Full profiles on Adrian Pennock, Steve Lovell and Jamie Day
on Wednesday night, alongside Steve Lovell and Jamie Day as first-team coaches, supporters can learn about the new management trio with our in-depth profiles.Gillingham Football Club's new head coachFollowing the appointment of Adrian Pennock as
Adrian Pennock
Head Coach
Age: 45
DOB: 27/03/1971
Pennock needs little introduction to Gills fans, having played 199 times for the club. He joined from AFC Bournemouth in October 1996, and made his debut the following month in a League Cup defeat against Ipswich Town.
He famously captained the side in the 2000 play-off final against Wigan Athletic at Wembley, which the Gills won 3-2 to gain promotion to English football's second tier for the first time in the club's history, before injury forced him to retire in January 2003. So popular was he that he even had a fan club set up in his honour by Gills fans.
After two-and-a-half years in charge at non-league Welling United, he joined Stoke City in the summer of 2007, initially serving as their youth coach, before becoming their first-team coach in 2011.
He was appointed manager of Conference Premier side Forest Green Rovers in November 2013; after guiding them to tenth at the end of his first season in charge, 45-year-old Pennock led the Gloucestershire-based club to their best-ever finishes of fifth and second at the end of the 2014/15 and 2015/16 campaigns respectively.
Most recently, Pennock served as a consultant to Day at Welling United, a role he started in November.
Steve Lovell
First-Team Coach
Age: 56
DOB: 16/07/1960
Lovell scored 104 times during a Gills career that began in 1987. Capped by Wales six times, the 56-year-old went on to work for the club’s Football in the Community team (now the Gillingham Football Club Community Trust), as well as serving as an under-17 and under-18s coach.
He was part of the four-man caretaker management team who guided the Gills away from the League One relegation places in January 2015, and then served as first-team coach under Justin Edinburgh between February 2015 and May 2016.
Jamie Day
First-Team Coach
Age: 37
DOB: 13/09/1979
An Arsenal academy product, Day has earned a reputation as one of England's brightest coaches, having transformed the fortunes of Welling in his two spells at Park View Road. He got the Wings promoted back to the Conference in 2013, and oversaw five wins from as many games following his return as manager in November.
Day, 37, also boasted a 40 per cent win rate during four months in charge of Ebbsfleet United from December 2014 to April 2015, and also served as Pennock's assistant at Forest Green Rovers.
The club's new head coaches will be unveiled to the press on Friday morning, before taking training for the first time at Beechings Cross.
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Pennock, Lovell and Day join the Gills