Gillingham chairman Paul Scally has labelled the sacking culture among his peers as "frightening".

Nine managers have already lost their job in the first month of 2011 and 27 have been given their marching orders since the start of the season.

Mr Scally (pictured) has been rewarded by sticking with boss Andy Hessenthaler this season when other chairmen might not have been so patient.

"It’s a bit frightening at the moment and every day I see managers getting sacked," said Mr Scally.

"It’s ridiculous. I don’t know what people are expecting. I think there are a lot of chairmen coming into football now that their expectations are possibly not achievable.

"We would all love to get where Blackpool are but unfortunately it doesn’t happen every week and you have to look at grassroots stuff first."

Mr Scally brought Hessenthaler back to the club this summer but it took a while for the results to come. The Gills picked up 15 points from their opening 16 League 2 matches but have collected 22 from a possible 27 in their last nine in a stunning turnaround.

He said: "I was never in any doubt that the team was capable of turning it around or that the team was capable of putting a run together but it pretty much came as a result of hitting our low point of the season against Dover."

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