A long hard season ahead A supporters personal thoughts... Saturday 3rd August 2013, saw a new dawn rise over Priestfield for the start of the Gills campaign in League One, after being crowned League Two Champions in 2012/13. Todayâs visitors were Colchester United and although the first game of a new season is difficult to measure for the long road ahead, I felt it was one that I considered as two teams of compatible ability, hence I had predicted a 2-2 draw. So if I felt Gills would be a mid-table team and Colchester possible relegation material, not only had I confused myself with my own bias, but on the back of a 0-1 defeat there is something seriously wrong in my theory for the season ahead! The day started so well as a traditionalist supporter who has the habit of following a particular ritual, beer, food, then to the turnstiles with season ticket in hand. As with any supporter ritual some of us have habits that die hard. I had managed to leave at home the bad feeling of the clubâs new introductions of ID card and colour coded book but on the approach to the ground it was difficult to avoid. Passing the blues rock there was banter between supporters and the doorman in the exchange of conversation of showing the deep blue season ticket book as proof of age, only to be met by a comment by the Gills employee that the situation was only going to get worse. No Mr Chairman you cannot have his name! At that moment I did not realise how much worse. As I approached my usual turnstile, for the welcoming smile of the old boy in the booth, my son was ushered to the entrance opposite, whereas then the steward politely turned to me, stating I could not enter via turnstile seven. I looked bewildered at what he was suggesting and as is normal for me, just proceeded ahead, when the steward again politely to avoid trouble attracted my eye to another turnstile that had a large sign stating season ticket holders only. To be fair to the steward he appeared uncomfortable and was clearly following instructions. I of sorts felt sorry for him. So as is everything with the modern game another ritual eroded, itâs the principal or maybe like a player entering the field of play, my own lucky charm. I view this as some form of discriminating action for being an ST Holder or some sort of segregation, where you can no longer freely go about your way at your own free will. People hearding. At least I got in the ground unlike as it appears some who were still debating issues in regards to their entrance and ticket ID. My own personal protest as planned for the season commenced on not buying the match day magazine. I eventually took to my seat and the game got under way in the hot sunshine. 6,700 in attendance today, 700 from the Colchester following. Sadly for the Gills an early disaster was to strike when right back Matt Fish hit the ground in obvious agony. Not sure what the problem was but it meant he left the field of play with only five minutes on the clock. I felt it was an evenly matched game much as I had expected with chances falling to both sides. Danny Kedwell with an excellent looping strike and in the second half Stuart Nelson having to stretch his entire body out across the face of his goal for a two handed save. Charlie Lee a fans favourite clearly had a few points to prove to Martin Allen and did so amicably. Whether he still exits the club is to be seen but after todayâs showing he was certainly one of the players who has the heart for it and in my view he should remain, after proudly putting in a decent if somewhat at times thwarted display. Leon Legge deserved his man of the match. On this showing the boys in blue certainly deserved a point but a last minute counter attack was to be our undoing. Chris Whelpdale went down under a challenge in the Colchester half, but there appeared a slight complacency about him and instead of regaining his posture, he for some reason hovered between falling and staying on his feet. The Colchester side took advantage of this and to my predicted horror 0-1 as the ball was to soon rustle the back of the Gillingham net. The Colchester fans have every reason to go home happy, however, come the harsh reality of winter Gillingham FC will need to have found their way, especially with much tougher opposition to come otherwise the Chairman will begin to realise it does not pay to upset your best paying supporters. No one could have predicted Fishâs early exit but if you play high balls with a 6ft 5in giant in the opposition goal then there is only ever going to be one outcome. Cody was playing too much up on his own, while Keds was playing to deep for them ever to make a pairing, they were later to be exchanged for Weston and the big man Bayo. On this showing MadDogs chemistry is wrong but it nearly held us out for a point but nearly is not good enough. Iâll be travelling to Wolves next Saturday and sometimes it pays to get the tougher opposition at the beginning of the season. Come 5pm next Saturday our reality for the season may well and truly be born at a very early stage.
brb Sorry I forgot not to buy a programme. It will not happen again. I was outraged by the entry arrangements. I had to queue with the other season ticket holders about 40 deep at turnstile 13. In the 5 mins or so I waited not one match day ticket holder entered via the empty turnstiles 10/11/12. this was Scally taking the p***. As for the game it is easy to overreact to the first game. It was a close game and Colchester just had the edge. Strong performances from Nelson, Legge, Kedwell but that was about it. Linganzi did some good things but made many errors, Weston was lively when he came on and Lee was the pick of a poor midfield. Poor Butcher was out of his depth but he tried gamely. How many people have said full back cover was priority one? In a week or two we will know the quality of the opposition we were up against today. i doubt if Colchester will be top drawer and today might turn out to have been a relegation game. Ominous.
You state you felt that Colchester was an equal level opposition to Gillingham, and while that still may prove to be a correct assertion, the quality of the U's squad if far better than that of the Gills'. The quality additions of Arsenal academy products Craig Eastmond and Sanchez Watt on permanent deals to go along with the already good talent up front e.g. Freddie Sears, Jabo Ibehre and Clinton Morrison puts Col U's squad ahead of Gillingham's in my personal view. As a U's fan I'm expecting a mid-table finish this season, I think Gillingham will be fighting to stay up. Martin Allen is also a muppet for stating that Gillingham is a far far bigger club than Colchester, what an absurd statement to make from an below-average intelligence manager with archaic tactics. On a lighter note I thought your support was good, better than I expected, and I hope for the fans sake that you stay up.
A U's fan? One with over 400 posts on the Man U forum? Wrong U's mate. If there was a game on at Old Trafford on sky you wouldn't of even bothered to come down. And you then slyly have a pop about how our support was better than expected? What the hell do you know? Closest you get to a match normally would be in front of the tele I should venture.
EPL hasn't started yet, so travelled down with the other 750-odd from Colchester. Nothing shameful about that.
What a lovely day out in the sun After deciding not to buy season tickets again because of financial reasons due to the size of my family and not being able to interchange them, I decided to take up an option to use family members free issue tickets (Note that I could have done this for the last three seasons but chose to support the club instead) Now being a fan ! and not a paid up supporter imagine my amusement when i was directed to the fast pass style entry system with no ID required past the queues of paid up mu** I mean members (No offence intended). Having got into the ground I now found out I had extra money and time to kill so I bought a program. As far as the game goes I thought we were ok but failed completely to use the available width. Route one is no longer going to work in this division and I fear we could be in for a long season. At half time i decided to get some drinks for my little children. I was a little miffed that I wasnt allowed to keep the bottle tops as my children could quite obviously prove a danger to the general public around them. I found out though, that it was quite alright for stewards to have bottle tops as they were trusted adults. I got round this little problem with a little foresight and a flaw in the clubs plans. You see well known pop drink makers use the same thread gauge on all of they're bottles so it was handy that my wife just happened to have a couple in her purse. She of course would not have had room had she had to carry those bulky ID cards ...I mean season tickets. Can't wait to go again and if the results do not improve the fast pass system will only get quicker. As winter draws in I wont need to collect bottle tops either Latest score My Family saves about £1000, Gills Lose I guess the moral here is that now that we live in tough times Clubs should think about stepping into a fans shoes and see how difficult it can be to follow the club without the club itself compounding the issue. Believe me miss 5 games and the habit of a lifetime can be broken I now feel indifferent towards the clubs fortunes and i doubt my youngest will ever get hooked. Does not bode well for the future
Born Again..I like your story very much, especially with the touch of humour, be nice if Mr Scally would come and have a read of it.
Why for being honest about your thoughts and what occurred in the reality of your own situation! You were a multiple ST Holder and you are now not, having supported your reasons with explanation. That's called democracy fella, you have not made any false statements.
