Editing Gillingham F.C. (section)

==Managers==
[[File:Tony_pulis_2014.jpg|upright|thumb|right|[[Tony Pulis]] served as the club's manager from 1995 until 1999|alt=A middle-aged man in a suit]]
{{Further|List of Gillingham F.C. managers}}
For the first three years of the club's existence, team matters were handled by a committee. In 1897, [[William Ironside Groombridge]], the club's secretary, took sole charge of team affairs to become Gillingham's first recognised manager.{{sfn|Bradley|Triggs|1994|p=20}}  Former [[England national football team|England]] international [[Stephen Smith (footballer, born 1874)|Stephen Smith]] was appointed as full-time manager in 1906,<ref name="SS">{{cite web|url=http://www.soccerbase.com/manager_history.sd?teamid=1098|title=Manager History for Gillingham|access-date=3 October 2021|publisher=[[Soccerbase]]|archive-date=22 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622070220/http://www.soccerbase.com/managers/home.sd|url-status=dead}}</ref> but left in 1908, with Groombridge once again taking on team responsibilities. Groombridge was associated with the club, as manager and secretary, for over 25 years. When the club was admitted to [[the Football League]] in 1920, [[Robert Brown (football manager)|Robert Brown]] was appointed as manager, but he resigned a month later before the season had even begun.{{sfn|Bradley|Triggs|1994|p=394}}  His replacement, [[Scotland|Scotsman]] [[John McMillan (footballer born 1871)|John McMillan]], thus became the first manager to take charge of the team in a Football League match.{{sfn|Bradley|Triggs|1994|p=394}}

In 1939, a year after the club was voted back out of the Football League, [[Archie Clark (footballer)|Archie Clark]] took over as manager, and was still in charge when the club was elected back to the Football League in 1950. Clark remained in the job until 1957.{{sfn|Bradley|Triggs|1994|p=396}} [[Freddie Cox]] took over in 1962 and led the club to the [[Football League Fourth Division]] championship in the [[1963–64 in English football|1963–64]] season, making him the first manager to win a Football League divisional title with the club.{{sfn|Bradley|Triggs|1994|p=397}} [[Basil Hayward]] was sacked in 1971 after the club was [[Promotion and relegation|relegated]] back to the Fourth Division in the [[1970–71 in English football|1970–71]] season,{{sfn|Bradley|Triggs|1994|p=397}} but his successor [[Andy Nelson (footballer)|Andy Nelson]] led the club to [[Promotion and relegation|promotion]] back to [[Football League Third Division|Division Three]] three years later before controversially resigning.{{sfn|Bradley|Triggs|1994|p=398}}

[[Tony Pulis]] took over in 1995, with Gillingham once again in the bottom division, and managed the club to promotion in his first season in charge. Three years later he led the team to the [[1999 Football League Second Division play-off Final|Second Division play-off final]], but was sacked immediately after this after being accused of gross misconduct.<ref name="cham" /> [[Peter Taylor (footballer born 1953)|Peter Taylor]] replaced him and took the club to [[2000 Football League Second Division play-off Final|a second consecutive play-off final]], where Gillingham gained promotion to the second tier of English football for the first time.<ref name="PT">{{cite news|
  url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2002/984825.stm|
  publisher=BBC Sport|
  title=Taylor-made for top job|
  access-date=29 December 2008|
  date=14 November 2000|
  archive-date=7 April 2003|
  archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030407071458/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2002/984825.stm|
  url-status=live}}</ref>  In 2013 [[Martin Allen (footballer)|Martin Allen]] became the second manager to lead the Gills to a divisional title in the Football League, as the team won the championship of [[Football League Two|League Two]].<ref name="MA out" />