Brad Galinson is hopeful of announcing a new Manager or Head Coach later this week.
Brad Galinson's finger is ready to push the button to start a new era for Gillingham Football Club as he confirms that he is poised to announce the new Head Coach at ME7 imminently.
Galinson, who has clearly left no stone unturned in his pursuit, said the process has taken time but he firmly believes he has found the candidate who is ready to live, breathe, eat, drink and sleep the Gills management job.
“We think we have found the person,” said a confident Galinson. “It is down to just documentation at this point. There have been multiple discussions, multiple interviews and terms have been agreed. It is just finalising the contract, tweaking it, red lining it, that sort of thing. We are pretty much there.”
Galinson explained that there were four core elements he was looking for in the perfect applicant, areas that were non-negotiable.
“We wanted to make sure the manager realises it is the players first,” he said, ”not the manager first.”
“Specifically, he cares about things like ‘are they married, do they have children, where do they live, how can they be a better player, do they need to an arm around them or do they need to be told directly’, very much a player-first organisation.
“Secondly, we wanted to make sure the culture and the personality of the manager fits very specifically with what we are trying to build at Priestfield; transparency, collaboration, communication, very open, very group setting, one club and one vision, and we happily and transparently work together.
“As well as honesty and personality, someone that can smile and joke and realise this is the best job in the world, that in the end we want to win but we want to have fun doing it. We wanted to make sure the personality and the culture of the manager really fits the kind of people we have.
“The third is the playing style. We wanted to make sure that naturally, the person we appoint is above all brave, courageous, takes risks, is front-footed, expansive, entertains and wins at the same time.
“Obviously sometimes you have to use direct football but we want to build something that is a bit more brave and courageous. We wanted to make sure the manager naturally thinks that way and plays that way, without even being told, that is just the way they think.”
Gillingham’s American owner went on to describe area number four, which he considers the most important of all.
“The last one is very important,” he said. “I wanted the hardest-working guy in the stadium, the manager who stays late because he can’t stop thinking about his passion for football and formations and how we are going to take on the next team.
“He is the first one to come in in the morning and the last one to leave, because that is his personality, he loves the game, that is his life and he would do it for free, he doesn’t need to be paid, that kind of guy.
“We started with looking at all of the above criteria, they could be American, Portuguese, Spanish, French, English, Premier League, never coached before, etcetera, what we did is try and get the best person.”