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What usually follows is a short, sharp shock to the system as the season starts and reality bites. In recent years that's been followed by abject depression, as the team on the pitch and the club off it appear to reach more lows than a champion limbo dancer.
However this season things could be different (see, that optimism's back again!). The team has been ripped apart, partly through choice, partly through necessity. Players have departed, leaving manager Ronnie Jepson with a major rebuilding job. So far, he's done well, bringing in some shrewd acquisitions despite working to a meagre budget. Just one player has cost a transfer fee - defender Simon King arrived for a whopping (by our standards) £200,000 - whereas the rest have been snapped up on free transfers. The squad is still short on numbers, but I am optimistic (there's that word again) about the starting XI this season.
That optimism was given a swift knee to the groin on Saturday, though, as I went to the first of two pre-season friendlies at Priestfield. Gillingham took on Charlton and were comprehensively thrashed 5-0.
Casting the result aside for a moment, watching pre-season friendlies is largely a waste of time and money. The teams usually consist of a mixture of established players looking to ease their way back to fitness, trialists and youth players running around like chickens with their heads cut off and a few new signings, who have barely met the guys they're playing with, let alone built up any working relationship with them.
Saturday's friendly with Charlton was a case in point. Gillingham looked short of fitness, lacking in cohesion (no surprise seeing as there were no less than nine new players in the starting lineup) and totally outclassed. Throw into the mix a Charlton side who looked much further along in their fitness training and a referee who abandoned common sense for a letter-of-the-law approach to the rules and we had a total non-event of a match that had many fans walking away more than a little concerned about the prospects for the season ahead.
So, what did I glean from the match? It's easy to comment on individual performances, but in the context of their varying levels of fitness and familiarity, plus the quality of the opposition on the day, it's not the time to cast any sort of verdict on how a given player will fare this season. As a team unit, they were all over the place, but even in a 5-0 defeat, there were positives:
- Simon King impressed me. I think he'll have a big season for us this year.
- Barry Cogan looks like a real grafter and has the right attitude for this division.
- Aaron Brown has fantastic delivery from the left.
- David Graham looked classy and composed in a support-striker role.
- Delroy Facey is as strong as an ox and will cause problems for defences this season.
- Andrew Crofts looked sharp and ready for the new season.
Of course, there were negatives, too, but for the time being I'll stick to the positives and look forward to seeing more of the aforementioned players on Tuesday night when they take on another Championship side, Colchester United.
I refuse to let performances in pre-season cloud my judgement of the coming campaign. Only when we're into the season itself can we really start to judge how good a season we're likely to have. It's a phoney war at the moment - and we won't see the REAL Gillingham FC until August 11th when they take on Cheltenham Town at Whaddon Road. I'm still optimistic - and I honestly think we'll have an improved season this year.
Here's hoping my optimism is justified this time...