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Sport

The Shouting Men column: Parisian striker Mikael Mandron enjoying a new challenge at Gillingham

By: Luke Cawdell lcawdell@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 06:00, 08 August 2019

Updated: 07:30, 08 August 2019

My time on trial at Gillingham gave me a good insight into the team and helped me make my decision to sign.

I didn’t ever feel like a trialist and that’s fair play to the boys, they really welcomed me and I felt a part of the team from the start.

Also, the staff in games and training didn’t put that pressure on me, I just got to go and play my game and it felt right.

Mikael Mandron in action for Gillingham against Millwall in pre-season Picture: Ady Kerry

There were a few clubs in League 1 and League 2 who were also interested and we just wanted to make sure we were making the right decision.

I trained with Gillingham for a couple of weeks, initially joining up with them while they were away in Colchester, and it gave me a chance to really meet the boys and adapt to the team before putting pen to paper.

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The manager here wants me to play high and central and stay in the box as much as possible and that’s one of the things I enjoyed while on trial at the club.

He has got that vision where he wants me to get goals and into the right positions as much as possible. If I can bring that into my game then I will definitely get goals.

We have got players with quality in the team that can put good balls in the box and as long as I am in there I can get on the end of some of them and put them into the back of the net.

You are always looking to get goals as a striker and I was able to do that in pre-season. I felt it was a good one and I am read to go.

I didn’t get onto the pitch at Doncaster but I will try and work as hard as I can, to improve in training and try to do what the manager asks of me. I have got full belief in my ability and I am sure the manager knows what I can do and when the time is right I am sure he will put me in.

Last season at Colchester was one of ups and downs. We started well, we were in and around the League 2 play-offs all season, we had been second or third at one point, doing well, but the last part of the season we had a terrible run and kept losing games.

We won games towards the end but it wasn’t enough.

Gillingham striker Mikael Mandron grew up in Paris

I was confident I would get a new club in the summer, I don’t get stressed and I’ve signed a one year deal here. I don’t think about the length of the contract though, I am just here and will give everything I have got every day, every week. However long I have got on my contract doesn’t matter, I will do my best every time.

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I’ve been playing in England since the age of 16, when I moved to Sunderland.

I grew up in Paris and had trials to get into the Clairefontaine academy, where all of the great French players have been. I got towards the final stages to get in, but unfortunately I didn’t make it.

Basically every single player in Paris will go onto those trials, thousands and thousands, and I was glad to have got as far as I did. There were five stages and some great players get picked, like Thierry Henry.

France is a great place for football, it is part of the culture, and I was growing up there watching the national team winning the World Cup and the European Cup.

I was a big fan of Zidane, that was my player, the one I loved, that’s why I support Real Madrid. I have supported them since the age of eight and when Zidane and Ronaldo played together, two of my idols. I have supported them since.

One of Mikael Mandron's idols Zinedine Zidane celebrates with the Champions League Trophy in 2002 Picture: David Davies

Sunderland was completely different but I was so excited to go there, I was 16, but there was never a doubt in my mind. I always wanted to play football and to go to England and that was an amazing opportunity. They welcomed me with open arms, the same as Gillingham, and I had an amazing time,

I was lucky to make my debut in the Premier League when I was 18. Paolo Di Canio was manager at the time and we were playing Aston Villa away and he put me on for the last 15. It was great, amazing.

I played a couple more times after that for the first team and had some great experiences. I had loans at Shrewsbury, Fleetwood and Hartlepool but after Sunderland I went to Eastleigh and had a good time there before signing for Wigan.

It was a big move for me but didn’t quite go as I wanted. The manager who signed me, Warren Joyce, got sacked soon after I signed and that got in between the plans. I have moved around a lot but I have had great

experiences everywhere, met some great people and learned a lot. I am now here and I am looking forward to this.

I just love football. If I wasn’t at Gillingham I would be playing football somewhere else.

I just love it so much, any level, training, games, whatever, I just want to be on the pitch.

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