Peter Taylor updates us on his thoughts regarding the full time role at Priestfield
Gillingham’s interim manager Peter Taylor confirmed this morning that he’s keen to take on the role on a full time basis and has spoken to Chairman Paul Scally about his future.Peter, who is three games into his tenure at MEMS Priestfield Stadium said, “I’ve done a caretaker manager before but I knew it was just for one game and in my opinion an interim thing should only be short term.
“I like the football club and what I’ve actually said to Paul is that I don’t think it’s healthy for the club to have an interim manager for too long. It’s not right for interim manager and it’s not right for the players.
“I could be saying to a player ‘this is not working out and you’re not going to be picked’ but he could look at me and say ‘hang on, you’re interim manager, you might not be here’. That’s not an easy situation.”
Peter has already changed the team’s style of play and preferred formation but admits he’s concerned that the ‘interim’ tag might hamper further progress, adding, “There are things that I want to introduce and that’s not been easy. Those are the things that I’ve had to explain to the chairman.
“I think Paul has worked his socks off over the years for this football club so I’m always going to point out things to him that I think will help or hurt. It’s also difficult for an interim manager to bring new players in because he might not be the permanent manager.”
And with the Chairman set to begin interviews shortly, Peter is hoping to make his decision a very hard one, saying, “Paul knows that I really want to do the job and I’m going to work as hard as I possibly can over the next two games to get us two good results which will then put me in a good position.
“That to me is the way forward for everybody. Paul will be doing some interviews and hopefully I’m on that list. Paul knows me better than I know myself so I imagine he will look at the other candidates, see what he likes, and doesn’t like, and compare them with myself.
“I think he is going to make his mind up on the permanent situation just before the Sheffield United game, which means I’m interim until then.”