How much has changed since this interview ?

[fan_of_mulligan]

https://audioboom.com/boos/2381635-hear-thegillsfc-manager-peter-taylor-talking-to-bbc-kent-about-the-new-season-gills

This Interview with Peter Taylor was two year's a go ahead of The 2013 / 2014 season, and during that close season, Peter Taylor had signed Josh Pritchard, Kortney Hause, John Egan, Luke Norris, Brennan Dickenson and Aaron Morris, and both Jake Hessenthaler and Bradley Dack had signed four year contracts to extend there stay with Gillingham.

Last Summer, Justin Edinburgh signed Max Ehmer, Bradley Garmston, Rory Donnelly, Elliott List, Emmanuel Osadebe, Jordan Houghton and Ryan Jackson, which seems to suggest that Gillingham have to go down the young player route, as we don't have the finances available to sign, proven, experienced, League One Players on Good Money.

What is everyone's thoughts on this ???

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

Well if we sell Dack for £2.5m then we will surely have some of the money to use? I do like the young player model than can be sold on in the future.Peterborough`s way of signing a player for around £200,000 then selling them for 3-4 times the amount looks great business.

[gillsfan1066]

Problem is we all assume GFC doesn't have any funds, but of course we have no idea what the club has in the bank, I bet a lot more than most of us think , but of course ole Scally Wag keeps everything hidden, lol,lol, hell what a guy .
Now how well have we spent that money is a different question, not that well me thinks, were paying a manager more than he is worth, (and how he is still around after that debacle of a collapse amazes me), I can't remember the last time we sold a player and made some "proper money", just about every ex Gills player goes from Gillingham to a lower division team which makes me think all this money that goes into Academy players and staff is a bit of a waste why not just spend the money getting on loan players in when we need them ??
Just looked at the GFC home page, reminiscing about something that happened back 16 years ago, couldn't find anything about our 1894/95 test match win over Swindon Town when we became Champions of Division 2 and got promoted , guess there saving that for next week ??

[Rimshot]

Surely everyone knows GFC is run for the financial benefit of Paul Scally ? The idea that this chairman is suddenly going to put football success above that is ridiculous. On the rare occasion when our interests and his coincide, it's fine but it's never, ever a case of the chairman taking risks for GFC, it's always the other way around.

That's why we will always sell players at the first opportunity to make a short term profit.

[lidbid46]

Apart from a salary, which I assume most people agree he is entitled to, what evidence is there that PS takes large amounts of cash for the club? These rumours and comments have been around for ages yet Gillingham still remains a strong financial entity amongst many other clubs who are struggling, going into administration, being deducted points etc. I don't understand why our management committees are not allowed any praise for this yet as soon as anything, however insignificant, happens, they are attacked. Why do we expect PS to pour in loads of money; I don't believe he is actually that wealthy. For that to happen we would have to be taken over by one of those multi millionaires from goodness as knows where. If that happened then it is possible the same things would ha,open to us as has happened in other clubs, changing names, kits, location etc leaving many fans even more disgruntled than they are already. And why would anyone want to buy Gillingham and then pour endless amounts of cash into the club? I don't know anything really about Gillingham's finances or off field activities, but then I would suggest neither do most of the people who are constantly making unfounded comments.

[Rimshot]

Here are some facts;

The last time accounts were published Scally's outtake was in the order of £350,000 a year.

Scally is known to have paid his latest partner £30,000 consultancy fee pa.

He puts all his/his family's first class return air fares from Dubai through as club expenses.

His personal offices/suite are described as premiership standard.

The whole saga of the ground ownership/lease/ buyback has been shrouded in secrecy. At one time as Chairman of GFC he sold the ground to his own development company.

He is one of just a handful ( some say the only) League club chairman in the lower divisions to draw a salary. Most put money into the club whereas he takes it out.

Paul Scally has never hidden the fact that he runs GFC for personal gain first and foremost. He was ( is?) after all a Millwall supporter who tried and failed to buy that club.

Whether or not you think that's an admirable track record is beside the point, (and that's not even taking into account the money we have paid out in fines, court costs) my contention is that under his leadership there is neither the will nor the desire to do anything other than enrich one man. It explains his transfer policy, his ticketing policy and his failure on every occasion that we have seen short-term success to transfer that into long-term advancement.

[Garawa]

The last time accounts were published Scally's outtake was in the order of £350,000 a year.
Scally is known to have paid his latest partner £30,000 consultancy fee pa.
He puts all his/his family's first class return air fares from Dubai through as club expenses.
His personal offices/suite are described as premiership standard.
The whole saga of the ground ownership/lease/ buyback has been shrouded in secrecy. At one time as Chairman of GFC he sold the ground to his own development company.
He is one of just a handful ( some say the only) League club chairman in the lower divisions to draw a salary. Most put money into the club whereas he takes it out.
Paul Scally has never hidden the fact that he runs GFC for personal gain first and foremost. He was ( is?) after all a Millwall supporter who tried and failed to buy that club.

My take on this. I would like to reiterate I am NOT a fan of Scally, he really is his own worst enemy sometimes, but there are far worse than him!

1. How does his salary compare to other CEOs of similar companies/clubs (they can't all be philanthropists with millions spare)? I can't find any posts of non-Premier League clubs that state who is paid what and if it is more, is it enough to make much of difference? Possibly not. If he is the highest I would think he would need to justify that but but I certainly wouldn't expect him to do it for nothing and I can't see others taking home 5 figures either.

2. Every place of work I have seen have given jobs to mates or family and local government departments are the worst! This however could easily be open to fraud and should be explained more thoroughly exactly what this entails.

3. Hasn't he moved back to the UK? I can't see how all this would be on expenses unless we have an obscene income which I cannot accept. Perhaps flights to Dubai are dirt cheap?

4. The whole stand is Premiership standard. There is nothing exceptional about his office but the rest is superb and we make a good income from the conferences and events we are able to have because of it.

5. I am positive this was a stroke of genius! We transferred the ownership of the ground losing our only asset, the debt gets written off as we have no collateral to hand over and then we "buy" the ground back for £1m! We don't know the exact details of how this worked but banks don't generally tend to wipe off bad debt willingly!

6. There are a few owners out there whose club is a labour of love but not many. I can only think of a couple. Even the billionaire overseas owners are using the profile of their clubs to achieve large exposure of their businesses over the world. Clubs at our level don't get that exposure and other than Hearn (no longer in charge at Orient) most are ordinary Joe's like at AFC Wimbledon. They may not draw a salary (??) but they sure as heck don't put their own in, they run it as a "stable" business (even the big names at Ebbsfleet have invested well but not to a huge degree but within a sensible remit). Investment into clubs our size not only doesn't happen as there is not a lot of gain but also CANNOT happen unless you have large gates to due to the spending rules. I would rather Scally than the owners of Blackpool, Leeds, Orient and formerly Portsmouth and Rangers who systemically ripped the club of any value in the pursuit of glamour, greed and vanity. There are too many more like those as well.

7. Not all business owners have to have personal ties to a business. A CEO at Asda might defect to Tesco and all do it to live not because they love the business they are employed in. Not all managers support the club they run either. Where would Cappello's heart have lie had England met Italy in a World Cup final?! Not sure why small scale CEOs should be the same? There has been no large investor wanting to take us over because of our proximity to London but a new ground may alter that and until that time comes, he is the best we have. He is far from perfect, we might even do better without him but there is NO ONE willing to put their money on the table which suggests to me that either everyone in this neck of the woods are poor or those further afield aren't putting as much money into their clubs as is made out. Rules prohibit this anyway.

[gillsfan1066]

And there folks you have it in black and blue. Seems most of the 5,000 fans that go week in and week out are happy with us jogging along in Division Three, hoping we don't go to Division Four, wishing we could get back into Division Two but realistically knowing if we do it will only be for a couple of seasons at best, so happy to be in Division Three.
So lets see Div 3 to Div 4 to Div 3 to Div 2 then back to div 3, YUP thats it, Gillingham FC in a nutshell, and thats fun?

[Rimshot]

Gary your post is riddled with irrelevance and inaccuracies. Football clubs are not supermarkets, commercial enterprises don t judge success through 90 minutes physical exertion against a different competitor every week, managers are employees not owners. As for our catering and hospitality we sold most of that off because it was losing money.
If you think the fans experience in the Medway stand is Premiership quality I suggest the last time you saw a first tier match must have been when Northampton were there .
1066 has this exactly right. Scally remains in place because of the abject lack of ambition that is sadly evident in your post.

[lidbid46]

But the point is exactly that; everyone who goes to Gillingham knows exactly what they are going to and why. If they want top brand football they go to West Ham or the other London clubs. If they don't want to actually go to a game, then they 'support' Man Untd etc. Watch out for the first Leicester City shirts being sported in Gillingham next year! Of course I want Gillingham to be successful, but not at any cost. I am not interested in watching the hired help in the Premier League fliting in and out of all the various top teams depending on who offers them the best deal. I don't choose to be crushed in crowds of 50000 or so 'fans' on the way to and from a game. I did all that in the seventies and have been to a few games at Spurs with my son in the last few years, all of which I hated. Gillingham is what it is and what it has always been, a relatively small team, but it's our local team and I love it. Once it became too big I would no longer feel so involved; I can't for example imagine our recent NC evening at Spurs! If that makes me wrong in the eyes of others, then so be it but the positives of a small local team playing outside the premier for me outweigh the alternatives. Roll on next season!!