Football Season Review

Much like Coventry, Gillingham are another side that started the season ever so well and looked like a strong candidate for direct promotion, only to blow all of the good work from the first half of the season in the final third of the campaign. Another similarity between the Gills and the Sky Blues is the fact that Gillingham's collapse also came following an injury crisis - Justin Edinburgh's men did start to slow down a bit in December, but their form only took a serious dip after February, when they lost three key players in Bradley Dack, Doug Loft and John Egan to injuries, among others. The Gills kept battling until the very end and actually entered the final round of the regular season with play-off hopes that were still alive, but they managed to stay in the race for so long only due to the points that they accumulated in the first half of the season, as the form they displayed in March and April was pure relegation form. Over the years, we have seen several examples of teams that were unable to halt their spring slides even after the summer break, and Justin Edinburgh has a big summer ahead of him, as he will be trusted to steady the ship. The Gills have already announced that Loft's contract will not be extended, while they should also expect to lose Dack, who they could have easily lost in the winter due to interest from Championship clubs. The Gills' boss needs to be smart and strengthen in the right areas during the summer - his side are all out of momentum and badly need to get it back in the opening months of the next campaign.

Player of the Season: Bradley Dack