Despite the obvious disappointments of many of our performances this season I think this is a bit of a strange decision unless Scally already has someone in mind or lined up to replace him. Hopefully not Hessenthaler as if he's been working with Taylor he's obviously not been able to improve things enough.
Writing has been on the wall for sometime. If Hessy is installed on a full time basis again I'm going to start supporting Maidstone Utd.
I think it`s the right decision at the right time. The performances at home are far too negative and to not attack and take the game to the opposition and let away teams dominate possession and create so many chances is a certain recipe for relegation. I like Peter Taylor and wish him all the best for the future but I believe Paul Scally has made the correct decision. The most important decision now is who the new manager should be. The squad is good enough to stay up it just needs the right direction.
Definitely the right decision by any means but it should have been made weeks ago before the JPT game against Crawley. Surprised that he has gone now considering the more recent upturn in form but the football has still been particularly dire. As I already posted in the Progress thread, we've not seen an awful lot of positives this season apart from the signing of Egan. It may now enable a new manager to come in and allow us a more attacking style of play which should benefit players like Cody, McGlashan, Loft and Dickenson. Even Kedwell may come back as a better player under a new manager. To Summarise though, I am over the moon
Was not on the cards as far as scally was concered reporting only 2 weeks ago what a decent job taylor was doing. Although I was not convinced that he would not be sacked earlier in the season, again i was seeing a turn around as when Allen left. He had not done any better than Allen points wise so Scally had to act now. Now who takes over.
Makes no sense - Scally is making a habit of sacking managers just as form starts to improve! We had won 2 out of 3, and then we lose to the league leaders, and that's it for Taylor! Still 2 points ahead of the drop zone. Now a new man will come in, get rid of all the players we've just signed, and buy his own!
In my opinion it makes perfect sense. In fact I wish he had never been appointed, but as he was then he should have gone in October. All his previous clubs fans said how useless he was and we would be mad to have him. Well, Scally gave him a chance and has now realised it was a big mistake with us hurtling towards League 2 without any tactical nous in sight. I think he was only kept on over the last couple of months because Scally thought we could get to Wembley, but after the Bristol game, I think he realizes that that is a forlorn hope. But a new manager sometimes gets players playing out of their skin for a few weeks so anything is possible now, even avoiding relegation.
I have been against Taylor for some time but I find the timing bizarre, he had managed to turn some results around. I wonder if he asked for bunch more money and peeved off the Scallywag.
I have contrasting emotions from hearing the news. I didn’t like the way in which he couldn’t pick a settled team, played the wrong formations and only ever seemed to realise what was wrong at half time (although at least he did recognise it eventually). I also didn’t like the way in which he didn’t (whether through his own fault or Scally’s I don’t know) buy in a striker and thought that the options of Cody, Kedwell, German, Norris and if needed Dickenson were enough to cover that area of the pitch. Furthermore, the thing which annoyed me the most was the defensive formations at home. This team has the quality, if players are played in the right positions and with a couple of decent strikers playing, to really stretch teams with the likes of McGlashan, Dickenson, Cody, Doughty and Dack. However trying to play a defensive formation (i.e. 5-3-2) with these players just wasn’t going to work apart from maybe with Doughty, so we played other players who were not going to stretch the opposition, as McGlashan was nearly always left out, along with Dack and most of the time Dickenson. If I was in charge I would have played something along the lines of a 4-4-2 with (Nelson, Martin, Ehmer, Egan, Hoyte, Dickenson, Doughty/Pritchard, Dack, McGlashan, Cody, Kedwell/Norris). However I liked the idea behind it. I think, eventually we were trying to play a passing game, and in glimpses we did see evidence of it (i.e. first half at Colchester), but in the main, playing that defensive formation didn’t help things. I also liked the idea of buying in a lot of young players developing them and trying to grow a team, however obviously this hasn’t been given the time to develop. I think maybe we should have brought in a couple of more experienced players to help the young ones along. Another thing which I did think he was good at was signing young players (although this could be partly attributed to Hess). Egan, Ehmer, Doughty, Hause and Pritchard (controversial I know) look like good players now, Dickenson has improved and given time I think that Norris will too. Aaron Morris and Hoyte also look like good signings although Hoyte has never been given the opportunity he deserved. Lennon looks ok, definitely a good back – up, and McGlashan may improve if given regular game time. Loft for me has been a bit of a disappointment however. Bywater was also a decent player even if he did make mistakes. I would have liked to have seen Taylor maybe moved into a director of football/scout role. The problem I see now is what will happen in January. If Scally has no – one lined up (which he has said he hasn’t) then that could leave Hess in charge for most of the transfer window. Now if we start making signings with him in temporary charge then does that suggest that he will be given the job full – time? Also what about the loan players. I imagine Bywater will be let go anyway but what about Ehmer, Lennon and Doughty. Taylor wanted to extend their deals but will Hess be given the clearance to try and do so because we don’t know what the new manager will want?
Some interesting comments from Scally on the BBC Sport website reported to BBC Radio Kent http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30642796 QUOTE Scally told BBC Radio Kent he "hadn't intended to sack" Taylor on Wednesday but that a phone call with the one-time England boss had prompted him to act. "He called me and as a result of that conversation I wasn't prepared to let him carry on with the team," Scally said. "There are a number of things that aren't right and we think we should be doing differently. There is never one reason why a manager loses his job. "He was doing a decent job but I do believe it is right to have someone else running the team now." I told him on Monday I was concerned about the huge adverse public response to him. He was getting some serious abuse," Scally added. "I think Peter was finding the fan pressure quite intolerable. It's very sad for me because I like Peter and he is a good friend of mine." Scally, who has been Gillingham chairman since 1995, has put no timescale on the appointment of a new boss but says the club need "a younger, more flamboyant manager". He said: "I don't think 'Hessy' would want the manager's job but I haven't had that conversation with him. "I'm fairly clear as to the type of person I want. Just because I fancy a person doesn't mean they want to come and work at Gillingham. "What is important is not the time it takes but trying to make sure we get the person we feel is most appropriate for the team we have got. "You look at the likes of Gus Poyet and Gianfranco Zola who have played the game and gone on to become good managers. We need that type of person and I will certainly be giving it some thought." UNQUOTE I think we'd all be interested to see a transcript of that phone conversation, but we also all know that's not going to happen. Let us live in hope, for the time being anyhow.
I cannot see how anyone can think that Taylor was either turning things around or was on the verge of doing so. We have failed to win 2 league games in a row all season! We are in a lower position that when he took over, been knocked out the FA Cup by Brackley last season and set up the most defensive Gills team I think I have ever seen. 35% possession in our last home game is just embarrassing . Bearing in mind his previous successful year with us, it's a shame it has not worked out. However, with little sign of him changing to a more offensive set up finding a new manager is exactly the right thing to do
I backed Taylor from the start and was pleased he was reappointed. In saying that however the formations, team selections and tactics were bewildering at times so I don't necessarily think it was the wrong decision, I just don't agree with the timing. I thought taylor would last the season and then leave, with us getting someone in who can take us forward coming in at the end of the season. I don't like changing managers mid season at all, it usually gives a short term boost as players look to impress but ultimately we will either just stay or up or go down this season because nothing will dramatically change. The names being banded about are interesting, I'm not adverse to a younger guy coming In, the only issue with that is they will have no experience. The only way we will know if it's been the right timing will be at the end of the season, here's hoping we stay up.
Personally I would have liked to have seen Taylor "moved upstairs" so to speak. He has tremendous links to other clubs, and then with someone brought in to run the day to day team, training and matches etc, then they could work together, the head coach goes to PT with who he wants, kind of player etc and Taylor finds and gets them. Hess to become chief scout and work with the two. I think this could work extremely well.
I always look back to Martin Allen's final day at Shrewsbury, it left a bad taste. I think Taylor was given a fairer crack than Maddog, so no complaints from me. Anyone that went to that day at Orient would need no further explanation. Some of the worst football i ever did see, such a negative manager in my opinion.
Happy New Year brb, what a pleasure it is to say I totally agree with you. Personally as a replacement I would rather go for experience to get us out of this basement dog fight rather than a young whipper snapper like Beattie that we're apparently linked to. I don't think Taylor can have much to complain about. He had a decent size squad for this league and hes been allowed to bring a reasonable amount of loan signings. I often look at the sub benchs across Division 1 before games and have noted a number of teams recently can't even fill the sub bench but they're doing a lot better than us.
