Expect... | Vital Football

Expect...

NickDay85

Vital Youth Team
... three more to come in this week.

Steve Lovell said this to a mate earlier today.

"Three more new players to be signed this week, all big, one left sided midfielder, another forward and a full back"

No names I'm afraid.
 
Surely it will be the trio signed on July 1st that will be announced tomorrow as the club offices were closed yesterday?
 
alphabet_king - 2/7/2017 23:40

Well I don't like to say i told you all so :19:

Well AK, you did say they would be signed on the 1st when the contracts run out. We will give you today since contracts ran out on a Saturday. But when you make big statements like that, you have to come up trumps. The rest of us thought the July 1 thing didn't matter, but hey...
 
NickDay85 - 2/7/2017 22:43

... three more to come in this week.

Steve Lovell said this to a mate earlier today.

"Three more new players to be signed this week, all big, one left sided midfielder, another forward and a full back"

No names I'm afraid.

If he didn't say it in the Queens Heed half way down Maidstone Rd, or the Queens Head half way up it, then I don't believe a word.
 
Just a quick update to this.

He had quite a long chat to him, one of the things he said to me was that it was interesting to hear Lovell talk about standing in the tunnel before Bolton last season and looking at their giants towering over our players. This has influenced his, Taylor and Pennock's buying policy, they aren't going to be bullied. He also said that he's really impressed with the two new centre forwards.

That would echo the sentiments in this article this morning on KentOnline

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/sport/gills-ready-to-stand-tall-128195/



 
Thanks for sharing Nick.. sounds interesting! Big as in tall? or big as in known name? Or both? :D

I was discussing further possible signings with a few people the other day and I said I thought we needed another 4 permanent - a left footed attacking midfielder (who can play either centrally or out wide), a left footed defender (who can play left CB or left FB), a fox in the box type striker as a replacement for Cody Mac, and a big no nonsense defensive midfielder (as we don't know how fit or good Morris will be after spending the whole of last season out, and whom I think we need to be easing back into the team very slowly over the coming months, and would prefer to keep as a squad/back up player)..

If what you're saying comes to fruition, then I would have predicted 3 our of the 4 :17:

I am surprised some people think our midfield is ok as it is, and that we don't need anyone else in that area. Even though we had lots of midfield players last season, minus Dack (on a good day) and arguably Wright (when playing more advanced) I think it was one of the weakest midfields i've seen in a long time. Yes our defence was poor, but our midfield was a massive part of the problem and all round, just wasn't good or strong enough in most games.
Now that Bradley has been sold, Knott has gone to Lincoln, Osedebe released etc, we're left with Wright, Byrne, Hess, Morris, and Oldaker in the central positions. Martin can play in the hole and Wagstaff can play central right I know, but will both stay fit? And would they not be better utilised out wide. I personally would rather both be used as wide players, so that leaves five predominantly right footed players in the middle:

- Wright: Best of what we have left I think. OK defensively at times, but better used as an attacking midfielder I think (as his goals tally proved towards the end of the season once Ade gave him license to get forward)
- Byrne: Hard working but very inconsistent and small
- Hess: Shows glimpses of quality at times but also very inconsistent and gets caught flat footed fair to often defensively for my liking. Not up to league 1 standard in my opinion and should either be loaned out or sold.
- Morris: decent player, works hard, puts his foot in and breaks up play well, and good positionally. IF he gets back to full fitness and his injury hasn't taken away his edge, then all good, but I suspect that it will take him some time to reach full fitness/confidence etc, so better used as a squad player for the first half of the season I think
- Oldaker: Looks as though he could be decent, but is relatively untested and would better be to be sent out on loan to a league 2 club until Jan in my opinion

For me, we desperately need a big mobile defensive minded midfielder (preferably left footed or both) who is half decent at breaking up play and keeping possession, and an attack minded left sided midfield player (as a replacement for / preferably better than Knott).
That way then we'd have be more balanced, and would have more options tactically, both going forward and defensively.

Regardless of who else we sign, as long as we get through pre season without any major injuries this year, then I will be happy!

 
I see all these tall, unproven young lads coming in, most I know nothing about, yet feel strangely excited and optimistic about the coming season. PT is mainly useful in the transfer market, if he has unearthed another Egan in Lacey then the two forwards could be useful, you never know.

It will be interesting to see how the players took to some decent fitness training, and if Pennock has managed to get some quality bonding in. Let's be frank, I think most Gills fans would have had Jacket or Cotterill in charge, and with a 19% win rate in his 20 or so games, Pennock was not a desirable choice, for me anyway.

But I admire these types of signings, he's going physical and if he's got the remaining squad behind him we could see a reasonable season.

I'm going 11th place if it's true we're getting another forward in.
 
I will wait to see who else comes in this week - if the rumours are true, and in particular that they are big signings (i assume not just tall), then I could well change my hopes for the season.

It would be good to have 3 quality signings come in now.
 
I have to admit contract deadline day was a big let down for me. So many people kept persistently telling us the reason we?ve not signed players is because the contracts don?t run out until the 30th June. Again and again they told us, and I kept on telling them it was nothing to do with it ? just look at Lacey, Eaves, Osadebe, Cody, Oneill, and the rest of them. But then I got carried away and started to believe the hype. I was so excited that we were going to sign a raft of new players on Saturday. I spent all day outside the club waiting for the new signings and nothing happened. Not even a new Chef to cook the much needed player?s lunches. The only source that was in any way consistent was the ketchup in Gordon Road Quality Kebab and Fish bar.

I can?t believe the football manager experts got this wrong. Made an absolute mug out of me :56:
 
Didn't you hang around for the 5pm presser AK? Apparently the big new signings were all going to be unveiled then - they must have cancelled it as it was a Saturday ;-))
 
Whoever picked that photo to go with a feature on the new big n tough policy was having a Great Deal of Fun.
 
See there are pictures of the boys training at Beechings Cross this morning and there's a number 7 and a number 9 (with an Afro) that no-one seems to know who they are. could be triallists though, I suppose.
 
Jeremy Corbyn turned up at the ground this morning, hoping to piggy back on the massive publicity of Gills major signings, due to be announced today.
All quiet on the western front.
Jeremy blames AK for a wasted journey :2:
 
Someone on gillsconnect says that the number 9 at training today looks remarkably like Hamza Choudhury from Leicester who was at Burton on loan last year. Looking at his photo on Wikipedia It does look like him.