Attacking midfielder Bradley Dack thinks relegation talk is nonsense and remains driven to try and bring success to Gillingham.
Dack’s not lost his self-belief and feels the only thing holding his own game back is playing time on the pitch, which he hopes can change soon.
His return to the club had been a slow-burner, featuring in nine of the last 10 games after building up his fitness but starting just two of those matches.
Gills’ form has been poor but Dack’s confident he can help turn things around.
He said: “It’s been a tough run. I don’t think it’s through not trying. Obviously, everyone wants to win games and we know we should be in a better place in the league. There’s no doubt about that.
“Sometimes it’s hard to put a finger on what’s going wrong, but we’ve got to snap out of it quickly and it starts on Saturday (at Barrow).
“There’s a team every season that comes late and I’m not saying that’s going to be us. We can’t say that. We haven’t won in a lot of games, so we just have to build on the next game and then the next game.
“We’ll be looking up rather than down. Hopefully, we can put a bit of a run together and you never know what happens.
“I want to play a big part in getting this club to the next level, which is a higher league and I’ve made no secret of that since I’ve come.
“The aim when I came was to get promotion and at the minute we’re miles away from that.
“Once you get into a winning run, there’s been lots of teams in the past that have come late. We’re probably still not quite out of it but we have to look up rather than down.
“All the relegation talk and stuff like that, that’s nonsense really for a club like this.”
Dack joined the Gills on a one-year deal – with the club having the option to extend it in the summer.
It’s not gone to plan so far.
“It’s been a bit of a weird year,” said the 31-year-old.
“(Mark Bonner) brought me in and I missed pre-season. I was catching up (on fitness) and maybe we got a bit ahead of ourselves. I had a little niggle and that turned into something else.
“It was stop, start for me. I went back into training in mid-November and we had a plan. Unfortunately, Bonds got sacked so that plan changed but I feel really fit. I feel ready to go.
“I’ve been at 100% now probably for about four or five weeks. I’ve had a lot of training now, probably nine or ten weeks fully. It’s just about getting in the team, I guess.
“I feel like I need to have a run of games. That’s something I haven’t had.
“I’ve been open and honest with the manager and (assistant manager) Jimmy (Bell).
“It’s hard to guarantee someone they’re going to play, but I came here to play and I feel like I haven’t had the chance to show what I can do yet. I need to get into a rhythm and hopefully, I can get in the team soon.
“I want to play and I know I can affect games at this level. I still have a lot of belief in my ability that I’m one of the best players in the league.
“It’s frustrating seeing it and not being able to help, especially at the start of the season and, obviously, now being involved and not being in the (starting) team. It’s difficult as well because I still feel like I can affect the games in a positive way.
“I don’t feel like I’ve got anything to prove to anyone, I feel like I can still play a big role in this team and that’s my own self-belief. I’ve just got to show it when I do get out there.
“It’s hard if you’re in for one and you come out for a couple, I think I’ve always struggled over my whole career to do that.
“I can’t have anyone guarantee me that I’m going to play games, but I feel like to get into a rhythm, you need five, six, seven in a row to find your feet and find your form.”
Speaking about his hopes and future at the club, Dack said: “The club means an awful lot, a massive amount. I want to get promoted with this team again and I feel like it’s definitely a possibility, whether that’s this year or next year, or whenever.
“I feel like I can definitely play a big part in getting this team to the next level and it would mean an awful lot to me.
“It would even mean more than the first time I was here when we got out of this league, because I feel like I can play a bit more of a part in it and hopefully just take us to the next level.
“I’d love to stay for another year. I love the club. I want to be here. I want to be successful. If it doesn’t happen this year it will feel like a missed opportunity and I’ll want to put that right. That’s my stance on it but whether that happens I’m not sure.
“There’s been no conversations yet about next year with me. Obviously, I know the manager’s only contracted as well until the end of the season, so I’m not sure where everything lies.”
Dack started his career at Gillingham and back in 2013 he picked up a championship winning medal when Martin Allen’s team won the League 2 title.
But it was another few seasons when Dack really started to blossom, under the guidance of Justin Edinburgh.
It’s 10 years to the day (Friday) since Edinburgh took over as manager of Gillingham.
In Edinburgh’s first full season the team were challenging at the top of League 1 before falling away in the second half of the season, finishing the season in ninth place. Nobody has managed to better that finish since.
“We should have got promoted that year,” Dack said. “We still talk about it now, it’s one that hurts still.
“We were top and then myself, John Egan and Dom Samuel all got injured. It was the spine of the team and it was a big blow to lose all three of us in such a short period of time.
“We just needed to hang in really and we lost some tight games. We went up to Burton and conceded in the last ten seconds and even Millwall on the last day, we conceded a penalty in the last kick of the game.
“It was really difficult because it was an amazing year.
“It was such a great group, everyone was together. Justin was an absolute legend along with Kers (the assistant manager) and all the staff.
“It felt like there was a real togetherness that year because there were some big hitters in League One.
“We should have definitely been in the play-offs and I think that would have been a good end to the season but it wasn’t meant to be.”
The following season the Gills were unable to build on what they’d done and Edinburgh was eventually sacked. He bounced back and won promotion at Leyton Orient.
Dack moved to Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £750,000 and it was the spell playing under Edinburgh that led to his move to the Championship.
Justin died in 2019 at the age of 49 – shortly after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Dack said: “It was great times with him – amazing. He was such a top guy.
“It still hurts now with how he passed away.
“I keep in contact with his son and his family – they’re great people.
“He was so good with me as well, giving me such freedom.
“I remember one of the first conversations I had with him. I was in and out of the team when he came in and he just sat me down and said ‘I see you as the main player in the team.’
“He gave me a mad confidence to just go and express myself. He was the first one that brought that out in me so I’ll always thank him for that.
“The year after that we built on paper a decent squad, brought in some big players and started really well, then it kind of fell off towards the middle and obviously he lost his job. Everyone was gutted and really disappointed that he left.
“I’ve got nothing but amazing words to say for a great man.
“He was massive for that 18 months and even after that I spoke to him a lot.
“I know he gave me good reference at Blackburn when Tony Mowbray spoke to him and I know he spoke to Harry Redknapp who was at Birmingham at the time and had a conversation about me.
“We were really close and it was a really difficult time obviously when he did pass.”
Justin’s son Charlie, who was a regular face at the Gills, supporting the team and his dad, has since set up the Justin Edinburgh 3 Foundation, campaigning for legislative change on the installation of automated external defibrillators within health and sports facilities.
The JE3 foundation also raises awareness of cardiac arrest and delivering CPR training.
“He’s done amazing,” Dack said.
“To make something so sad and horrible into almost a positive and trying to change this country, the United Kingdom actually.
“I couldn’t believe that you don’t need to have a defib in any leisure centre or sports facility. It’s pretty crazy and he’s obviously he’s been trying to change that. It seems like a bit of a no-brainer to me to have that.
“The work he’s done is incredible.”
