We spoke to manager Paul Simpson this week to get his thoughts on the opening game of the season against Gillingham.
“Well, I think it'll be a tough game," he said. "They've obviously got a new manager coming in, Mark.
“I think they've recruited well, I thought they recruited well in January. It's always a tough place to go. We know it's going to be a difficult game, especially that first game of the season, where you don't really know what to expect.
“I think that's the difficulty, because there's been a lot of changes going on at a lot of clubs, you just don't know what to expect. If anybody was to ask me, who do you expect to be up there? I haven't got a clue, and there's always surprises every season. All we've got to do is make sure we focus on us, make sure we're right, and hope that we are up there.”
More on the opponents, we asked Paul if he knew what to expect from The Gills, he explained:
“Yes, we do have an idea. I think they've had about six or seven pre-season games where they've made a lot of changes in them, but the last couple have been fairly settled. They've picked up a few injuries, like we have, so we don't really know who's going to be fit and who's not, or who's going to be fully fit to start.
“We're just going to have to wait and see. We'll prepare as we think is the right way to go about it, we'll show the players what we think the opposition are going to do, but come Saturday afternoon it might be totally different and we've got to be able to adapt.”
As of Tuesday, we’d sold 450 tickets for the trip. Another great effort. A sentiment that Paul shared:
“Yes, you look at everything that's gone on over the summer in terms of the number of season ticket sales which are up, you look at the shirt sales out of the shop, the shop takings is massively up, the fact that all hospitality is selling out for games, there's a real buzz about the place.
“Now, what we have to do is, if it's over 400 coming to Gillingham on Saturday, we have to make sure we get the performance right and then we have to take it into the next game and we've got to make sure we do everything we can to keep the feeling here, to keep the positive feeling. I'm selling the club to any potential signings on the fact that if we're going well, we'll be getting double figures in Brunton Park this season and that's what we've got to aim for.
“We have to do our bit properly, first as the staff and the players and then we also hope that the fans continue to do their bit. We've also got the fan zone open here for those who can't make it to Gillingham, that will be another good thing to see. Without a doubt, the screen has been brilliant over the summer, it's brought in the supporters back into the football club, again it's brought extra revenue into the club which all comes into the same pot to help the club move forward.
“I'm sure that'll be good, but again, we have to make sure the performance is right, that we give them something to be happy about.”
