The terrible news has been announced on Saturday evening that former Gillingham manager Justin Edinburgh has died aged just 49.
Justin had just a few weeks ago led Leyton Orient back to the Football League by winning the National League ahead of Solihull Moors and Salford City. It had been announced earlier in the week that he had been admitted to hospital feeling unwell and it was confirmed on Saturday that he had indeed suffered a heart attack.
He was appointed Gills boss in February 2015 and came to Priestfield from Newport County and in his first season led the Gills to a 12th placed finish from 20th where the club were on the day he was appointed.
Undoubtedly the height of the Edinburgh Priestfield reign came at Christmas 2015 when after winning 3-0 at Millwall, the Gills sat second in the League Two table, Sadly that was as good as it as the side missed out on the Play Offs – finishing only ninth – and after winning just three of the first fifteen League games the following season, Edinburgh was sacked in January 2017.
Subsequently he managed Northampton Town before taking over at Brisbane Road.
He leaves a wife and two children.
KSN Chief Football Writer Mike Green remembered Edinburgh the man beyond the dug-out. “I’ll always remember the man we saw at the press briefings. Yes, we sat there for twenty or thirty minutes going through all the official stuff, but then when the cameras and taping devices were turned off, we all sat back and picked the football stories of the week apart and he was what he was – a one hundred percent football man.”
“For me the undoubted highlight of his time at Priestfield was the night he took his side back to White Hart Lane where he made his name as a player – he was so chuffed and I’m sure that it was a night that he will never have forgotten despite the hammering the Gills took, which ironically was probably the start of the demise that was to see Paul Scally eventually terminate his contract.”
“A real football man who will be sadly missed!”
Justin Edinburgh (1969-2019) RIP