Richard Dobson arrived at MEMS Priestfield as Gareth Ainsworth’s assistant this week and the pair, who have been on the sidelines together for 650 plus games will take charge of the Gills trip to Harrogate Town this weekend. 

“I’m really excited to be here,” Dobson told KSN at the briefing where he and Ainsworth were presented to us for the first time.

“It’s what I wanted in football at this stage of my career. I have been doing this job in coaching for twenty-five years now; I think it’s thirteen years as Assistant Manager with Gareth and some 650 games.”

“Over that time you accumulate a lot of knowledge of being an Academy Manager and I have worked with every age group through the Academy; Assistant Manager; Reserve Team Manager and all those games as Assistant Manager, so I think that I have a lot to offer and a lot to offer this project as a whole.”

“I’m still doing courses – you’re always learning in this job and new ways every day and I think I can help the people here as I see myself as a developer of people – not just players, but people – and I am hoping that I can assist the staff here and I will be working ever so hard with the players to develop them as individuals, as if they improve as individuals, they will improve as a team and they will all be better off!” 

“We worked with the players for the first time on Thursday,” Dobson told us. “The training session was good, the players were bubbly and we had a good chat with all of them.”

“It was our first day in and the players were all chomping at the bit to try and impress. We have spoken to them about our vision for the way that we want the Club to work and we’ve told them that it is very much a partnership with the staff at the top of the mountain and the players at the bottom; it is very much a joined up approach.”

“We want a lot of communication and we want to work together and move forward as a group, as a whole. Some of the players have good knowledge of the Football Club as they have been here a while so they can help us to settle in and adapt.”

“So, we’re here to have a good look at the group over the next five weeks or so; we will assess and see who is going to take us forward, not just with what they have on the pitch and what they bring on the pitch, but what they have off it and the type of people that they are and if they are the characters to develop the Club going forward!” 

We asked Dobson what the Gills faithful should expect from the new boss and he admitted, “I’ll give you a clue, he has kicked me twice whilst we have been standing in the technical area.”

“He plays every ball and he has actually made contact with me – I did actually ask him if I needed to start wearing shin pads on the touchline on Saturday!”

“He’s involved in everything that happens on the pitch and I think that he does probably show the same emotions as the fans are feeling, so there will be a synergy there as they will be seeing the same thing from their manager at the same time.”

“And I so think that that is quite important – when you see a manager who doesn’t seem invested or times will stand there and look a bit bored on the touchline, it’s very easy for the supporters to turn against that type of manager.” 

“I think with Gareth what you are going to get is someone who is living every moment of the game, desperate to win, will do anything to win and hopefully that will filter onto the players and they will be the same!”  

Picture supplied by Gillingham Football Club.