The Premier League is hoped to restart on June 17th – will that finally mean that Gillingham’s League One campaign will follow suit?
That’s just one of the topics we discussed with Gills boss Steve Evans this week and our discussion then also focused on the squad that Evans has in mind for a new season, whenever that may start…
But first off would the return of top-flight football speed up a return to action at Priestfield?
“Not really – I don’t think so,” the Gills boss confessed. “I think the Premier League because of finance and because of the bigger picture for the whole of football they had to go back and complete the season, most likely not because of Liverpool winning the title but because of the relegation issues and the monies involved with the Premier League when you’re in it!”
“The EFL have made a statement today (Friday) saying that there will be a final decision on Monday eighth (of June) and they’ve given the clubs the opportunity to send in their vote, to send in their representations – so at least we’ll know a week on Monday if we’re going back to immediate football or whether there’s a plan in place to get ready for what will be the new season certainly from a Gills point of view.”
“We’ve got a number of lads out of contract – we’re still unsure about dates etc about when to come back, but we have decisions to make – in large I’ve made those decisions and presented them to the Chairman and he has no issues when it comes to the football side of the business, so he’s endorsed those decisions, but we really need to be sitting down with those players!”
“So it’s mostly likely going to be now a week Tuesday or later that week over the course of two days we’ll speak to the individuals face to face; we’ll do it with all the social distancing and professional standards in mind with whatever decision whether it’s good or bad for those players, as in opportunities to stay or not opportunities to stay, then it needs to be done face to face like men do!”
Players out of contract in the coming weeks include 2018 Player of the Year Mark Byrne who has missed out on first team action since getting injured at Priestfield in December against Sunderland.
The ever popular Irishman is still recovering from that injury, and the Gills boss gave us an update on his comeback and then issued Byrne a challenge – Evans said, “Mark’s making good progress – it was always going to be twelve months for me with him when I looked at the prognosis from the surgeon.”
“There’s never been any secret with Mark that he needs to come back in whenever there is a pre-season programme and demonstrate that he’s fit to play football, by five or six games we’ll know the effects of his knees – he’s not twenty-two years old, he’s thirty-three years old, so that’s another concern, but Mark Byrne was absolutely outstanding for me in that short spell and if we get that Mark Byrne back, then he’ll get a contract from me one million percent!”
There have been some in the Premier League airing worries about the return to training but encouragingly, the Gills squad haven’t aired anything to the management as Evans confirmed, “It’s the opposite in fact – everyone in our camp has been keen to play for a number of weeks obviously with providing that the assurances that I was able to give them on behalf of the EFL and Gillingham Football Club and the testing programme with results from those tests within forty minutes, twice a week – I think that’s probably as good as you’ll get.”
“I don’t even think that they’re getting that type of opportunity yet to get testing twice a week on the front end of this virus and our National Health Service – they probably should be given that it’s an opportunity for footballers, but that’s the testing programme for players and staff; so no concerns from anyone!”
Gills chairman Paul Scally is one of a number of owners who has called on the PFA to contribute if not pay for the testing of players – a view that seems to be gathering momentum and has the support of his manager too – the Gills boss said, “It makes absolute complete sense! But I’ve never known the PFA to pay for things concerning groups of players unless they really have to.”
“They will see it as the duty of football even though the PFA still get a share of every transfer, they still get a share of the television rights every year; they’ve got fifty or sixty million pound in the bank after all.”
“As you say, it’s not just our Chairman who has raised the point – I’ve seen a number of Chairman from around the Football League now speak about it; it would make sense rather than rob it from clubs who don’t have the money and as we know in football unless we’re doing it together then we’ll lose football clubs. So, it makes sense, but I can’t see it happening!”