There can’t be many Gillingham fans who can name all of the title-winning squad from 2012-13.

A decade on from that famous season, one of the less well-known members of that squad will be walking out at Wembley this Sunday in the FA Vase final, hoping to add another medal to his sizeable collection.

Harry Grant might not be an instantly memorable name to the Gills fans - but he hasn’t forgotten those final few weeks of the 2012/13 season when got to play a small part in an historic season for the club.

The midfielder had joined the Gills on deadline day - then just a month before the end of the season - signed from Sheffield Wednesday by his uncle - the then Gillingham boss Martin Allen.

Weeks later, with the League 2 title secured, the Gills went to Burton in party mood. Many of the senior players watched the game with the fans as Allen threw the youngsters a chance to shine. Grant was one of them - playing 70 minutes - his one and only appearance for the club.

“How good was he?” beamed Gills manager Allen after the match - still buzzing from securing the club’s first title in 50 years just a week earlier. He was commenting on his nephew.

“Nobody would have known that was his debut, nobody even knows who he is!”

Grant’s now preparing for Sunday’s Vase final for Ascot United, who take on the 2022 winners Newport Pagnell.

He hasn’t forgotten that day: “I was knocking on the door at the back end of that season but the team was unreal. I knew I would get the opportunity once they had become champions, I knew it would come.”

Allen named his team in the days before the match - going public on his decision to include the youngsters.

“We knew we would play and it was very nerve-racking,” Grant recalled.

“It was also a proud moment, all of my family were up there to see me make my Football League debut, I was over the moon, pretty nervous but afterwards it was unbelievable, like a dream come true.

“I remember it being absolutely rammed up there, nothing I had ever experienced before. I had been at big clubs and experienced being on the bench or in and around big crowds, but when you step foot out there it is a whole different ball game.

“We were up against real men, I got an elbow from the Burton striker early on, in the first five minutes, I was thinking, ‘this is league football now!’”

It turned out to be Grant’s only appearance for the Gills, those 70 minutes at Burton etched into the memory. He had joined the club a month earlier from Sheffield Wednesday.

In typical Martin Allen fashion, he described the moment the deal came together, while at the vets with his old trusted companion, Monty the dog. Allen said: “He (the dog) was there with a poorly tummy. My sister rang me and said Harry had just been given a free transfer.”

Within half an hour Monty had got the all-clear, Wednesday boss Dave Jones agreed to let Harry go out on loan, Paul Scally sanctioned the move and a deal was done.

Grant, who was living in Sheffield, was picked up by the team coach on the way to Accrington for their weekend game and afterwards returned back to Kent - leaving his belongings behind in Sheffield to join the Gills on their title-push.

“My contract was running out at Sheffield Wednesday and I thought ‘why not!?’” Grant recalled. “It was my first time in men’s football, I had been of the under-23 bubble, a few experiences in the first team, but never real nuts and bolts league football. I was up for it, I was nervous, but excited. It was a whirlwind.”

Harry’s cousin Charlie Allen was a mainstay in the team but having family connections didn’t make life any easier.

“If anything it was the opposite for myself and Charlie,” he said. “Martin would completely separate the uncle side of things, he would become a manager up until pretty much the Saturday night or the Sunday, when he would turn back into uncle mode.”

Weeks after he signed, the Gills clinched promotion with a home win over Torquay and the title with a draw against Wimbledon. The final game at Burton had nothing on it. An impressive performance against Brentford’s reserves just before the trip to Burton’s Pirelli Stadium earned the young midfielder a place in a much-changed team, one of three debutants that day.

There were 1,400 Gills fans in attendance. Gills lost 3-2 but it didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits.

"If you can't be inspired by that as a supporter, you've got a screw loose,” declared boss Allen.

Grant still has the shirt from that afternoon - getting it out whenever he needs proof of the day he turned out in the Football League. He also picked up a League 2 title medal.

The following season in League 1, he was handed a pro contract, but when Allen was sacked, the midfielder’s days were numbered. He joined Maidenhead on loan before making the move permanent in the January of 2014.

The midfielder dropped out of the pro game as he moved to Bromley, Hayes & Yeading and then Reading City but has successfully combined a business in musical merchandise and playing the game he loves. His short spell with the Gills installed the winning mentality early on and he’s won plenty since.

He said: “Even though I hardly played a part whatsoever, just being in and around that winning environment, and I know he is my uncle, but seeing how Martin operated up close and all of those big personality players that were there at the time, it was pretty special.

“There are definitely things I have taken from the time I was there and it’s moulded me into the player I am now and as I got older and played non-league.

“I went down to Bromley and won National League South after Gills then I dropped further down in non-league but I have been very lucky to have been around winning teams. I have won two or three divisions in my time, I have been to the FA Vase final now twice, hopefully winning it twice!

“I pride myself in wherever I go trying to instil a winning mentality in the group that I am in and I think it has paid off so far. I am very fortunate and long may it continue.”

He’s stayed in touch with some of those players who also enjoyed the limelight at Burton, including Kane Haysman, Devante McKain and Nathan Nyafli (who scored that day) and Bradley Dack, who he bumped into last summer while out in Ibiza. “I chat to him now and then - but he’s a bit of a celebrity now!”

His current team, Ascot, won the Combined Counties Premier Division title with plenty to spare.

“It is probably up there with that Gills group in terms of people,” he said.

“One thing I can definitely say is that every team that wins divisions, it is not so much about how good you are on the pitch, it is about how well you get along off it and how close you are as a group.

“This group is probably the best I have been involved in at all levels of football, it is a special group, not just the players but the members of staff, the volunteers, everyone at the club, it is so tight-knit and it doesn’t surprise me at all what we have achieved this season.”

After nine rounds in the FA Vase - winning the last two on penalties - they have made it to Wembley. He’s hoping for more of an input than last time he was there.

Back in 2018 he went there with Thatcham Town, a key player in the side leading up to the big day, but an unused substitute as the team beat Stockton Town 1-0 to lift the trophy. It meant for a bitter-sweet afternoon.

“That was probably my most disappointing day in football if I am honest,” he said.

“I had featured so much in that season and I played in the semi-final, scored in the quarter-final, I played 50 games that year but for whatever reason the gaffer changed it up for the final. He has a job to do, but I was pretty disappointed to not even come on.

“This definitely feels like a personal redemption this time round with Ascot, for sure. I have captained the team on occasions this season, I don’t think I’ve missed a game, I am really excited for this now. We have a few preps before Sunday and then all-guns blazing.

“Wembley is amazing - no matter how many times you go there it is still a special place.”

He’s playing in the same side as younger brother Alfie and the pair will be cheered on from the sidelines at the weekend by their uncle. Martin Allen’s a matchday ambassador at West Ham these days, enjoying life at the London Stadium for the club he previously played at. He’s taking the day off on Sunday to watch his nephews as the Hammers tackle Leeds United.

Looking ahead to the weekend, Grant said: “It is a one-off game, the best stadium in the world and you have to back yourself and see if the football Gods have it in for you!

“The quarters and semis were tough games but we never give up as a group, we believe in each other and will go to the last minute, I just can’t wait!”