The best we've ever had is probably Marlon King (unfortunately).
He scored 40 league goals for us in the 2nd tier, including 20 in one season. He was very quick, strong, and could score some worldies like the free kick against West Ham (jesus, we beat West Ham, in the league!).
Second, and not by much is SBT - then there's a lot of daylight IMO to third.
I understand your sentiment there MM, 2 great players and quite possibly our best. But to suggest there is ‘daylight’ between Those 2 and the likes of Cas, Yeo, Gibbs, Shearer, Lovell etc is a bit OTT imho.
Especially as SBT and Marlon both only played a season or 2 with us. They might have plied their trade in the 2nd tier, but you can only score in the division you are in. And both Cas and Lovell in particular also regularly scored at the higher levels (albeit not with us). So if we’d been at a higher level when they played I think they’d have done just as well.
Personally, I saw 3 great and 3 near great strikers for Gills.
Cas, Lovell and Yeo.
Price, Westwood and Shearer.
Honorable mention for Paddy Richardson, especially early in his career.
I wish I’d been there to see the likes of Marlon, SBT, Iffy, Sarbs and others.
So, I started going in 1995, so didn't get to see Cas, Lovell, Yeo, Price, Westwood or Shearer. If I had, then who knows.
The daylight point was just to mention how highly I regarded both in terms of their quality. I've got a bit of a list below from my time watching the Gills.
Marlon
SBT
Asaba/Akinbiyi
Iffy
Cody/Simeon/Eaves
Fortune-West/Bailey
So did Hess Jr!Difficult to disagree with your opening trio PhilK66. My addition would be in the Most Enjoyable Gills goal ever witnessed category (as opposed to most important goal) and i`d award that to Mr Terry Cochrane who scored a calculated & sublime goal from the half-way line.
I clearly remember in the season when he was the leading scorer in the whole Football League Malcolm Allison saying in a pundit session that BY was capable of playing in the top division but that his age then (29 I think) was against him. I agree he was our best ever for consistency and loyalty over many seasons, often in a poor teamBrian Yeo by a country mile.
Had we had a decent manager then, rather than Basil Hayward then Yeo's record would have been even better.
And with a leather ball that doubled in weight when it got wet!
Astonished to see Bailey mentioned in a thread about goalscorers.
So did Hess Jr!
But was it calculated and sublime ?
But was it calculated and sublime ?
Yes and NoOr from the halfway line?