GillsBlog by iblue

GillsConnect Priestfield Heroes - No.6 Pat Terry

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:23:19 +0100

Pat Terry began his football career with Eastbourne before turning professional with Charlton in 1954. He left the Valley two years later when Newport County paid the staggering sum of £100 to secure his services. If Pat received a signing on fee it was probably half a crown in old money. In February 1958 Swansea paid £5,000 for him but just eight months later he joined Gillingham for a fee of £4,000.
Terry was an inch under six feet tall and weighed well under 12 stones but he was aggressive and determined and difficult to knock of the ball. His greatest attribute however was his ability to hover in mid air. It might have been for little more than a split second but that was enough to help him score some wonderful headed goals.
He was also a good finisher with his feet and his 60 goals in 108 appearances gave him a ratio of one goal every 1.80 games. At this point it should be mentioned that Gavin Tomlin with 6 in 9 had the superb ratio of 1.50, however in fairness there needs to be a minimum number of games played as a criteria.

GillsConnect Priestfield Heroes - No.5 Jimmy Scarth

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 10:53:49 +0100

November 1952 and I was there when Jimmy Scarth scored the fastest ever recorded Football League hat trick in a Division Three match against Leyton Orient.
Fifty-two years later, in February 2004 James Hayter eclipsed Scarth’s record by 10 seconds when scoring three goals in two minute and 20 seconds. That, at least, is what the record books state.
No one can argue with the accuracy of Hayter's recorded time, given that we live in an age of digital everything including timekeeping. However, Jimmy Scarth enjoyed no such luxury.
According to “Home of the Shouting Men,” Don Ellis, sports editor of the long defunct Chatham Observer, recorded the hat trick as being achieved in two minutes exactly.
I recall scoffing at a Sunday national newspaper headline stated, “Three minute hat trick by Scarth.” When the first goal went in I noted the time on my Mickey Mouse watch (no quips please, it was a good timekeeper).
I did not check the time of the second goal, but when number three hit the back of the net, the hands of my watch had moved barely a full two minutes. I incline to a view expressed in Wikipedia that Jimmy’s hat trick was completed in 110 seconds.

GillsConnect Priestfield Heroes - No.4 John Simpson

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 10:14:15 +0100

Way back in1957 Gillingham paid Lincoln City the princely sum of £750 to secure the services of a young goalkeeper called John Simpson. Although he would not have realized it at the time, the Gills manager Archie Clark had acquired the biggest bargain in the club’s history.
Clark’s reward was to be replaced as manager by Harry Barratt soon after Gillingham eliminated non-league side Gorleston from the FA Cup on 16 November 1957.
Although not relevant to the John Simpson story, it is worth mentioning that in Round two Gills, after forcing a replay at the Den, demolished the Lions 6-1 at Priestfield on 7 December 1957, the match finishing as dusk fell in those pre-floodlights days. What joy!
After seeing off the challenge of Chic Brodie, another very good young goalkeeper, Simpson established himself in the Gillingham first team with a series of superb displays. I swear that Simmo was good enough to have played for England.

GillsConnect Priestfield Heroes - No.3 Ernie Morgan

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 18:42:40 +0100

Ernie Morgan started his working life in Barnsley as a coalminer and signed for Lincoln City after a scout saw him play for his colliery team. After just three appearances for Lincoln without scoring it was a surprise when Gillingham paid £3,000 to secure his services in time for the start of the 1953/54 season.
However he amply repaid the transfer fee with 21 goals in his first season as a full time professional. He bettered that the next season with 31 League goals, a club record. Brian Yeo performed a similar feat during the 1973/74 season and Morgan and Yeo remain to this day the club’s joint League goals record holders.
My two clearest memories concerning Ernie Morgan both relate to FA cup-ties against non-league opposition. On 21 November 1953, thousands of Gills fans (well 2,500 at least) travelled to East London for a first round F.A. Cup tie against the amateurs of Walthamstow Avenue.

GillsConnect Priestfield Heroes - No.2 Robert Taylor

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 18:10:53 +0100

Robert (Super Bob) Taylor was born in Norwich and joined his home town club from Watton United in 1990. Unable to break into the Norwich first team Bob had a short loan spell at Leyton Orient, before joining the “O’s” on a more permanent basis.
After twenty goals in seventy-three appearances for the Brisbane Road outfit his chance came to join Brentford. There he formed successful strike partnerships with Nicky Forster (ex Gills) and, soon to be Gills player, Carl Asaba.
Bob’s all round scoring ability brought him to the notice of the Gillingham manager, Tony Pulis but the Bees turned down several offers from Gills but eventually Pulis got his man for a club record fee of 500,000.
At first Bob struggled to make an impact and failed to score in his first 11 games and some Gills supporters made up their minds in haste and labeled Taylor “overweight and overpriced.”
Bob eventually re-discovered his shooting boots and ended the season with 20 goals, including an astonishing 5 goals at Burnley (see video above right).

GillsConnect Priestfield Heroes - No.1 Steve Lovell

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:52:16 +0000

The 4,154 spectators, who attended Priestfield Stadium on 29 August 1987, could hardly have been expecting a goal feast. Tony Cascarino had departed to Millwall in the summer and Dave Shearer was far from match fit.
Step forward Steve Lovell, a Welsh International striker signed by Keith Peacock from Millwall for £20k. Steve had had fitness problems at the Den and the signing appeared to be something of a gamble.
That afternoon Steve repaid Peacock’s faith in him by scoring four times in the 8-1 rout of Essex rivals, Southend United (see video right).
Gillingham followed this win with an excellent midweek 2-0 victory at Fulham. Incredibly a week after their stunning demolition of Southend a slightly smaller attendance greeted Gills when they took on Chesterfield at Priestfield.
Yes, Southend may well have brought several hundred fans with them, opposed to a handful of Spirerites, but surely the eight goals at home followed by a classy win at Craven Cottage entitled Gills to a much better turn out than the 4,000 odd who turned up 5 September.