‘He’s a one-off’ – Rutherford praise for the man who’s been by his side in two decades of football

Gee has been Rutherford’s right-hand man for the past eight-and-a-half years at Chichester City, and they were together at Moneyfields for around ten years before that.

It began when Gee was a player at the time Rutherford managed Moneys but they soon became a partnership when Gee moved into management.

As we reported last month, he does not have long to live, having been diagnosed with kidney cancer which has now spread. Gee told us last month he was now having palliative care and did not know if he’d reach his 52nd birthday in June.

Rutherford said Gee had been a constant in his football career for longer than he’d care to remember and had been a key part of the successful times both Moneyfields, and more recently Chichester City, had enjoyed.

"He’s a one-off – he is such good company, the best person you can think of to be with on a night out,” Rutherford said. "He’s funny, quick-witted and bounces off people. A lot of the players we’ve had playing for us over the years have said he’s one of the funniest people they’ve ever known.

"He’s always joking around and he does such a lot for the morale of players. He’s a big reason we’ve always been able to keep squads together long-term.

"Apart from what he’s like as a person, there’s his football knowledge too. He loves the game and understands it so well which is a valuable thing to have with you in a management group.”

Rutherford said Gee had been following Chi City’s recent superb run of form closely even though he had been too ill to attend any games since Christmas.

City have risen to fourth in the Isthmian south east division with a sequence of 10 wins and two draws in their past 12 games – nine of those games bringing clean sheets.

"He’s been on the phone a lot,” Rutherford said. “He’s been driving me mad actually!

"I’m not known for praising people much but he’s such an important part of what we’ve achieved, and our coaches Dabba (Darin Killpartrick) and Danny (Potter) will tell you the same.”