There was uproar amongst the Gills’ faithful, before a ball had been kicked, in the 1973/74 season. Manager Andy Nelson wanted Gillingham to take to the field in a Barcelona style Red and Blue striped kit. (Fans complaining about a change in the club kit, sound familiar?)
Eventually Nelson gave into fan pressure and the mighty Gills played the season out in a boring all blue strip, the only white being the number on the back of the shirts!
The 73/74 season turned out to be the one we had all been waiting for. Only midfielder Dave Coxhill was added to the squad and we finished as Fourth Division runners-up to Peterborough and were promoted to Division 3. A wonderful brand of breathtaking, attacking football saw us score 90 league goals and 7 in the cup competitions. In total just 3 short of 100!
Inevitably Brian Yeo was top scorer with 31 goals (equalling Ernie Morgan’s club record set in 1954/55). Irish striker Damien Richardson scored 16 goals including 1 penalty whilst Alan Wilks, the third forward in a three pronged attack scored 14. Even midfielder George Jacks notched 8 goals (sort of puts this season’s strike force to shame!)
There were, obviously, many memorable games in an outstanding season, but the season started with a 1-0 away defeat at Crewe Alexandra followed by an inauspicious 1-1 draw at home to Newport County.
The next three games, however, had the Gills’ faithful thinking this really could be our season. Firstly a 3-0 away win at Swansea City, achieved with goals from right back Keith Lindsey, midfielder Dick Tydeman and a customary Brian Yeo strike.
The following game was unbelievable.
On Wednesday 12th September 1973 Gillingham were at home to Scunthorpe United. By half time we were 3-0 up and cruising, and even though the Iron scored 2 in the second half the Gills added another 4 to pull off an amazing 7-2 win. An incredible game and I remember thinking at the time I would never see Gillingham score more goals than 7 in one game (how wrong can you be?)
The following Saturday we completely outplayed Darlington at home but it was one of those days when the ball would just not go in and Darlo scored with their only attack to register an undeserved 1-0 win. However we played such good attacking football over those three games it seemed inevitable that we would be promoted come May.
Wednesday 12th September 1973
League Division Four
Gillingham 7 Scunthorpe United 2
ATT: 4,610
Scorers: Yeo 3, Richardson 2, Tydeman, Wilks
Gills: - Gibson, Lindsey, Peach, Quirke, Hill, Jacques, Tydeman, Jacks, Richardson, Wilks, Yeo
We only picked up 1 point from the next two games which were away at Rotherham where we drew 1-1(Yeo) and at Hartlepool where we lost 2-1(Jacks)
These games, however, were followed by a cracking 5-1 home win against Doncaster Rovers with Alan Wilks having one of his best games for the club, scoring one goal, the others being scored by Richardson 2, Peach (pen) and of course Yeo.
After a disappointing 2-1 reverse at old rivals Exeter City (Peach) we played high flying Bury (another of the promotion favourites) and beat them convincingly by three goals to nil. (Yeo 2, Hill). This was to be the start of a wonderful 20 match unbeaten run which, ironically, ended on 17th February 1974 with a 3-2 defeat at Bury.
There were many highlights during this amazing run. On Saturday 3rd November, as an early birthday present, my parents paid for me to go to Elm Park to see Reading (undefeated at home so far) take on the Gills. A crowd of 8,082 saw Brian Yeo net the only goal to give us a terrific win. Gills played in their new away kit of yellow shirts and black shorts which looked far better than the previous red and black away kit.
The following Saturday (two days before my birthday) a Brian Yeo brace gave us a 2-1 win over Torquay United and then on the Wednesday (two days after my birthday) I received one of my best ever birthday presents when my favourite player, Alan Wilks, scored a tremendous hat-trick in a memorable first half at home against Workington. A crowd of 6,804 (compared to 3,971 that saw our first home game of the season) saw “Arthur” score three cracking goals, all from open play, and all from more than 25 yards out!
The second half was a bit of a non-event with the game already won, but Brian Yeo still notched his customary goal to give us a 4-0 victory.
This game was followed by a draw away at Mansfield Town , 2-2 (Yeo, Peach (pen)), a wonderful 3-0 away win at Brentford (Richardson 2, Galvin) and then on Saturday 8th December 1973 a home game against, then top of the table, Colchester United.
Back in the 70’s the only televised football was Match of the Day on BBC1 on Saturday nights and on ITV (in our region) The Big Match, on a Sunday afternoon, introduced by Brian Moore. Only highlights were allowed to be shown, there were no live league games, with the league fearing that this would affect attendances.
The Big Match format was one main game (from the London region) followed by highlights of two others. The games to be shown were not allowed to be announced so it was a surprise to see the TV vans outside Priestfield for the Colchester game. The Gills had hit the big time we were going to be the main game on the Big Match!
A brilliant crowd of 8,411 were not disappointed as Gills stormed into an early two goal lead, and even though the U’s managed to pull one back before half time we scored two more, without reply, in the second half to win 4-1 (Wilks 2, Richardson, Jacks)
A 2-0 away win at Doncaster Rovers (Tydeman, Jacks) was followed by a Boxing Day home win over Northampton Town. Brian Yeo, who had not scored in the last three games, grabbed all three goals to make up for it! The attendance on Boxing Day was the highest so far at 11,363.
We then drew three games in a row, Swansea City at home ended 1-1 (Jacks), Newport County away was 3-3 (Jacks, Wilks, Peach); an incredible game this as Gills were trailing 3-1 with only 10 minutes left, so this was a point gained rather than lost. We then drew 1-1 at home with Barnsley (Richardson).
Gillingham returned to winning ways with a fine 3-1 win at Darlington (Richardson, Peach, and Yeo).
This was followed by a first at Priestfield Stadium.
Because of the power strikes, going on at the time, the use of floodlights was restricted and the Football League announced that games could be played on a Sunday with earlier kick off times.
The first ever Sunday football league game at Priestfield was played on Sunday 20th January 1974 against Crewe Alexandra. Whether it was the novelty of Sunday football, or the fact Gills were doing so well, or a combination of them both the attendance soared to 11,478 (the previous Saturday home game was watched by only 6,825!)
On Sunday 3rd February I made my longest trip, so far, to see the Gills play at Lincoln City. It was a cracking game which we won 3-2 thanks to a brace from Brian Yeo and an Alan Wilks goal. I remember walking back to the coach behind two elderly Lincoln supporters who were talking about Brian Yeo; “What’s so special about that Yeo chap he didn’t do much?” to which his friend replied “I’ll tell you what’s so special about him, he scores more goals than any of our buggers do!”. This put an even broader smile on my face and the trip back on the coach was very enjoyable (as it always is after an away win!)
The next Sunday home game saw an attendance of 8,754 witness a 3-0 thrashing of Hartlepool the goals being scored by Yeo, Wilks and Potter o.g.
This was the end of the 20 match unbeaten run as the next match was that defeat at Bury 2-3 (Coxhill, Swan o.g).
(Next time: Conclusion of 73/74 and Bombshell at Priestfield!)