by fan_of_mulligan » Mon Apr 03, 2017 2:43 pm
I think we have now reached A Situation where Paul Scally needs to look to make A Managerial Change and maybe that change in management can give us that new manager bounce we need to retain our League One Status, obviously this is very harsh on Adrian Pennock and I really dislike calling for a managerial change because the players have to take responsibility as well, but I don't think we have seen any major improvement from the time that Justin Edinburgh has been sacked and I do think that Justin Edinburgh would have won more games then Adrian Pennock, even though I thought that Justin Edinburgh had to go after that 1-0 home defeat against Oxford United, overall, the performances and results haven't been good enough under Adrian Pennock's Management, and while there have been moments where the performances and results have been good enough, like the two very encouraging 2-2 draws against Bradford City and Sheffield United, Gillingham fought back brilliantly to win 3-2 against Scunthorpe United, and there was the home win against Southend United as well, but there has also been some very disappointing results against teams around us, results which could or will cost our place in League One Next Season, The 2-1 Away Defeat against Coventry City, Losing To Swindon Town, Chesterfield scoring A Last Minute Equaliser, only just scrapping a draw against Port Vale and The 2-2 draw against AFC Wimbledon, even if Gillingham had managed just to win one of those matches, then we would be feeling much more confidant about retaining our place in League One Next Season.
I am normally A Glasses Half Full Supporter who tries to look for the positives as well as the negatives, but when your losing four matches on the spin, conceding twelve goals in those last four matches and only scoring three goals, one of those was Josh Wright scoring a re-bound from A Penalty, then your in big trouble, Bolton Wanderers scored four goals, Rochdale scored four goals, MK Dons scored three - and they could have scored another three more - defensively, this is the worst Gillingham Side I have ever see, Seventy One Goals against proves why we are where we are in the table, Under Andy Hessenthaler, I saw A Few 4-3 results that went either in our against our favour, but that team consisted of many of our League Two Title Winning Players, Like Matt Fish, Joe Martin, Charlie Lee, Chris Whelpdale and Danny Kedwell, if everyone was out of contract at the end of the season, how many of this current squad would you keep ??? - And what is really frustrating is that this is a decent squad, opposition supporters would look at the players we have got, Like Bradley Dack, Cody McDonald, Scott Wagstaff, and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas when he was here and think - why are Gillingham Struggling ??? - but the answer to that question is that we haven't replaced John Egan or Adam El-Abd, we haven't been able to name a settled side, Max Ehmer has played alongside Zesh Rehman, Mitchell Dickenson, Josh Pask, Adedeji Oshilaja, Baily Cargill and Chris Herd either in A Back Three, A Back Four and A Back Five - constant changes in defence, changing the system, changes of personal, this hasn't helped at all.
I would say the same-thing for Cody McDonald in attack, how many strike partners has he had this season, Harry Cornick, Josh Parker, Joe Quigley, Rory Donnelly, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Bradley Dack, we haven't had a settled strike partner, and we don't actually create many clear cut goal-scoring opportunities in open play, when your basically hoping for A Long Throw From Either Ryan Jackson and Mark Byrne to create A Decent Goal-Scoring Opportunity then you can see why Bradley Dack and Cody McDonald are not getting the chances to score goals, you could name any of our attacking players, and they would have the same predicament, how many chances are being created for them in open play ???
Something else that happened right in-front of me on Saturday was Gillingham Supporters Looking To Fight Each Other, we were 2-0 down, tempers were running high, someone said Sack Paul Scally and another supporter asked - who is going to buy the club ??? - this started a melay where two supporters needed to be separated, our current league position has seen frustrations and emotions running high, and when I looked around The Away End at Stadium MK, The Away End was packed and 650 sounded very low to me, 850 would have been a more accurate representation of our support, and I am looking around and thinking, look at this incredible away support, and Gillingham go 2-0 down inside the opening ten minutes, you cannot blame supporters for being frustrated because this has been a very frustrating season, and we're going to have different view points, but I have to disagree with the sack Paul Scally argument.
And Here's Why I disagree with Sack Paul Scally, I look at Clubs like Blackburn Rovers, Blackpool, Cardiff City, Charlton Athletic, Coventry City and finally Leyton Orient, these clubs have all had or are still currently having problems with there owners, Leyton Orient have had Eleven Manager's in just over three season's, there on to there fifth Manager This Season and Leyton Orient have money problems and they look like they are going to go down into The Conference National, and what is very concerning is the fact that clubs who have gone into The Conference National with money problems have found themselves having to go under and start again, Hereford United, Chester City and Darlington come to mind straight away, so I really do hope that doesn't happen to Leyton Orient, that's why I don't agree with the sack Paul Scally Comment, because we could get someone in like SISU At Coventry City and have no Ground and No Training Ground, or we can end up like Leyton Orient and go on a serious decline down into Non League Football.
I have to criticise Adrian Pennock for his substitutions On Saturday, Why do Elliott List and Josh Parker come on with just over ten minutes and stoppage time remaining ??? why did Harry Cornick start up-front when we had Josh Parker, Rory Donnelly and Joe Quigley on the bench ??? - why do we not play to our players strengths, I picked out Cody McDonald and Bradley Dack pre-match as the players we need in top form if Gillingham were to get a result against MK Dons, but we needed the ball on the deck in the opposition's final third and that doesn't happen often enough, granted, Cody McDonald should have scored that one on one chance he had in The Second Half but he was Man Of The Match by a mile on Saturday, scored the consolation goal for 1-2, wins the penalty which Josh Wright equalised from - just - and looking at the players who are out of contract, Cody McDonald is one player I would offer A Contract to now, even if we want two strikers to be first choice strikers for Gillingham Next Season, you would still want Cody McDonald in and around the squad, because he would be a handy substitute to bring on.