Man City transfer paved the way for £25k Gillingham legend: View | OneFootball

In 1999-2000, a little-known Scottish striker went from being a squad player to a Gillingham icon, whose contributions are celebrated every year.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Gillingham enjoyed some of the most important strikers in the club’s modern history, and one signing whose arrival was met with little fanfare became a club legend during the club’s most memorable season.

In the summer of 1999, Gillingham fans were left confused and concerned. They’d just suffered the agony of a penalty shoot-out defeat to Manchester City in one of the most famous Wembley play-off finals of all time, then had the news that the club’s chairman, Paul Scally, had sacked the man who had masterminded the club’s run to Wembley, Tony Pulis.

It meant that a club that already had to lick its wounds and pick itself up for the new season had to do so with a new manager. That man was Peter Taylor, who had just enjoyed a successful three-year stint as manager of the England Under-21s.

Taylor came in, and Gills veterans Andy Hessenthaler and Steve Butler were appointed player-coaches as a new era was ushered in at Priestfield.

The best £25,000 Peter Taylor ever spent

The squad was largely in place, with the majority of the club’s key performers from the previous season still at the club. But Taylor made a number of additions, one of which proved to be an iconic figure in the club’s history.

Scottish striker Andy Thomson arrived for a modest £25,000 fee from Oxford United, and became a crucial figure in the club’s biggest-ever season. Taylor would later claim that it was the best £25,000 he had ever spent. Given Thomson's contribution, it's hard to disagree.

Gillingham’s front two of Carl Asaba and Robert Taylor were prolific the previous season, but injuries to Asaba, and the mid-season sale of Taylor to Manchester City, meant that Thomson, initially thought of as a squad player upon his arrival, would become a crucial man in Taylor’s lineups.

He started the season with a goal on his debut as the Gills lost 2-1 at Bury, but despite being a regular in the side, his second goal didn’t come until early October, in his 12th league game for the club. But, he hit a brace in the Gills’ 2-1 win over Cambridge later in the month, then hit form in November with four goals in four games.

Andy Thomson: Gillingham’s giantkiller-in-chief

Kicking off that run was a goal against Cheltenham in the FA Cup. And the famous old competition proved to be very kind to Thomson, who simply couldn’t stop scoring in the cup that season, with three goals in successive games helping fire the Gills into the quarter-finals of the competition for the only time in their history.

After his goal against Cheltenham, hit hit the extra-time winner as Gillingham knocked out Championship side Walsall, then the Scot hit the opener as another Championship side was dispatched, as Bradford City were beaten 3-1 at Priestfield.

That set up a home tie with Premier League Sheffield Wednesday and, in one of the most memorable games ever played at Priestfield, Thomson scored with a diving header at the Rainham End as the Gills stunned Wednesday with a 3-1 win that was the top featured game on Match of the Day.

The Gills eventually exited the competition at Stamford Bridge as they were well beaten by Chelsea, but they’d already made a host of memories, with Thomson’s goals the constant in their remarkable run through the competition that season.

Heading Gillingham into the Championship

With Gillingham’s FA Cup adventure over at the end of February, all of the attention turned to the run-in, as the Gills looked to earn promotion to the Championship.

But, in an agonising twist, a 1-0 defeat at Wrexham cruelly denied Peter Taylor’s men automatic promotion on the final day of the season. It meant the Gills went into the rollercoaster of the play-offs once again, and Thomson watched from the bench as the Gills made it through two dramatic legs with Stoke City to reach Wembley for the second successive year.

After the agony of the previous season, the Gills fans were starting to wonder if it was happening again, as the Wigan pegged back Gillingham’s first-half lead to take the game into extra time. Then, when Wigan took a 2-1 lead, things looked bleak for the Kent club.

But, with his team desperately needing a spark, it took two substitutes – his player-coach Butler, and his summer signing Thomson. The impact was remarkable.

Butler was thrown on after Wigan’s second goal and found the top corner with a thumping header just nine minutes after coming on. Then, with just two minutes of extra-time remaining and another penalty shoot-out looming, Thomson dived full length to meet a Ty Gooden cross and head Gillingham into the Championship.

More than 50,000 Gillingham fans at Wembley went bananas, as Thomson’s dramatic diving header gave Gillingham second-tier football for the first time in the club’s history, and gave the Gills fans one of the most euphoric moments the club has ever seen.

That moment is celebrated by Gills fans on social media every year, with May 28 designated as “St. Thommo’s Day,” with fans sharing clips of that famous Wembley moment, which remains the most iconic highlight in the club’s 130-year history. In addition, that goal, and that game, are commemorated in Gillingham's 2024-25 season away kit, which is a present-day version of the yellow kit Thomson and the Gills wore on that memorable afternoon almost a quarter of a century ago.

Some players cost more money, some were sold for more money. Some played more often, and some scored more goals. But when it came to scoring pivotal goals during iconic moments in the club’s history, few have the highlight reel quite like “Thommo.”