Phil Gallagher, who plays CBeebies' Mister Maker and is in panto at the Marlowe, writes this week's Gillingham Shouting Men column
00:00, 24 December 2015
updated: 09:56, 24 December 2015
Last Saturday wasn’t so great for one of the dwarfs in our panto, who is a massive Millwall fan.
He plays the dwarf called Striker and while he is doing keepie uppies, the rest of the dwarfs hold up Gillingham flags and scarves. Striker then has to shout ‘Gillingham are the greatest team in the World!’
Andrew is a great lad and he was confident before the game but he wasn’t keen on talking to me after we heard the result, although he did shake my hand and offer congratulations.
Because I have been so busy with the new Mister Maker tour and now Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Marlowe, I haven’t been able to see Gillingham as much as I would like.
My dad thinks I’m the jinx and that’s why they are now doing so well.
I am a massive Gills fan and my first game was when I was four and I have been going ever since. I love it.
When I do go, I sit in the Gordon Road Stand, with my dad and nephew, and the people I have been sitting with for decades, we are all really good friends and it’s lovely.
I am so pleased with what is happening now. I didn’t expect it and neither did my dad. When Justin Edinburgh came in, he really steadied the ship and almost overnight the players reacted to him.
I was encouraged at the end of last season – finishing 12th – and felt we would have a good steady season, stay up and build for the next couple of years. Out of nowhere, we are dancing close to promotion. You dare to dream, don’t you?
This is my third year doing the Marlowe panto and the writer Paul Hendy, rather sportingly, always puts a Gillingham joke in.
I’ll be back at home on Christmas Day with my mum and dad in Gillingham and I am looking
forward to spending a bit of time with my family. I won’t be at Swindon as I am back in doing the show.
It looks like we are in a good position now with a good young team and even if we don’t go up this season, I think we will be strong next season as well. You do experience bad times as a Gills fan but that just makes the good times even sweeter.
Read the full column in this week's Medway Messenger newspaper.
