Gillingham F.C. records

Gillingham F.C. is an English professional association football club based in Gillingham, Kent, playing in Football League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system, as of the 2008–09 season. The club was formed in 1893 as New Brompton F.C.,Triggs (1984), p8] a name which was retained until 1913, [Triggs (1984), p9] and has played home matches at Priestfield Stadium throughout its history. The club joined the Football League in 1920, [Triggs (1984), p10] was voted out of the league in favour of Ipswich Town at the end of the 1937–38 season, [Triggs (1984), p13] but returned to the league 12 years later after it was expanded from 88 to 92 clubs. [Triggs (1984), p19] Between 2000 and 2005, Gillingham played in the second tier of the English league for the only time in the club's history, achieving a highest league finish of eleventh place in 2002–03.

The record for most games played for the club is held by Ron Hillyard, who made 655 appearances between 1974 and 1991. Brian Yeo is the club's record goalscorer, scoring 149 goals during his Gillingham career. Andrew Crofts holds the record for the most international caps gained as a Gillingham player, having made 12 appearances for Wales. The highest transfer fee ever paid by the club is the £600,000 paid to Reading for Carl Asaba in 1998, and the highest fee received is the £1,500,000 paid by Manchester City for Robert Taylor in 1999. The highest attendance recorded at Priestfield was 23,002 for the visit of Queens Park Rangers in 1948. The club holds one Football League record, having conceded the fewest goals in a 46-match season, when the team conceded only 20 goals during the 1995–96 season.

"All figures are correct as of 17 September 2008."

Honours and achievements

Gillingham's only major honour in English football is the Football League Fourth Division championship, which the club won in the 1963–64 season.Brown, p3] The club has also achieved promotion on three other occasions, most recently in the 1999–2000 season, when a 3–2 victory over Wigan Athletic in the Second Division play-off final clinched promotion to the second tier of English football for the first time in Gillingham's history.cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/767702.stm|title=Second time lucky for Gills|publisher=BBC Sport|accessdate=2008-08-06|date=2000-05-28] Between 1938 and 1950, when the club played outside the Football League, Gillingham won the Southern Football League championship on two occasions and the Kent League once. [Brown, pp55, 56, 58]

The Football League

*Second Division (level 3):
**Promotion (1): 1999–2000ref label|Shared|A| [Brown, p109]
*Third Division / Fourth Division (level 4):
**Winners (1): 1963–64
**Promotion (2): 1973–74, 1995–96ref label|Auto|B| [Brown, pp83, 105]

Other honours

*Southern League:
**Division One champions (2): 1946–47, 1948–49 [Brown, p58]
**Division Two champions (1): 1894–95
**Southern League Cup winners (1): 1946–47
*Kent League:
**Champions (1): 1945–46Brown, p55]
**Kent League Cup winners (1): 1945–46

National cup competitions

*FA Cup:
**Quarter finalists: 1999–2000
*League Cup:
**Fourth round (round of 16): 1963–64 and 1996–97

Player records

Age

*Youngest first team player: Luke Freeman, 15 years 233 days (against Barnet, 10 November 2007).Cite web
url = http://www.gillinghamfootballclub.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10416~1165436,00.html
title = Freeman Makes History
accessdate = 2007-11-12| date = 2007-11-12
publisher = Gillingham F.C.]
*Oldest first team player: Andy Hessenthaler, 40 years 115 days (against Port Vale, 10 December 2005).Cite web
url = http://dover-athletic.co.uk/index.php?p=news&id=777&link=
title = Andy's Colourful Career
accessdate = 2008-01-19|date=2007-05-28
publisher = Dover Athletic F.C.] Cite web
url = http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=3455&seasonid=135
title = Games played by Andy Hessenthaler in 2005/2006
accessdate = 2008-09-17
publisher = Soccerbase]
*Oldest first team debutant: John Gorman, 37 years 39 days (against Oxford United, 24 September 1986). [cite journal|date=19 September 1987|title=Extra Time|last=Bradley|first=Andy|journal=Gillingham F.C. Official Matchday Magazine]

Appearances

"All competitive first team matches are included. Appearances as substitute are in brackets. Players who played for the club prior to 1920 or between 1938 and 1950, when the club played in the Southern League and Kent League rather than the Football League, have appearances in those competitions included in their totals.Brown, pp122–129.] "

:a. Includes Football League, Southern League and Kent League:b. Includes Football League Cup, Southern League Cup and Kent League Cup

International caps

*First capped player: Freddie Fox, for England on 21 May 1925 (disputed),ref label|Fox|E| alternatively Damien Richardson for Republic of Ireland on 6 June 1973 [Triggs (1984), p28]
*Most international caps while a Gillingham player: Andrew Crofts, 12 for Wales
*First Gillingham player to appear in the World Cup finals: Brent Sancho, for Trinidad and Tobago against Sweden on 10 June 2006 [cite web|url=http://yourmedway.co.uk/kent-news/Gills-Warrior-makes-history-newsinkent977.aspx?news=sport|title=Gills Warrior makes history|publisher=Your Medway News|accessdate=2008-09-17|date=2006-06-12]
*Most appearances by a Gillingham player in the World Cup finals: Brent Sancho, three appearances for Trinidad and Tobago at the 2006 World Cup [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/trinidad_and_tobago/4921058.stm|title=Trinidad & Tobago statistics |publisher=BBC|accessdate=2008-10-01|date=2006-06-20]

Managerial records

:see also|List of Gillingham F.C. managers
*First manager: William Ironside Groombridge (appointed in 1896, having previously served as financial secretary)Brown, p130]
*Longest serving manager: William Ironside Groombridge (managed the club from 1896 until 1906 and from 1908 until 1919, a total of 21 years, albeit interrupted by the First World War)

Club records

Goals

*Most Football League goals scored in a season: 90 in 46 matches, Division Four, 1973–74.cite web|url=http://www.fchd.info/GILLINGH.HTM|title=Gillingham|publisher=The Football Club History Database|accessdate=2008-09-17]
*Fewest Football League goals scored in a season: 34 in 42 matches, Division Three, 1920–21.
*Most Football League goals conceded in a season: 101 in 46 matches, Division Three South, 1950–51.
*Fewest Football League goals conceded in a season: 20 in 46 matches, Division Three, 1995–96, a league record for a 46 game season. [cite book|title=News of the World Football Annual 2007–2008|first=Stuart|last=Barnes|publisher=Invincible Press|date=2007|isbn=0-0072-5555-9|pages=p334]
*Most league goals scored in a season at any level: 111 in 20 matches, Kent League, 1945–46.
*Fewest league goals scored in a season at any level: 20 in 34 matches, Southern League Division One, 1905–06.

Points

*Most points in a Football League season:
**Two points for a win: 62 in 46 games, Division Four, 1973–74.
**Three points for a win: 85 in 46 games, Division Two, 1999–00.
*Fewest points in a Football League season:
**Two points for a win: 26 in 44 games, Division Three South, 1937–38.
**Three points for a win: 40 in 42 games, Division Three, 1992–93, and 40 in 46 games, Division Three, 1988–89.
*Most points in a season at any level:
**Two points for a win: 64 in 44 games, Southern League, 1938–39.
*Fewest points in a season at any level:
**Two points for a win: 19 in 28 games, Southern League Division One, 1900–01.cite web|url=http://www.fchd.info/NEW-BROM.HTM|title=New Brompton|publisher=The Football Club History Database|accessdate=2008-09-18]

Matches

Firsts

*First match: New Brompton 1–5 Woolwich Arsenal reserves, friendly, 2 September 1893Brown, p12]
*First FA Cup match: Ilford 6–3 New Brompton, first qualifying round, 14 October 1893
*First Southern League match: Sheppey United 0–6 New Brompton, Division Two, 15 September 1894
*First Football League match: Gillingham 1–1 Southampton, Division Three South, 28 August 1920Brown, p34]
*First Football League Cup match: Gillingham 1–1 Preston North End, second round, 19 October 1960 [Brown, p70]

Record wins

*Record Football League win: 10–0 against Chesterfield in Division Three, 5 September 1987.
*Record FA Cup win: 10–1 against Gorleston, first round, 16 November 1957.
*Record win in any match: 12–1 against Gloucester City in the Southern League, 9 November 1946.Triggs (1984), p16] Cite web
url = http://www.gillinghamfootballclub.premiumtv.co.uk/page/ClubHistory/0,,10416,00.html
title=Gillingham FC History (1893– )
accessdate = 2008-01-10
date=2007-09-09
publisher = Gillingham F.C.]

Record defeat

*Record Football League defeat: 2–9 against Nottingham Forest in Division Three South, 18 November 1950, 0–7 against Barrow in Division Four, 9 October 1961, [Brown, p71] and 0–7 against Shrewsbury Town in League Two, 13 September 2008. [Cite web
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_3/7602072.stm
title= Shrewsbury 7–0 Gillingham
accessdate = 2008-09-13
publisher = BBC Sport|date=2008-09-13]
*Record FA Cup defeat: 3–9 against Sutton United, fourth qualifying round, 3 November 1945.

Attendances

*Highest home attendance: 23,002 against Queens Park Rangers, FA Cup third round, 10 January 1948.
*Highest Football League attendance: 20,128 against Millwall, Division Three South, 2 September 1950.

Notes

A. Promoted via the play-off system after finishing in third place.

B. Promoted automatically by finishing in second place on both occasions.

C. Brown lists one appearance for Hessenthaler in the Football League Trophy in the 1996–97 season, which is missing from his Soccerbase record as Soccerbase at present only records data for that competition from the 1997–98 season onwards.

D. Cascarino is placed higher than Gibbs and Morgan higher than Westwood as they reached their goals totals in fewer matches.

E. [http://www.gillinghamfootballclub.premiumtv.co.uk/page/ClubHistory/0,,10416,00.html The history page] on the official Gillingham F.C. website lists Fox as having gained his one England cap whilst with the club. Triggs (2001) repeats this claim but states elsewhere in the book that Fox was transferred from Gillingham to Millwall in April 1925, a month before [http://www.thefa.com/England/SeniorTeam/Archive/?pf=p&i=677&
] . [http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/eng-intres20.html The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation] lists him as a Millwall player at the time of the England match.

References

;General
*cite book
last = Brown
first = Tony
coauthors =
title = The Definitive Gillingham F.C.: A Complete Record
publisher = Soccerdata
year = 2003
isbn = 1-8994-6820-X
pages =
*cite book
last = Triggs
first = Roger
coauthors =
title = Gillingham Football Club: A Chronology 1893–1984
publisher = Kent County Libraries
year = 1984
isbn =
pages =
*cite book | | last = Triggs
first = Roger | title=The Men Who Made Gillingham Football Club| publisher=Tempus Publishing Ltd | year=2001| id=ISBN 0-7524-2243-X

;Specific