It’s start of a new era at Gillingham Football Club following the sale of the Club to the American businessman Brad Galinson.

KSN have been invited to meet the new Chairman and in an exclusive interview that we’ve split over the next two days, Mr Galinson tells Mike Green how he came to Kent and how he came to be owner of a “Football team” …

We started with an obvious question – why Gillingham?

“Why Gillingham?” Mr Galinson asked, “Well, it was the catchment area, the fan base, the 75,000 businesses – it’s actually quite powerful and unique for an English football club. So, from a business standpoint, the potential is immense although 24th (position in the League) wasn’t quite what I was expecting!”

“Would have preferred 19th or something like that to start with, but the only way is up!” the Chairman smiled, “but the combination of that as well as the fact that this Football Club also has quite a bit of sustainable well diversified businesses around it which is really important for a lower League team.”

“It has events, it has weddings, it has a school, has a “pub” and those are the sorts of turnover that you’re going to need to sustain the wages and make sure that you’re successful on the pitch.”

“Really enjoying being here – it’s exciting, passionate and I have to say beyond expectations; it’s been a lot of fun and a lot of work!”

“I’ve always been a sports fan for sure – I’m a big NFL American Football fan – and my exposure to soccer on our side has primarily been through the World Cup; not so much English football but sports and US Soccer for sure.”

“Coming from Tampa, I do follow the Bucs, and they had a massively terrible result this week (Tampa Bay lost in the NFL Play Offs to the Dallas Cowboys ending their season), and so I hope they’ll move onto next year!”

“One of the things that attracted me to English football as opposed to US sports is actually the pyramid. In America, it’s exciting but if you’re last place or first place, you still split the media money – the revenue doesn’t change and you’re still in the League.”

“There’s not really anything at stake, but with the pyramid system here, obviously everything is at stake. You’re being promoted, you’re being relegated and the entire financial system changes depending on that – David can beat Goliath – and there’s a kind of excitement and unpredictability that you cannot mimic in any other sport that I’ve seen in the United States.

“Kent is a fantastic, beautiful place. The supporters are absolutely passionate and are people who want to have pride in their club. When I go down to “The Factory,” there’s shots, there’s beer, there’s shaking hands, there’s pictures, it’s such a positive experience.”

“The fans just want to have pride in their club, and I think against Hartlepool there was the first time in a long time that there was truly pride on the pitch, so it’s entertainment and that’s what we will be trying to deliver.”

“It’s a wonderful part of the country and we’re really enjoying getting used to the surroundings and we look forward to having a home here.”

Managers, owners and players are custodians of a Football Club whilst the fans are the true heartbeat – a point that Neil Harris has repeatedly made to KSN during this troubled season and was a point that the new Chairman was keen to endorse.

“Absolutely,” he said, “as I see it, we serve the fans – the fans do not serve us and that’s really important because what we do every day is for the benefit of the fans as custodians of the Club and that’s absolutely accurate and sometimes people lose sight of that, and if you do I think that you miss the whole purpose of sports in general!”

Main picture supplied by Gillingham Football Club.