Priestfield Stadium

It's a remarkable rise.

And I think fans who were there at the Goldstone, were there at Priestfield, who were there at the Wig Dean,

we just appreciate so much where we are now.

Being a Premier League team who smash Arsenal and beat our rivals Crystal Palace 5-0, it doesn't quite feel real sometimes, but it's an amazing journey.

You know, you know, it's just, it's ridiculous at the moment.

The atmosphere at Priestfield used to be amazing.

It hasn't been great for over a decade.

You know, you can pick the big games like when we beat Wrexham and, you know, but, Listen, I'm not having a go at all fans.

I also need to mention Grimsby, who got back to winning ways after a 4-1 win at Gillingham.

They managed to beat Gillingham 4-1 at Priestfield last season, and they repeated the trick on Saturday.

A word as well for Northampton.

who are out of the bottom two after beating Colchester 2-0.

We're going to pass it around and go long.

And so you put any sort of press on us and given, and we'll come on to the fans in a minute, given the atmosphere at Priestfield at the moment, They know there's pressure on them already, even before there's a press on the players.

So it's like hot potato.

We don't want the ball.

you

i'm just i don't get it and i know it's a generational thing and the sky's got a lot to answer for but if you support a big team, fine.

But do not bring that big team mentality at Priestfield because we're not a big team.

And Gillingham are not massive everywhere they go.

yeah i thought that might come at some point um let's talk to both of you then about family action dave i know you wanted to mention this one fans pay the money they get the chance to voice their opinions whether it be in the form of boos or claps or whatever you want to call it I mean we've all got different opinions on how you react to that sort of thing what were your thoughts after the final whistle all day on Tuesday and there's been a lot of talk about booing as an art form if you like what were your thoughts about that one obviously taken into consideration immediately after the final whistle people are going to get frustrated they're going to have issues with certain players or certain or manager or referee what do you think?

Totally uncalled for we have the most amazing fan base away from home incredible get behind this team Saturday when we and York applauded the players off the team but got behind them at Priestfield we haven't got that we've not had this for years The atmosphere Tuesday night and generally is very, very stilted.

People moaning before the game started around me.

As soon as the team was back, little, I'll be, shit, why is he playing? Come on, really? And you get on players' backs.

Yeah, that has been happening for a long time.

It

has, but we've been banging on for ages going, I want to make Priestfield a fortress.

The atmosphere ain't great at all, in terms of singing it and stuff like that as well.

Then it gets, as you say, sold and ripped apart and then you...

I mean, I've been to Gillingham, I've been to Priestfield.

That, that is not a football stadium you really wanna do anything.

And as you say, it's miles and miles and miles away from where you are and the, the majority of fans are.

Um, but, uh, I've always had a, a bit of a kind of soft spot because I remember when my...

when I was younger, I was taken to a few England games at Gillingham Stadium.

The Ars- the England women's team used to play at Priestfield a few games, did like a tour of the country, and Karen Carney was always the player when I was a youngster that stood out and was like, this, like, you clearly see the real talent, you know, the inspiration for young girls.

So yeah, I'll probably say Karen Carney.

Newport frustrated me last week though, Pete, because we, we were all over Gillingham last week minus a quarter.

It was a goalless draw at the Priestfield Stadium, which shows the value of using that minus quarter of a goal line to sort of, you know, give yourself a little bit of extra protection.

The big thing here for me, Pete, is I'm struggling to understand if Colchester are gonna be a solid, grind-it-out team this season that you can rely on in these sorts of spots or if in fact they're gonna be terrible.

I'm not too sure which they're gonna be.