I know the season hasn't begun and he has only been in the job for a matter of weeks but so far I have been very impressed with Martin Allen as Gillingham manager. I will admit that I was not best pleased with his appointment as manager and went into pre season filled with my usual pessimism in full force. However the way Allen has taken a hard line on training and improved vast amounts of stuff behind the scenes from food to foliage (the training pitch). All of this had made be think that everything that may have been wrong off the pitch last year has been corrected and we can now go into the season with players in peak condition and fans (including myself) full of hope ahead of a successful promotion campaign at last!
At the very best you would have to say the jury is out at this very early stage. What would most fans have expected from a new manager who inherited a strong squad. I reckon there was common consent that a left sided defender (or two), and an extra option in midfield and one up front was the priority. No more than 3 or 4 players. What have we got? Two goalies, neither of whom was needed and one with a joke reputation whose club will pay to get rid and a the morale sapping introduction of Dad's lad. When will we learn? 3 successive lads with dads as managers, the recipe for trouble. Given the inherited squad anything short of top 6 will be regarded as failiure but Allen will not worry. 9 clubs in 9 years so he will be off if he succeeds and he will be off if he fails. Not much point in judgements this early or even at the end of September but it will be fair to draw conclusions at Christmas time ....if he is still here.
As much as I try and remain positive for once Bristol407 you just about nailed it for me. Do not get me wrong, I absolutely love what he is doing with the squad in regards to mentality and making sure things are done properly and his way. Outspoken and all that with a twist of humour, I love it (but I love his dog more - lol). However, as you have pointed out, two goalies we never needed, and Dad's lad, who I hasten to add on the note of mentality, I did see his 'original' profile on twitter and was NOT impressed. As for the nine clubs in nine years, you know how it goes Bristol, you can tell people as much has you like but we all like to dream it is going to be different for us. Still, I will be there as usual, slatting Martin, no longer singing the praises of Gazza and somewhere during the new season we will find our new wonder kid. Oh, and tears by Christmas, I so hope I am wrong.
So we don't need two keepers? If we hadn't got Nelson or Forecast( who is free for the season) then who are we going tp play in goal seeing as Flitney is out for a couple of months? Hawkes? A young inexperienced keeeper who is going tp go out on loan, and is probably not good enough at the moment for League football anyway. Or perhaps we should offer Ron Hillyard the chance to come out of retirement. Charlie Allen. Yes he's the managers son, but he's cheap and I don't think MA is the type to play anyone if they don't deserve a place.
Oh dear God, here we go again. How many times are we going to hear the same old nonsense about the squad bigger good enough to go up last season?! I am amazed how many people sallow the nonsense we were spoon fed last season just because it came from Hess. Face facts last season the squad wasn't good enough to go up and wholesale changes were required to revamp a very tired squad full of underachievers and Hess' mates. Of all the players who have moved on this close season the only one I would have kept was Paulo. King unfortunately was living off former glories and was nowhere near the player he once was. The signings Allen has made, while I agree haven't been earth shattering have been needed. We lost two strikers and got a replacement in, who has got promotion winning experience and the flexibility to play anywhere in the front line. We lost our number one keeper and replaced him with a keeper with a wealth of experience and who has been playing regularly at a higher level for the last couple season. We have also got a young keeper in who is probably costing us nothing so it doesn't harm the squad even if he is sub par. We all say we need another centreback and low and behold we have signed an up and coming defender, again with the flexibility to play anyway positon in the back four. We have also let a number of midfielders go and have got another one in, albeit the manager's pup but none of us have seen him play so we can't judge his ability. Plus the manager has already made it clear that he is looking to bring in more players and a list of targets have been sent to the chairman to investigate. It is time to take off the Hess rose tinted glasses and see that the last two seasons have be abject failures and under the management of Hess the club has at best stagnated and worse gone backwards. The club is now in a far better position with Hess out of the managers chair and with his lapdog Trigger gone we have strengthen our coaching capabilites have drastically improved. These changes were required and I am happy with the fact that some fans are uneasy with such changes as it is showing that we are breaking the complainancy and acceptance of detritus that was the signiture of Hess' regime. In Allen we trust!
I think he was right to bring in Charlie, you are right he is cheap and he gives us extra options at a low price and I think he seems a good player.
I've been very impressed with Martin Allen so far, his attention to detail has been brilliant in my eyes. Stimson made many changes whilst boss, I but I don't remember him going as far as to even make sure we had the exact right cut of grass for the training and playing pitches. OK we haven't had a "big signing" this year so far but does it matter? The biggest signing we made for our promotion year was probably Jackson, and he was playing in non-league beforehand. In fact the only decent "big signing" we've had recently was probably Bayo. I seem to recall Lomas, Graham and of course McCammon all being massive disappointments. So lets not get too down that we haven't made a high recognised signing. In fact if you want, take Strevens or Nelson as that signing
BSG. The reason so many people say we had a good squad is because it was true and what is left is all the stronger for clearing out the Dimson leftovers . Gills missed the playoffs by a whisker, were involved in the most thrilling games seen for years, scored the most goals in the league and whopped two league 1 sides in the Cup. All this with the showpiece signing never kicking a ball, with an injury list probably 3 or 4 times as bad as the other promotion hunters experienced and with the most senior midfielder addicted to yellow cards. So why didn't they get promoted? Firstly the defence was built around a 38 year old who had been brilliant the previous year but whose legs unsurprisingly just gave up. Secondly there was a ludicrous reliance on loan players no doubt influenced by having got lucky with macdonald the year before. Every time a loan player moved on results dipped. Additionally Lee and Whelpdale took 4 months to settle. Lastly there was Spiller's sabotage in the Crewe match when he grasped 3 points sitting on the lap of the Gills team and handed them to Crewe. One action turned around a season. So would the same thing have happened this year? Highly unlikely. Will we do better under Allen? I hope so but we would be right to have really high expectations and it may be that promotion beckons....in spite of Allen not because of him. He will be gone next year whatever happens. People should certainly not be congratulating him before 10 league games are completed.
Midfield and attack is fine it is just the defence, all that they need to do is gel well together and Kedwell needs to get a few more. All Martin needs to do is sort the defence if he can do that we will go up.
I am sorry Bristol, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, the squad we had the last two season wasn't good enough. You can blame Stimson all you like but last season the majority of players were signed or re-signed by Hess, so it was his squad. For whatever reason we stagnated, there was no marked improvement on the season before with the club showing the same frailties as the season before that. We managed to take two good players in Lee and Whelpdale and turn them into very average looking players and we turned Kedwell from a goal scorer to a ineffuctual carthorse!! The players had become complacent, Weston never looked fired up, the senior pros in defence looked disinterested and it took the threat of losing their place to the kids that finally made them sit up and take notice. Those aren't the signs of a squad "good" enough for promotion. Individiual they were talented but football is a team sport. The whole squad needed an overhaul, players need fresh challenges and hopefully Allen will give them the impetus they need. Interesting to see Lee coming out and saying he is enjoying the "challenge" of a tough preseason, one can only assume it was a holiday camp under Hess.
