Manager John Coleman hopes his input during the closing hours of the transfer window will help Gillingham recruit players hungry for success.
Coleman’s on a deal until the end of the season, but is hoping to extend that stay and has an eye on the future, and says the club “need to be careful” when it comes to recruitment.
With this season heading for a write-off, Coleman will be hoping to help bring some more fresh faces in the closing hours of the window to ensure the final few months can be a lot more positive than the last few. The window for signing contracted players shuts at 11pm tonight (Monday).
The Gills have brought three new players in during the winter window and Coleman – who said it might be a “manic Monday” – is keen for more, but said: “We won’t rule out players going out, we won’t rule out players coming in, but we’ve got to start being sensible and we’ve certainly not got to be a soft touch.
“I think we’ve got to tighten up a little bit in the business that we do in the club, and that’s no slight on anybody, but I think we’ve got to start getting more hunger in the football club and that’s in every department of the football club, not just the management or the playing staff, that’s every single department.
“Everyone’s got to get more hungry, more hungry for success, more hungry to improve, more hungry to self-develop, and that’s including myself as well.
“One thing I would never question is my desire in football but I’m still learning, I still want to learn, and I want to get better. I want the players to get better with me.”
Coleman’s taken charge of four games, two losses either side of a couple of away draws.
Gillingham ended the weekend 17th in the League 2 table, just nine points off the bottom two. Priestfield was an unhappy place again on Saturday, with Notts County winning 2-1.
The Gills showed a bit of character in the second half but they were already 2-0 down by then.
Coleman’s keen to see players recruited with the right passion for the cause.
He said: “I think we’ve got to get back to players who want to fight for the shirt, who want to wear the badge with pride and who want to represent Chillingham Football Club and get the fans to love them basically.
“You need your fans loving players and I’m sure they’ll have their own favourites.
“I know everyone loves Glenn (Morris), but you need the fans loving your players, you need that love affair.
“I’ve only been here a month, the courtship’s only just started, but I want that, I crave that.”
The January window is a difficult time to get the ideal players in the door.
Coleman said: “It’s historically a difficult window and sometimes you overpay and you don’t get what you anticipate to what you’re getting.
“That doesn’t mean you stop doing it, that doesn’t mean you stop recruiting or you stop searching, but you’ve got to be careful and you’ve got to be mindful.
“I’ve been doing it long enough to know that there are certain pitfalls that we’ve got to avoid.
“I’ll be giving my pearls of wisdom in all of the meetings that we’re in to try and make sure we get the right people and we don’t go down the road of chasing something that’s not there.”
