Paul Fisher first Gills interview | Vital Football

Paul Fisher first Gills interview

He speaks very well. Has ambitions to get the club back to the Championship. Admits the whole club needs rebooting post-covid and a lot more staff recruited for the general running of the stadium and selling events and advertising etc.
A bit vague on whether he has the authority to sign players without Scally’s agreement, he did say Paul would be kept in the loop on everything.
 
Lark said:
He speaks very well. Has ambitions to get the club back to the Championship. Admits the whole club needs rebooting post-covid and a lot more staff recruited for the general running of the stadium and selling events and advertising etc.
A bit vague on whether he has the authority to sign players without Scally’s agreement, he did say Paul would be kept in the loop on everything.
Click to expand...

He did say Paul has now gone on holiday. Hopefully he has a great relaxing time and we hear no more interviews.

And, he mentioned the self serve pumps will possibly never happen. A running joke that can be put to bed hopefully.
 
A very good listen, he seems like a great chap and he’s a Medway boy like the rest of us, knows his stuff too about running sports venues for the customer experience. It’s been patently obvious that the club was effectively mothballed during the lockdowns so for Mr Scally it literally would have felt like having to start from scratch again (especially as we find ourselves back in the fourth tier).

Who knows where we’ll end up, but I think at the moment we can all (Mr Scally included I hope) afford ourselves a little positivity.
 
Last edited:
Lozzy-Hove_Gill said:
Great interview, yet still idiots on twitter slag him and Scally off.

Can't these people realise that as club we can't move until people drop this pettiness.
Click to expand...

I think that’s why they are continuing.

But so far, the overwhelming response on social media to PF and this interview has been very positive. I think the “middle ground scally outers” are pretty upbeat. Like markinkent above says, lets hope a lot of the match day experiences will start to improve over the coming months.
 
Lark said:
A bit vague on whether he has the authority to sign players without Scally’s agreement, he did say Paul would be kept in the loop on everything.
Click to expand...
Possibly because Scally hasn't decided that yet.I would think at this moment he will need Scally's blessing for anything major spending wise.That may well continue. But employing a extra ticket seller or advertising staff etc will be down to him.Scally will of course want to know the weekly figures etc.
 
markinkent said:
Very refreshing. An acknowledgement that the fan experience can be improved. Thats a start.
Click to expand...

That is what I particularly took from it. Obviously, he is not going to criticise what went before, but he sees many avenues for improvement.

I think his comment about continuing with his many other business interests means that he will only be devoting part of his time to the Gills and probably makes it more likely that PS will return to full charge in the fullness of time. Either that or it will be necessary to recruit another CEO.

He comes across as quite humble, humerous and no obvious ego, so pretty refreshing really.

What was the word that he struggled with? Collaborative? Better to not to be able to pronounce than not be able to practice it. And being a good listener?

Well done, PS for appointing PF. So far, looks like a clever move.
 
Lark said:
A bit vague on whether he has the authority to sign players without Scally’s agreement, he did say Paul would be kept in the loop on everything.
Click to expand...

Actually, when asked that exact question (if he can sign off on new players) he said “ yes, absolutely” and “there’s a budget there”.

He further went on to say he’d already been in discussion with Neil and Nicky and if they had to stretch the budget to get in the players Neil wants then they would look at that. That sounds very promising.

He did clarify that he’s always in contact with Paul Scally and he’d be “in the loop”. Which I think is the perfectly correct way to do things.

“Hey Paul, we’ve offered Messi £3mill and he’s accepted. Just keeping you in the loop” 😂
 
Lark said:
Gills Horse will be angry! :bull:
Click to expand...

I promise I sent one tweet btw, it wasn’t me who emailed :LOL:

I have always joked about them tongue in cheek as they’ve been ‘coming soon’ for 7 years, either take the sign down or install them. I don’t think anyone really cares if they ever happen (me included) but I’ve said it was like a metaphor for Scally’s reign, good intentions but over promises that he doesn’t deliver on.

Take the sign down now is all I ask!
 
GillsBluenose said:
That is what I particularly took from it <improving fan experience> Obviously, he is not going to criticise what went before, but he sees many avenues for improvement.

…. And being a good listener?

Well done, PS for appointing PF. So far, looks like a clever move.
Click to expand...

Exactly GBn. Here’s hoping that Paul Fisher was involved in the recent meeting with the supporters club. He did say he’d been around the club since June. I reckon he might move quickly on any sensible and reasonable suggestions they had for improving the fans side of things.
 
I agree, really good interview. Interesting that he said he wants to be open and happy for anyone to stop him and ask him anything but if it starts getting abusive he will close up. That better not happen!
 
Good start.
Honest and open.
What more does anyone want?

I like that he confirmed how it works with the playing budget.
Some fans were under the impression that the manager had to get chairman approval to sign each player.
The manager gets an agreed budget to spend how he wishes.
The chairman often keeps a contingency for extra ordinary circumstances.
I like Paul Fisher from what I’ve seen so far.
Up the Gills
 
Bromley_GFC said:
Thats a cracking interview, he comes across very well……….Fisher seems to be ambitious without being unrealistic and making silly promises.
Click to expand...

Hadn’t thought about that “realistic” bit. But thinking about it, he did say he thinks the Medway Towns deserves a Championship club, and I’d agree with that. It’s a very realistic aim.

We have proved before we can get to and stay there. Granted, it would need some decent investment to achieve it, but it’s doable.

But it’s not the pie-in-the-sky dream of becoming a Prem club, which frankly would require the sort of investment only an extremely wealthy benefactor could achieve. A la Bournemouth or Brentford.

I personally would be happy to see the sort of level achieved that maybe similar sized clubs have done recently. Peterboro, Rotherham, Luton, Lincoln, Oxford etc. These clubs are more than competitive in L1 and maybe having some times in The Championship. And they are achieving that on approx 10k crowds give or take a few thou. We can definitely do that even in our current guise. And we looked capable of it just 6 years ago.

If we can achieve that, then we can look forward to maybe progressing further in a shiny new 20k capacity stadium after that.

Oh Lord. Stop me from getting ahead of myself please….
 
Last edited:
OneSirKeefy said:
Hadn’t thought about that “realistic” bit. But thinking about it, he did say he thinks the Medway Towns deserves a Championship club, and I’d agree with that. It’s a very realistic aim.

We have proved before we can get to and stay there. Granted, it would need some decent investment to achieve it, but it’s doable.

But it’s not the pie-in-the-sky dream of becoming a Prem club, which frankly would require the sort of investment only an extremely wealthy benefactor could achieve. A la Bournemouth or Brentford.

I personally would be happy to see the sort of level achieved that maybe similar sized clubs have done recently. Peterboro, Rotherham, Luton, Lincoln, Oxford etc. These clubs are more than competitive in L1 and maybe having some times in The Championship. And they are achieving that on approx 10k crowds give or take a few thou. We can definitely do that even in our current guise. And we looked capable of it just 6 years ago.

If we can achieve that, then we can look forward to maybe progressing further in a shiny new 20k capacity stadium after that.

Oh Lord. Stop me from getting ahead of myself please….
Click to expand...
These are all good points.

Re the likes of Luton, Oxford, p’boro, etc, once you are in the championship with a good core of players, a bit of squad depth and a knowledgeable and respected manager, then even on a 9/10 k average gate you are only a good season away from the top table. If everything clicks it’s the sort of thing that can happen to any club, however unlikely.

Just the same as a bad preseason, lesser squad depth, and lack of harmony can result in a poor season and relegation, as we saw last season.
 
Paul Fisher came across very well and appears to be a good appointment. IMO, this is a sound move by the two Pauls and a positive step forward for GFC.

I got the impression that the appointment is very much an interim arrangement and PS`s inclusion "in the loop" suggests that PS`s passion for GFC remains alive and well. Paul Fisher did indicate that he has other business interests that will require his attention so, personally, I wouldn`t read anything other than the situation being temporary. Either way, at this time, the arrangement is surely a good thing for GFC.

A btw - seems apparent that a current business partner of PF might be a director of the Football League.

Bearing in mind that PF`s business expertise appears to be generally sports focussed, there`s good reason to be optimistic that our ship is being steered by a most competent pilot, notwithstanding that our final port of call remains difficult to call at this time.
 
Good interview. Majority of Gills fans will already be 100% behind him. If the numpties get properly on board as well that would be perfect.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.