It’s been non-stop for Gillingham manager John Coleman since taking over and he’s admitted to a few surprises.
Since heading to the Gills in the early hours of Monday morning, he and assistant manager Jimmy Bell have been working flat out with one thing on their mind, beating Fleetwood Town this Saturday.
Coleman’s had a busy five days. He’s met the squad for the first time, coached them, studied videos of some recent matches, squeezed in a midweek scouting trip and overseen a full-on training ground match. He’s also had plenty of conversations with recruitment boss Andy Hessenthaler over potential new signings.
The new man’s trying to squeeze as much as he can into the time he’s had before taking charge at Priestfield for the first time this weekend.
Coleman said: “We had an opportunity on Wednesday with the players being off to study the last four or five games in a bit more depth.
“We’d already watched them but we studied them a bit more.
“We had something to show the players and we then did some work on a few little things in training. That’ll be an ongoing process.
“From Monday morning, basically, our eyes were on the game on Saturday, which is going to be a tough one.”
From watching his new team in training, Coleman admitted: “The ability of the players has surprised me.
“I’ve watched Gillingham three or four times this season and the technical ability, when you’re working with them closely for longer periods, has surprised me.
“The structure of the club has definitely surprised me as I didn’t realise how much they had in place and how much you could drive this forward.
“We’ve got the facilities and I think the facilities are only going to get better to compete in League 1 and ultimately the Championship.”
Coleman’s spent the week familiarising himself with the team and staff and a new location.
“I’ve got lost every single day in the building.” he joked.
“Everyone I’ve encountered since I’ve been here has been so welcoming and so pleasant with me. Hopefully that doesn’t turn after a few bad results.
“We’re here to try and win football matches, there’s no getting away from that, and we’ll do our very best to do so if we can.”
This Saturday the Gills will be up against a side who changed managers recently themselves, with former Barrow boss Pete Wild taking over just before Christmas.
Looking ahead to their weekend opponents, Coleman said: “I saw him last Saturday. I think they’ve won one, drew one, lost one.
“They’re probably still in a little bit of a similar situation to ourselves in getting used to a new manager.
“They’ve got good players. I’ve watched them three times now this season, live. They started off quite well, and they had a really bad raft of injuries.
“I think at the start [of the season], Fleetwood, Gillingham and Walsall were probably the three standout teams.”
The Gills have since slipped to 14th in recent weeks and Fleetwood sit two places further back.
Coleman said: “Injuries has done it to them, particularly with Brendan Wiredu being off for so long, because I think he’s an integral part of that team.”
Gills’ new manager has half a season to turn the team from mid-table also-rans into promotion contenders and starting at home to lowly Fleetwood will put the expectations on from the off.
“I’d snap both your hands off now if you could give me a win,” he quipped.
“You can never guarantee it, but you can go all out to do it.
“Everyone goes on about the new manager bounce but I don’t subscribe to that, to be honest, never have done.
“Winning is everything in this sport and winning is the best thing.
“People go on about team spirit. The best driver and the best builder of team spirit is winning.
“I’ve found over the years that when you work hard for something, it has more of an incentive value that rockets, when you know you’ve worked hard, and you’ve seen the pay-off at the end of it.
“We’re going to work hard every weekend and you want that pay-off at the end of the weekend. When you do get it, it’s such a relief and such a thrill.
“I can’t describe the feeling of the thrill that you get when you win a game of football.
“I was getting that when I was nine when I was playing for my town team.That thrill of winning has never left me.
“The thrill of scoring a goal for me was just everything and now when my team scores, it’s everything. Particularly when you’ve won.
“It’s funny how the will to win consumes you. It has consumed me over the years.
“I’m not one for celebrating when we score, unless I know it’s won. If we can make it 3-0 in the 97th minute, you might get a bit of a smile out of me!”
