Chorley: We can unsettle passionate Priestfield

Aug 18 2007 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Daily Post

BEN CHORLEY can testify from recent experience that Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium ranks among the most inhospitable venues for visiting teams.

By no means the ideal place for Tranmere Rovers to go looking for their first win of the League One campaign this afternoon.

Centre-back Chorley, signed by Tranmere during the summer, spent the best part of last season on loan with the Gills.

And he is convinced that passionate home support was a significant factor in helping Ronnie Jepson’s team build the best home record outside the division’s top six in 2006-07.

Chorley says: “The home record kept Gillingham in the division last season. We won 14 games at the Priestfield – and we could easily have won more.

“The crowd are very loyal and vocal there. They get behind the team and generate a good atmosphere – especially if the team starts well.”

But Chorley insists the mood in the ground can change if visiting teams wrestle the initiative away from the home side.

“If a team goes there and gets the better of Gillingham early doors, then the atmosphere can go the other way,” Chorley said.

“I think we will have to go there and start well and try and make the atmosphere work in our favour.”

Chorley’s career path diverted to Gillingham – within 15 minutes’ drive of his front door – last October when MK Dons agreed a loan deal with the Kent club.

Chorley had been with MKD since 2003, playing more than 130 first team games for the club formerly known as Wimbledon.

But the move from south London to Buckinghamshire and the change of name came at the cost of a couple of relegations.

Then Chorley could not get along with Martin Allen, the manager brought in last summer to try and lift MKD out of League Two.

After playing in the first 14 games of the campaign, Chorley found himself dropped and at odds with Allen.

Chorley says: “We all know that Martin Allen is a bit of a personality and I like to speak my mind as well. It just did not work out between us.

“We had a discussion that turned into a disagreement. But within a week of that Ronnie Jepson came in for me and I was allowed to go out on loan to Gillingham for the remainder of the season.

“It was ideal for me. I was pleased about going back up a division because I had played all of my career in either the Championship or League One.”

Chorley appreciated Jepson’s straightforward management style and settled quickly at the Priestfield Stadium.

He scored Gillingham’s winner in a 3–2 success at Prenton Park last December and played in the side that completed a double over Tranmere with a televised win at the Priestfield in January.

Chorley says: “Ronnie Jepson is a big character, a man’s man who does not pull any punches.

“He is quite like the gaffer here, in that he says how it is, which is what I appreciate.”

However, Chorley was among more than half a dozen players who turned down the chance to sign new deals with Gillingham at the end of last season.

The 24-year-old from Sidcup, attracted by the Merseyside football culture and Tranmere manager Ronnie Moore’s overtures, made the move north in July.

He quickly found a new home on the banks of the Mersey and says he feels settled at Prenton Park.

“Everyone at the club has done well for me, from the receptionist to the physio,” Chorley says.

“It was such a disappointment to lose our opening game against Leeds last weekend because it is the first time people see you, the first time you are on show and you want to do really well for them.

“But I believe we have a good side here and I would like to think we can push for success in the league this season.”

Get the first match report from Gillingham v Tranmere at Priestfield this afternoon by going to www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk after the final whistleafter the final whistle