Memories Down CUT THROAT LANE Evenin’ all, as Dixon of Dock Green fame used to say. I know, that rules anybody out born after about 1968. Welcome to the Gills from Medway for our first home evening league fixture of the season and indeed our first scrap in the league with the Gills since October 1999, our first season back up in Division 3 - blimey. The home side ran out 2-1 winners that day at Priestfield. When I see Gillingham’s name, I always think of Brian Moore and Paul Scally. Whatever anybody thinks of the individuals, two people with an indisputable contribution to the very fabric of Gillingham FC over the decades. On this very day in 1957 we were on Eastern Counties League duty and hosting the then league leaders, Spalding Utd. We were tenth at the time so a tough afternoon beckoned and it proved to be so as the visiting Tulips ran out 3-1 winners, although ‘our’ Brian Moore got a pen just before half time. You will see from today’s featured programme that we had a certain Wilf Mannion in our ranks but even
he couldn’t uproot the opposition. Nor indeed Russell Crane playing his sixteenth season for the black & ambers. Browsing through the programme I find the ad pages as fascinating as the articles. I wonder if our former commercial manager has any links to ‘Fairbairn’s’ – I am sure Nick will tell us. And looking at HR Aldiss in Rose Crescent reminds me where I purchased my very first Harrington Jacket in the 1970s. A warm welcome awaits us at the Wrestlers on Newmarket Road. What would they have made of becoming a leading Thai restaurant/pub forty years later and counting, I wonder. And “U’s Nu’s” is a different take on your average news bulletin page although I am not aware it ever caught on in subsequent seasons. On this day in 1968 that great inspiration for a footy song, Hey Jude, went number one in the charts and stayed there for nine weeks. Enjoy yourselves. ■
Harry
www.cambridge-united.co.uk
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