‘The Rainham End are going to love him’ declared Gills boss Gareth Ainsworth after describing what attracted him to new striker Seb Palmer-Houlden.
Ainsworth admitted he was unable to do his own usual scouting of the player before the signing took place but was confident they were getting a striker who fits the bill for him and Gillingham.
Palmer-Houlden couldn’t break through at Championship side Bristol City, and opted for a permanent move away from his home club, after a positive season playing in Scotland.
The 21-year-old scored nine goals for Scottish Premier side Dundee last term after hitting the same tally the previous year with a full season on loan with Newport County in League 2.
“He’s going to bring an absolute relentless work-rate and a want to score goals,” said Ainsworth, describing his recently-signed striker.
“Obviously, we all know that goal scoring over the last couple of years has been something we want to improve and Seb has an unbelievable record at youth level and reserve level.
“He went to Scotland and again showed what he’s capable of in glimpses. I think he’s going to complement this squad really well.
“The Rainham End are going to love him because he just never stops running, never stops chasing.
“He’s very, very much my type of player and we think we’ve got him right at the right time. He’s going to have a good career and we’re excited to bring him here.
“He can play in a variety of positions, but he is usually an out-and-out forward, scores all sorts of goals.
“I’ve coached some players who are very similar to him in the past and I’m hoping that he can give that platform up front for us, that we desperately want to add to with Elliott Nevitt and Joe Gbode and the others that are coming back, the Josh Andrews and the Marcus Wyllies, strikers that are coming back into the reckoning.
“He definitely complements that forward group and if he can add goals, that’s what we’ve been missing.”
The Gills had already picked out Palmer-Houlden as a potential recruit before sounding Ainsworth out after he took over as manager. The new boss gave the deal the green light.
“It married up with the recruitment team here, definitely,” he said.
“We’ve said that no player will come in the building now without my saying ‘yes’. I want to make that clear because there’s been all sorts of stories about recruitment in the past here.
“Nobody will get in the door unless I say yes and that was one of my big non-negotiables at the start. But it wasn’t an argument.
“Me and Andy Hessenthaler (head of recruitment) go back a long way, James Harrison (recruitment analyst) is obviously very adept at the computers and the stats. We work really well and I made my league debut with (northern scout) Ronnie Jepson.
“We’ve got a good team there on the ground but I think that me being the manager, me being the one who takes the success and the failures on a Saturday, it’s important that they’re my players.
“We go through hundreds of players, but this one was spotted before I even spotted him. They’re definitely doing some good work there and I definitely wanted to give my seal of approval and say, ‘yeah, he’s definitely going to be a positive signing for Gillingham.”
With Ainsworth taking over at the back end of last season in a congested calendar, he didn’t get time to see the player live, as he would prefer, but doesn’t see that as an issue.
He said: “In the world of video technology and stats and everything, you do due diligence with other clubs and other people.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of people and sent people to watch him live. I personally never got to see him live myself, which for me is one thing that I do prefer to do.
“The majority of my signings, I’ve always seen and I always watch them live. But unfortunately at the time of the season, Seb wasn’t able to be watched.
“We did plenty of work on the films and the videos and he came up high on that.
“The proof will be in the pudding and I’m hoping it’ll be a success.
“I think his progress was just a little bit blocked at Bristol City because they’ve got some brilliant strikers and he’s made a real brave decision to say, ‘no, I can do this now and I can come and forge my own career’. So again, it speaks volumes of the boy.
“He’s a big size, six foot two, and once we get him in our regime, our intensity, the way we want to play, I’m sure he’s going to be a success.”
