Gills boss already has plans for next season

Gillingham

Gillingham boss Ady Pennock has one eye on improving the club’s fortunes next season.

Gills chairman Paul Scally has asked Pennock and his staff to target players who can give them a fighting chance in League 1 next time around.

The head coach knows nothing is guaranteed with regards to his job but since day one he has been keeping tabs on players for the future.

He said: “I have been going here, there and everywhere and so have the staff.

“I wouldn’t be doing my job if I hadn’t been looking at games and getting targets for next season.

“Nothing has been written in concrete but if I am here next season, then great. We are then ready for pre-season and to get the players we want but there are players here who are out of contract as well and we have to think of those.

“We can’t give them a decision at the moment.”

Pennock took over from Justin Edinburgh in January, working with the previous manager’s players and a limited budget for newcomers.

He said: “Our hands have been tied because of the budget and he (the chairman) has paid some good money out.

“He backed the previous manager and that’s great. He needs to be patted on the back.

“I have got on with it, I am not complaining, I don’t mope around. The only thing I am disappointed in is the results.”

Mr Scally has blamed player recruitment rather than Pennock for their failings since the change in management.

Pennock said: “There has been other stuff that has gone on, not just on the pitch, stuff that has happened behind the scenes that I have been dealing with.

“We all want the club run properly and that is what we are trying to do.

“If you can get things running properly on and off the pitch, then that is a formula for success.”

Many aren’t willing to give Pennock time and he accepts he will be judged on results.

Gills were booed off after a poor display against Peterborough on Saturday saw them beaten 1- 0 and just three points off the drop zone.

He said: “That is the nature of the game. People worry about now, not what has happened before.

“We are all proud people and I am hurting as well as them.”