Simple question but that does require some thought, who is the technically best player you have ever seen in a Gills shirt? Its easy to go for someone like Hess who we could argue was our best player, but technically I think we have had much better than him. For me its a fairly easy choice to go for Matt Jarvis. Quick feet, could use both his left and right foot and tore up so many defenders in the Championship and League One. There's a reason why West Ham paid £10million for him. However for people who have supported the Gills for longer than I have then people like Terry Cochrane, Steve Bruce of Dave Mehmet might be more appropriate choices so I want to see what are people's opinions?
Wow that is a question with huge possibilities, are we talking best player whilst they were playing for us, or player who went onto greater things? it could be argued that Jarvis still left us as a diamond in the rough and was polished elsewhere, if that is the criteria then surely you can't look past Bruce given the trophies he won in his career or Casacrino given his international accomplishments. Best player whilst with the club, Bob Taylor must be worth a shot
It all rests on the definition and Pegleg specifies "technically in a Gills shirt" which to me, counts out many of the youngsters who had promise and went on to develop it elsewhere (like Bruce and Jarvis). To me the best technique by a mile was Rod Wallace who was at the end of his career and only occasionally fully fit but his technique on those days was sublime. He had everything, first touch, could dribble, shoot, head, eye for goal and could read the game. The only other real contender would be J lloyd Samuel. Neither of these were Gills greats of course, they just come closest to Pegleg's definition.
Such a difficult question. There was always something about Peter Feeley i liked. Its easy to select Bruce and the like but sometimes the lesser known names get overlooked...the what ifs. Its about spotting them before they become a favourite. Take our Gazza as an example...i always knew and said before he even played a first game for us...he was going on to great things...its just identifying thay quality before they become a favourite because its the conform.
Technically speaking it takes a different kinds of technical ability to play different positions. You need different skill sets to play in goal than you do midfield, different even if you play a defensive midfield role to that of a winger for example. So it isn't such a simple question. Personally I think that Chris Hope is a good shout for having the best skills to do his job, I never had the pleasure of seeing Bruce so can't comment on that. As for skills with the ball I'd say Luke Rooney could do some amazing things and Really excite.
technically was Terry Cochrane. one of only a few players who played international football whilst with the Gills. Still can't believe Gills never went to the second tier of the league under Peacock where we played the most entertaining football. Where we had brilliant players like Sage Adams Bruce Cochrane Shearer Lovell to name a few as well as Cascarino,Gavin Peacock
I'm going to throw a curveball into the mix and say Simon Royce, not the best ever Gillingham player but technically he was probably the most assured goalkeeper I have ever seen live in a Gills shirt although this may be because he was sandwiched between memories of Kelvin Jack and Alan Julian!
Dennis oli No Mark McCammon Truth be told would have to say Matt Jarvis best talent albeit finished elsewhere
This question is almost impossible to answer, if you look back when boots were heavy rigid lumps, balls weighed a ton and got heavier as the game went on, pitches were like a ploughed field, then Ernie Morgan is up there (only saw his last season) Brian Yeo is worth a mention as well. A lot of the more recent players have already been mentioned but to remain controversial I throw in Nicky Southall, his brain couldn't always keep pace with his feet but he often displayed some great skills.
Royce was no where as good as Bartram in my humble opinion, we haven't had a keeper better than Vince for a long time
If I had plump for one name on pure technical ability it would be Tommy Johnson but we saw him far too little on the pitch, so I will name 2 and have Paul Shaw as my choice, in my opinion he was the player that made our championship team tick. I would also give mention to Aidy Pennock football genius (as the song goes).
My Thoughts as well. The guy was a flawed genius. That's why he ended up in Division 3 with us. Same can also be said of Dave Shearer. Best natural finisher I've ever witnessed. Pity he loved the sauce too much.
I did mean as in who you saw in a Gills shirt and not there following career but I probably didn't give the best example when I waffled on about Jarvis' transfer fee. Paul Shaw is a name though that I didn't consider and probably should have done as he was a real mainstay in our Championship side and without his attacking exploits, we probably could have come back down earlier than we did.
Another vote for Terry Cochrane, absolute legend. I still remember him chipping a goalkeeper from about 35 yards at the Rainham end. Sorry I can't remember the game!!!
