Martin Allen praises squad for consistent effort...
Martin Allen has revealed he may go back in to the transfer market in January to further strengthen his league leading squad.
Gillingham are currently top of npower League Two going in to today’s game at Rotherham but the manager says the club are constantly looking to improve and would like to add to his playing staff if the right people became available.
Speaking earlier in the week he said: “We try and have a good relationship with all the clubs so they are happy to send their players to us.
“We try and play good football and get the ball down and play, we treat our players very well here at Gillingham and it’s a good place for managers to send their young players to develop and some of the older players who are not getting in Championship teams.
“The crowds have been fantastic, it’s a great place to play football but in January we will looking to re-visit the market and see what we can bring in.”
However he was keen to point out the players he has available have been top class and he feels lucky to be manager at the club.
He said: “They are a great bunch of players – professional, honest and hardworking. As their manager I feel very lucky to be working with such a decent group of players and there are some fantastic young ones coming through aswell and its all looking forward and long term to getting as many points as we can.
“It’s where you are in April, that’s where it matters. We know how important these games are over Christmas and how many points you can pick up.”
The Gills have had a few long away trips to contend with of late and Martin was asked if this may have affected the players.
He replied: “No, it’s great on them buses isn’t it? They play their computer games, listen to music, watch DVD’s, read the papers and have some nice food on the way up. It’s not like the old days, we’ll go up early and train somewhere and get the lads out there on Saturday afternoon.”
Finally the manager responded to whether or not he was in favour of Christmas parties and what his stance was on them.
He said: “I respect the importance of professional footballers out in the community and our players work very hard at this football club.
“They are always in on Sundays after matches – we have had a lot of travelling, a lot of games and a lot of hours on the training pitch and for our players to go out together and have a good time, I don’t see anything wrong with that as long as they have respect for other members of the public and our players will.”