Gillingham F.C.

Association football baseball club in England
For the football team based in Dorset, see Gillingham Town F.C .
Football clubhouse

Reading: Gillingham F.C.

Gillingham Football Club is a master association football club based in the town of Gillingham, Kent, England. The only Kent-based cabaret in the Football League, the “ Gills ” play their home matches at Priestfield Stadium. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league arrangement. Steve Evans has been the team ‘s coach since 2019 and Paul Scally has been the clubhouse ‘s owner and president since 1995. The club was founded in 1893 as New Brompton Football Club, a identify retained until 1912, and played in the Southern League before joining the Football League in 1920. After 18 abortive seasons, Gillingham were voted out of the league in favor of Ipswich Town at the end of the 1937–38 temper, and returned to the Southern League. The clubhouse was voted back into the Football League in 1950, when it was expanded from 88 to 92 clubs. doubly in the late 1980s Gillingham came conclude to winning promotion to the moment tier of English football, but a decline then set in and in 1993 they narrowly avoided relegation to the Football Conference. Between 2000 and 2005, Gillingham were in the second tier of the English football league system for the merely time in their history, achieving a club phonograph record highest league finish of eleventh place in 2002–03. After a number of further relegations and promotions, the team have competed in League One since 2013. The club originally played in black and white plunder shirts but switched to blue shirts in the 1930s. The cabaret crest has traditionally depicted the blank knight symbol of the county of Kent. Priestfield Stadium has been the golf club ‘s home flat coat throughout its being ; it once held up to 30,000 fans but in the modern earned run average the capacity is less than half that figure. The golf club has twice won the championship of English football ‘s fourth tier, in the 1963–64 and 2012–13 seasons, under managers Freddie Cox and Martin Allen respectively .

history [edit ]

early years [edit ]

The official announcement of the club ‘s change of name in 1913 The local success of a junior football side, Chatham Excelsior F.C., encouraged a group of businessmen to meet with a view to creating a football club which could compete in larger competitions. New Brompton F.C. was formed at the confluence, held on 18 May 1893. [ 2 ] The founders besides purchased the plot of country which by and by became Priestfield Stadium. [ 3 ] The new club played its foremost pit on 2 September 1893, losing 5–1 to Woolwich Arsenal ‘s modesty side in front of a crowd of 2,000. [ 4 ] New Brompton were among the founder members of the Southern League upon its creation in 1894, and were placed in Division Two. They were named Champions in the beginning season ( 1894–95 ) going on to defeat Swindon Town in a trial match to win promotion. [ 5 ] In the seasons that followed, the club struggled in Division One, finishing penetrate in the 1907–08 temper, [ 6 ] avoiding relegation only due to expansion of the league. Whilst the clubhouse ‘s league performance was disappoint, the side did manage a celebrated cup victory over Football League First Division Sunderland and held Manchester City to a hook before losing in the replay. [ 7 ] In 1912 the directors passed a resolution to change the club ‘s name to Gillingham F.C., and the team played under this name throughout the 1912–13 season, although the switch was not officially ratified by the shareholders until the be year. [ 8 ] The team finished bed of Division One in the 1919–20 season but for a third base time avoided delegating, due to the subsequent natural elevation of all Southern League Division One club to form the modern Football League Division Three. [ 9 ]
In the beginning season of the newly created Football League Division Three, the 1920–21 season, Gillingham again finished penetrate, and in the years to follow there was small improvement on this, the club continually finishing in the lower reaches of the bottom division. In 1938 the team finished bottom of the Third Division ( South ) and were required to apply for re-election for the fifth time since joining the league. This command for re-election failed, with Gillingham returning to the Southern League and Ipswich Town being promoted in their rate. [ 10 ] Gillingham quickly established themselves as one of the stronger sides in the league, winning a local double of the Kent League and Kent Senior Cup in the 1945–46 season. [ 10 ] In the 1946–47 temper the team won both the Southern League Cup and the Southern League championship, during which they recorded a golf club record 12–1 victory over Gloucester City. [ 11 ] The Gills besides won the league title in 1948–49. [ 12 ]
In 1950, plans were announced to expand the Football League Division Three ( South ) from 22 to 24 teams and, taking into account their local success in the interim, Gillingham were re-elected to the Football League with a landslide vote. [ 12 ] The team spent eight seasons in Division Three ( South ) before the restructure of the league system for the 1958–59 season saw them placed in the newly created Fourth Division. They remained in this part until 1964, when coach Freddie Cox led them to forwarding, winning the first base backing in the club ‘s history. The team finished the season degree on 60 points with Carlisle United, but with a fractionally better goal average ( 1.967 against 1.948 ), which was the tightest league style coating in Football League history. [ 13 ] After relegation back to the Fourth Division in 1970–71, the Gills were soon promoted back to the Third Division in the 1973–74 season. [ 14 ] After this the club seemed to find its level in Division Three, regularly mounting a challenge for promotion which ultimately fell short each time, coming particularly conclude to promotion in 1986–87 when they reached the play-offs only to lose in the concluding to Swindon Town. [ 15 ] During this menstruation the club produced future stars Steve Bruce and Tony Cascarino, who was famously bought from non-league Crockenhill in commute for a set of tracksuits. [ 16 ]
Gillingham ( blue shirts ) in carry through in a match from the 1986–87 season In 1987, the Gills hit the headlines when, on straight Saturdays, they beat Southend United 8–1 and Chesterfield 10–0, the latter a club record for a Football League meet. Just a few months late, however, director Keith Peacock was controversially sacked, [ 17 ] [ 18 ] and within 18 months the club had fallen into Division Four. [ 15 ] The ensuing enchantment in the lower part brought short success, and in the 1992–93 Division Three campaign the Gills narrowly avoided relegation to the Football Conference. [ 15 ]

late highs and lows [edit ]

Gillingham fans at the 2000 Division Two play-off final examination Beset with fiscal problems, the cabaret went into administration in January 1995, and by the end of the 1994–95 temper faced the threat of being expelled from the Football League and closed down. [ 15 ] In June 1995, however, a London-based businessman, Paul Scally, stepped in and bought the club. [ 19 ] He brought in newly coach Tony Pulis, who led Gillingham to promotion in his first gear season, finishing second in the old Division Three ( now Football League Two ). [ 6 ] In 1999 the Gills made the play-offs but lost in the final to Manchester City. The Gills were 2–0 astir with less than two minutes left entirely to see City score twice, the equalizer in wound fourth dimension, and go on to win 3–1 in a punishment shoot-out. [ 20 ] [ 21 ] Soon after the play-off personnel casualty, Pulis was sacked for gross mismanage, [ 22 ] and Peter Taylor appointed coach. [ 23 ] In the 1999–00 season Gillingham qualified for the play-offs again, where they faced Wigan Athletic in the final at Wembley Stadium. The crippled finished 1–1 after 90 minutes, but, thanks to goals in extra time from substitutes Steve Butler and Andy Thomson, the Gills won 3–2 and were promoted to Division One for the first fourth dimension. [ 24 ] taylor then left to manage Leicester City, and Andy Hessenthaler was appointed as player-manager. [ 25 ] He led the baseball club to their best ever league end of eleventh in the 2002–03 season, [ 6 ] but the pursue season saw the club narrowly avoid relegation on goal remainder. Hessenthaler resigned as director in November 2004, [ 25 ] and new bos Stan Ternent [ 26 ] was unable to prevent the Gills ‘ delegating to League One. At the end of the 2007–08 season the club was relegated again, this time to League Two, [ 27 ] but an immediate fall to the third base floor was secured via the play-offs after beating Shrewsbury Town in the final. [ 28 ] In the 2009–10 season, however, the Gills slipped into the buttocks four on the final day, and were relegated back to League Two, having failed to win a single aside game in the league all temper. [ 29 ] This resulted in coach Mark Stimson having his contract terminated, [ 30 ] and Andy Hessenthaler was appointed as director of the club for the second time. [ 31 ] At the beginning of the 2012–13 season Hessenthaler was replaced by Martin Allen, who led the club to promotion as League Two champions in his first season in commit. [ 32 ] [ 33 ] however, shortly after winning League Two, Allen was sacked in what many saw as a surprise after a poor people start to the season. [ 34 ] The club has remained in League One since 2013, with a best complete of one-ninth, achieved in the 2015–16 temper. [ 6 ]

stadium [edit ]

Exterior tear of Priestfield Stadium The Gills have played at Priestfield Stadium throughout their universe. [ 35 ] The land was primitively purchased by the founders of the baseball club through an issue of 1,500 £1 shares. [ 3 ] Sources differ on whether the land was named after the road on which the land stood, Priestfield Road, [ 3 ] or whether the road was named after the ground ; [ 36 ] if the latter is the sheath then the origin of the land ‘s name is unknown. The background was extensively develop prior to the 1930s, but there was then little change until the belated 1990s and the arrival of Paul Scally as chair. Three of the four stands were demolished and rebuilt between 1995 and 2000. The fourthly stand, known as the Town End, was demolished to make room for a fresh stand, to be named the Brian Moore Stand after television receiver sports observer Brian Moore, who was a long-familiar Gills winnow, but the golf club ‘s fiscal situation has not allowed the fresh stand to be built. A temp stand was erected in 2003 and remains in place as of 2021. [ 37 ] [ 38 ] From 2007 until 2010 the stadium was officially named KRBS Priestfield Stadium as partially of a sponsorship deal with the Kent Reliance Building Society. [ 39 ] In 2011 it was rebranded again, this time, to MEMS Priestfield Stadium under another such agreement. [ 40 ] At its flower in the 1940s the official capacitance of the stadium was listed as “ between 25,000 and 30,000 ” [ 2 ] but subsequent redevelopments, the removal of terraces and building of new facilities have seen this reduced to a current capacity of 11,582. [ 41 ] In the 2018–19 temper, the most holocene to be completed in full with fully herd capacity permitted, the average attendance at home matches was 5,128. [ 42 ] The ground has besides hosted base fixtures of the England women ‘s home football team. [ 43 ] The club ‘s aim ground is Beechings Cross, in Grange Road, Gillingham. In 2012 the cabaret was involved in a challenge with the local council, who alleged that Gillingham owed over £30,000 in amateur bills relating to the prepare facility. [ 44 ]

Colours and cap [edit ]

Although Gillingham have long been associated with the colours blue and whiten, the original New Brompton side wore a strip consist of black and white striped shirts with black shorts. [ 3 ] In 1913 the black and white leach was dropped in favor of crimson shirts with blue sleeves, emblazoned with the borough ‘s coat of arms. [ 45 ] The strip shirts returned after World War One, before ultimately being replaced with the now-familiar combination of apparent blue shirts and white shorts in 1931. [ 46 ] More holocene years have seen respective variations on the amobarbital sodium and white color scheme. In the belated 1990s the team wore blue and black strip shirts, recalling the original New Brompton stripes. [ 47 ] In the summer of 2003 it was controversially announced that the club ‘s first choice shirts for the keep up season would be predominantly white, rather than blue. The announcement received such a hostile reply from supporters that the egg white strip was replaced by one featuring blue and black hoops, which had originally been earmarked as the team ‘s third choice kit out. [ 48 ] In March 2010 the clubhouse announced a fall to the total darkness and blue stripes for the 2010–11 season. [ 49 ] In recognition of the centennial of the rename of the cabaret, the 2012–13 kit out was loss with blue sleeves and collar, and the club ‘s crest was replaced by the town ‘s peak. After winning the League Two title in 2012–13, the club gave season tag holders the opportunity to vote on what colours the cabaret would play in for the 2013–14 season, with the fans choosing to return to a blue and white kit. [ 50 ] Blue and whiten, or blue with black stripes, have been used since. [ 51 ]
Until 1992 the club ‘s crest was just a parcel of the county arms of Kent. The clubhouse ‘s stream crown is a carapace divided vertically into halves of black and white stripes and upstanding blue, reflecting the clubhouse ‘s master and advanced kits. On the blue half is the county emblem of Kent, a white cavalry rampant, albeit slightly altered from its normal form as its mane is stylised into the letters of the word “ Gills ”. This side has been sometimes given a loss or pink background, to coordinate with away kits featuring those colours. The club ‘s motto, which appears on a coil below the crest, is Domus clamantium, the Latin for “ the home of the shouting men ”, [ 52 ] a traditional name associated with the town of Gillingham. [ 53 ] In keeping with the crest, the club ‘s mascot, Tommy Trewblu, takes the form of a horse. He first appeared at a match against Macclesfield Town in October 1998. [ 54 ] The beginning presenter ‘s diagnose to appear on Gillingham shirts was that of italian home appliance manufacturers Zanussi, who sponsored the club in the mid-1980s. subsequent sponsors have included Chatham Maritime, Medway Toyota, Cannon Tool Hire, Invicta FM, Kool, Medway News, SeaFrance, [ 55 ] [ 56 ] MHS Homes Group, Kent Reliance Building Society, [ 39 ] Automatic Retailing, [ 57 ] MEMS Power Generation, [ 58 ] and Medway Council. [ 59 ]

Players [edit ]

current police squad [edit ]

As of 20 November 2021[60]

note : Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality .

former players [edit ]

club officials [edit ]

As of October 2021 [ 61 ]

management [edit ]

Position

Name

Chairman
Paul Scally

Non-executive director
Mike Quarrington

Associate directors
Colin Jarvis, Max Scally, Damien South, Bob Cogger, Angel Scally

technical staff [edit ]

Position

Name

Manager

Steve Evans

Assistant manager

Paul Raynor

Physiotherapist

Gary Hemens

Head of Coaching Development

Jason Lillis

Youth team manager
Craig Stone

Goalkeeping coach
Ian Pledger

Fitness coach
James Russell

Academy manager
Bryan Bull

Managers [edit ]

For the first base three years of the club ‘s universe, team matters were handled by a committee. In 1896 William Ironside Groombridge, the club ‘s secretary, took sole charge of team affairs to become Gillingham ‘s first recognised coach. [ 62 ] Former England international Stephen Smith was appointed as full-time coach in 1906, [ 63 ] but left in 1908, with Groombridge once again taking on team responsibilities. Groombridge was associated with the golf club, as coach and secretary, for over 25 years. When the club was admitted to the Football League in 1920, Robert Brown was appointed as coach, but he resigned a calendar month late before the season had tied begun. [ 64 ] His substitute, Scotsman John McMillan, thus became the first director to take charge of the team in a Football League match. [ 64 ] In 1939, a year after the golf club was voted back out of the Football League, Archie Clark took over as director, and was still in charge when the club was elected bet on to the Football League in 1950. Clark remained in the job until 1957. [ 65 ] Freddie Cox took over in 1962 and led the baseball club to the Football League Fourth Division backing in the 1963–64 season, making him the first gear director to win a Football League divisional title with the club. [ 66 ] Basil Hayward was sacked in 1971 after the club was relegated back to the Fourth Division in the 1970–71 season, [ 66 ] but his successor Andy Nelson led the golf club to promotion spinal column to Division Three three years former before controversially resigning. [ 67 ] Tony Pulis took over in 1995, with Gillingham once again in the bottom part, and managed the club to promotion in his beginning season in charge. Three years later he led the team to the second Division play-off concluding, but was sacked immediately after this after being accused of arrant wrongdoing. [ 22 ] Peter Taylor replaced him and took the club to a second consecutive play-off final examination, where Gillingham gained promotion to the second tier of English football for the first time. [ 68 ] In 2013 Martin Allen became the irregular coach to lead the Gills to a divisional title in the Football League, as the team won the backing of League Two. [ 34 ] The current coach is Steve Evans, who replaced Steve Lovell in May 2019. [ 69 ]

Chairmen [edit ]

The following have been president of the cabaret ‘s Board of Directors : [ 70 ]
local alderman James Barnes was an early president of the club .

1893–95
Horace Croneen

1895–97
Dr E.C. Warren

1897–1902
W.H. Checksfield

1902–12
James Barnes

1912–22
E.N. Crawley

1922–30
Jack Knight

1930–32
S.J. Chippick

1932–34
J.A. Crumbie

1934–47
Jack Knight

1947–59
Charles Cox Sr.

1959–61
J.W. Leech Jnr

1961–83
Dr Clifford Grossmark

1983–86
Charles Cox Jr.

1986–89
Roy Wood

1989–91
M.G. Lukehurst

1991–95[71]
Bernard Baker

1995–[72]
Paul Scally

Honours [edit ]

Third tier ( Football League Third Division / Third Division South from 1920–1992, Football League Second Division from 1992–2004, Football League One since 2004 ) [ 6 ]
Fourth tier ( Football League Fourth Division from 1958–1992, Football League Third Division from 1992–2004, Football League Two since 2004 ) [ 6 ]
Southern Football League [ 6 ]
Southern Football League Division Two [ 6 ]
Southern League Cup [ 14 ]
Kent League [ 14 ]
Kent League Cup [ 14 ]
Kent Senior Cup [ 14 ]

Statistics and records [edit ]

annual table positions of Gillingham in the Football League. Goalkeeper Ron Hillyard holds the record for Gillingham appearances, having played 657 matches in all competitions between 1974 and 1990, [ 73 ] while the phonograph record for appearances entirely in the Football League is held by another goalkeeper, John Simpson, with 571 between 1957 and 1972. [ 74 ] Brian Yeo is the club ‘s all-time leading league goalscorer, having scored a total of 136 goals between 1963 and 1975. [ 75 ] He besides jointly holds the club phonograph record for the most Football League goals scored in a single season, having scored 31 goals in the 1973–74 season, [ 75 ] equalling the record set by Ernie Morgan in 1954–55. [ 76 ] The highest count of goals scored by a player in a single plot at a professional level is the six registered by Fred Cheesmur against Merthyr Town in April 1930. [ 77 ] The highest transfer fee received by the club is £1.5 million for Robert Taylor, paid by Manchester City in 1999, and the highest fee paid by Gillingham is £600,000 for Carl Asaba, signed from Reading in 1998. [ 74 ] The golf club ‘s criminal record home attendance is 23,002, for an FA Cup match against Queens Park Rangers on 10 January 1948, [ 74 ] a read which will about surely never be broken unless the club relocates to a larger ground, given that Priestfield Stadium ‘s current capacity is approximately half that digit. The team ‘s biggest ever professional succeed was a 10–0 get the better of of Chesterfield in September 1987, [ 74 ] although they had previously registered a 12–1 win against Gloucester City in the Southern League in November 1946. [ 15 ] The Gills hold the record for the fewest goals conceded by a team in the run of a 46-game season, set in the 1995–96 season, during which goalkeeper Jim Stannard kept 29 clean sheets. [ 78 ]

Rivalries [edit ]

The 2003 Football Fans Census revealed that no other team ‘s supporters considered Gillingham to be among their golf club ‘s main rivals. [ 79 ] Millwall are considered to be the closest the Gills have to local rivals. [ 80 ] Swindon Town are seen by many fans as the club ‘s biggest rivals, stemming from crabbed matches between the two teams in the past. [ 81 ] While Swindon fans broadly do not consider Gillingham their biggest rivals, there was ferocity when they met at Priestfield in the 2005–06 season, their first meet since a forwarding play-off match in 1987. [ 82 ] Following their promotion in 1989, Maidstone United became Kent ‘s second League side. A competition with Gillingham developed over the follow seasons, until Maidstone ‘s fiscal troubles forced them to resign from the League in 1992. [ 83 ]

In popular culture [edit ]

In 1956, comedian Fred Emney filmed a scenery for his situation comedy Emney Enterprises prior to the beginning of a equal between Gillingham and Brighton & Hove Albion. The footage featured the corpulence Emney, wearing a flat cap and monocle and smoking a cigar, dribbling the ball past the integral Gills defense and scoring a goal. [ 84 ] The 2005 film Green Street makes manipulation of action sequences filmed during a meet between Gillingham and West Ham United, although for obscure reasons the negotiation states that the team playing West Ham is Birmingham City. [ 85 ] A film entitled The Shouting Men, released in March 2010, centres on a group of Gillingham fans and features scenes shoot at Priestfield. [ 52 ]