Mark Stimson sacked

Following Saturday’s shambolic performance at Wycombe Wanderers and the subsequent relegation, Mark Stimson’s contract as manager of Gillingham Football Club was ended by mutual agreement, in other words he was sacked.

The hostile reaction of the Gillingham support at Adams Park could not possibly have left any doubt in the mind of chairman Paul Scally as to the weight of opinion against the manager.

Mark Stimson took over the club two-and-a-half years ago when the club was in a bad place, unfortunately despite a successful Wembley appearance, he leaves with the club not much better off, at least on the field.

Stimson never enjoyed the full support of the Gillingham support. He was seen as a non-league manager and when he brought several players to the club from the same source the tag gained strength. In the last 18 months the majority of his signings have come from the Football League, but the tag refused to go away.

He also had a demeanour that never endeared himself to supporters. On the touchline he was a manager that appeared to stand impassively, hands often in pockets, that gave the impression of a man not in control of the situation being played out before him.

People had different opinions of his interview style. Some saw him as surly, with a “here I am, like me or lump it”, attitude. I was more inclined to think that sometimes he was too honest for his own good, but there was always an abrasive side to his character that often came across in interviews.

In the early months of his tenure he had the support of the fans as he whittled out the expensive, bad wood that he had inherited. Players that were too old, on too long contracts were paid off as he built a team in his own character. Some of these players refused to go quietly and there were plenty of rumblings of Stimson as a bad man manager, but most saw this as sour grapes. But later in his term the same thing surfaced with players that he had brought to the club.

He made some good signings, Simeon Jackson was a brilliant piece of business and could net the club a decent profit this summer. Andy Barcham and Curtis Weston similarly have enjoyed good spells. Of his non-league recruits, Alan Julian, Barry Fuller, John Nutter and Dennis Oli have all been first team regulars, Adam Miller has “enjoyed” a similar love-hate relationship with the fans, whilst the likes of Stuart Lewis shouldn’t be considered a complete failure.

On the other side of the coin, there have been some really expensive, in terms of wages, failures. Kevin Maher, Mark McCammon and Chris Palmer have failed to hold down first eleven places and have failed to impress when they have appeared.

This season Stimson can rightly point to the unfortunate season-long injury to Simon King as an important factor in the relegation campaign.

Saturday’s result, perhaps more importantly, the performance, left Paul Scally with a hard personal decision to make as he had regularly, in the face of huge supporter criticism, backed his manager with “votes of confidence”. He also backed his manager with cash as several high profile loan signings, no more so than Chris Dickson, were brought to the club. But the spineless effort at Wycombe must have made the decision a fairly easy one to make.

We now await with interest the appointment of a new man to take the club forward. Plenty of names will be in the frame with Andy Hessenthaler’s to the fore. He might, or might not, be the right man, but unlike Mark Stimson he would unite the fans and enjoy universal support.