Saturday November 23rd 2013, an afternoon to remember at Priestfield, on a pleasant sunny but typically cold Autumn day. What a fantastic day, with the hallow turf witnessing the greatest moment of all time. The 5,000 supporters or whatever the number may turn out to be after they've counted up the kids for a quid, witnessed the greatest show on earth, ok slight exaggeration but a moment in lower league football. A player who stands above all players, who stole the show like none other from the moment he took to the pitch. His name although it should need no introduction at ten minutes to three once again trod the Gillingham FC surface to be met with a standing ovation. Ron Hillyard. Gone are the days of his long flowing curly locks to be replaced with short silver hair. But there was nothing silver about this man he was pure gold, pure legend. Well you didnât think I actually meant anyone from our current team! Balls into empty spaces, players not looking up to see who they are passing too, outpaced and outplayed by average opposition. We quite simply did not play as a team, restrained around the half way line and no one taking the initiative to push forward until Oldham scored. Why wait until they scored? We were truly awful, we were dreadful it was just absolutely appalling to watch. No spirit, no passion in our play. I read Peter Taylor wants bring in a player next week. A player!? Crikey he needs a whole new team. Although I did note on a very brief look at the O/S that PT states âwe need to be strongerâ â yes, he certainly got that bit right. So how can we go from a win at Sheffield United to something as bad has this, how many times do I have to pray for it at our Priestfield Church...keep the bloody ball on the ground! As I walked back to my waiting taxi (her indoors), a resident asked two passing supporters in front of me what the game was like, their answer, RUBBISH! That just about sums it up. At least we stayed the 97 minutes and did not leave at the fire drill. I will still be back there for Stevenage on Tuesday and away at Notts County, but the club can give away as many incentives has it chooses to day trippers but soon it will not be able to give tickets away for free, the fickle nature of modern day supporters. Iâm still fuming over the Wolves home fixture change for TV and today was just the icing on the cake in the life and blue blood of a Gills supporter. Was this really worse than Wolves away? At least Ron cheered up my day, oh how I long to be a young man again, when opposition players never rolled around like babies and your team gave passion, spirit and every ounce of blood for the shirt. While standing and watching from concrete terraces only separating hoards by a rail bar. The days of hardened players and supporters alike. MOM Danny Kedwell - for demonstrating balls, calm and intellect after burying that guy in the half way hoardings, well done fella. Take a leaf out of his book and stop messing about in this league and nail them. Get into them. Like Taylor wants be stronger.
brb I hope you don't mind - I've edited your post. ( it's not my assessment of your post - but an abbreviation of the Gills performance ) I might start a dog walking service on a Saturday afternoon if the cr*p continues - there'd be less poo to clear up !
It is my birthday today, and i took myself and 6 family and friends, to the game yesterday, not sure it convinced them to go on a regular basis, i was sitting in the medway stand block j row g, we had the wrong players on the pitch to start with the tactics were totally wrong for a home tie we should be winning. A few players stood out to actually wanted to put a ounce of effort in, the only entertainment apart from the gems at half time was kedwell putting the oldham player into the stands. Personally i always like to give managers/players a chance to prove themselves before slating them, but yet again i think we have gone for a safe option rather than getting in a younger manager with fresh ideas,but saying this i will still go and enjoy the time at priestfield, come on the Gills.
brb - you know I would never question the passion of your support for Gills, and usually your ability to see some positives out of a poor performance, but that is the most passionate post I've seen from you for a long time. I'm still at a loss to understand how it could have gone so wrong after last weeks not brilliant but certainly competent fighting performance at Sheffield. With Harriman back, Hewitt was moved to midfield in place of Gregory, which given the general standard of Gregory's performances is a decision I wouldn't argue with, and Cody in for ***an, which should have given us a more direct attacking threat, albeit at the cost of a bit of width. There's an article on the BBC website titled "Gillingham boss Peter Taylor calls for patience from fans" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24943407) posted on 14th November (before Sheffield) in which Taylor is quoted "The most important thing is the players work hard. If they didn't work hard I'd be as critical as anyone. But there's no lack of effort there. There's a lack of quality, but there's no lack of effort" I think that these comments wouldn't apply to Messrs ***an, Mousinho and Hewitt who he brought in during that week, but how many people think that these players have actually improved the quality available to Taylor, and if so what are we going to do when the respective loan periods are up? Does this also mean that he also doesn't have confidence in the quality of players coming through from the development team? This after we lost yesterday to a goal from an 18 year old. All the reports coming out of the squad would indicate that they are lot happier with PT's ideas than those of MA, but the performances don't seem to reflect that. Lots of questions, and I don't have the answers, and as I wasn't there I can't pass judgment on individual players performances yesterday, but after 8 games with PT in charge I would have liked to be seeing a bit more consistency in the performances by now, regardless of the perceived quality of the players available to him.
totally awful performance from the Gills yesterday. No desire No quality No ambition No Midfield No Attack No pace No passing No shooting DIABOLICAL.Taylor has done nothing to improve the team.Scally must be regretting bringing Taylor in.
itstimupnorth - thanks for your kind words. I'm sure people have begun to realise that my threads tend to not follow a trend of many other writers throughout football websites. You only have to look at the camel threads for examples of that. Journalistic writers have never been one of my favourite read ups because they have a tendency to lack that same passion and portray formats that are politically correct as either not to offend someone in the club or to please their editors. I think between myself and alwaysright this season we have tried to avoid the negativity apart from the season ticket fiasco. Well how else do you raise a laugh after a 4-0 drubbing at Wolves...http://www.not606.com/showthread.ph...amels-travel-to-Wolves-Gillingham-FC-Football It was pointed out to me again this week that the Chairman's programme notes had included content again about message board warriers. You may all remember my reasons for boycotting the match day magazine. I've clearly said on here before i will remove liabellous comments, however, sometimes that can be difficult to define and measure, especially not being a lawyer, unless pointed out to me. Although I do seriously have the right camel hump with the club at the moment. Bearing in mind I have only missed one league game home and away this season (Crewe), this is my dilemma, Posh is being offered at £10 for adults far cheaper than my ST stub. Wolves as mentioned in the OP has been rearranged for Friday TV, I will now have to plead with my employer to get time off work at a very restricted time - something i'm concerned i might not be able to achieve (sickie maybe?). This potentially works out at a total of a £22 loss to me over those two games. Like our Chairman, I have to count the pennies and this does not include any other incentives to non ST's. But the money is not my main concern its just how we are treated as supporters. You all know the ST story by now without need of my repetition. So Ron Hillyard was a pleasant heart warming twist to my tales of woe on Saturday an ideal distraction to another dire performance, many a new generation would never had seen him play. It was before the days of major armchair tv. Where football belonged to supporters and their weekly rituals, quite simply respect us and we will respect you. Or as alwaysright might suggest...if you don't we will love the dog but not its owner...a long story for those that have not kept up with recent camel events. I'll be back for Stevenage on Tuesday...
The worst thing for me on Saturday was that for large parts of the match (including all of the first half ) I was BORED. I really can't remember the last time I felt like that. No passion on the pitch both sides were poor but what on earth is going on with our players? Only Danny has the sheer B*lls to be worth the shirt We had a couple of kids for a quid lads next to us - I really can't see them be inspired to pester mum and dad to come again! Like many here I will of course be there tomorrow night, things surley can only get better! UTG Roy
