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===Return to the Football League=== 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.{{sfn|Triggs|1984|p=19}} The team spent eight seasons in Division Three (South) before the restructuring of the league system for the [[1958β59 in English football|1958β59]] season saw them placed in the newly created [[Football League Fourth Division|Fourth Division]]. They remained in this division until 1964, when manager [[Freddie Cox]] led them to promotion, winning the first championship in the club's history. The team finished the season level on 60 points with [[Carlisle United F.C.|Carlisle United]], but with a fractionally better [[goal average]] (1.967 against 1.948).{{sfn|Triggs|1984|p=26}} After relegation back to the Fourth Division in [[1970β71 in English football|1970β71]], the Gills were soon promoted back to the Third Division in the [[1973β74 in English football|1973β74]] season.{{sfn|Triggs|1984|p=54}} 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 close to promotion in [[1986β87 in English football|1986β87]] when they reached the [[Football League play-offs|play-offs]] only to lose in the [[1987 Football League Third Division play-off Final|final]] to [[Swindon Town F.C.|Swindon Town]].<ref name="GFCHist">{{cite web|url=http://www.gillinghamfootballclub.com/page/ClubHistory/0,,10416,00.html |title=Gillingham FC History (1893β ) |access-date=4 February 2014 |publisher=Gillingham F.C. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215161623/http://www.gillinghamfootballclub.com/page/ClubHistory/0%2C%2C10416%2C00.html |archive-date=15 February 2012 }}</ref> During this period the club produced future stars [[Steve Bruce]] and [[Tony Cascarino]], who was famously bought from non-league [[Crockenhill F.C.|Crockenhill]] in exchange for a set of tracksuits.{{sfn|Triggs|2001|p=82}} [[File:Priestfield2.jpg|upright=1.15|thumb|right|Gillingham (blue shirts) in action in a match from the 1986β87 season|alt=Two teams taking part in a football match, one in blue shirts and the other in yellow. Stands full of spectators are visible in the background.]] In 1987, the Gills hit the headlines when, on consecutive Saturdays, they beat [[Southend United F.C.|Southend United]] 8β1 and [[Chesterfield F.C.|Chesterfield]] 10β0, the latter a club record for a [[Football League]] match. Just a few months later, however, manager [[Keith Peacock]] was controversially sacked,<ref name=keith>{{Cite web | url = https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A117506930/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=32a48136 | work = [[The Times]] | access-date = 11 September 2021 | via = [[Gale (publisher)|Gale]] | title = Football: Gillingham respond to protest| date = 4 January 1988|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url = https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A117544809/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=e43f2e13 | work = [[The Times]] | access-date = 19 September 2021 | via = [[Gale (publisher)|Gale]] | title = Football: Gillingham dismiss Peacock as manager| date = 30 December 1987|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and within 18 months the club had fallen into Division Four.<ref name="GFCHist" /> The ensuing spell in the lower division brought little success, and in the [[1992β93 in English football|1992β93]] Division Three campaign the Gills narrowly avoided relegation to the [[Football Conference]].<ref name="GFCHist" />
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