ON THIS DAY...

News relevant to the club on this day previously

Richard Day looks back at news relevant to Gillingham FC on this day in history, games, players, debuts etc...

FIXTURES...


1901 - New Brompton 1-3 Millwall Athletic  SLD1
George Seeley scored in this home reversal

1903 - Tottenham H 3-1 New Brompton  SLD1
A Charlie Satterthwaite effort couldn't prevent defeat

1907 - New Brompton 0-2 Plymouth Arg.  SLD1

1924 - Charlton Ath 0-0 Gillingham  D3S

1929 - Gillingham 0-0 QPR  D3S   Att: 4,493

1935 - Gillingham 1-1 Reading  D3S   Att: 5,094
Bill Baldwin was on target to earn the Gills a point

1952 - Gillingham 2-3 Newport County  D3S   Att: 10,410
Goals from Jackie Briggs and Derek Lewis weren't enough against the Welsh outfit

1957 - Northampton T 4-1 Gillingham  D3S   Att: 6,601
Strood born forward Jim Taylor got the Gills consolation at the County Ground

1974 - Gillingham 1-1 Barnsley  D4   Att: 6,825
Damien Richardson scores against the Tykes

1980 - Brentford 0-2 Gillingham  D3   Att: 7,849
Lethal striking duo Ken Price and Danny Westwood were both on target in this away triumph

1982 - Gillingham 2-1 Oldham Ath  FAC3   Att: 9,247
On-loan Plymouth forward David Kemp and a Dean White penalty saw off the Latics

1999 - Swansea City 0-1 Gillingham  AWS2   Att: 5,126
Andy Hessenthaler scored the only goal of the game at the Vetch Field

2002 - Wolverhampton W 0-1 Gillingham FAC3 Att: 15,271
Paul Shaw was again the scorer as the Gills won at Molineux

2013 - Bristol R 0-1 Gillingham         L2        Att: 6,088
First-half goals from Chris Whelpdale and Deon Burton earned the points
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DEBUTS...

2013 - Steven Gregory at Bristol Rovers

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BIRTHS…

1923 - George King

The centre-forward had played for Newcastle United, Hull City, Port Vale, Barrow and Bradford City before arriving at Priestfield in October 1952.

He made his debut in a home game with Torquay United and went on to score five times in 20 games during an injury plagued time here.

George later played for Kings Lynn and Ely City


1952 - Graham Knight

The local lad joined the Gills as an apprentice in October 1968 and turned professional in January 1970.

He made his debut as a substitute against Bristol Rovers at Eastville in April 1971, replacing Andy Smillie.

The versatile performer made 274 appearances for the club, scoring 10 times.

In the 1978-79 season he was awarded a testimonial game and a crowd of 8,655 watched a star-studded Tottenham Hotspur win 3-2.

Graham joined Maidstone United for £3,000 in September 1979 and later had spells at Canterbury City, Sittingbourne and Lordswood in varying roles.


1958 - Steve Walford

The experienced defender, who played for Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Norwich City amongst others, made five appearances after signing on loan from West Ham United in December 1988.

Since his playing days ended, Steve has held coaching roles under Martin O'Neill at numerous clubs and is currently first-team coach at Sunderland.


1963 - Paul Baker

The 30-year-old centre-forward cost Gills boss Glenn Roeder £50,000 when he signed him from Motherwell in January 1993.

He scored on his debut at home to Rochdale but a more important goal came in a victory over Halifax Town at Priestfield in May - the win keeping the club in the Football League.

After 16 goals in 69 games he moved to York City for £15,000 in September 1994.

He returned to his native North-East at the end of his playing career and has more recently managed Blyth Spartans, Newcastle Blue Star and Newcastle Benfield (twice).


1987- Luke Howell

Luke spent three years as a scholar with the Gills before signing his first professional contract in May 2006.

He made his debut as a substitute for Ian Cox against Nottingham Forest five months later and kept his place as Forest returned in midweek for a Football League trophy tie. These were to be his only first-team games although he gained experience while out on loan at Welling United and Folkestone Invicta.

Since being released in May 2007 he has played regularly for MK Dons, Lincoln City and is currently at Dagenham & Redbridge.


1987- Charlie Lee

Lee spent the beginning of his career at Tottenham Hotspur, and despite never appearing for the first team, he was on the bench for a couple of UEFA Cup games including Slavia Prague and Sporting Braga.

He captained the reserves on several occasions, but after failing to break into the first XI he signed for Peterborough after a brief loan spell at Millwall.
 
In November 2010 he found himself out of favour at London Road and signed for the Gills on loan, making four appearances but helped to turn the clubs season round, before signing permanently in the summer of 2011.

Charlie celebrates his 26th birthday today.


1989- Matt Fish

Matt came through the ranks at Crystal Palace but failed to make the first-team at Selhurst Park and, after a short loan spell at AFC Wimbledon, he was released.

A move to Dover Athletic followed he made more than 160 games in a successful spell at the Crabble.

In the summer of 2011 Matt and goalkeeper Ross Flitney followed former Whites boss Andy Hessenthaler to Priestfield and he made his debut at Brighton in the Carling Cup as a second-half substitute for Barry Fuller.

He has made the right-back position his own under Martin Allen this season and celebrates his 24th birthday today.