by bunburygills » Thu Dec 26, 2019 9:14 am
Whilst I was away on holiday I saw that Ron Saunders had died on Dec 7th. I got back 3 days ago and I've been through the Gills website and I'm surprised to find there is no mention of him. Even though he only spent 2 years with us, he was a huge hit as our centre forward. He then became the first ever player to be transferred from the newly formed 4th division to the 1st division (now the Premier League) for 10,000 pounds when he joined Portsmouth. A large fee in those days. Probably still a large fee for Gillingham. He was their top scorer for 4 years running and became their 4th highest scorer of all time. After retiring, he went into management with huge success for many years, winning the 1st division title with Aston Villa. He also is the only manager ever to have reached 3 League Cup finals with 3 different teams in 3 years running, winning one of them. When you think of his playing career and the fact he managed teams like Villa, Man. City, WBA, Birmingham, Norwich and got 2 promotions as well as winning the 1st division, I would have thought that would have made him the greatest all round footballer we've ever had at Priestfield Stadium. So, I'm asking, why has his passing gone unrecognized by the club and by the older fans? I can remember just like yesterday.