Headley: Defending the indefensible

Hope: Criticism of his teammates is 'harsh'

Ronnie Jepson: "I can't blame the supporters, they have came here (Colchester) on a freezing cold day and when they get a performance like that they are entitled to their opinions and rightly so. I have just expressed my opinions. All I can do is sympathise with the supporters at this moment in time."

Byfield: Questioned his own teammates' attitude

Chris Hope:

Darren Byfield: "If we are struggling, then how come so many players leave the training ground quickly? If we are not doing well then we must work harder..."

"We have got to start sticking up for ourselves. It's time for us to fight and be physically and mentally strong, forget the excuses it's time to turn it around."

Jepson: Only wants players who will give 110% for the Gills

Chris Hope:

Ronnie Jepson: "The players were under no illusions what was expected from them today but they fell short of it....Hopefully they (the supporters) have the patience to allow us to get players who are willing to give their all for Gillingham."

Now let me start this by saying that this isn't a personal attack on Chris Hope, whose commitment to the club has been there for all to see down the years, but it IS a criticism of the general attitude amongst the players at our football club.

If the recent comments of the skipper reflect the thoughts of the squad, then we really are in trouble.

Rather than apologising to the fans for his teammates' shocking impersonation of a football team in recent weeks, Chris Hope has actually tried to defend them, even going as far as saying that the players have been harshly dealt with since their last match.

Hope has been out injured lately, so he's not been able to lend his support to the side on the pitch. Instead, he has had to watch the team from the sidelines, just like the fans.

However, despite watching the same games as the rest of us, he clearly has a vastly differing view to the paying supporters, based on his comments to the official club website on Tuesday.

Reading the quotes above, Hope's opinions seem to be vastly different to those of both his teammate Darren Byfield - and perhaps more importantly, those of his manager, Ronnie Jepson. I'd venture to suggest that they are also vastly different to those of the majority of Gills fans, too. If you took a straw poll of the fans to see who's views they'd agree most with, Byfield's and Jepson's comments would come out as clear winners. Why? Because they're honest. There's no attempt to cover anything up, there's no hiding behind excuses or statements. They've just told it how it is. Hopey didn't.

Hope's comments suggest that the players have been upset by the criticism handed out by the Gills fans. Quite right too. The criticism was completely deserved. We've had worse teams at Priestfield before, but none in recent memory have compared to the current side in terms of their lack of commitment and bottle.

The fans have been scathing in their assessment of not just the performances of the players, but also the perceived poor attitude and lack of effort by those in Gills shirts at a number of matches in recent weeks.

The fans have always been 100% behind the players, particularly away from home - and the recent performances on their travels have been so bad that even the ever-supportive travelling support turned on the team. Clearly the FA Cup embarrassment at Burscough and the 5-0 debacle at Colchester were more than enough for the Gills fans, who made their feelings clear, both at the time and in the days following the match at Layer Road. For the away support to turn in the manner they did should be evidence enough to demonstrate that there is something clearly very wrong with the attitude of the players at our club at the moment.

The upsetting part of Hope's comments was the complete absence of any apology to the fans by the players. They've let the club and the fans down lately, yet there has been no hint of an apology. Instead, Hope has tried to suggest that everybody was 'devastated' and that they all care etc. If that's the case, why was that not in evidence at our away games at Burscough, Hartlepool and Colchester?

The players may be upset by the comments, but they still got paid, they didn't have to make the long journey, at reasonable expense, to stand in the cold and the rain watching these performances. The fans will always give their support to the team if it is clearly seen to be giving their all. They turned because the bottle and commitment simply wasn't there.

To quote one Gills fan, "There was no team spirit, no movement, no tracking back to help each other out, no effort from some players, no confidence, no heart, no imagination, no strength, no guts and no shame."

Like it or not, the onus is firmly on the players to deliver and repay the fans some of the debt they owe them for some disgraceful performances of late.

Hope's comments smacked, once again, of a player not wanting to take responsibility on behalf of his team - and that seems to be one of our team's biggest failings at the moment. Too many players hide and don't stand up and take responsibility during matches.

With the notable exception of Byfield, we've not seen players coming out and apologising to the fans, saying that the team's performances have not been good enough. There is no responsibility being taken by the players - and that is one of the major problems with our team at the moment.

It seems that keeping teammates happy is more important than keeping fans happy - and I guess that is one of the reasons why we're in the trouble we're in. We've heard what a great set of lads they all are - and I don't doubt it. But when they go out onto the field, we want them to be a tight, cohesive unit, with an unshakeable will to win. We've always had that fighting spirit - and we've built our successes on the back of it. But that fighting spirit has seemingly gone - and it's up to the players to find it again if we're to see an upturn in our fortunes.

If the players give everything they've got and leave it all on the pitch on a matchday, the fans will be with them all the way. If they play like they have done recently, the fans will no doubt let their feelings be known again. At the end of the day, the fans can scream and shout as much as they like, but it's up to the players to make the REAL difference.

It was never even an issue a few years ago, but now the reaction of the manager and the fans has said it all - and it effectively lays down a challenge to the players. Now it's time to deliver.

It's time for the players to prove it - not only to the fans, but to themselves and to their manager.

The challenge starts tonight...