Gillingham sacks head coach Stephen Clemence after six months in charge at Priestfield

The news comes after the club finished 12th in the League Two table, where they scored the second lowest amount of goals in the division.

Transcript

00:00 I thought I mean what a surprise

00:02 Well Sophia just two hours before the announcement was made that Stephen Clements alongside assistant head coach

00:07 Robbie Stockdale would be leaving Gillingham. The club was actually singing Stephen Clements's praises

00:12 They'd released an article taking a few quotes from the post-match interview with Stephen after the two-all draw here with

00:19 Doncaster Rovers at the weekend where Stephen Clements was looking forward to the next season and the summer window with a real positive

00:26 Light, but then of course just after lunchtime today the club released the statement announcing his departure

00:32 I can read you a few excerpts of it now where they've given their reasonings for the decision

00:37 They say that the expectations of the club weren't met

00:39 They say that the change is necessary for the best chance of promotion back to League One

00:44 Next season and that they'll be looking for a new appointment as quickly as possible

00:49 well, this comes of course after a season where Gillingham have finished in 12th now that was up from

00:55 17th where they finished in League Two in the previous season

00:59 No relegation battle this time. The main goal was to be in the top seven and to achieve a playoff place

01:06 They were hoping that by now after that Doncaster game, they would be gearing up for an eliminator game

01:11 But now it is of course all attention on next season and that summer signing window

01:18 We heard just a few weeks ago that Stephen Clements had a list of players who the club was

01:22 Interested in approaching hoping to bolster his squad going into the next season

01:27 He's clearly not going to be able to do that now

01:30 But interestingly his role as head coach meant that he wasn't at the forefront of the recruitment process

01:37 He would have the final say over which players were to join the squad

01:41 But he wasn't at the at the forefront of that process

01:44 so you would presume that that list that long list of players would stay with the club and

01:49 Stay with whoever takes over that job now just a couple of words on Stephen Clements

01:55 It was his first managerial position here at

01:58 Priestfield he has had some roles in the past in coaching

02:02 He was at the likes of Aston Villa where he coached the of course the England player Jack Grealish

02:07 He's the son of Ray Clements

02:08 Of course the legendary England goalkeeper and he worked under the guise of Steve Bruce quite regularly throughout his time at different

02:16 Clubs now, of course Steve Bruce is one of the names that last time there was a managerial gap here was put forward for the job

02:22 He said in recent weeks that he's interested in a return to management in whatever role that may be

02:29 but no doubt this will be just one of the many names who will be rumored and

02:35 Assessed over the next few weeks by fans in their discussions. And of course the bookies as well

02:40 We'll have more analysis on this decision by the club in Invictus Sport at 6 p.m. This evening

02:46 Bartholomew, thank you for joining us