After six months in charge, we look at the numbers behind Stephen Clemence’s time as head coach.
Having been appointed on November 1, 2023, the brief was clear. Play more attractive football, score more goals and win promotion!
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It’s easier said than done with someone else’s team and only one mid-season transfer window to deal in.
Clemence has already admitted he didn’t get all the deals done he wanted in January and one of the four signings he made, Josh Andrews, arrived injured and picked up another one during his rehab.
Exciting South American loanee Jorge Hurtado was crocked after just three substitute appearances and Burton loan striker Josh Walker didn’t have the impact the club’s recruitment team had hoped for.
An FA Cup win at Hereford and an EFL Trophy match against Fulham eased Clemence into his first league match, at promotion favourites Wrexham.
The Gills conceded inside a minute – a tough introduction to life as the head coach.
Clemence had pointed to the lack of crosses into the box as one reason they weren’t scoring and so his other January addition, Remeao Hutton, was the ideal man to sign.
Hutton’s stats stand up to the fact that he can deliver, with more crosses than anybody else in League 2, at 2.8 per match. Next best was Connor Mahoney but the two were getting in each other’s way early on, both operating down the right flank for the Gills.
Neil Harris had left the Gills with the team sitting eighth in the table – dropping out of the top four for the first time after defeat at Crewe. From 11 games the Gills had won six, drawn one and lost four – a 55% win rate.
But it was the style of football and lack of goals that irked supporters and eventually led chairman Brad Galinson to act. Winning wasn’t enough.
Clemence had been no.2 to Steve Bruce for over a decade but backed himself to manage a team of his own and he could see ways of making the Gills better on the eye.
Gillingham hadn’t scored more than two goals in any league game under Harris in those 11 games at the start of the season and although interim boss Keith Millen started with a 2-1 win against MK Dons, and enjoyed victory over Swindon, the goals were still hard to come by.
Clemence took charge of 30 games as head coach, with 10 wins. A 33.33% win rate was fractionally more than Harris (32.43%) over his 74 games between January 2022 and October 2023. Steve Evans’ record was 32.4% and Steve Lovell 33.3%.
A 3-1 home win over Salford in Clemence’s second league match saw the Gills score more than two goals for the first time in the season. The Gills also enjoyed a 3-1 win at Notts County – one of the highlights of his tenure – and the team also went on to score three against Morecambe and Barrow.
Chances were being created but the games over December suggested perhaps the personnel was the problem. In the games against Forest Green, Crawley and Sutton United the Gills managed 51 efforts at goal but scored just once. It was a damaging period in games many expected maximum points from.
Six goals in the last three games – a bumper two-goals-per-game average – suggested perhaps Clemence could just get things going. A summer transfer window and some extra attacking options would certainly have helped.
Gillingham ended the season with 46 goals – with only bottom side Forest Green having a worse record as they managed just 44 on their way towards relegation.
The leading sides Stockport (96 goals), Wrexham (89) and Mansfield (90) dwarfed that record. Most teams at least managed 60-plus.
Finishing as top scorer in the league for the Gills was attacking midfielder Connor Mahoney, with seven, while central defender Conor Masterson embarrassed the forward with six – additionally assisting a couple of own goals late in the season.
Of the strikers, Oli Hawkins’ four in 24 league games offered a strike rate of one in six. Macaulay Bonne was just a little worse than that and ended the season on loan at Cambridge United.
Ashley Nadesan’s two league goals in 29 appearances led to him being dropped from the squad completely by Clemence. Tom Nichols went to Mansfield Town in January with just one league goal, while Walker also ended his loan spell from Burton with a solitary effort, although he only started four of his 16 appearances.
Clemence’s side scored 32 goals in those 30 league matches – a slight improvement on what they’d managed previously, but clearly not enough to convince the club’s board to be trusted with a summer transfer window and taking charge next season.
