Football Season Guide

Gillingham are coming from what can best be described as a season of two halves, as the fans grew frustrated with the old-fashioned brand of football played by their ex-manager Peter Taylor, only for the atmosphere surrounding the club to change significantly following the arrival of Justin Edinburgh, who got the Gills to play a more modern brand of football and stirred them clear of danger. The decision to replace Taylor with Edinburgh has originally caused mixed reactions, but is now almost universally seen as a good one. The Gills have certainly done well under their current boss, but the big question going into the new season is whether Edinburgh has what it takes to help Gillingham kick on and become something more than the midtable sides that they have recently been. Edinburgh was certainly rather active in the transfer market in his bid to do so. His first task was to keep hold of the loan players which he rated, and he had mixed success doing this, as he secured the permanent deals for Bradley Garmston and Max Ehmer, but was unable to keep hold of striker John Marquis. However, he has signed two decent players in Ben Williamson and Rory Donnelly to add competition for places up top, while the signings in other areas of the teams include a whole array of players who are not really proven at League One players, but that Edinburgh has decided to sign following extensive scouting. None of the players who have left were heavily involved during the later stages of Gillingham's previous season, which drives us to the conclusions that Edinburgh has managed to keep hold of all of the players that he wanted to. The Gills definitely seem to be stronger than they were last season, both in terms of quality and the depth of their squad, and will therefore be expected to continue the progress that they have unquestionably shown under Edinburgh so far.