Too much doom and Gloom. | Vital Football

Too much doom and Gloom.

daveycrocket

daveycrocket

Vital Squad Member
Anyone would think we'd just been relegated with all this doom & gloom. With 13 minutes to go yesterday we were winning, had we hung on for the win we'd be 1 point off a play-off place with the excitement of a last day do or die big match. Compare that to last season where we seriously thought we'd be non league.

I think expectation from us fans has been so high but we've not been good enough obviously. Having said that, of the top four we've beaten Stockport, Wrexham, MK and should have beaten Mansfield at home, but for an awful refereeing decision.

The best team I've seen at Priestfield this season were Notts County, who were very near top of the league, but they dropped away into bottom half of the table. Doncaster on the other hand were near the bottom of the league at Xmas, with their fans pleading to sack McCann, now look at them. How confused must fans of these two teams be for example?
Anyone can beat anyone in this league, so to be in with a shout of the play-offs with 2 games to go is a very acceptable position to be in after last year. Keep the faith for next season guys.
 
I have been thinking today how awful we are as a fan base.

Had Brad and Shannon not taken the reigns when they did where do you think GFC would be today?

Getting relegated again, as that would have been where we were under PDPS.

GFC is not the Club it was 18 months ago we have great owners, great Commercial side to the business for whatever reason the playing side just hasn’t come off (even though heavily invested in). With the players coming in I thought a top three place was guaranteed but they as a team and Management team have failed to deliver.

Time to take stock look at where are issues are - and I believe the Club know where that is. Clean slate and go again.

We are an EFL club still that is in transition not looking at NLS next year.

Come on let’s have some positivity here roll on 2024/25 where we get where we want to be
 
All above agreed, but ……………
The target before a ball was kicked was MINIMUM playoffs.
Brad was very clear about that.
I’m disappointed that we didn’t actually achieve that target given pre season hype.
We’ve never been a million miles away from the playoffs but actually light years behind the teams who’ve gone up.
The bizarre decision to sack the manager without a plan certainly didn’t help.
 
shotshy said:
All above agreed, but ……………
The target before a ball was kicked was MINIMUM playoffs.
Brad was very clear about that.
I’m disappointed that we didn’t actually achieve that target given pre season hype.
We’ve never been a million miles away from the playoffs but actually light years behind the teams who’ve gone up.
The bizarre decision to sack the manager without a plan certainly didn’t help.
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Shit happens our Club is in a far better place that’s all that counts
 
Sturdy Gill said:
Shit happens our Club is in a far better place that’s all that counts
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Is it ?
Hopefully Brad and the manager won’t set any targets for next season then …… we cannot fail.
Just chill, go with the flow and see how it pans out.
No targets for strikers, just hope they score a few.
No clean sheet target.
Maybe we can, maybe we can’t.
Let’s hope the keeper and defenders do their job.
That’s professional sport ?
What the heck?
 
Being the ****est club in the EFL in 2022 doesn't deter from this season being a failure. Not even in play-off contention in round 46.

And given how close the table is (I'm not looking at it right now) we're probably not that far from 16th, which wouldn't be much of an improvement on 22/23!

Get a manager who knows League 2.
 
shotshy said:
All above agreed, but ……………
The target before a ball was kicked was MINIMUM playoffs.
Brad was very clear about that.
I’m disappointed that we didn’t actually achieve that target given pre season hype.
We’ve never been a million miles away from the playoffs but actually light years behind the teams who’ve gone up.
The bizarre decision to sack the manager without a plan certainly didn’t help.
Click to expand...

Spot on.

The season is disappointing as we failed to meet reasonable expectations given the investment and hype.

That said the club has reversed direction and now looking upwards. Off the field things are much better. On the field needs to catch up. It will.

It doesnt change the fact the the team underperformed this season and its OK to talk about it.

To paraphrase Brad "lets not sugar coat it"
 
Well I thought that we would make the play offs so yes it's not gone the way that I expected. But the best houses start with the strongest foundations and on this score I'm much happier than I've been for ages. Criticism is perfectly fair but too much negativity might drive Brad and Sharon away and where would that leave us?
 
It is the way it has always been with shifting fan expectation.

When Evans went, we were quite clearly on our uppers, losing 4-0 at home then 7-2 shortly afterwards.

When Scally went, we were bottom of the whole league and several points adrift of safety and clearly no money was being spent.

In comes someone to stabilise the club and start some organic growth that was always going to take some time, but because we happen to know that they are personal wealthy we expected them to splurge their cash, and we are therefore surmising that everybody we have signed since is on a massive and long term contract, even though some like Nichols and Bonne have accepted moves away afterwards.

Within three months of breathing the biggest sigh of relief that we have stayed in the league with an impressive run of form, returning Priestfield to being a fortress after many years, the grumbling starts about the style of play and entertainment.

On the face of it, the Galinsons appeared to have listened to those grumbles and caved in to them. Fair enough, as every team changes and evolves in some form or another.

Neither the rate of goal scoring or the style of play has changed enormously since then, but appointing someone to their first management job was always going to be more of a long haul.

Due to age, commitments and locality, I am now only a Radio and iFollow devotee so my opinion doesn't count for much but I do remember home games under Pulis against the likes of Exeter and Scarborough which were absolutely dire 1-0 wins but I didn't question at all entertainment-wise, having just lived through the Halifax game season and the receivership. There wasn't the same feeling of entitlement then, or at least I didn't detect it.

To my mind, it is difficult to remember the last season where we played exciting, free flowing football. Maybe it was Hess's last failed season where we were top goal scorers with Bayo and Cody I think, but we conceded for fun with Matt Lawrence at the back, which made many moan just as much.

Even going back to when we first signed Ryan Jackson, even before Evans's days, there was a school of thought that his long throws were our only attacking threat.

I can't see any short term fix where we can play an open attacking game every week, but also be consistent and not get picked off. That really doesn't work in League Two with League Two standard players IMHO.
 
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I’d replace doom and gloom with frustration and disappointment feel we lost last season’s second half momentum
We were weighed done by the Harris sacking the time it took to appoint a new manager and the total under achievement of the squad
It’s a summer of reflection clear out and decent recruitment then we go again in August hopefully we get things right or it’s groundhog season for us 😆
 
The doom and gloom amongst the fans would have been a lot less had the chairman declared his minimum expectations this season was an improvement on the last season, and not mentioned play offs or promotion.
 
ME2blue said:
The doom and gloom amongst the fans would have been a lot less had the chairman declared his minimum expectations this season was an improvement on the last season, and not mentioned play offs or promotion.
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I think there's a cohort of Gills ' suporters' with unrealistic expectations.
A new owner and they're already spending his money for him. How long the honeymoon will last is anyone's guess, but if this season is anything to go by, not long.
At the moment we're 6 places higher than we finished last season. Maintain that rate of improvement and promotion will come, it might just take a little time and patience.
 
daveycrocket said:
Anyone would think we'd just been relegated with all this doom & gloom. With 13 minutes to go yesterday we were winning, had we hung on for the win we'd be 1 point off a play-off place with the excitement of a last day do or die big match. Compare that to last season where we seriously thought we'd be non league.

I think expectation from us fans has been so high but we've not been good enough obviously. Having said that, of the top four we've beaten Stockport, Wrexham, MK and should have beaten Mansfield at home, but for an awful refereeing decision.

The best team I've seen at Priestfield this season were Notts County, who were very near top of the league, but they dropped away into bottom half of the table. Doncaster on the other hand were near the bottom of the league at Xmas, with their fans pleading to sack McCann, now look at them. How confused must fans of these two teams be for example?
Anyone can beat anyone in this league, so to be in with a shout of the play-offs with 2 games to go is a very acceptable position to be in after last year. Keep the faith for next season guys.
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Great post.

Thanks for proving that some Gills fans have the ability to demonstrate measure. We're a world away from where we were 18 months ago.

ME2blue said:
The doom and gloom amongst the fans would have been a lot less had the chairman declared his minimum expectations this season was an improvement on the last season, and not mentioned play offs or promotion.
Click to expand...

What was he supposed to say? "I think, after nearly being relegation fodder, I'd be happy with a mid-table effort next season." People would have hit the roof!

Sadly, it says more about people's ability to appraise our football team than it does about Brad's hopes as Chairman of the football club!

Solent Knight said:
Let all be happy clappy to be a Nearly Team.
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Bad take. I get it though - I read your posts and it fits neatly with your sky-is-falling narrative...

In my humble opinion, the biggest problem with Gills at the moment is a segment of the fanbase who will never be satisfied, no matter the reality. We are a small, local league two club with some potential. Not that long ago, our squad was so bad we were nearly - and rightfully - relegated to the national league.

And I can't lie - it works. If you choose to back doom and gloom, eventually you'll be proven right. Every manager gets sacked eventually. It's as some people just can't separate the frustrations of an emotional game - up and down - and avoid projecting spittle when it doesn't go to plan.

We are on track to improve:
* We have, in Brad and Shannon, two smart individuals who are committed to this club and the good that it can bring. That's a huge plus that so many fans can't say about their club.
* They understand that culture change is a massively important part of our development. See Compher, Joe. That's a significant development but it takes time. Heck, we're only just bringing recruiting analysts into the fold - we're behind the curve there.
* They brought in a high quality coach to fit with the more progressive development aspect of modern football. That takes time.
* They recognise we're lacking up front - every man and his dog can see that. I expect it will be addressed properly this summer.

I am not going to kowtow to the few who take their frustrations way beyond what is reasonable. I still maintain that if they expended as much energy supporting the club/team as they do jeering or gobbing off, we'd all be in a much better place. And no that doesn't make us 'happy clappy', it positions us to achieve whilst in the realm of reality.

The alternative is to continue complaining about a lack of instant success, see off another coach and then start the whole thing again.
 
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