The appointment of former Charlton player, Keith Peacock, as our new manager came as something of a surprise. He hadn’t been mentioned as one of the possibles to take the job. He had no managerial experience in the UK and the fans were undecided. He did, of course, become one of the most popular managers at Priestfield.
However, not only was it a new era for the Gills, it was a new era in my personal life too. My wedding had been arranged for Saturday 26th September 1981. Following discussions with my wife to be I had told her, with regards to following Gillingham, that I was ready to give it all up. I had become disillusioned following the debacle of the previous season and I was not convinced a new manager could turn it around.
It was not going to be easy to give it all up because we had purchased our first house. Where was it? Livingstone Road, Gillingham just a stone’s throw away from Priestfield Stadium. In fact it was so close that during floodlit matches we did not need to switch the lights on in the front of the house!
Resigning myself to the fact that my Gillingham following career was over I had no thoughts of attending the first game. It was on 29th August against Burnley at Priestfield. Shortly after kick off there was a loud roar from the crowd which could be heard from my living room. I looked towards my future wife who just said; “Go on then, get yourself over there!” I didn’t need telling twice!
We were treated to a display of attacking football that we had not seen at Gillingham for some time and we were also treated to the best ever own goal seen at our stadium. Burnley defender, Brian Laws, decided to pass the ball back to his keeper from 45 yards out – he watched as the ball sailed over his ‘keeper’s head and into the net! I was so pleased I had not missed it!
The final score was 3-1 (Price, Lee, Laws o.g) and I was hooked again!
For the first time since about 1973-74, though, I was to miss two home games because we had been drawn at home to Exeter City on the date of my wedding and also at home to Bristol City on the Tuesday when we would be on our honeymoon! Obviously I managed to sneak the Exeter score into my speech at the wedding (we lost 2-3(Bowman, Price)). The Bristol City game finished 1-1 (Price). So at least I did not miss a Gills’ victory!
Keith Peacock brought in several new players including ex Gill Dick Tydeman and Colin Powell from Charlton Athletic, Richie Bowman from Reading, John Sitton from Millwall, Tony Cascarino from Crockenhill (for 12 tracksuits and several sheets of corrugated iron!), Frank Ovard from Maidstone United and Peter Shaw from Charlton Athletic.
Danny Westwood (one of my favourite ever players) was sold to Barnet for £2,000 whilst Frank Ovard returned to Maidstone for £5,000 (half the fee we paid for him!) when he failed to impress at league level.
I was not sure about the re-signing of Dick Tydeman until we met Wimbledon, at home, on 13th February 1982. We were already winning the game when Gills’ hard man, Dean White, was the victim of a dreadful foul just in front of my position in the Gordon Road stand enclosure. You could see the blood dripping from his shin. Deano had to be taken off and had several stitches put in a nasty wound. Dick Tydeman looked at the injury, whilst Dean White was being treated on the pitch and I heard him say “Right, let’s go and get six!” I thought this was an excellent bit of captaincy from Tydeman, no recriminations, no revenge on the player who had made the tackle but let’s go out and hit them where it hurts. I gained a lot of respect for Dick Tydeman that day. The final score…6-1! (Price 2, White (pen), Duncan, Bruce & Cascarino) It was in fact Cascarino’s first game for us and had Deano not been injured he probably wouldn’t have played!
If this was an amazing game then the one against Walsall, at Priestfield, the previous December was probably more so. To this date I can’t remember any team coming to Priestfield and have the luck that the Saddlers had that day! They did not win a single corner in the whole game. They only had four shots on target and we outplayed them from start to finish. The final score Gillingham 1 (White, pen) Walsall 4!
There were so many good games in season 1981-82 including a 2-0 win over Fulham which featured on BBC’s “Match of the Day”. One of the goals was scored by winger Colin Powell. Steve Bruce had picked up a balloon and pretended to throw it on instead of the ball. Whilst the Fulham players were laughing Brucie quickly picked up the ball, threw it to Powell, who turned and fired it into the net. A couple of years later the incident appeared in the “What Happened Next” section on BBC’s “A Question of Sport”!
Another memorable Priestfield game was against Chesterfield on Tuesday 6th April 1982, when for the first time in ages my dad came along to watch us, we won 3-2 after trailing 2-0 at half-time! Trevor Lee scored twice, the first after I had just said we should take him off because he never looked like scoring! Defender John Sitton scored the other goal.
We, at last, gained our revenge over Swindon Town not only beating them 1-0 at home and away but seeing them relegated to Division Four at the end of the season! A 3-0 home win (White 2, Lee) over Doncaster on 14th November (two days after my birthday) saw us go to the very top of Division 3!
Unfortunately it was our away form that let us down and we finished the season in a respectable 6th position. It had been a memorable league campaign and Peacock had played attacking football, because he realised with 3 points for a win, now introduced, you would get more points winning one then losing one, than you would for two consecutive draws. After the previous season it was so pleasing to see a Gills side go out to try and win every game.
We had quite a run in the FA Cup as well.
1st Round: Plymouth Argyle 0 Gillingham 0
Replay: Gillingham 1 Plymouth Argyle 0 (Bowman)
2nd Round: Gillingham 1 Barking 1 (White, pen)
Replay: Gillingham 3 Barking 1 (Bruce, Powell, Price)
3rd Round: Gillingham 2 Oldham Athletic 1 (Kemp, White, pen)
It took us two games to beat non-league Barking but we saw off 2nd division Oldham, at the first attempt, to set up a 4th round home fixture with 1st division West Bromwich Albion on Saturday 23rd January 1982.
With a capacity crowd of 16,000, (including my new wife!) packed into Priestfield. We were unlucky to lose 1-0 to a last minute goal from Derek Statham. Steve Bruce had earlier hit the bar.
It was a memorable season that I so nearly missed. Obviously I had not purchased a season ticket but I would definitely be having one for season 1982-83!
(Next time: Sponsorship)
