OK, I'll have to do my best to express my feelings in language that is permitted on this board, and not the language that I'm sure will be used when I meet up with other northern Gills at Wigan in 10 days or so.
But the honest answer to the question I have posed is "*****d if I know"
There can be little doubt that the club is in deep crisis with a Chairman who has been alienating fans in their thousands - which when you've got a fan base of only a few thousand is not a good plan, and a now departed manager who adopted tactics that neither the fans, nor more importantly, it seems the players could comprehend which means that we now find ourselves in the situation of being effectively 8 points from safety because of our appalling goal difference, having only scored 18 goals and accumulated 18 points in 24 games so far this season (0.75 points per game), and probably needing at least 32 points from the remaining 22 games (as near as damn it 1.5 ppg - double what we've achieved so far). I forget where the comment originated, but any prospective manager being interviewed for the job and questioned whether he would be able to keep us up should respond that the impossible can be done at once, miracles take a bit longer.
I have long argued that under the present circumstances (= ownership) any thought of Championship football is pointless. Even if by some miracle we had achieved it, the resources and finances of the club would have meant that we would have been terminally uncompetitive, and demoralizing relegation would have followed. As it's turning out we're almost certainly going to get the demoralizing relegation without troubling the Championship. I can only think that Scally's apparent obsession with the Championship was because he would have found it easier to sell the club for a higher price as a Championship side rather than a L1 side.
However the Chairman appointed Evans with a target to achieve Championship football. Granted that covid has been a significant factor in causing probably most clubs to re-assess their financial situation over the past couple of years, but even without covid I think the dream would have become a nightmare.
So maybe (I can still dream) this is an(other) opportunity for a re-set, and to put the club back on a more competitive footing, both from a football and financial viewpoint. You so often hear of clubs that have appointed ambitious young managers - and I'm talking L1 and L2 clubs here - with a view to playing a modern style of attractive looking football, while at the same time developing young players. Like it or not we need to develop and sell players if we are going to able to survive, let alone compete, even at L1 / L2 level. For too long managerial appointments seem to have been made on the basis of familiarity (Hessenthaler, Pennock, Lovell) or long experience and track record (Ternant, Allen, Taylor (2nd and 3rd stints), Evans). Unfortunately even the experiments with Edinburgh and Stimson didn't work out in the longer term either, but at least we saw some short term progression on the coaching side under them. No, I can't offer any names, but I'd welcome someone more in the Edinburgh / Stimpson mould than the Allen / Evans methodology.
Another question is whether we should cash in now on the 3 players that would generate some income - Oliver, Tucker and Dempsey. All are out of contract in the summer. The counter to that is that they are 3 of the key players we'd need to have any chance of staying up, but if relegation is accepted as being inevitable (privately within the club, rather than publicly) then a new manager might as well start the rebuild now, without players that he won't have next year anyway. Reportedly offers have been received for those 3, but all fell short of the valuations that Evans put on them. The gamble therefore is whether the possibility of L1 football next season, and the financial rewards that will bring, is greater than the income generated from the sales of those players, plus L2 income.
Maybe, by the time I see my next match at Wigan, things will have become a bit clearer. However I'm grateful that it's a game I can get to by public transport, which means I don't have to make any limitation on pre-match alcohol intake. Dry January?? B*****ks.
But the honest answer to the question I have posed is "*****d if I know"
There can be little doubt that the club is in deep crisis with a Chairman who has been alienating fans in their thousands - which when you've got a fan base of only a few thousand is not a good plan, and a now departed manager who adopted tactics that neither the fans, nor more importantly, it seems the players could comprehend which means that we now find ourselves in the situation of being effectively 8 points from safety because of our appalling goal difference, having only scored 18 goals and accumulated 18 points in 24 games so far this season (0.75 points per game), and probably needing at least 32 points from the remaining 22 games (as near as damn it 1.5 ppg - double what we've achieved so far). I forget where the comment originated, but any prospective manager being interviewed for the job and questioned whether he would be able to keep us up should respond that the impossible can be done at once, miracles take a bit longer.
I have long argued that under the present circumstances (= ownership) any thought of Championship football is pointless. Even if by some miracle we had achieved it, the resources and finances of the club would have meant that we would have been terminally uncompetitive, and demoralizing relegation would have followed. As it's turning out we're almost certainly going to get the demoralizing relegation without troubling the Championship. I can only think that Scally's apparent obsession with the Championship was because he would have found it easier to sell the club for a higher price as a Championship side rather than a L1 side.
However the Chairman appointed Evans with a target to achieve Championship football. Granted that covid has been a significant factor in causing probably most clubs to re-assess their financial situation over the past couple of years, but even without covid I think the dream would have become a nightmare.
So maybe (I can still dream) this is an(other) opportunity for a re-set, and to put the club back on a more competitive footing, both from a football and financial viewpoint. You so often hear of clubs that have appointed ambitious young managers - and I'm talking L1 and L2 clubs here - with a view to playing a modern style of attractive looking football, while at the same time developing young players. Like it or not we need to develop and sell players if we are going to able to survive, let alone compete, even at L1 / L2 level. For too long managerial appointments seem to have been made on the basis of familiarity (Hessenthaler, Pennock, Lovell) or long experience and track record (Ternant, Allen, Taylor (2nd and 3rd stints), Evans). Unfortunately even the experiments with Edinburgh and Stimson didn't work out in the longer term either, but at least we saw some short term progression on the coaching side under them. No, I can't offer any names, but I'd welcome someone more in the Edinburgh / Stimpson mould than the Allen / Evans methodology.
Another question is whether we should cash in now on the 3 players that would generate some income - Oliver, Tucker and Dempsey. All are out of contract in the summer. The counter to that is that they are 3 of the key players we'd need to have any chance of staying up, but if relegation is accepted as being inevitable (privately within the club, rather than publicly) then a new manager might as well start the rebuild now, without players that he won't have next year anyway. Reportedly offers have been received for those 3, but all fell short of the valuations that Evans put on them. The gamble therefore is whether the possibility of L1 football next season, and the financial rewards that will bring, is greater than the income generated from the sales of those players, plus L2 income.
Maybe, by the time I see my next match at Wigan, things will have become a bit clearer. However I'm grateful that it's a game I can get to by public transport, which means I don't have to make any limitation on pre-match alcohol intake. Dry January?? B*****ks.
