Jordan Graham is hoping Gillingham get their away league campaign up and running with three points at Wigan on Saturday.
After spending what proved to be the last weeks of last season on loan at Priestfield, Jordan Graham returned back to Kent during the summer as Steve Evans made his move to Gillingham from Wolves permanent.
Speaking to the media this week, Graham reflected on the midweek Carabao Cup win over Coventry; the importance of the Gills finding a winning mentality, and why he made the move south permanent.
He told us, “It’s massive for us as a group to get that winning feeling – it’s a stage that we need to get to as a team. You never forget the importance of winning whether you play well or don’t play well either personally or collectively – a lot of the time it’s irrelevant; winning is what it’s about and I think having quite a young group this year that it’s a good job that we get into the mindframe that winning is everything.”
“Once you step into men’s League football it’s about winning, and I think winning every game we play in is important. Pre-season, the Gaffer said that we need to win; it doesn’t really matter too much how we play; we want to get into that winning mentality because when the League starts in earnest winning is what it’s about.”
“So it’s really important that we got the victory against Coventry in the end on Tuesday, Southend as well was good for us – so the more wins we get, as a team we can get into that mindframe of winning is number one on the list and once we get a run of two or three in a row, you start to find some really good connections and some positivity in the team and I think that’s really important for us.”
Just before we spoke, the club announced the loan signing of Josh Eccles from Coventry and Graham gave us his view on the Gills new boy. “Thought Josh was very good against us on Tuesday,” he said.
“I’ve actually spoken to him before talking to you and he wasn’t in the Coventry squad for their game at Bristol City last weekend. So from not having any involvement on Saturday to coming in to the level he played at, he put in a really good performance, and it’s clear why the Gaffer spoke to him after the game so it’s a good signing for us – a really positive signing.”
Reflecting on his return to Priestfield, Graham admitted, “I really enjoyed my time here on loan last season from January until it was stopped. I thought we had a really good group and I enjoyed working for the Gaffer and Rayns – I feel like they get the best out of me!”
“Sometimes I need people to be onto me non-stop and keep me switched on in training and on the pitch and the Gaffer is really good with me. I feel that he knows how to get the best out of me and I feel personally like I’m getting to a really good stage where I can provide a top level of performance week in, week out – for me that’s what it is really, just getting the games, the minutes in early on and then finding the rhythm and I’m starting to feel really good.”
“I think that I played reasonably well against Hull and then I was pleased with my performance Tuesday – two ninety minutes for me back to back as I don’t think I played ninety at all in pre-season; it was a mix of forty-five and sixties, so physically I’m feeling really good – my body feels good and mentally I’ve got loads of confidence and I just want to keep playing now and the more games the better for me!”
The Gills head for relegated Wigan this weekend and Graham said, “It’s quite sad to hear what the club are going through and I wouldn’t wish that on any club, but it’s none of my business and when the whistle goes at three o’clock on Saturday, I will be doing all I can and the team will be doing all we can to get three points and it’s not really in my thought process for me – we had a hard game against Hull; it was quite tough for us, we weren’t at the level we should have been and we know that and obviously the Cup win gives us the chance now to put things right and get three points on the board on Saturday.”