Interview with an Opposition Fan

[ste1987]

Interview with an Opposition Fan

#16 - Gillingham

 

Welcome to this week’s edition of Interview with an Opposition Fan. Each week, myself and Razza699 scour for opposition fans to answer the questions we put toward them in the build up to the subsequent fixture.

 

This week, Oldham face Gillingham away, who have knocked up most of their points at home. We found some Gills fans to answer a selection of our questions...

 

1) Two years ago, Mark Stimson was appointed Gillingham manager. What are your opinions of him and what is his general style of play?

- He is a massive improvement on the 2 before him, Ronnie Jepson and Mark Cooper (surprisingly in Cooper's case). The style of play is better, and many of those he has brought in are of far better ability than than those that were here before his arrival. He made some massive mistakes at the start with the amount of non league players he brought in, and although some of those have done well, most are gone, or not first choice (Nutter, Miller & Julian), with the exception of Fuller, Lewis and Jackson (probably his best bit of transfer dealing so far, getting him for £150,000). Getting Simon King to sign a contract extension was another fantastic achievement, as was signing Barcham on a longer contract. Other players he has brought in such as Weston, Gowling, and loanees Matt Fry and Febian Brandy look inspired moves as well. As for his style of play it is based on fitness and playing football, rather than the old hoof it up and at them approach which was so dire before his arrival. Despite this several point out that league position wise we are no better off than we were before his arrival. However that team we started off with 2 seasons ago was a poor comparison to the individuals/team we have now. No-one would have given us a cent for any of the starting 11 against Cheltenham and now we have individuals like King (although King was signed by Jepson, who then didn't start him) and Jackson that are worth serious money, and others such as Weston and Barcham that would also be worth money. He also isn't afraid to get rid of those he believes aren't up to the mark. So far if marking out of 10 I'd give him a 7. He also hasn't really been able to sort out our away form, which has been dire for many seasons. Despite the assertion from many that we have been playing well in many games away from home, and mistakes and bad luck have cost us.

- Is by no means the complete manager, but I think he is learning and doing a very good job overall. He demands very high levels of commitment, motivation and fitness. Players that can't meet this are shown the door very quickly. Perhaps a better manager would be able to get more out of the less hungry players. This approach contributed hugely to our relegation (IMO) as he tried to change too much too soon and 'his' team found themselves still trying to gel in March/April. This approach however, also contributed hugely to our promotion last season. We are in a much better position than when he first took over. Few would disagree with that. Signings have been hit and miss as you would expect when a manager is signing players from lower divisions. However, overall very happy with his signings. Style of play is also very good. This team can play football. It's the ugly side that proves most difficult and we have shipped a lot of silly goals. Hopefully Simon King (our one-man defence) will rectify this when he returns.

- Positives: generally gets us playing exciting, attacking football with pacey wingers. Exceptional home record. Negatives: Just can't get us playing away - terrible results and performances. He initially had a tendency to bring in his old players from the non-leagues, many of whom are/were pants, but he is seemingly going for league players these days (when he gets the chance).

- Under Stimson no one likes coming here to play us.He demands we play good football and credit where due the lads play it. We don't get knocked out of Cups in the first round no more like under the Ronnie Jepson era. I think we have been blessed with Stimson but the stick he got for us going into League 2 last year was out of order. Jepson bankrolled the squad on freebies and we were heading south but Stimson held us above water until the final day at Leeds where we knew we had no chance.

 

2) Have you made any signings to your squad this season so far? If so, how have they been?

- We signed Kevin Maher, Chris Palmer, Josh Gowling, Danny Jackman, Jacob Erskine, Rachid Yussuff. Plus we have loanees Matt Fry (from West Ham) and Febian Brandy (from Manchester United). Of those we signed only Gowling, and Jackman are/were automatic starters, although Jackman is now longterm injured. Fry has looked good, and Brandy only played his first game last Saturday, but had a good start, and scored, so he looks potentially good.

- Maher has been disappointing so far - think he may have been injured for part of the season, but he had appeared to have fallen firmly out of favour with Stimpson at one point although he is now seeing more action. Most important signings were the contract extensions with our existing promising players.

- Most signings have been squad players, but we signed up Andy Barcham on a permanent deal (on loan last season), who is a great player at this level - pacey, strong winger who scored goals. We obviously signed Kevin Maher from you, who is pants - thanks for him! We had him on loan before and he didn't impress, but for some reason our manager rated him and got him in and has largely fielded him in the reserves!

- Keeping it brief , Danny Jackman will always shine on and off pitch currently injured but does a decent shift. Chris Palmer is a handy player around the team and has done well so far and Josh Gowling has been superb. Loan players like Fry and Brandy proving decent players in the making.

 

3) Last season, you finished 5th in League Two. How do you think you will do in League One this season?

- Anything above the bottom 4 is good for me. This should be a season of consolidation.

- We could very easily finish anywhere between 10th and 24th depending on luck, injuries, support, etc.

- Mid table (with a view to pushing on next season, like we did last time we came up from the bottom leagues) - would be disappointed with anything below 15th and pleased to get in the top half.

- The Chairman claimed we can get in the play offs again but i can't see it unless we go on a decent Cup run or Simeon Jackson gets sold god forbid. I've earmarked players to arrive in the very case we lose him but with the current team and our lame away record anywhere around 15th to above the drop zone will do.

 

4) Are there any teams in particular you are looking forward to playing?

- Charlton, Millwall, Leeds, Norwich, Southampton probably for me.

- Burton Albion.

- Charlton - local rivals, who pretend they are in Kent, tried to encroach on our catchment area (by running coaches to ship Kent fans in - this after we helped them quite a bit when they nearly went bust some years back) when they were in the Prem and still have a dwindling number of Medway bandwagon boy fans. Leeds - (Like everyone else) An odious team with horrible fans, who everybody in football hates. They don't like us for comments made by our chairman. Millwall - Local rivals. Swindon - We have history.

- Charlton , Millwall , Leeds , Southampton , Brentford and Swindon.

 

5) What tactics are you likely to employ and have played with this season?

- It varies. We have tried 4-5-1/4-3-3 or 4-4-2.

- Not telling.

- We have varied from 4-4-2 and 4-3-3/4-5-1 (with two wide pacey midfielders/wingers). With Simeon Jackson on international duty on Saturday, we'll play 4-4-2 with new loan signing, Brandy, up top with big Mark McCammon.

- Simple 4-4-2 at home Mostly with ball on the floor trying to find space in the final 3rd hoping to score goals from distance and from set plays. Width is key but the depth in our defensive line means we push up keeping us in charge of games on paper we don't get backed to win on.

 

6) Gillingham have earned 15 points so far this season, finding themselves in 19th place. What are Gillingham’s strengths and weakness both on and off the pitch?

- On the pitch strengths are that we have players with genuine pace and skill. A long time we've been waiting for that. Weakness is we concede far too many sloppy goals. Off the pitch we are crap at making money, which is why we find ourselves in such debt. There are many reasons for this, but most put this firmly at the door of our chairman, with some justification. Never mention ITV Digital.

- Not telling.

- On the pitch: excellent at home (14points); terrible away (1 point). If we were half decent away, we'd be in the playoffs at least. Off the pitch: our Chairman knows how to not win friends and influence people in a negative way, though he did save the club, which we thank him for, but that is starting to wear a bit thin as we have got in a lot of debt under him and not really moved on.

- Going into Christmas with both Chairman and Manager on my card list was never the case two years ago but without sounding anti anyone our Chairman Paul Scally spends far to much time out of Gillingham to really hear what we think deep down. On the pitch things look bright but we don't travel well away from home because we just don't perform away from home. Adam Miller being loaned out is just the start of Stimson’s plan to edit the team and get the players in needed to feel any void gaps.

 

7) Who is Gillingham’s key player who we should look out for ahead of Saturday’s fixture and for the rest of the season?

- Could be any of Barcham, Weston, Jackson, Brandy.

- Watch out for Jackson - he will tear you apart on Saturday.

- With Jackson and our captain Simon King out, Curtis Weston is someone with strength, skill and pace who can break through defences, Andy Barcham has frightening pace and the loan-signing, Brandy, looks more than useful.

- Jackson (Away with Canada squad) and Fuller (Banned). Star man will be Febian Brandy and with Mark Bentley back in the middle of the park I tip him to guide us to safety in the absence of Jackson leaving in January.

 

8) Who do you think will win League One this season? Any outsiders or surprises?

- I have a sneaking suspicion that Norwich are going to win it this year.

- Leeds.

- Leeds look above anyone else, I'm afraid. Obviously, Oldham look good outsiders (@rse licking), but I really can't see any one threatening Leeds, Charlton, MK Dons and Norwich, maybe Col U, Huddersfield and Millwall, but they were fairly well fancied, so not outsiders.

- Apart from Leeds and Charlton I’ll say MK Dons or Huddersfield.

 

9) How do you think Oldham will do this season?

- I think you will probably finish roughly where you are in the league at present. Mid table 12th-14th.

- Very inconsistent for a while, Oldham. Too good to go down IMO but would be very lucky to get near the play offs. I think Oldham are the team most likely to be in League One next season.

- About the same as us 10-15th.

- Hope Oldham go along way this season rumours of Paul Scholes leaving OT in the summer looking to join his boy hood team. So this could spur the current team to get promoted to keep their place in the team as well!

 

10) And finally, what score do you think the game will be on Saturday?

- We will probably lose as, but I'll be optimistic and go for 1-1.

- We're due to give someone a good thumping - 6-0.

- 2-0 (Gills).

- 3-1 to the Mighty Gills UTG!

 

 

Many thanks to those Gillingham fans that took part this week. Seems they are confident of a win against Latics this Saturday, but can Latics grab the 3 points down south?...