Martin Allen led Gillingham to the Football League Two title in 2013, only the second time the club had won a divisional title in the English Football League.

Gillingham Football Club is an English association football club originally formed in 1893 and known until 1913 as New Brompton F.C. The first man to hold a role equivalent to what is today referred to as a manager was William Ironside Groombridge, who was appointed as club secretary in June 1896 and quickly expanded the role to cover all aspects of team and club administration. Apart from two two-year spells when the club opted to appoint a full-time team manager to allow Groombridge to concentrate solely on club administration, he fulfilled the dual roles of secretary and manager until after the First World War. Upon being admitted to the Football League in May 1920, the club appointed Robert Brown as manager, but he resigned without ever taking charge of a match. He was replaced by Scotsman John McMillan, the club's first non-English manager.

The next significant manager of Gillingham was Archie Clark, under whose management the club returned to the Football League in 1950, having been voted out in 1938. Freddie Cox was the first manager to win a major trophy with Gillingham, taking the Football League Fourth Division championship in the 1963–64 season. Under his successor, Basil Hayward, the club was relegated back to the Fourth Division in the 1970–71 season, but Andy Nelson led the club to promotion back to Division Three three years later. After the Gills were relegated once again in the 1988–89 season, Tony Pulis managed the club to promotion seven years later. Pulis also took the team to the final of the play-offs for promotion to the second tier of English football in the 1998–99 season. Pulis was sacked immediately after this for gross misconduct,[1] but his successor, Peter Taylor, took the club back to the play-off final the following season, in which victory over Wigan Athletic saw the club promoted to Division One for the first time in its history. Peter Taylor left to join Leicester during the close season and club captain Andy Hessenthaler took over as manager for the club's first, and to date only, stint in the second tier.

After Hessenthaler was dismissed following a poor start to the 2004–05 season, the club saw a number of managers come and go in a relatively short time before Mark Stimson's arrival in 2007. His two and a half-year tenure saw the club promoted back to the third tier via the play-offs, but he was dismissed the following season. Hessenthaler then returned to the club for a period of two years before he was promoted to Director of Football to make way for Martin Allen. Allen became only the second manager to win a trophy with the club, leading the team to the League Two championship in 2013, but he was dismissed a few months into the following season after a poor start, following which another former manager, Peter Taylor, returned to the club.

Managers

Statistics are correct up to 1 November 2023 and include all senior competitive peacetime first-team matches. Minor county competitions such as the Kent Senior Cup and Kent Senior Shield are not included as the club rarely, if ever, fielded its first team.

Football manager William Groombridge
William Ironside Groombridge was the club's secretary, but is considered to have held a role equivalent to that of a modern manager.
Footballer Steve Smith
Former England international Steve Smith managed the club for two seasons.
Football manager Harry Curtis
Harry Curtis was appointed in 1923.
Football manager Tony Pulis
Tony Pulis took over in 1995 and led the Gills to promotion from the Third Division at the first attempt.
Football manager Peter Taylor
Under Peter Taylor the Gills reached the second tier of English football for the first time.
Football manager Andy Hessenthaler
Andy Hessenthaler replaced Taylor as manager in 2000 and returned for a second spell in charge ten years later.
Football manager Mark Stimson
Mark Stimson managed the Gills to promotion in 2009.
Name Nationality From To P W D[a] L Win%[b] Honours Notes
William Groombridge (secretary)  England 18963 June 1896[2] Late November 1906[3] 416 160 91 165 038.46 [4]
Steve Smith  England 1906Late November 1906[5] Summer 1908[6] 71 20 18 33 028.17 [7]
William Groombridge (secretary)  England 1908Summer 1908[2] Summer 1913[8] 212 75 45 92 035.38 [9]
Sam Gilligan  Scotland 1913Summer 1913[8] Summer 1915[8][c] 81 22 17 42 027.16 [10]
George Collins  England 191928 July 1919[11] 12 May 1920[12] 47 11 10 26 023.40 [13]
Robert Brown  England 1920 (1)12 May 1920[12] 9 June 1920[12] 0 0 0 0 !—
Johnny McMillan  Scotland 1920 (2)2 July 1920[14] 3 August 1922[15] 135 42 28 65 031.11 [16]
William Groombridge (secretary)  England 19223 August 1922[15] 10 May 1923[17] 44 16 7 21 036.36 [18]
Harry Curtis  England 192310 May 1923[19] 30 March 1926[20] 135 45 39 51 033.33 [21]
unknown caretaker 1926 (1)30 March 1926[20] 12 April 1926[20] 4 1 2 1 025.00 [22]
Bert Hoskins  England 1926 (2)12 April 1926[23] 29 March 1929[20] 127 36 31 60 028.35 [24]
unknown caretaker 1929 (1)29 March 1929[20] 7 May 1929[25] 8 1 2 5 012.50 [26]
Dick Hendrie  Scotland 1929 (2)7 May 1929[25] 29 December 1931[27] 108 30 22 56 027.78 [28]
unknown caretaker 193129 December 1931[27] 18 January 1932[25] 3 3 0 0 100.00 [26]
Fred Maven  England 193219 January 1932[29] 25 May 1937[30] 246 80 56 110 032.52 [31]
Alan Ure  England 193726 May 1937[30] 16 June 1938[32] 45 11 6 28 024.44 [33]
Bill Harvey  England 193811 July 1938[34] 19 July 1939[35] 48 30 7 11 062.50 [36]
Archie Clark[d]  England 19392 August 1939[15] 23 November 1957[37] 577 251 128 198 043.50 Southern League champions 1946–47 and 1948–49,
Southern League Cup winners 1946–47,
Kent League champions 1945–46 		[38]
Harry Barratt  England 195823 November 1957[37] 4 May 1962[39] 226 82 54 90 036.28 [40]
Freddie Cox  England 196213 June 1962[32] 17 December 1965[41] 172 83 42 47 048.26 Fourth Division champions 1963–64 [42]
Jimmy Boswell (caretaker)  England 196517 December 1965[43] 4 January 1966[43] 2 2 0 0 100.00 [44]
Basil Hayward  England 19664 January 1966[45] 25 May 1971[30] 282 89 80 113 031.56 [46]
Andy Nelson  England 197124 June 1971[47] 3 May 1974[48] 151 66 37 48 043.71 [49]
Len Ashurst  England 19746 May 1974[50] 15 October 1975[51] 61 23 19 19 037.70 [52]
Bill Collins (caretaker)[53]  Northern Ireland 1975 (1)15 October 1975[51] 27 October 1975[54] 3 0 1 2 000.00 [55]
Gerry Summers  England 1975 (2)27 October 1975[54] 22 May 1981[56] 292 92 106 94 031.51 [57]
Keith Peacock  England 198114 July 1981[58] 29 December 1987[59] 370 161 90 119 043.51 [60]
Paul Taylor  England 198729 December 1987[59] 26 October 1988[61] 40 11 8 21 027.50 [62]
Bill Collins
Damien Richardson (caretakers) 		 Northern Ireland
 Ireland 		198826 October 1988[63] 31 October 1988 1 0 0 1 000.00
Keith Burkinshaw  England 198831 October 1988[61] 11 April 1989[64] 32 8 4 20 025.00 [65]
Keith Blunt (caretaker)  England 1989 (2)11 April 1989[66] 18 April 1989[66] 1 1 0 0 100.00 [66]
Damien Richardson  Ireland 1989 (3)18 April 1989[66] 8 October 1992[67] 173 53 49 71 030.64 [68]
Paul Clark (caretaker)  England 1992 (1)8 October 1992[67] 26 October 1992[69] 2 0 0 2 000.00 [70][71]
Glenn Roeder  England 1992 (2)26 October 1992[69] 9 July 1993[72] 37 8 12 17 021.62 [70]
Mike Flanagan  England 199312 July 1993[73] 28 February 1995[74] 90 20 27 43 022.22 [75]
Neil Smillie (caretaker)  England 1995 (1)28 February[74] May 1995[76] 10 6 3 1 060.00 [77]
Tony Pulis  Wales 1995 (2)29 June 1995[78] 30 June 1999[79] 218 94 62 62 043.12 [80]
Peter Taylor  England 19997 July 1999[34] 12 June 2000[81] 62 34 12 16 054.84 Second Division play-off winners 1999–2000 [82]
Andy Hessenthaler  England 200029 June 2000[78] 23 November 2004[83] 228 77 54 97 033.77 [84]
John Gorman (caretaker)  Scotland 2004 (1)23 November 2004[83] 30 November 2004[85] 1 1 0 0 100.00 [86]
Darren Hare
Iwan Roberts
Paul Smith
(caretakers) 		 England
 Wales
 England 		2004 (2)4 December 2004[87] 7 December 2004[88] 1 0 0 1 000.00 [89]
Stan Ternent  England 2004 (3)7 December 2004[88] 15 May 2005[90] 25 7 11 7 028.00 [91]
Neale Cooper  Scotland 2005 (1)21 May 2005[92] 15 November 2005[93] 22 7 5 10 031.82 [94]
Ronnie Jepson  England 2005 (2)15 November 2005[93] 9 September 2007[95] 87 32 16 39 036.78 [96]
Iffy Onuora
Mick Docherty (caretakers) 		 Scotland
 England 		2007 (1)9 September 2007[97] 8 October 2007[97] 5 2 1 2 040.00 [97]
Iffy Onuora (caretaker)  Scotland 2007 (2)8 October 2007[97] 1 November 2007 4 2 2 0 050.00 [98]
Mark Stimson  England 2007 (3)1 November 2007[99] 10 May 2010[100] 144 48 41 55 033.33 2009 Football League Two play-off final winners [101]
Andy Hessenthaler  England 2010 (3)21 May 2010[102] 8 May 2012[103] 101 39 29 33 038.61 [84]
Martin Allen  England 20125 July 2012[104] 13 October 2013[105] 64 27 17 20 042.19 Football League Two champions 2012–13 [106]
Peter Taylor  England 201314 October 2013[107] 31 December 2014[108] 67 23 14 30 034.33 [109]
Andy Hessenthaler
Steve Lovell
Darren Hare
Mark Patterson (caretakers) 		 England
 Wales
 England
 England 		201431 December 2014[108][110] 7 February 2015 8 3 2 3 037.50 [84]
Justin Edinburgh  England 20157 February 2015 3 January 2017 102 40 26 36 039.22 [111]
Adrian Pennock  England 20174 January 2017 25 September 2017[112] 32 6 11 15 018.75 [113]
Peter Taylor (caretaker)  England 201725 September 2017[112] 12 October 2017[114] 4 1 1 2 025.00 [109]
Steve Lovell  Wales 201712 October 2017[114][115] 26 April 2019[116] 92 32 26 34 034.78 [117][e]
Mark Patterson (caretaker)  England 201926 April 2019[116] 4 May 2019 2 1 0 1 050.00
Steve Evans  Scotland 20191 June 2019[118] 9 January 2022[119] 129 41 41 47 031.78 [120]
Steve Lovell (caretaker)  Wales 202210 January 2022[121] 31 January 2022[122] 4 0 1 3 000.00 [117]
Neil Harris  England 202231 January 2022[122] 5 October 2023[123] 90 31 25 34 034.44 [124][f]
Keith Millen (caretaker)  England 20235 October 2023[125] 1 November 2023[126] 6 2 0 4 033.33
Stephen Clemence  England 20231 November 2023[126] present 0 0 0 0 !—

Notes

a. ^ Drawn matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.
b. ^ Win% is rounded to two decimal places.
c. ^ Competitive football was abandoned after the 1914–15 season due to the escalation of the First World War and did not resume until 1919. Gilligan did not return to the club after the war.
d. ^ Clark's statistics include three matches (two wins and one defeat) played at the start of the 1939–40 season before competitive football was abandoned due to the outbreak of the Second World War.
e. ^ Soccerbase erroneously includes the final two games of the 2018–19 season in Lovell's statistics even though he was dismissed on 26 April 2019.
f. ^ Soccerbase erroneously includes the six games between the dismissal of Harris and the appointment of Clemence in the former's total.

References

General
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