Is Kyle Dempsey the next Andy Hessenthaler-esque legend in waiting | Vital Football

Is Kyle Dempsey the next Andy Hessenthaler-esque legend in waiting

Same here jimbo.
I like him very much but unless we can tie these sort of players down with long term deals, he’ll be off for a better contract.
Hess was a Kent lad and that made a huge difference.
Eaves loved it in Kent but still went for the money and I don’t blame him.
 
jimbogills said:
Can't see him being around for very long tbh.
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I fear you may be right which is why I commented the way I did.... then again, I thought that about Hessy - even though we paid loads of money for him - but he turned out to have a blue heart. Hopefully Dempsey may end up getting one too!
 
markinkent said:
too good for league one. He'll do his contract and move on a bit like Egan or Eaves. I am surprised he signed for us in the first place. Enjoy him while we can.

Not sure there will ever be another Hessenthaler and maybe there shouldn't. He can be the legend forever
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His name (Hessy), as a player in the Gillingham FC hall of fame was written in stone a long, long time, and deservedly so however, Dempsey is the first midfield player, since Hessy, I have genuinely thought of who comes anywhere near close. I do agree that he will probably leave as soon as the contract ends.....just really hope he doesn't.
 
alex_farrells_left_p said:
His name (Hessy), as a player in the Gillingham FC hall of fame was written in stone a long, long time, and deservedly so however, Dempsey is the first midfield player, since Hessy, I have genuinely thought of who comes anywhere near close. I do agree that he will probably leave as soon as the contract ends.....just really hope he doesn't.
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The only way we can ensure players like Kyle and Jordan are tempted to stick around is to get promoted.
 
It has to be remembered that Hess was playing against championship players.Dempsey is still to prove himself at that level when he does maybe you can make comparisons. There is a massive gulf between the two leagues as Eaves found out.
 
chris who said:
It has to be remembered that Hess was playing against championship players.Dempsey is still to prove himself at that level when he does maybe you can make comparisons. There is a massive gulf between the two leagues as Eaves found out.
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That is a very good point Chris.

Although I would say the difference back then (early 2000’s) was not as great as the chasm between those leagues today.

When we went up previously, we stayed there for 5 years in relative safety without spending too much on player transfers. In fact for the first year or 2 we challenged the top half.

If we went up now I think we’d come straight back down without a lot of hefty investment. Same for any club going up from Div1. A lot of bigger clubs than ours have come straight back down or struggled despite spending quite a bit on players.
 
OneSirKeefy said:
That is a very good point Chris.

Although I would say the difference back then (early 2000’s) was not as great as the chasm between those leagues today.

When we went up previously, we stayed there for 5 years in relative safety without spending too much on player transfers. In fact for the first year or 2 we challenged the top half.

If we went up now I think we’d come straight back down without a lot of hefty investment. Same for any club going up from Div1. A lot of bigger clubs than ours have come straight back down or struggled despite spending quite a bit on players.
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That is true .But that was one heck of a side.I would argue that the side that won promotion and the side that lost to City were streets ahead of anything in league one right now. As much as the championship has gone forward league one has gone backwards. With worse sides coming up and down to our league than they would have done back then.The fact that a very ordinary but well managed Wycombe team got promoted last year I think possibly proves my point. Accrington could well follow them or come close this season.
The difference was perhaps back in 1999 era clubs like Gillingham could keep players like Eaves and bring in experienced professionals from above like Ashby,Butters,Smith and Hessenthaler.
Now we need a lot of John Egan, Kyle Dempsey and Jordan Graham's type signings to even get anywhere near the same level in my view.
 
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Interesting points chris. Back then we were throwing around 500K on signing players but presumably everyone else was.

Now we can't do that but can others ?

The general pool of players must be of similar quality so why has the general quality of players in league one reduced ?
 
markinkent said:
Interesting points chris. Back then we were throwing around 500K on signing players but presumably everyone else was.

Now we can't do that but can others ?

The general pool of players must be of similar quality so why has the general quality of players in league one reduced ?
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If the squads are possibly about 20% bigger in the Championship due to the number of players on the bench these days.Transfer windows also mean that clubs need a few more players than they had back then.I seem to remember the Gillingham squads were no bigger than they are now but perhaps I am mistaken.The total number of players will be higher then as clubs could sign player for a single month on loan then so it is hard to make a direct comparison.
 
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Hessy and Smithy were fantastic top-midfielders - true dynamos, brave and very effective. The Smithy centre-circle pirouette was fabulous and despite it being a trade mark move, opponents were nearly always beaten by it.

We`ve moved on from that era and in recent years haven`t had many outstanding true quality midfielders in our ranks. However, for me, Kyle really does warrants the tag of top-midfielder, and I really enjoy watching the man at work. Hope he stays with us, he makes us a much much better team.

Edited to change Karl to Kyle :slap::slap: (Ta, OSK)
 
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I very much like what I've seen so far. He offers class on the ball, has a good shot and free kick ability, has a good engine and can put his foot in too. A good all round midfielder and so far looks a good skipper.

He'll need to hang around for a bit and keep performing to be anything like Hess and I think for him to be remembered as fondly, he'd need to be a driving force of a promotion and successful team. Hess will always be remembered for his commitment and what he did, but I think a lot of the fondness for him is linked to the fact we won things with him in the team.
 
According to rumour site, Football Insider, Forest, Preston, Luton and Barnsley are interested in signing him in the Jan window.
 
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