players and as he is only going to be Taylor's assistant whats the problem ?? Hess can be involved in the coaching and scouting new players and leave all the tactics to Taylor.
Peter Taylor managed the England U21 side on two separate occasions to suggest he can't pick young talent is ridiculous. This is a pointless appointment we know what Hessy is about already very pationate about the club. I can only assume the budget was small and he was the best of a very poor bunch that's applied. Perhaps Ron Hillyard will come back as goalkeeping coach next??
I'm fighting a losing battle here really because so many people are content with the same old faces, I know Hess is passionate about the club and he's a top bloke, that I'm not disputing, I'm disputing the fact that we consistently go back to him all the time instead of trying something innovative! As stated above we'll have to see how it pans out, hopefully Hess can help PT recruit the right players!
Interesting topic and one in which that I'm probably partly sitting on the fence. So let's look at both sides of it, firstly I agree with liangfc that we do have this tendency to go round in circles, whereas imo if we had stuck with the original we could have achieved the same goal by now. With the exception of MA breaking the 50 year mold. I'm not knocking Scally but some of this lays with him and his decisions. I always felt Hessy was on the verge of achieving a much longer term aim, although whether is style would have stood the test of time I'm unsure. But there is no doubting Hessy has a couple of good qualities, he is excellent as a scout and he looks to the youth, albeit sometimes when leaving himself cornered. Therefore as an assistant manager we could do far worse. I support this appointment in that as assistant his weaknesses in strength of command as a step below will not be an issue. I am slightly concerned how his impression will reflect on to his son but I think we have two sensible heads here that have come thus far. So what for the future, I have my subdued head on (reflective) - it appears on face value quite a tantalising as long has it does not turn into another Dover. So in summary Full Circle I agree with liam but I'm also in grumpygit's coffee camp, let's not invent stuff to put Hessy down, he's a good bloke, a good scout and not a bad manager, it was just from time to time he needed a little support, Q PT.
With some people management comes naturally with others it requires a build up of management experience with guidance at that level, not quite what i mean but the best words i can find to describe what i'm trying to say is we learn by our mistakes. Hence why i am happy of sorts to see him as an assistant. I think the thing that grates on me a bit is that before PT's official appointment, some supporters were wanting to offer him a three year deal, looking at the longer term aim. Which is fair enough but i could debate why was MA not given that same alignment. PT could get it wrong in the first 8 games of 2014/15, so are we also going to be shouting for his head if he does. MA's predecessor was also not given the same measure, only just missing out on the playoffs before the end of his reign. I think we just like many clubs, lack some sort of consistency. You've only got to look at clubs like Man U as an example in the top tier. They give Moyes a six year contract was it, a worthless bit of paper in the guarantee of actually completing six years. I think the one thing that all managers appear to lack though is the ability to make decisions against the more experienced players. I'll be watching very closely next season where that arm band goes and our back four. After all we conceded 79 goals, only one less than the worst Crewe, so next season I want to see some balls of steal and i'm not just talking about our defenders but the management team that select the line up.
