Gillingham boss Justin Edinburgh has spoken publicly for the first time since the Gills were drawn against the manager’s old club – Spurs – in the League Cup. 
Edinburgh admitted: “It’s ironic that it’s their last season at White Hart Lane. It’s something that when I set out in senior management that I wanted to achieve among other things – you always want to be successful but for me to take a team back to White Hart Lane was something that I wanted to do so I’ve now got the opportunity. It’s a fantastic draw for me personally as well as some of the players too let’s not forget. But for me personally it will be a fantastic occasion. I was indoors with my family when I heard the draw – Spurs have been a massive part of their life of course as well. For ten years as a footballer at one club it will become a major part of your life – a lot of time spent at the club and at the training ground; there are a lot of people that I still stay in contact with – both on and off the field. It was a special time and it is a very, very special draw and I was very much delighted when number nine came out.”
Turning his attention to the midweek win at Watford, the boss was naturally delighted: “We went to a Premier League ground on the back of a really poor League performance and I said that it could be a good game for us and so it proved. But this weekend we’re back to the most important – the League – and getting back to the right performance is the most important thing right now is what I expect from the group as we fell well short of that last week. I always believe in my team and I said to them before the game that there would be upsets and it was a great opportunity for us after we’d been stung on Saturday – we were hurt as a group and with going to an arena like Vicarage Road against a Premier League side (regardless of the changes), knowing the group as I do I had a feeling that we’d give a very good account of ourselves and out on a performance that would get our inner respect back for one another and I’m delighted we did.”
Saturday gives the Gills another long road trip: “We know Shrewsbury will be tough as they’ve been very busy and active throughout the summer and have made a lot of signings as we have,” Edinburgh said. “But we’ll go there with me looking for a response and a better performance than we got on Saturday. We went to Shrewsbury last year and drew 2-2 in a very good game. History is kind of irreverent but I do understand where fans are coming from. When I was at Tottenham we never ever won at Chelsea so I know that there are records that are quite bizarre.”
“They’ve given a good account of themselves as well against Premier Division opposition in midweek (a 0-1 defeat at Sunderland) but it really is back to basics for both sides and back to reality and the real deal come 3:00 Saturday. We’ll go with what we’ve got as the game has come too soon for some, but looking forward to next Tuesday I hope that we could have a couple coming back into the team – Scott Wagstaff looks like he’ll start training with the team this week after doing a lot of running. You have to take the positives as we’ve been hit hard with injuries – we’re still picking up knock’s here and there – but we’ve got to look at the bigger picture. Once we get this squad fit it will be very competitive and a very good squad.”
“The approach to an away game has to be different to that of a home game. It takes a lot of thinking why the same amount of players – yes it’s a trip on a coach on the day of the game or before – and why they aren’t more away wins than there are – it’s quite bizarre really! You’re always told that if the home forms good then you’re being successful but then if your away form isn’t so great than it can hinder you! It has become a very strange situation as to why there aren’t more away victories for whatever reason. The Bookies don’t get things wrong too often do they and they nearly always make the home team favourites don’t they? As a manager, you know that the home side will always start on the front foot and we try to do that when we travel as well. But it doesn’t always work – somewhere there has to be someone very intelligent who can figure it out!”
The transfer window closes next week, and following the Watford triumph, Bradley Dack’s name made the next day headlines. The Gills boss finished by updating everyone on the latest transfer news – “There have been offers for Bradley but none have met the Chairman’s value. It’s no shame or embarrassment for this football club that Bradley will move on. He will outgrow this football club but I feel that to continue to talk about it is very disrespectful to his team mates and to what we’re trying to achieve here – everyone will know when that time comes but I just hope that it doesn’t happen before Wednesday so that he can continue and we can get Bradley back onto the football pitch doing what he does best!”
“We have targets for every position in the team which has been shown by us bringing in keeper Jonathan Bond on a six month loan from Reading. I’ve spoken with Stuart and feel that its something that we needed to address. I hoped that Tom Hadler wouldn’t have needed to have been called on so quickly. Stuart’s had a bit of an indifferent start – not in terms of his whole performances but in errors that he’s made. I felt that we needed someone and when Reading made us aware that Jonathan was available for a loan period and I thought that rather than wait another three or five days during the window, we’ve acted quickly to bring another senior player in to bring that extra competition which I think is right for Stuart as well.”
“I feel that we’re going to need another central defender and another striker given that Joe Quigley is out for the season and they’re two areas where we’re definitely looking to strengthen before the window closes.”