After taking his first training session as Gillingham Head Coach, Stephen Clemence has been talking to KSN about what lays ahead at Priestfield in the coming months. 

“My one regret this morning is that my Dad (former England keeper Ray) isn’t here to see today,” Clemence reflected. “He would have been so proud right now – he’d be the biggest supporter of Gillingham and it’s such a shame he’s not here!” 

Clemence senior played more than 750 League games for Scunthorpe, Liverpool and Spurs and was capped sixty-one times by England in the 1970s and early 1980s, he was arguably one of the top keepers of his generation, but his son was not interested in playing in goal as he explained, “Dad was pleased that I did not go in goal. Thankfully, I played up front as a kid scoring a lot of goals, got moved back to midfield when they realised that I could not run very fast!

“Dad always said that he was pleased that I did not go I goal because of the comparison, and it would have been a lot to live up too. He still knew a lot about the game and taught me a hell of a lot about playing the game as he went into management and coaching himself. It is a shame he’s not here to see this, but I am sure he’s watching down from somewhere!” 

“There was a bit of bullying when I was getting into England Youth teams and signing for Tottenham, I often got the comment that I was only there because of my Dad, which kids would say to you in the playground. That was difficult but my Dad teach me to forget about that and just keep doing what I was doing and work as hard as you can, and you will end up in a good place.

“I have not been here a lot as I live in the North of England as I have always worked up North, but I can assure you that I have watched a lot of Gillingham over the last couple of weeks!” 

“I don’t remember playing here,” the new coach said, “but I do remember sitting at the back of the Gordon Road stand with my Dad to watch Peter Beadle before he signed for Tottenham. He scored a few goals here and Dad was scouting when I was probably about eight or nine years old.”

Ironically, Beadle went on to manage Hereford, who of course the Gills face this weekend in the first round of the FA Cup. 

Clemence has been named head coach of the Club and we asked him what in his eyes was the difference between a “head-coach” and a “manager” – he said, “Kenny Jackett is in charge of the football department here and he will oversee the eighteens and the B team etc, and there a lot of other things that goes on within a Football Club.

“Being a Head Coach means that I’m in charge of picking the team, in charge of training and all stuff to do with the first team, but there’s a whole footballing body that goes on outside the first team as we know and Gillingham are trying to do it right and it takes a lot of weight off my shoulders really and I’m sure that Kenny is going to be a great help.” 

“It is a game of football and there are a lot of different styles involved in League Two so you can look at the Swindon’s and the Notts County’s and they are playing like teams in the Premier League and there are teams that are playing differently. I have got Robbie here who has managed at this level, so he will know what’s coming and I have a lot of good football people around me, but I still see it as a game of football.

“I have worked against some of the best tacticians in the game at the top level and I can assure you that I do my studying and I concentrate on the opposition that we are playing, normally watching two or three of their games so I like to think I know what they are going to do. Preparing is everything and that is what I will do here which is what I have done in the Premier League and in the Championship.” 

“In the last few months Robbie, I have watched a lot of League One and League Two football and one thing that I have loved is the attitude of the players. When they get kicked, they get straight back up and gets on with it – there’s a real desire from both sides to win the game.

“I think at a higher level, one team will sit in whilst the other has a go – the standard of football in this country is very, very good as I think our Academy system changed a long time ago and there’s a lot of good players who have drifted down the League as there have been so many players coming in from abroad – the standard is a decent standard indeed!” 

“For those making the trip to Hereford on Saturday, sing out loud and support the team and hopefully we’ll give you something to shout about – I’m sure we will – the boys will be prepared, we’re going there to win the game with a strong team not taking things lightly as we want to be in the next round – Paul Caddis has done very well since he’s gone in there and we’re expecting a tough test and we know that we’re going to have to fight for every ball and be brave when we’ve got it ourselves.” 

Clemence also admitted that he hopes to have been able to see the majority of his squad play at Hereford and then at home to Fulham u23s in the newly branded Bristol Street Motors Trophy on Tuesday before heading for North Wales and his first League game in charge next weekend at Wrexham.