The Gills only lost 4 home games in the 1972/73 season. The last of these 4 defeats was in October, so we went the rest of the season from October to May undefeated at home.
The dramatic change in form came about following the signing of striker Damien Richardson, a £7,000 buy from Irish side Shamrock Rovers.
The most memorable game, for me, was played on Saturday 20th January 1973. It was, in fact, a game I didn’t actually see!
My elder brother, also a Gills fan, had a soft spot for Tottenham and used to quite often travel up to White Hart Lane. On this particular day Spurs were at home to Ipswich (if my memory serves me correctly) and my brother asked my school friends Jeremy Wallington, Terry Whyte and myself if we would like to go and see a 1st division game. Terry and I decided it would be great to see top class football, while Jeremy decided to stick with the Gills!
Spurs lost 1-0 and as we made our way out of White Hart Lane we heard the Gillingham score on the radio. Imagine our mixed feelings when we heard, "Gillingham 5 Barnsley 1", great result, but we hadn’t been there to see it.
Gills had won easily with two Dick Tydeman goals (one direct from a corner) and one apiece from George Jacks, Damien Richardson and Graham Knight. It was our biggest win of the season. It was at this moment I vowed never to have a “second team”; from now on it was Gillingham or nobody!
Saturday 20th January 1973
League Division Four
Gillingham 5 Barnsley 1 (HT 4-0)
ATT: 2,850
Gills: Gibson, Lindsey, Peach, Quirke, Galvin, Jacques, Tydeman, Jacks, Richardson, Knight, Hill
We finished the season in 9th place scoring 63 goals whilst conceding 58 with a points total of 49 (2 points for a win, remember!)