Those Were The Games
GFC on Sky TV
Published by Eccles on March 25, 2009
Brentford v Gillingham – Monday November 18th 1991
When Gillingham were ignominiously relegated back to the Fourth Division in 1989, all the familiar clichés and excuses were trotted out. “We’ll soon bounce back”. “It’s a blessing in disguise, we need a good clear-out.” “We’ve a bright young manager, and a great blend of youth and experience, we’ll come back much stronger”. And so on and so on.
The “bright young manager” at that time was Damien Richardson, one of our greatest former players, who had stepped into the breach after Keith Burkinshaw had dumped us when relegation became inevitable at the fag-end of that mind-numbing 1988/89 season. There has never been a Gillingham manager with a more impressive CV than Burkinshaw, who in eight years at Tottenham had won back to back FA Cups, the UEFA Cup and stunned football with the signings of 1978 Argentinian World Cup stars Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricardo Villa. When he replaced the unfortunate Paul Taylor in October 1988, Burkinshaw was billed as our saviour and messiah. He was a disaster. After having a good look at the squad, he told the directors that to stay up they needed to spend around £300,000 on new players. They told him they had nowhere near that sort of loot, so he lost interest and sought the exit as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, Damien was going great guns as youth team manager, developing a squad of bright and talented young hopefuls. They finished a best-ever third in the South East Counties League, and in a youth league containing the likes of Spurs, West Ham and Arsenal this was no mean feat. So with Burkinshaw gone the formula for “The Way Back” was simple – Damien would secure his young guns on long contracts and they would develop into a fine team that we would be able to retain, and blended with them would be mature and experienced players who would give valuable advice and support. It was brilliant (and cheap) and the Directors quickly signed on to it.
Unfortunately it overlooked that young players, although they may look strapping specimens, are still developing physically, and if they are overplayed they can succumb to stress injuries and ligament damage that can sideline them for months. And pretty well all of the young players were out with such, in some cases for getting on for a year. And of course mature players are almost by definition injury-prone. New signings were regularly trumpeted, only to see them break-down in pre-season friendlies and not appear in first-team action for months.
Gillingham couldn’t field a settled side, and results reflected that. The 1989/90 season saw a poor start, a good recovery that took us to the fringes of the promotion race, and then a bad finish to drift down to an instantly forgettable 14th place. What had started as a “storming back” season now became a “retrenchment” one. 1990/91 was also initially trumpeted as a promotion season. That became an “entrenchment” one as Gillingham sunk to 15th position, and throughout the season never really disturbed the top half of the table at all. Needless to say fans began to lose heart, and gates slowly sank through the 3,000’s.
But although fans can get dispirited with League form, there is always the possibility of an FA Cup run to buoy interest. Sadly, here again Gills generally poor luck in cup draws endured. In 1989/90 we had drawn non-League Welling United at home in the First Round. After a 0-0 draw at Priestfield with the Gills well in top, they had been ignominiously humiliated 1-0 in the replay at Park View Road. In 1990/91 we were drawn away to Third Division Bournemouth in the First Round. They had just been relegated from the Second Division and were looking to go straight back up there. It was as tough as they come, and we lost (respectably) 2-1. The draw for the First Round of the FA Cup in 1991/92 was even more daunting – away to Third Division leaders Brentford. It looked like another First Round exit, with no chance of making any money.
But wait – amazing news hit the streets, so amazing that people had difficulty believing it. The Gills’ FA Cup Tie with Brentford was going to be televised. New satellite broadcaster BSkyB had bought into the broadcasting rights for the FA Cup, and as their first round offering they had selected Brentford v Gillingham. No-one was quite sure what the “good TV” angle was of the Third Division leaders (and arguably the best side thus far in the competition) at home to a side halfway down the Fourth Division who found away wins very difficult to come by – but there it was.
Not too many people had the Sky Sports channels at that time, but for the two weeks before the game Gills fans were fast remedying that, tooling up with satellite dishes, set-top boxes and direct debit forms to ensure that they had a front room seat for the action. Or if not that, they had pinpointed the local pub where they would watch it with their mates. And the Monday night kick-off time didn’t deter about a thousand Gills fans making the short trip to Griffin Park, with some trepidation it has to be said. Everyone had a nagging fear that the Gills would be given a good hiding by the Third Division leaders, and be roundly shown up on TV sets all over the world – an event that would be recalled regularly with relish by all those that you know who just love to do such things.
Our team was :-
(4-4-2) Harvey Lim; Tim O’Shea, Paul Clark, Alan Walker, Karl Elsey; Mark O’Connor, Steve Lovell, Neil Smith, Mark Dempsey; David Crown, Peter Beadle.
Looking at the talent that there was in that side it did make you wonder why the club was sliding inexorably towards oblivion in the basement division of the Football League. True, Harvey Lim in goal was a bit erratic, but at times he could make some stunning saves. His father was Chinese, and there was continual talk that Harvey would be donning the jersey and gloves of the People’s Republic and playing in the World Cup.
In front of Harvey the defence was packed with experience. Paul Clark and Alan Walker were tough “no-nonsense” defensive types. Karl Elsey was in his second spell with the club, having been in the side that came oh-so-close to the Promised Land in 1987. And there was goal-power too. David Crown had a terrific shot that he fired in low and beat keepers by sheer pace and placement. Peter Beadle was a burgeoning talent from the youth team. Although only nineteen, Peter had an impressive eye for goal. He clearly wasn’t going to be around Priestfield for too long before the Directors cashed in on him. And playing in midfield we had Steve Lovell. Now approaching the end of his Gillingham career Steve had moved back to his original midfield position but he was, and still is, one of only four players who have scored over 100 goals for the club.
Despite it being a cold evening and the Cup Tie being on satellite TV a crowd of nearly six thousand turned up, with the underdogs from Kent getting some robust support from their travelling fans. Brentford, obviously in the box seat, gave the impression that the whole proceedings were a bit tiresome, and as soon as they had swept these yokels aside they could get back into the warm and get an evening’s clubbing organised. Dean Holdsworth and Gary Blissett were the Bees’ two-pronged assault force, and after nine minutes they had combined to sweep Brentford ahead. After Blissett had nudged the ball into his path, Holdsworth raced through the middle to blast a low one past Harvey Lim.
Not good. The Holdsworth/Blissett combo was now beginning to take control of the game, and the Gillingham defenders were struggling at times to cope with them. It wasn’t too much of a surprise when Brentford doubled their lead after twenty-five minutes when Marcus Gayle hit a low centre from the left through a panicking Gills rearguard and Dean Holdsworth crashed the ball home. That looked like the tie was done and dusted.
Problems were now stacking up for Gills manager Damien Richardson. Not only was his side two down and pretty well out of the Cup, but young star striker Peter Beadle had gone down with a leg injury and been replaced by Andy Arnott. Andy immediately got involved in the build-up that led to Gills clawing themselves back into the game. Neil Smith had pounced on a poor clearance by Brentford keeper Bayes. The ball found its way out to Mark Dempsey on the left, and his cross found central defender Alan Walker, who had made one of his trademark charges forward. Walker’s header looked as though it was going wide, but it hit former Gills player Billy Manuel on the back and was deflected the other way, beating Bayes and finding the net.
So at half-time Gills were still in with a chance, and the Gills fans celebrated impressively. As did Andy Gray on Sky commentary. In his Aston Villa, Wolves and Everton days he’d had his fair share of bouncing powerful headers off parts of people’s anatomy, and he certainly relished Alan Walker’s effort. It had galvanised the whole team, and as the second half wore on Brentford began to look quite flaky as Gillingham took control. There were impressive performances being put in all over the field. Neil Smith, Steve Lovell, Mark O’Connor and Mark Dempsey were chasing everything, Paul Clark at the back was using all his experience to snuff out the threat of Dean Holdsworth, and of course there was a towering performance coming from man of the match Alan Walker. An equaliser looked inevitable, and then Gills might even go on and win it.
But Brentford were the Third Division leaders, and this is Gillingham we’re talking about. After twenty-three second-half minutes of doing absolutely nothing, Brentford went 3-1 ahead. An Alan Walker clearance from a Brentford corner fell perfectly for Blissett and he cracked it straight past Harvey Lim. Game over, and you sensed that in pubs and clubs around the country they were getting the beers in or starting up games of darts. They reckoned without a stunning come-back. Five minutes after conceding, Karl Elsey hit a long cross from the left. It found Alan Walker in a forward position again, and he powered a fabulous long-range header past Bayes’ despairing leap and right into the top corner of the net. 2-3 and with seventeen minutes to go the Gills were on the front foot again.
As Brentford once more looked distinctly queasy the Gills ripped away at them, magnificently backed by the travelling fans and also Andy Gray on Sky. He was getting so enthused that it seemed that at any minute he’d start joining in with the songs. As the clock ticked down it was all Gillingham, although Neil Smith had to complete a last ditch clearance to deny Blissett getting the killer fourth. After eighty-three minutes Paul Clark’s long ball into the goalmouth was nodded down by Alan Walker, Andy Arnott helped it on and Neil Smith popped up by the penalty spot and hooked it past Bayes. Brentford 3, Gillingham 3.
Having clawed their way back to at least a replay, the visitors were in no mood to give away another goal, and so they shut up shop and kept Brentford at arm’s length. The home side were a bit bemused by it all, having failed to win what was for them a home banker. Sky were pretty pleased though. From an unpromising start they had been presented with a rip-roaring cup tie, and the Gills had played a full part in that. Without question, in their first-ever live satellite TV appearance, this Gillingham side had played brilliantly and done us all proud.
Could Gills repeat the dose in the replay at Priestfield, and go one better and turn over the Third Division leaders? The following Tuesday night (November 26th) a season’s best crowd of 7,328 turned up in hope of seeing the Gills finish the job and get through to the second round – another tough away tie, once more at Bournemouth. Other than Andy Arnott replacing Peter Beadle, the team was the one that had started at Griffin Park. Gills began well, and most of the action in the first half was in the Brentford half. Bayes did well to save a deflected shot from David Crown, and Neil Smith rifled a shot through a ruck of players that got cleared off the line.
Brentford rode this flurry out, and then showed why they were at the top of the division higher. With their first serious attack after thirty-six minutes they got the Gillingham right flank in a mess and Dean Holdsworth had a simple task of beating Harvey Lim with a shot from close range. Although the Gills kept plugging away to try to draw level they couldn’t recapture the form that they had shown in front of the Sky cameras and the visitors slowly took a stranglehold. After sixty-two minutes Dean Holdsworth scored his fourth goal of the tie with a close range header, and for the third time Brentford had a two-goal lead.
Could the Gills once more storm back as they had done so valiantly at Griffin Park? They gave of their best, but this time the Brentford side that faced them looked confident and settled, putting plenty of men behind the ball and giving nothing away. As the game drifted to a close some of the crowd started wandering away, bemoaning yet another might-have-been in the FA Cup. Then, with three minutes to go, and out of the blue, the Gills scored. Neil Smith found Alan Walker in the box in acres of space. The big central defender teed himself up and blasted a low one past Bayes.
The moaners came rushing back as, in a frantic final few minutes, Gillingham poured forward. David Crown and Steve Lovell both had shots blocked out by weight of numbers, but it was not to be. Predictably in such situations the home team often get caught out, and in a breakaway right on time Brentford’s Sealey buried a fierce shot to make the final score Gillingham 1, Brentford 3. Brentford were finally through to the Second Round of the FA Cup, and Gillingham were out of it.
Brentford didn’t go any further. They lost 2-1 to Bournemouth, but they did hang on to their table-topping position and were promoted at the end of the 1991/92 season as Third Division Champions. For Gillingham, the cup tie and the BSkyB television appearance were pretty much the highlights of that season. Although they improved their league position to eleventh in the Fourth Division by the end of 1991/92, gates were by then regularly falling below 3,000 as the general sense of decay and hopelessness began to take a remorseless hold.
But there was one bright spot. The club had gained a windfall of £30,000 from the BSkyB TV appearance, and the money was used to help fund the purchase of midfielder Neil Smith from Tottenham Hotspur. It was money well spent. The club got good service out of Neil. He was a cornerstone of the side that stormed to promotion in 1995/96. Then, on a similar November night almost five years to the day after he had scored at Griffin Park, Neil scored at Premiership Coventry City’s ground, and his goal gave the club a truly historic victory.
Eccles
Those Were The Games
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