Stephen Clemence has insisted that his Gillingham side has made good progress since his appointment at the League Two club.
The 45-year-old took charge on November 1, and has seen two wins and losses in the four games of his tenure so far. The son of the late England keeper Ray Clemence took charge in Kent following the departure of Neil Harris at the start of October.
Acting as a coach under Steve Bruce for much of his time after retirement, the Gillingham job is Clemence’s first full-time job in management, with a short stint as Sheffield Wednesday’s caretaker manager in 2019.
The Liverpool-born head coach’s first game was a 2-0 win over Hereford away in the FA Cup first round, but two defeats followed against Fulham Academy in the EFL Trophy and a 2-0 loss at Wrexham on Remembrance Day.
He claimed his first three points last weekend with a 3-1 win over Salford City at Priestfield in his first home game. Gills sit in eighth place, just one point behind Accrington Stanley who occupy the final play-off spot.
Speaking following their win over the Ammies on Saturday, he was positive about the start to his stay in Medway. He said [Quotes via Kent Online]: “It was a good win but hopefully just the start of things, we need to get a few more now. I have said that I want us to play more football but I want to win games and there are different ways to win. You have to take what the opposition give you.
“If the opposition are going to press you high up the pitch then you have to go over that. I am not afraid to play a bit more direct at times and play into channels and into the number nine a bit earlier. You have to take what the opposition give you, we did that against a good Salford side who had been in good form.
“You could see some of the stuff that we had been working on at the training ground and when you see that as a coach that is probably where the addiction to coaching comes from.”
The victory was only the second time Gills had scored more than two goals in a game this season, a result that saw them draw level with Harrogate Town for the least goals scored in League Two.
He continued: “What I am hoping is that gives them a shot in the arm of confidence and we can spring forward from this. I am proud of the players. They have taken on new ideas over the last couple of weeks and I am starting to see progress with that and their attitude has been fantastic.
“We will only ever achieve anything if we are all together, as fans, players, staff and the board. I think if we all stay on that same page, we all want the same thing, then we have a great chance.”
Gillingham travel north to strugglers Tranmere Rovers on Saturday afternoon before welcoming Wimbledon the following week.
Writer’s View
Stephen Clemence has had an inconsistent start to life in Gillingham. Two wins out of four is a good start though, and they kept touch with the play-off spots going into the packed festive schedule. It was a strong win last time out against Salford, denying them any chance of getting back into the match once they got their two-goal advantage.
The new man in charge at Priestfield will look to start building a strong run in a fairly easy run of fixtures from now to the new year. Goal scoring has been an issue for Gills as well, with the trip to the Wirral offering a chance to rack up their conversions when they face a Tranmere side who have lost the most games in the division.
1st Class Honours in Multimedia Journalism at Salford University. Writing mainly about League Two.
Some remarks he
re are a bit OTT. Clem has only been here a couple of weeks and had no time initiall to coach the side into a new formation. On that basis he has achieved a fair bit. The Salford game was a marker showing flashes of the wa he wants us to play and was a great success. Its easy to criticise from the comfort of an armchair but make the comments relevant.