Past Times: Part 15 - The Gills get Stoned!

Gillingham started the 1980-81 season with Gerry Summers still in charge despite the terrible performance of the previous season whilst I started the new season with a new girlfriend, Lynnette, a work colleague at the TSB.

The dramatic improvement required was not forthcoming and the entire 1980-81 season was spent with us in the bottom half of the table. A successive relegation battle ensued. Our failure to score goals again being a major factor as we finished the campaign having scored only 48 goals in 46 games (one less than the previous season). Although we finished 15^th (one place higher) we were only 2 points above relegated Sheffield United!

We avoided relegation in our last home game, coincidentally against Chester City again, when we won 2-1. Chester did there best to help us stay up by missing a fifth minute penalty and scoring one of our goals! Steve Bruce scored the other.

The last straw however, according to many fans, came in the F A Cup. After narrowly defeating non league Dagenham at home 2-1 (Price, Ford) we were drawn at home to non-league, local rivals, Maidstone United. A local derby with Kentish pride at stake saw a crowd of 9,009 at Priestfield witness a 0-0 draw on 13^th December 1980. Three days later a crowd of 7,465 squeezed into Maidstone United's disjointed London Road stadium where again the game finished goalless (after extra time). They were no penalty shoot outs in those days so there would be a 2^nd replay. A toss was made for the venue and Gills' fans breathed a collective sigh of relief that the game would be at Priestfield. The crowd was only 7,941 for this game (it was only 3 days before Christmas) and the Stones deservedly won 2-0. We hadn't just been knocked out of the F A Cup; we had been knocked out by the worst possible team (barring Swindon Town!).

The highlight of the season, for me, was not football related. On Sunday 19^th October 1980 my girlfriend, of just 3 months, became my fiancée. It was interesting to note that the following day Gills drew 3-3 at Brentford and embarked on a 5 match unbeaten run before losing 1-0, at home, to Portsmouth on 8^th November 1980!

Football wise this was one of the most boring Gills sides ever. Gerry Summers seemed intent on getting us to play a “try not to lose” rather than a “go out to win” type of game. This resulted in 18 draws of which an incredible 9 were goalless! We actually had the “pleasure” of enduring 4 consecutive 0-0 draws between 7^th and 20^th April 1981, Burnley (H), Portsmouth (A), Colchester (H) and Millwall (A).

It came as some relief, then, to all Gills' fans when Gerry Summers' contract was not renewed at the end of the season. Not only had we watched a terrible league season, we had been knocked out of the F A Cup by our non-league neighbours and had also seen Summers give free transfers to 3 very popular players in Terry Nicholl, Damien Richardson and John Crabbe. The time was right for Summers to go.

The search was now on for a new manager. Apparently the club had 40 applicants for the position which were said to have included John Hollins (Arsenal) and Alan Dicks (ex Bristol City).

However, when the appointment came in July it was a bit of a surprise…

(Next time: Time to Give it all up?)