By Luke Cawdell

Mark Patterson left Gillingham with a heavy heart this week but with a glowing endorsement of manager Mark Stimson – who he feels is doing wonders for the club’s youth set-up.

Patterson, pictured, quit to join hometown club Ashford to head up their new youth academy but said: “I enjoyed working with Stimmo. He gave me great support and there was no interference.

“He was great and watched the under-18s and the under-17s regularly and he was even interested in the under-14s and 15s. A couple of weeks ago he came to see an under-18 game against Palace and he stayed to watch the under-8s.

“Mark Stimson and Mark Robson (first team coach) have both been involved in youth football and you can tell.

“At other clubs the first-team manager might not even know their name. Mark will involve them in training and have a joke with them. He watches the youth matches at home and includes them in the reserves and training.

"I can’t speak highly enough of the way the senior players look after the youngsters."

Read the full interview in Friday's Medway Messenger.