Gillingham FC Forum

Here are the (complicated) list of players who have been kept and released. It seems it will be a young squad (and cheap) next season due to the Coronavirus and to mitigate against having no fans in the ground.

Out of contract - no decision made until a board meeting next week:
Max Ehmer
Brandon Hanlan
Mikael Mandron
Regan Charles-Cook
Henry Woods

Released:
Mark Byrne
Ousseynou Cisse
Ben Pringle

Loan players returned to parent club:
Jordan Graham (left parent club last month)
Alfie Jones
Olly Lee
Tom O’Connor
Jordan Roberts

The club has 9 contracted players including both goalkeepers and Barry Fuller has been told he find another club.

Some academy players have been released:
TJ Bramble
Ben Allen
Emmanuel Fernandez

No news on the outcome of the meeting to decide the fate of players like Ehmer yet.

Regan Charles-Cook has signed for Ross County.

Max Ehmer has signed for Bristol Rovers.

Mikael Mandron signs for Crewe.

Ryan Jackson signs on the dotted line

Forward Vadaine Oliver signs after turning down a new contract at Northampton.

Mark Byrne has announced he will be leaving the club as he wishes to return home to Ireland. Barry Fuller has had his contract cancelled by mutual consent.

I know this is no ordinary situation but, in a normal season, we are at the equivalent of the beginning of July and the start of the pre-season friendlies. This is what I make the current player situation and there is a lot of work to do.

Go and give Tom Eaves a call , he can't be happy playing at Hull, scoring 5 goals and getting lost in the shuffle of forwards there. Then having to play in a silly colored shirt he probably wants out of there like a rocket.

Lee Hodson has left the club, joining Hamilton Academical on a season long loan.

The Gills have signed midfielder Jacob Mellis who was released by Bolton after joining for what should have been the second half of the season. He joined Wanderers after leaving Mansfield despite only being 6 months into a new contract.

Gills also sign a very promising young Arsenal centre-back on a season-long loan and fought off competition from very big clubs. I make it the player situation now looks like this.

Jordan Graham signs a permanent deal at the club. This is fantastic news and I always thought we might be in with a decent shout after he left Wolves a couple of months ago. I did feel however that our inability to commit for a length of time would have other clubs beating us to his services. His signing has impressed many in football world so, with him, Willock and Medley, we have players who are technically very good. We can now field a starting 11 too and the side is starting to come together.

Who have we got from Arsenal or did I hear that wrong , someone on a year longs loan, I am a great believer in on loan players from Higher Divisions ?

Yep Trae Coyle signs from Arsenal to join his team mate Medley. According to the club website, he is an England youth international who signed his first pro deal with Arsenal last season. He can play on the flanks, behind the forwards or as a striker. He apparently turned down deals at bigger English clubs as as well as offers from Germany and Holland. Very exciting three players signed this week!

Midfielder Alex MacDonald joins the Gills. He played under Evans at Mansfield where played 123 games in over 3 years and scored 7 goals in 14 Scotland Under-21 games. Intriguing language used for him in this article "Macca is a top class player in League 1 when he is focused" and "The Gaffer found a way to get the best out of me while at Mansfield" which suggests he has not lived up to his ability of late.

The Gills now have a bit of experience in the squad with him and Mellis although I suspect both will need to prove themselves thoroughly if they are to succeed in the squad. I guess all the quality players need to be offset by a few cheaper punts and Evans won't stand for any nonsense.

Quality side building now: Tucker and Ogilvie are capable of playing Championship level. Roberts looked fantastic in the brief time we had him. Willock is capable of being an excellent player if he gets a run without injury and now we have Medley and Coyle as well. Oh, and I really rated Jackson first time around as was fuming when he was released. Exciting times. This is how I make the squad now.