PAUL MILWAY'S MEMORIES

What is your name ?
Paul Milway.

What is your date and place of birth ?
18th March 1949, Byron Avenue Margate, and lived there for 30 years.

Where do you live ?
Hallam - a suburb of Melbourne, Australia for the last 15 years.

What was the first Margate / Thanet match you ever saw and what can you remember about it ?
Actually an away game in 1955. My first home game was later that year and I saw sporadic games throughout the next couple of years, as my dad worked on Saturdays and could not take me. I can remember the West Ham friendly in 1958 to open the floodlights and a blanket being carried around the ground to collect money after Man Utd`s Munich disaster is also a memory especially as everybody seemed so sad.

What was the first away game you went to ?
March 19th 1955, my 6th birthday. At Ramsgate, dad wanted to watch the game, I wanted the bus ride. Margate won 3-1 and I was hooked on the blue and white.

Who is your all-time favourite Margate / Thanet player and why ?
Easy one, has to be Phil Amato...pure skill...sheer genius. Had the ability to make the other players around him look better. A delight to watch always entertaining.

Who would be in your all-time favourite Margate / Thanet X1 ?

1 Brian Hughes (by a whisker from Steve Bowtell)
2 Bill Parry
3 Tommy Marshall
4 Bryan Snowdon (only played 1 season but a class above)
5 Bob (Mr Reliable) Harrop
6 Jimmy Bonds
7 Vic Pain
8 Brian Gregory
9 Alan Blackburn
10 The King Phil Amato
11 David Hills

Of all the Margate / Thanet matches you've seen which is your favourite and why ?
The 7-6 win against Kings Lynn in 1966 - 13 goals, a late Margate winner, a lovely sunny day (in Feb.) - near perfect. A managers nightmare though - poor defending from both teams.

The 6-4 win over Ramsgate in was good as well - great atmosphere.

What's the best goal you've ever seen a Margate / Thanet player score ?
A long run out of defence by Bryan Clifton and a typical thunderball short from 40-odd yards in a game against Wellington Town I think. A diving header from Carl Gilbert also sticks in the memory.

What one game in the club's history do you wish you'd seen and why ?
The F.A. Cup win at Bournemouth in 1961. I was confined to bed with measles but I would love to be able to say I was there. The best Margate result to date. I believe Bournemouth were unbeaten at home and near top of the old Division 3 at the time.

What are the top three highlights of your time supporting Margate / Thanet ?
1. The game against Spurs, just for the the number of people they got into the ground that day.
2. The big away trips in the cup, Northampton was a great trip and the 500 or so singing, cheering and blue and white bedecked Margate fans making their way from the station to the ground made a great sight. The team played well that day.
3. Any win any time over Ramsgate.

And what are the three worst things you can remember ?
1. The 1-1 draw with Notts County, I can still see Bert Loxley or Loxted getting his head to that corner and the ball floating into the net. Total heartbreak for a 12 year old. We so should have won that game.
2. Riding my brand new blue and white racing bike to a floodlight game, enjoying the game so much I forgot it and walked home, only to be frogmarched back by my dad to find it by torchlight.
3. And of course any defeat by Ramsgate.

What's the funniest thing you've witnessed during a Margate / Thanet match ?
Phil Amato on a typical run rounding 2 defenders, drawing the keeper out, going round him to the touchline and a perfect low cross for Dennis Randall on the goal line to tap in. Only thing is Dennis got the ball trapped between his feet, fell over, had a complete air swing at the ball whilst lying on the ground and rolled into the net. The keeper just picked the ball up on the goal line. The look on Phil`s face was priceless. By the way we won the game 5-0 and Dennis got his usual hat-trick.

Do you have a favourite piece of Margate FC memorabilia or do you own any unusual items ?
Not any more, used to have heaps of programmes, posters, scrapbooks, a wooden rattle from the fifties (try getting one of those into a ground these days) and of course the old F.A. Cup made from hardboard and covered in sliver foil. My wife convinced me that these were surplus to requirements in Australia.

If you could re-sign one former player who's still playing elsewhere then who would it be and why ?
No idea, but I suppose Leon Braithwaite.

Have you ever seen a full season of competitive matches (ie not missed any) or come close to it ?
I was almost an ever-present at home games from '62 through to the early 70`s - didn`t make many away games though. Used to watch the reserves in the Seanglian League days. Lost a bit of interest in the late seventies and complete interest when they made the change to Thanet. Then moved to Australia and in the last few years websites like this great one and the other Margate sites have reawakened my love affair with the Blue and White.

How many games would you say you've seen in total ?
Too many to count - 600 or more I expect.

What's your current favourite away ground ?
Doesn`t apply to me unfortunately. Although we always seem to do well at Woking so I will pick that.

And which current away ground do you least like ?
Err..! Dover maybe.

What's your all-time favourite away ground ?
No idea why but I liked Dartford, or of course Southwood when we won.

And which ground out of all the ones you've ever been to did you like least ?
Canterbury, or Southwood when we lost.

Which Margate / Thanet player that you never saw play do you wish you'd seen ?
Reg Lewis or Leon Braithwaite.

Have you ever played football on the pitch at Hartsdown ?
No unfortunately - they kept chasing me off !

Which Margate / Thanet kit is your all-time favourite ?
The old magic of blue shirts with white collars and long white button-down sleeves, white shorts and blue and white hooped socks still does it for me.

And which have you liked the least ?
Anything remotely to do with Thanet United.