Gillingham Football Club, after a long, collaborative due diligence process, can today confirm that Brad Galinson has acquired a majority shareholding in GFC Holdings and Gillingham Football Club Ltd. As a result, Brad Galinson will become the majority shareholder, with Paul Scally retaining a minority shareholding.
Brad Galinson said: “Myself and my family are absolutely delighted to have completed the acquisition of Gillingham Football Club. It is a club with a rich heritage and a passionate, loyal fan base. Paul Scally has done an excellent job over the last 27 years and we hope with our involvement the club will move forward. A bright future with, hopefully, more goals and a lucrative transfer window are on the horizon.”
Paul Scally added: “This is a monumental, exciting and historical time in our club’s long history. Brad and his family will be arriving into the UK in early January and I’m sure will be looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible. He has become not only a partner but I have grown to consider him a friend.”
Mr Galinson wrote on his Twitter account:
"You will get transparency from us always. Even though we’re Americans, we quickly recognized just how much Gillingham means to the fans and the community. Indeed that’s what attracted us to the Gills in the first place. We will try our best to give you a team to be proud of. There’s a lot to do. January is step 1. A proper Dir of Football, stadium upgrades, fan support, sponsorship, and so on. We’ll work together and move forward"
A lot has bee said about Neil Harris needing to go and being clueless. Personally, I think Guardiola would be with that team as well. It is clear now that Scally knew change was close and gave Harris minimal funds and the "biggest" names he could muster was Kashket and Mandron who both came from a side bottom of League 1 and the lowest scorers in the division. Hardly able to change much with that! Now, we should be able to judge Harris based on the money he is given. It can't be a lot given we can't change the whole team but, in 2010/11, Charlie Lee and Chris Whelpdale came in and took the Gills from 3 points off of League 2 relegation with 3 wins and 6 defeats in 15 games to finishing outside the playoffs on goal different with 14 wins and 6 defeats in the 31 games (1 defeat coming in their first game at the end of the bad run).
I've seen some very poor teams in this division and we are where we are thanks to inept finishing. A creator in midfield and a couple of strikers could have the desired effect. Here's to a thrilling future.