NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH..
It would be remiss of me not to send warmest congratulations to my next door neighbour, Mr Slightly, who is over the moon following his beloved Gillingham FC becoming the first team in the country to secure promotion. Their narrow 1-0 win over Torquay last Saturday was enough to secure the three points needed to guarantee promotion back to League One. So congratulations to all the local Gills fans, to the club and especially to manager Martin `Mad Dog` Allen whose tutelage has made this advance possible.
It was a couple of seasons ago that my neighbour kindly took me to the Gills` Priestfield Stadium when Southampton were playing them in a lower league fixture, we both having attended St. Mary`s Stadium in the reverse fixture a few months earlier. My visit to Priestfield will live long in the memory. On the way there we noticed a huge pall of black smoke coming from the general direction of Aylesford and discovered later that some malcontent had set fire to the local Homebase. It was totally destroyed, malcontent jailed and a new improved store has risen from the ashes. It`s an ill wind indeed.
As to the football that afternoon, of course my neighbour and I went our separate ways - he to the snug confines of the Rainham End, me to the opposite end of the ground, where I took my seat among the other travelling Saints fans in The Brian Moore Stand. This turned out not to be the most fitting memorial to much missed long time Gills fan and football commentator Brian Moore, rather we found ourselves perched on some rickety planking in a stand with no roof; it poured down with rain all afternoon and Saints lost 2-1 I think it was. Since then, of course, the Saints have managed two back-to-back promotions back to the Premier League whilst the Gills took an alternative route via League Two from which they have now emerged.
But my visit to Priestfield was an experience in a traditional, old fashioned, studs and liniment football environment and as I now have the doubtful privilege of following the fortunes of Southampton from the heady heights of Premier League mid-table, I allow myself a wistful reflection of that afternoon in the Priestfield deluge and realise that my neighbour being over the moon at his club`s promotion is almost certainly more meaningful than my own relief that Southampton seem to have avoided relegation.
It was a couple of seasons ago that my neighbour kindly took me to the Gills` Priestfield Stadium when Southampton were playing them in a lower league fixture, we both having attended St. Mary`s Stadium in the reverse fixture a few months earlier. My visit to Priestfield will live long in the memory. On the way there we noticed a huge pall of black smoke coming from the general direction of Aylesford and discovered later that some malcontent had set fire to the local Homebase. It was totally destroyed, malcontent jailed and a new improved store has risen from the ashes. It`s an ill wind indeed.
As to the football that afternoon, of course my neighbour and I went our separate ways - he to the snug confines of the Rainham End, me to the opposite end of the ground, where I took my seat among the other travelling Saints fans in The Brian Moore Stand. This turned out not to be the most fitting memorial to much missed long time Gills fan and football commentator Brian Moore, rather we found ourselves perched on some rickety planking in a stand with no roof; it poured down with rain all afternoon and Saints lost 2-1 I think it was. Since then, of course, the Saints have managed two back-to-back promotions back to the Premier League whilst the Gills took an alternative route via League Two from which they have now emerged.
But my visit to Priestfield was an experience in a traditional, old fashioned, studs and liniment football environment and as I now have the doubtful privilege of following the fortunes of Southampton from the heady heights of Premier League mid-table, I allow myself a wistful reflection of that afternoon in the Priestfield deluge and realise that my neighbour being over the moon at his club`s promotion is almost certainly more meaningful than my own relief that Southampton seem to have avoided relegation.
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