Mark Stim(p)son | Vital Football

Mark Stim(p)son

Rob_b100

Rob_b100

Vital 1st Team Regular
I was going to ask if anyone remembered Leroy griffiths (one of MS signings) but he certainly didn’t fit in any of the threads currently running, so thought I’d begin a new one.

Mark Simpson, one of the most divisive managers we’ve had. Absolutely hated by much of the crowd. Warranted or not? Personally I quite liked him. He joined us as an up an coming non league manager and had good success in non league. We went down that first season with him but were bloody hopeless before he turned up if memory serves.

He obviously didn’t help matters by bringing loads of his ex players with him who were woefully short of skills and fitness required for league football. Also the “I’m an east end lad and don’t walk away from a challenge” or whatever it was he said, riled huge sections of the support. At the time I didn’t see the problem with the statement and still don’t now. However it was probably a daft thing to say when you’re managing a club forever in London clubs shadows.

The second season we went up through the playoffs, but had a few thumpings on the way. Didn’t we ship 5 to Accrington? I know we lost 7-0 away to the shrews before turning them over at Wembley in the final. You just got the feeling that some people would never support him by then, whatever he said or did for us. Even discussions in the pub following convincing wins at home were usually proceeded by “it was only Burton/Rochdale/Chester. Of course we should’ve beaten them”.

Then of course the following season. We played some great stuff at home at times, holding and beating some good sides in the process. But that bloody away record still brings a shudder. Wasn’t it 7 points over the whole season or something? 0 wins away all season. Culminating in the Wycombe match. Odds on to stay up, 4 results had to go against us, and us lose too. Obviously in true Gills fashion the unlikely happened and we went down. Stimson was sacked a few days after. I couldn’t make the Wycombe game, but many people have said they have never been more angered by a game of football in their life.

Stimpson signed a few duffers, but wasn’t Simeon Jackson signed by him? Also Danny Jackman? (Although I may have them wrong and can’t be arsed to google it) Stuart Thurgood was absolutely diabolical, how he ever had the nerve to call himself a professional footballer I will never know. I rated Adam Miller, at times he was unplayable, but again, I think people thought him arrogant and therefore would never support him whatever. I also think he cared and he was playing with a hernia for the last 2 months or something.

Now, Leroy Griffiths. He played up front or on the wing I think. Only featured a handful of times. He came on as a sub second half as we were attacking the Rainham end and someone played a lofted ball from our own half from the Medway stand side. Leroy controlled the ball on his thigh then without breaking stride hit a volley into the top corner from outside the box. I remember it vividly, it was one of the greatest goals I had ever seen live. I remember saying to my mate “fucking hell we’ve got a player here”. Sadly, it was the only thing he did in a gills shirt.

Anyone else remember him?

Apologies for the essay but no ones got anything better to do than read my dopey ramblings!!!
 
Indeed I do. Leroy Griffiths had everything you could wish for in a non league player getting another shot at league football later in his career. He was going to give it his best shot from the moment he ran out and he didn't stop running from then on. He visibly believed that this was his chance and was determined to give it his best shot. 4 full games, 20 sub appearances of belief and endeavour.

The goal you remember was scored in a 3-0 home win against Nottingham Forest, a great result in itself. I remember turning to my son in law after the celebrations subsided and saying " that is the absolute peak moment of his career" and it was but what a moment. It's a goal that stands out above apparently more important ones because we needed a result like that and Leroy himself knew at once that he had done something extraordinary. The celebrations were as good as the goal. I never tire of being reminded of that one, thank you.
 
Nice post.

I’m in the hater section.

We played some nice football at home. I remember he liked to play it out from the back.

I took a dislike to him because of his arrogance and a lot of the awful signings. I think he had a few public spats with some of our better players too, didn’t he?

I also think that he produced the second weakest squad in all the time that I’ve been supporting the Gills. The accolade for first probably goes to Richardson.
 
jogills said:
If we are talking about bottom four budgets then we must acknowledge that Stimson had a non league budget.
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Definitely non-league players. Not sure what they were earning.

I think that was one of Scally’s worst decisions in hindsight. There was a conscious strategy to try and be competitive by hiring a non-league manager and buying non-league players. It backfired massively.

If there was a Q&A session, I’d like to ask PS what his thinking was when appointing Stimpson [sic] whether we regretted the appointment in hindsight.
 
We had no money. I think Scally did pretty well with that strategy and the Wembley trip was a massive bonus. Gravity told in the end and a very limited squad went down.
 
I don’t think it was a bad decision at the time. In hindsight we went down again and languished in the bottom league for a few years, so it didn’t work out. But he was appointed after success in non league with other clubs interested.
 
Rob_b100 said:
Now, Leroy Griffiths. He played up front or on the wing I think. Only featured a handful of times. He came on as a sub second half as we were attacking the Rainham end and someone played a lofted ball from our own half from the Medway stand side. Leroy controlled the ball on his thigh then without breaking stride hit a volley into the top corner from outside the box. I remember it vividly, it was one of the greatest goals I had ever seen live. I remember saying to my mate “fucking hell we’ve got a player here”. Sadly, it was the only thing he did in a gills shirt.
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I remember it - I was sitting in the GRS around the halfway line. I was sort of behind it if I git the right goal
 
Not quite the worldy I remember...... lol!

Still a good strike though

And Gary mulligan scored too. Crikey.
 
I never had an issue with Stimson personally although it seemed as if a lot of fans had decided before the first match that signing a manager who was doing well in non-league meant you had a non-league manager and was going to fail. In terms of record he was about average. The promotion is a massive tick but the relegations could be taken in a couple of ways. In the first season he took over a pile of aging rejects with the last team prior to taking being

Royce (35 y.o)
King (at left back)
Sodje (34)
Cox (early 30s)
Jupp (32)
Brown (:poop:)
Bentley
Southall (35)
Crofts (personally thought he was looking disinterested at this point)
Facey (ok)
Dickson (fantastic first spell on loan)

On the bench we had
Cogan (:poop:)
Lomas (legs had gone)
Graham (scored plenty for Torquay in league two)
Mulligan (never prolific)
Armstrong (31 y.o)

A lot of them was passed it at this point and Stimson needed to build a new side.

In terms of the second relegation, we would have stayed up if it wasn't for the freak injury to King. A Gowling - Richards defence was always going to be inferior to a King + one other.
 
We played some excellent stuff at home and had one of the best home records in a very strong league one, our awful away form done it for us. He did come across as arrogant and never established a good rapport with us fans imo. I don't think any other manager we've had would have got the abuse he recieved at Wycombe, certainly not at that level.
 
After we signed Simeon Jackson for £150k, I think Stimson has spent most of the transfer budget and so was always in a position of looking for bargins with various success.

Leroy Griffiths always struck me as one of those gambles of "he has pace so might have success coming on late as a super sub against tired defenders and was never intended as a long term signing. Wasn't he only here on loan? He did better than Ba and Donovan who did a handful of sub appearences between them.

Stuart Thurgood was the obvious stand out flop although some guys who I worked with who were into supporting non-league teams raved about him and thought he was one of the best players in the 5th tier of football. It is worth remembering that Thurgood in the season before had been turning out of the England C team. He seemed to be one of those players whose style was suited to the 5th tier than the 3rd.

Miller I liked, but as an attacking flair player was always a luxury player who'd be identified as a weakness when the team was struggling.

Was Dennis Oli a flop? Might not be the most talented but 5 years and 136 league appearances and re-signed by Hessenthaler suggests not a flop.

And he signed someone called Barry Fuller who turned out to be useless and non-league :fish:

I didn't mind John Nutter too much and thought he was average overall. Got a lot of assists from free kick deliveries that is sometimes overlooked.

He also signed Kevin Maher who I thought was consistent although I seem to recall people were split on him based upon if they thought he was good at keeping possession and recycling the ball or a useless individual who was good at making simple sideways passes.

Stuart Lewis looked a decent prospect and I think was about 21 or 22 years old at the time. Think ultimately a league two player.

Curtis Weston and Josh Wright were consided decent - good signings as was Andy Barcham.

Garry Richards was a solid enough performer and ditto for Josh Gowling although not Simon King.

Mark McCammon and moving on...

Renne Howe I don't think people rated, especially since most of the time Stimson seemed to start him up front with goal machine Dennis Oli but like a number of players like Darius Henderson, was prolific elsewhere.

If I recall correctly in Stimson's last season we signed a lot of loans hoping to kickstart our away form but most played not enough matches to really give an impression. The exceptions being Chris Dickson who massively flopped due to expectation from his first spell and Febian Brandy who looked lively and fell over a few times in the opposition penalty box.

Vernon lasted about 20 minutes before injuring himself for the rest of the season. We signed a number of players like Darren Dennehy and Matt Fry who were competent and then there were other strikers like Tristian Plummer and James Walker who were supposed to bring in a new dynamic but in the handful of matches they played it wasn't clear what that dynamic was supposed to be. Although in defence of those strikers we might not have been creating a host of chances.
 
I liked Stimson. We were brilliant at home beating Leeds and Soton during our relegation battles. Why we were so awful away no one will ever fathom.

Wycombe away was abysmal but that's down to the players as much or even more than the manager. He deserved to be sacked and rightly was. Overall he did alright for us and let's be honest few did any better after until mad dog came around .

The game I also remember at home was Luton. One of Simeon Jacksons first (maybe even his debut) and two great second half goals at the rainham end. Place erupted.

I remember the name Griffiths but not the player. Was skiing when that goal went in so didn't even get to see his moment of glory.
 
madrid_gill said:
Sorry! It's happened to me before as well, damn these videos that shatter our long-held illusions!
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True but he did lash it in with gusto and just look at the smile on his face afterwards. I bet he was thinking I've scored against Forest, they won the european cup, GOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLL!!!!
 
Baghdad_Rob said:
After we signed Simeon Jackson for £150k, I think Stimson has spent most of the transfer budget and so was always in a position of looking for bargins with various success.

Leroy Griffiths always struck me as one of those gambles of "he has pace so might have success coming on late as a super sub against tired defenders and was never intended as a long term signing. Wasn't he only here on loan? He did better than Ba and Donovan who did a handful of sub appearences between them.

Stuart Thurgood was the obvious stand out flop although some guys who I worked with who were into supporting non-league teams raved about him and thought he was one of the best players in the 5th tier of football. It is worth remembering that Thurgood in the season before had been turning out of the England C team. He seemed to be one of those players whose style was suited to the 5th tier than the 3rd.

Miller I liked, but as an attacking flair player was always a luxury player who'd be identified as a weakness when the team was struggling.

Was Dennis Oli a flop? Might not be the most talented but 5 years and 136 league appearances and re-signed by Hessenthaler suggests not a flop.

And he signed someone called Barry Fuller who turned out to be useless and non-league :fish:

I didn't mind John Nutter too much and thought he was average overall. Got a lot of assists from free kick deliveries that is sometimes overlooked.

He also signed Kevin Maher who I thought was consistent although I seem to recall people were split on him based upon if they thought he was good at keeping possession and recycling the ball or a useless individual who was good at making simple sideways passes.

Stuart Lewis looked a decent prospect and I think was about 21 or 22 years old at the time. Think ultimately a league two player.

Curtis Weston and Josh Wright were consided decent - good signings as was Andy Barcham.

Garry Richards was a solid enough performer and ditto for Josh Gowling although not Simon King.

Mark McCammon and moving on...

Renne Howe I don't think people rated, especially since most of the time Stimson seemed to start him up front with goal machine Dennis Oli but like a number of players like Darius Henderson, was prolific elsewhere.

If I recall correctly in Stimson's last season we signed a lot of loans hoping to kickstart our away form but most played not enough matches to really give an impression. The exceptions being Chris Dickson who massively flopped due to expectation from his first spell and Febian Brandy who looked lively and fell over a few times in the opposition penalty box.

Vernon lasted about 20 minutes before injuring himself for the rest of the season. We signed a number of players like Darren Dennehy and Matt Fry who were competent and then there were other strikers like Tristian Plummer and James Walker who were supposed to bring in a new dynamic but in the handful of matches they played it wasn't clear what that dynamic was supposed to be. Although in defence of those strikers we might not have been creating a host of chances.
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Good summary. Would largely agree.

I too liked Kevin Mayer, one of those that kept possession and an unsung hero. You only notice the job these players do when they’re not in the side. Most people preceded his name with “oh fu**ing hell” though.

I thought Rene Howe was a Hess signing for some reason.......

Stuart Lewis. Didn’t David Pleat call him the ginger Cafu during a live game on TV.

Dennis Oli was a strange one really. IMO very little talent, yet like Leroy would run forever for the cause and generally tried to cause a nuisance in the box. As you say was here for 5 years. That may tell us more about our budget and recruitment techniques than his actual quality though. Also blessed with a name that’s easy to chant - always helps as a footballer.
 
I remember that Leroy goal, well done him.

Oli was as fit as a fiddle, quick and a general nuisance as Rob mentioned. Needed 10 chances to get a shot on target.

Stimmo re-signed Danny Jackman after he completely ran the game against us for Northampton when we got torn apart and lost 4-0.

I agree with Crofts having lost interest at that point, Stimmo forced him out and on loan to Wrexham. Didn't have a bad career after that though, did he?!
 
I'll never forgive Stimmo for the way he treated Trigger.

Left him out of play off final and brought on Albert Jarrett. Had Southall played he would have become the only player in Gills history to play in 3 Wembley play off finals.

As they were celebrating the promotion Stimmo took the opportunity to tell Southall that he wouldn't be getting another contract at the club he loved, classy.

Perhaps there's too much sentiment in the above but I think that southall deserved to be treated better than he was.
 
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