Adrian Pennock has spoken of his delight at being back at Gillingham Football Club as Head Coach.

The 45 year old spent seven years at Priestfield between 1996 and 2003, making 199 appearances and famously captained the side to victory in the play-off final against Wigan Athletic at Wembley in 2000.

Having managed Welling United following his retirement, Pennock went on to coach under Tony Pulis at Stoke City and guided Forest Green Rovers to second in the Conference Premier.

Recently, Pennock has been back working in Kent, helping his now first-team coach, Jamie Day, back at Welling United, working as a consultant, with the pair reversing the fortunes of the Conference South side in a relatively short period of time.

It was Day that was manager at Welling United with the roles now reversed at Priestfield, but for Pennock, it’s great to be back at the club he holds dear to his heart:

“I’m delighted. Everyone knows what I think of the Football Club. When the Chairman gave me the call a couple of days ago, discussions went on and on and on to be fair, but it was great. Paul (Scally) said some really nice stuff about me and wanted me to come in and be the Head Coach.”

“Being a player here, I had some fantastic times, two Wembley appearances were great. With Steve (Lovell) and Jamie (Day), I have two very good coaches and in football it’s important to have trust. With Neil (Withington) and I don’t want to blow smoke up his backside, but we have one of the best fitness coaches around.”

The week started with Pennock and Day employed by Welling United and the new Head Coach explained how things changed very quickly in the past few days:

“We had a good result against Margate (won 5-1 on Saturday) and I brought my little boy up here to watch the game on Monday because I still live in Gillingham and we’re all Gillingham fans.”

“Unfortunately Paul (Scally) had to make a hard decision, he called me for a chat and it went from there.”

“It wasn’t a five minute phone call and there was plenty of toing and froing as there was other interest, but I couldn’t turn it down with the way this Football Club is ready to move on again. I spoke to other clubs, but I just couldn’t turn this down.”

“I want to get this place rocking and rolling again. When I was here last time the support was absolutely top drawer, both home and away and that’s obviously carried on whilst I’ve not been here.”

Pennock has brought coach Steve Lovell back to the club after former boss Justin Edinburgh decided he was surplus to requirements and the the Head Coach was delighted to have managed to persuade the 56 year old to come back to Priestfield after working as Assistant Manager at Bromley under Neil Smith:

“He has got great experience and it was a no brainer really to bring him back. He knows the area and he’s been here a long time. He’s someone I trust and that’s important. These boys wouldn’t be here if they weren’t good at their jobs and I don’t want yes men around me, they’ve all got their own opinions. I will have the final say, but I will bounce ideas off anybody.”

With the transfer window now open, Pennock admits he will be spending a few days looking at his squad and will then look to shape it in the way he wants as he and his coaching team have between now and the end of the season to persuade Paul Scally that they should be at Priestfield in the long term:

“It’s January and there will be players going back after being on loan. There are also players out of contract, so there will be a little bit of movement. There won’t be wholesale changes but there will be two or three players hopefully coming in and unfortunately two or three players going out.”

“We’ve got to make those changes quickly as I want to come in and hit the road running. We’re not here to make up the numbers, we want to get results straight away and get them working off the pitch as well as on it.”

The Gills are without a fixture this weekend and next play on Saturday 14th January at Oldham Athletic and Pennock admits it could be a blessing in disguise, giving him more time to work with the players:

“It is a bonus. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to still be in the FA Cup, but we do have some illness in the camp and some niggles. The players will be back in again tomorrow as well.”

With so much talent in non league football, Pennock and Day have already been linked with bringing Welling United striker Adam Coombes to Priestfield and Pennock admits he already has some targets in mind:

“There’s talent everywhere. Obviously Adam has done really well for us and he’s a talented boy. We know our targets and we’ve already been working hard over the past day and we will continue that.”

“Alfie May has just gone to Doncaster and there’s talented players like that out there. It’s our job to try and find them.”

Chairman Paul Scally didn’t take long to find his replacement team following Justin Edinburgh’s departure and he spoke of his delight at getting a hungry team of coaches at the club:

“I’m delighted in the short space of time we’ve had this week, we’ve been able to appoint a team of such quality. I’ve worked very hard for the last two or three days to make it happen. I didn’t expect it to be happening, but given we are the situation we are in, I’m delighted that we’ve got a team that I believe in the short term and the longer term, I hope will take us to different levels.”

One man linked with a return to Priestfield was former manager Andy Hessenthaler, but Scally insists he won’t be returning to the club as Director of Football:

“Andy is a friend of mine and has been for twenty years. As a friend, I talk to him about things, but he’s doing what he’s doing. I obviously spoke to him about my concerns in the past couple of days and bounced things off him, which is what friends do.”

“So far as him coming back, at this moment in time, there’s no plan for that. He is prepared to do some scouting for us, as is Peter Taylor, as is Ian Hendon.”

“It strikes me that I’ve been seen with people who are my friends, they’re all potential managers, but that isn’t the case.”

“I’m very happy with the team that we have. I actually considered Ady a couple of years ago, but we didn’t get chance to meet. I’ve been tracking his career since he left Gillingham.”

“As much as I’ve had my differences with Tony Pulis, I’ve always regarded him as a good coach and obviously Ady has had a good grounding working under him.”

“It’s great to have Steve (Lovell) back and Jamie’s (Day) name has been on my radar. I’m delighted we’ve done it all quickly as these things can be quite tedious.”

“I was fairly clear in my mind I didn’t want to go down the manager route, I wanted to go down the coaching route and fortunately I managed to persuade the guys quite quickly to come and talk to me and subsequently come on board.”

Pennock wasted little time in preparing his squad for the challenges that lay ahead of them, sitting 17th in League One by taking his first training session on Friday morning with the players back in again on Saturday.