In Hessenthaler, We Trust

Life as a lower league football supporter is never easy. You base three months of your life in the hope and expectation that the new season is going to be better than the last, that the team which left you deflated at the end of the previous campaign undergoes a miraculous transformation and that in those three summer months those players suddenly morph into world beaters and take the league by storm.

Last season as a Gillingham fan was not much fun. It started as all seasons do with expectation, the return of Andy Hessenthaler as manager and according to the club “the biggest budget of the division”, nothing less than promotion would be acceptable and we were on a mission to bounce back to League One at the first time of asking. Supporters had just witnessed the pitiful manner in how the club were relegated on the final match of the season before, away to Wycombe Wanderers, which was personally my lowest moment as a Gillingham Football Club supporter - a team bereft of passion, of desire in wanting to wear the shirt of the club with pride.

In the end, it was all one huge anti-climax, the team couldn’t get going, the long term away record which saw us go a whole season away from home without a single away win hung like an albatross around the players neck and continued half way into the last campaign, finally ending in late November with a single goal victory over Oxford United. By then the damage had been done. The club were languishing towards the bottom of the league and were outplayed and outclassed at home against Dover Athletic, the team who ironically had supplied us acrimoniously with our management team the summer before.

It was a case of too little, too late, the team started churning out results and went on a long and near record breaking undefeated run, pushing us up into the play-off places and at one point threatening the top three clubs for that elusive automatic promotion spot. The team however, ran out of steam, with two, easy on paper home fixtures in succession a play-off place was to be a formality. But watching Gillingham is not for the feint heated. We proceeded to lose at home against both sides, Barnet and Macclesfield Town, both teams hitting four goals against us. Abject defensive performances that had echo’s of the Stimson team that performed so terribly away from home the season before. Fortress Priestfield was no longer. Teams had come, done a job on us or in the case of the two teams above, outclassed and outplayed us. At least with Hessenthaler’s predecessor we could hide behind the success of our home form, which was one of the best is the country but now, even our home games had become depressing affairs.

I have a family and mortgage now, bills are due, long gone are the days when I’d be able to spend each weekend travelling the length and breadth of the country in the name of Gillingham Football Club. I do unfortunately have to pick and choose. I go to away games that are close by, of if the opportunity presents itself a long haul away game to a club that I haven’t yet been to. So to watch my team at home nowadays, I expect a little more, I want to be entertained, to see goals, to see effort, commitment and if you are lacking in natural skill, those traits are even more important.

Since May passed, then June, the club had been quiet, no news is good news, or so they say. Rumour abounded on the Internet, players we maybe signing, our best out of contract players who had been offered new deals failed to sign and went on to bigger or better things, or in the case of Akinfenwa, back to his old club Northampton, which added more fuel to the fire. “The club have no money, no ambition and that we’d be relegated next year”. But these were the voice of WUM’s (Wind Up Merchants), who sit behind keyboards and type away the first things that come into their heads without measured reasoning or information to back up their arguments, to kill the drudgery of the their daily existence.

Instead, at the beginning of July, the club announced over the course of two days, a list of seven signings which, more than anything was a huge sign of intent from the chairman and management team. Andy Frampton, Lewis Monstrose, Chris Whelpdale, Charlie Lee, Ross Flitney and Matt Fish all signed as well as Danny Kedwell, which was most refreshing of all as during his press conference he came out the closet as being a passionate Gills supporter and used to stand on the old Rainham End as a kid growing up. As a fan you want to know that your team are up for fighting for the cause and their is no better player than the a player turning out for the team he supports.

No sooner had the plan started to come together, disaster struck. Firstly, after we’d recruited another striker, Dover Athletic’s Adam Bircall (they really don’t like us), suffered an unfortunate serious knee injury after only a few fleeting appearances during pre-season. This coincided with Ian Hendon, our assistant manager leaving for West Ham which now leaves the club in some what of a mini-crisis. We are now left with a last minute search for a new striker to cover long term, as well as a new coach to take some of the work load off of the team manager and coaching team.

Whelpdale who helped rescue our season in a brief cameo loan spell are a cut above League Two standard, but we remain terribly short upfront, particularly if anything was to befall Kedwell, a player himself who is untried and tested at league level.

At the moment, despite the new season being only five days away, we look to be in good short term shape. We may not be entirely ready for the duration of a long campaign, what with still having some tinkering to do up front, but the chairman who should be applauded for his backing and trust of the manager will be working hard on resolving that. The budget has been stretched and the players have been brought in to give us a fighting chance. It’s down to the much loved and respected Andy Hessenthaler to lead the way now, prove that he has got what it takes and that he can be a manager for us half as good as he was a player.

If I have to make a prediction, which I should do really, I’m going be bold and predict a successful promotion winning campaign. We seem to have a more solid defense, the signing of Andy Frampton could prove to be a masterstroke. We have competition at right and left back, which we haven’t had for a while and as I said above our midfield looks to be the strongest in the league. I’m confident that the club will find a solution to our striker woes and that with the midfield we have, creating chances will not be a problem. Taking them, as always is the difference between success and failure, which for us this season - is not an option.

COYG!