EFL League Two
Priestfield Stadium, Gillingham
Admission: "Pay What You Can"
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 9,317 (840 away)
Whilst ideally preferring to take in new grounds when I'm not going to The Valley, revisits really seem to have dominated my travels in recent months, and this was the case again today. Once I heard that Gillingham where running a "Pay What You Want" promotion, enabling a cheaper than usual visit to an EFL stadium (most seats in the stadium, including the one I chose, are usually priced at £22), for my first visit in almost 17 years. What sealed the deal for me was that Crawley Town would be the visitors today, a club I have a little soft spot for, coming from my home county, and I recall them playing in the Beazer Homes (Southern) League back in the 90's and early 2000's.
On my previous two visits to the Priestfield I watched from the infamous uncovered Brian Moore Stand behind the goal, but this time I managed to get a ticket in the Gordon Road stand, along one length. It’s a ground that is pretty much unchanged since my last visit in 2007, and three sides remain easy on the eye and offer decent facilities and good views of the action, particularly the Medway and the Rainham End stands but the away end of uncovered seating on scaffolding remains a blight on the ground, which hopefully the club's new owner will rectify soon. A fourth modern stand would make The Priestfield a smart and sensibly sized stadium. It is true to say that the stadium is looking rather tired in places, and not much sprucing up would improve the appearance no end. What did seem a little strange, given the sell out crowd in attendance today, was that the main club shop was closed today, with only a small shop open inside the ground and with long queues forming outside, and which, bizarrely, was the only place that programmes could be purchased from. And indeed, for what was actually a very decent programme, it was a shame, particularly in this age of dwindling numbers of clubs issuing printed programmes, that its sale was not promoted on the Gillingham website nor social media channels, and they had to be hunted down somewhat.
It has certainly been an interesting season for Gillingham and Crawley, with both clubs being taken over in the last year, with wildly contrasting current emotions towards those takeovers. The first half was quite disastrous for Gillingham following relegation from League One, finding themselves bottom of the table on Boxing Day, following two wins and eight draws from their opening 21 league games, but had remarkably scored just six goals in those 21 games. But they have turned the corner since then, helped by the takeover of the club by American Brad Gallinson, which brought to an end Paul Scally's 27 year control of the club. That helped Gillingham have an active transfer window, and what looks like plenty of smart recruitment, included the signing of striker Tom Nichols and goalkeeper Glenn Morris from today's opponents, and although the Gills still find themselves in the relegation zone, they have risen a place and to within a point of safety, following a further two wins, a draw and eight goals in the three games since Boxing Day, and there is a feeling that they are destined to lift themselves well clear of the relegation zone, albeit with plenty of hard work ahead to achieve that. Although Crawley were three places and four points better off than Gillingham going into this game, they do appear much more in danger of falling through the relegation trap door. Their takeover by Wagmi United, a group of US cryptocurrency investors, last April, seems to have been something of a disaster for Crawley so far, despite their ambitious claim still posted on their website that "WAGMI United is dedicated to bringing Web3's most innovative ideas and passionate communities to the world of sports. In early 2022, we bought Crawley Town FC, an English Football League 2 club. Together, we're going to take Crawley Town to the Premier League." Well, the National League looks a much more likely destination than the Premier league, as things have got increasingly chaotic for Crawley this season with what have appeared, from a distance, to be some really quite bizarre squad changes, possibly as a result of recruitment and selection being based predominantly on stats, and following the suspension of former manager John Yems at the end of last season, his replacement Kevin Betsy only lasted until early October, leaving the club bottom of the table, to be replaced by Matthew Etherington, who lasted just 34 days, and then current incumbent Scott Lindsey was appointed three weeks ago, coming from Swindon Town, a move which seemed to be welcomed by Swindon fans. They were in 20th place in the table coming into this game, following six wins and seven draws from their 25 league games.
On a mild and overcast afternoon, this was something of a game of two halves, with Crawley have slightly the better of the first half, and really should have been in front by half time. Indeed, inside the very first minute they had a great chance to open the scoring, when the ball was crossed from the right, finding its way to Tom Fellows just beyond the back post, but he struck his shot just wide of the left hand post. Gillingham then had their best chance of the half, when a diagonal ball through the defence found Dom Jeffries, but his eventual shot from a tight angle could only find the side netting. Crawley then came really close to breaking the deadlock twice, with former Crawley keeper making a couple of crucial saves from captain Ben Gladwin, the second an excellent reaction block on the line following a corner. Nichols then had a decent chance to break the deadlock when he received the ball inside the area, but he scuffed his shot just wide of the far post. Somewhat surprisingly, considering the ground was full to capacity, the home fans were remarkably quiet during the first half, perhaps matching a rather flat performance from their side on the pitch, as it was the just the Crawley section making any noise, mostly in support of their team but occasionally protesting against their owners Wagmi.
But just a couple of minutes after the break, it was Gillingham who broke the deadlock. Tom Nichols fired a shot at goal which was excellently parried by the keeper, but the loose ball was tapped home by Shaun Williams. That certainly woke the home fans up at last, and their team went on to control most of the second half as Crawley seemed to let the game pass them by somewhat, struggling to put many meaningful attacks together. And so Gillingham claimed a very important three points, which was not enough to lift them out of the relegation zone, as Hartlepool also won today, but they are not just a point behind Hartlepool, and now Crawley, after this win.
It was interesting to hear some feedback on how the "Pay What You Can" promotion went. 5% of people attending paid the full price for their ticket, while the average ticket price paid was just £1.50, and perhaps unsurprisingly, all Crawley fans chose to pay £1. But some interesting insights came to light looking at the bigger picture rather than just the income made from ticket sales on the day. Ticket sales for their next home game, on Valentine's Night against Grimsby Town, were 30% up on what would have been expected, while some of the shortfall on the day was made up with vastly increased sales of food, drink and merchandise.
