Gills have bid accepted for birchall

[markyh1985]

Just found this on Dover's website, very interesting.....

doverathletic.com/index.php?p=news&id=1817

[Deleted]

Just down to personal terms and what area Adam wants to stay in. Lets hope his relationship with Hess is such that he wants to play for Gills

[markyh1985]

Reading what was said on the Dover website looks like we would be favourites. Lives in maidstone also helps!

[tommyt]

Also knowing that the manager will play him should help!
Hess will know his strengths etc... which will hopefully make him feel more confident at Gills of getting a fair crack of the whip. whereas Swindon and Wimbledon things may take a bit more time settling into and he'd be under more pressure to succeed straight away.
Well unless either of them offer silly wages!
Hopefully he signs as i have no problem with the club taking a punt on a forward who has scored 45 goals in a season whatever the level!!

[jeffrow]

Well I am pleased!!! I dont care if he come from non league, there isn't that much difference between levels... he'll do a great job for us... Well done Hess and Scally - again! (if he signs)

[Deleted]

Big time well done Scally and even more pressure on Hess to deliver if the signing comes off.
I just hope none of our usual idiots start moaning
A) about having a non league strikeforce
B) about Hess signing his mates

[jaggysnake]

Jul 11, 2011 13:48:04 GMT 1 hessisgod said:

Big time well done Scally and even more pressure on Hess to deliver if the signing comes off.
I just hope none of our usual idiots start moaning
A) about having a non league strikeforce
B) about Hess signing his mates

Even though both are true...

I think we've overpaid for him and I'm not convinced that he'll be a success, but time will tell. I hope I'm wrong.

Best thing is though is that Hessenthaler has now received unbelievable backing and our club is now in a win-win situation. Either we get promoted this season - which we all want - or Hessenthaler is out at the end of the season. No room for failure this time.

And if it does all go wrong, at least none of you will be able to say it's not his team...

Hopefully we can still get another proven Football League striker to keep these two on their toes, then get a winger and a keeper... And, most important of all, play something resembling football this season.

[jeffrow]

Unlucky hessisgod!!

[statotheblue]

It could be me but I do sense that deep down that Jaggy is feeling happier with the way things are looking.There is still a long way to go on this deal Swindon or Wimbledon could still put up silly wages to get the lad.But the fact that Scally has again shown when the manager wants a player he is able to back him and so far we have appeared at least to get almost all of our targets.Alan Connell is still at Grimsby and I can see us moving for him if this deal doesn't work out.

[The Cat Man]

I agree signing anyone who scored 40 goals as a semi pro isn`t a bad punt. Do we know exactly what we paid..

My fear going into this season is if we have Birchall and Kedwell as our number one strike pair, its two non league players .`..I `m sorry but is way off the quality of Cody and Bayo

Hopefully I`m proved wrong , hopefully they are good enough , they gel as a parnership , score lots of goals and take us up. As much as I know they will be hungry and die on the pitch...are they good enough...and good enough as a pair

I wish them well but can`t help wishing we had someone like a Grant Holt or Jack Lester ( when he joined Chesterfield) to help them along...as we know how good they were in this league.

The CatMan...sort it out Hess

[jeffrow]

We'd all like a proven quality striker and if anyone knows Adam's qualities then its Hess!

It would be nice to think the non league guys will get a few games to find their feet and get the support and encouragement of the supports... but alas.. I can only see it going one way if Birchill or Kedwell dont hit the net straight away!

Up the Gills!

[twikgill]

When it says GIlls have met Dover's asking price, I presume that doesn't mean £250K. I assume it is around the £75k+ mark - rumoured to be the fee AFC Wimbledon and Swindon had agreed - maybe mnore because it is us (Although it really shouldn't matter £75K is £75k regardless of whether it comes from Swindon , Kingston or Gillingham! -now we'll see what the player has to say - hopefully not usng AFC Wor Swindon to push up his wages.

With de Canio as mamnnger, Swindon may be an attractive club to play for if you feel that life could be entertaining given his reputation as a player, or dismal if you feel otherwise

[bexleygills]

okay Im annoyed at this now. Akinfenwa was a spoilt little kid most of the time who you could see constantly shouting at people when they passed to him and he fluffed it up. He was comical with the ball at his feet and I didn't really see what the whole fuss was with other people about him. Macdonald was good, but fluffed up at the end of the season. Cody did score 14 goals in 15 in non league but tha was two leagues below where birchal scored 45 in a season. I think Birchall has the ability to be better than Cody and Kedwell has a much better work ethic, scoring ability and love for our club than Akinfenwa has or would ever have had and so I think, in terms of strikeforce, Birchall and Kedwell is far superior

[jaggysnake]

Jul 11, 2011 14:46:46 GMT 1 statotheblue said:

It could be me but I do sense that deep down that Jaggy is feeling happier with the way things are looking.

Yes, because as I say, it's either promotion or the end of Hessenthaler. Come the end of the season, I'll be happy either way. I still think the squad is lop-sided, I still think it's not as good as last year's (and I'll be replying to the poster above in a moment), but it's 100% HIS squad now. It may prove to be a shite team, but that's by the by. After all the money thrown at it, if it fails, then he's gone.

And I guess with nine centre midfielders, we won't be playing that awful long ball shitee next season anyway, so I might even enjoy watching a game or two.

[jaggysnake]

Jul 11, 2011 15:53:02 GMT 1 bexleygills said:

okay Im annoyed at this now. Akinfenwa was a spoilt little kid most of the time who you could see constantly shouting at people when they passed to him and he fluffed it up. He was comical with the ball at his feet and I didn't really see what the whole fuss was with other people about him. Macdonald was good, but fluffed up at the end of the season. Cody did score 14 goals in 15 in non league but tha was two leagues below where birchal scored 45 in a season. I think Birchall has the ability to be better than Cody and Kedwell has a much better work ethic, scoring ability and love for our club than Akinfenwa has or would ever have had and so I think, in terms of strikeforce, Birchall and Kedwell is far superior

What a load of piffle.

Akinfenwa was great with the ball at his feet, and if we'd given him the ball to said feet more often, we may have done better than we did last season.

McDonald is younger than Birchall and, while he missed a few chances towards the end of the season (which he almost always made amends for), the defences in League Two are MILES better than the Conference South.

I can really see why people are getting all giddy and wanking themselves silly about these two signings, but to say they are a better pair than those two when, I'm guessing, you've seen Birchall play once and never seen Kedwell play is a bit over the top.

They may click, they may both score, they may be brilliant. Or, they may not.

I would still want another striker with decent league experience because part of the problem last season was that we had no back up or competition for our (admittedly very good) front pairing. We need a plan B this season - I know we've spent a lot of money on them (far too much imo) but we can't expect them to stay fit for the whole season and score enough goals to get us up on their own.