From a former gladiator making an appearance to a player being shot before an important match in a cup run – one life-long Gillingham FC fan has toiled away to collect the best, worst and most bizarre stories in the club’s history.

Jim Norley fell in love with the team during his first experience at Priestfield Stadium in 1989 and hasn’t ever looked back.

So much so that during lockdown the 42-year-old wrote and published a book listing the accolades of the club's greatest servants over the years.

Now, two years later, the Sittingbourne man has once again put pen to paper and collected stories throughout the club's history in his sequel Gillingham Legends: The Good, the Bad and the Quirky.

He said: “The first book started as an online project in lockdown. I put up a new illustration online every day and collected them into a book.

“This one is different. What I’ve done is gone through the history of the club and picked out anything amusing or quirky and collected them together.

“It’s something completely different and I think a lot of fans could relate.”

The task has been time consuming, with the man who works in the printing industry writing, illustrating and publishing the book on his own.

Yet through his research, the die-hard Gillingham fan found more than 100 different quirky stories, some even unbeknown to him.

He continued: “There was an incident when defender Matt Bryant got shot during the lead-up to a game.

“He went out shooting and got shot in the ankle and the guy who would’ve replaced him, Glen Thomas, he almost lost an eye during training in the same week when he ran into a tree.

“We lost two players in bizarre circumstances and before an important Cup game as well. Adrian Pennock had to come in and make his debut and went on to become a Gillingham legend.

“Another one, and Gillingham fans of a certain age will probably remember, is when Wolf from the popular 90s show Gladiators appeared for Gillingham in a reserve team match which put a few 100 on the attendance.

“I’m pretty sure it was a publicity stunt as he was 42 years of age at the time and in the programme with the team listing he was down at number 7 The Wolf.

“During a hard time for the Gills it probably brought in a few hundred quid and when he hobbled off after 75 minutes with an injury he stayed behind and signed autographs and had photos taken with kids.”

The book is available from Jim’s website (www.gillinghamlegends.com) and costs £20.

Both books will be sold separately as well as gift bundles which include pictures of previous legends, pin badges, or prints of Priestfield Stadium.