Gillingham announced former Aston Villa and West Brom as their head coach

Stephen Clemence has been announced as League Two Gillingham’s head coach, his first managerial post.

Gillingham in League Two has announced Stephen Clemence as its new head coach, marking his first management position.

The late Ray Clemence, an England custodian, was a coach for Steve Bruce, the former manager of Birmingham, at a number of different clubs, including Newcastle, Aston Villa, and Hull.

Emmanuel ( Latte Lath celebrates after his second-half penalty kick gives Middlesbrough the victory.
Latte Lath ends Exeter’s Carabao Cup run in the round of sixteen as Middlesbrough rallies.
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Robbie Stockdale, a former Sunderland coach who managed Rochdale for the 2021–22 season before taking on backroom positions at Hull and MK Dons, will help the 45-year-old.

The hunt for Neil Harris’s replacement has been spearheaded by football director Kenny Jackett, with assistance from previous chairman Paul Scally, who is still a minority shareholder and member of the board. With the team in ninth place in League Two, Harris was fired.

This week, American majority owner Brad Galinson played down the importance of management experience, stating that he wanted the new head coach to have an engaging flair.

“Things like what formation they play, if they have coached before, how old they are, whether they have been an assistant coach in the Premier League, and whether they have experience in League One, Two, or the National League are not on the [wanted] list.” said Galinson. “Those things seem like secondary to make the formula work.”

Clemence worked as a longtime assistant to Bruce, whose last job was at West Brom. Bruce was sacked eight months into an 18-month contract.

Clemence succeeds Harris, who was sacked because the club said they wanted “to go in a different direction”, a surprise change predominantly born of a desire to shift the style of play. Clemence will be given the title of head coach, not manager.

“The individual we are employing is fully responsible for the first team, training, lineups, and technical area; he is not in charge of player acquisition and recruitment; he is merely involved in that,” Galinson stated this week.

Alex Bruce, a former defender for Hull who served with his father as a West Brom staff member, took up his first management position at non-league Macclesfield on Monday. Seventh-tier Macclesfield is a phoenix club of Macclesfield Town, which were wound up in 2020. Robbie Savage is the team’s director of football.