During the 1994–95 English football season, Gillingham F.C. competed in the Football League Third Division, the fourth tier of the English football league system. It was the 63rd season in which Gillingham competed in the Football League, and the 45th since the club was voted back into the league in 1950. In January 1995, after several seasons spent near the bottom of the Football League and nearly a decade of financial difficulties, the club was declared insolvent and placed in receivership. Mike Flanagan was made redundant as the club's manager and replaced by player-coach Neil Smillie for the remainder of the season. Gillingham finished the season 19th in the Third Division, but the club's continued existence remained in doubt until June, when it was purchased by businessman Paul Scally.
In addition to the Football League, Gillingham competed in three knock-out competitions. The team reached the third round of the FA Cup, at which stage they lost to Sheffield Wednesday of the FA Premier League, and the second round of the Football League Trophy, but were eliminated at the earliest stage of the Football League Cup. Gillingham played a total of 50 competitive matches, winning 12, drawing 12, and losing 26. Chris Pike was the team's leading goalscorer with 18 goals. Paul Watson made the most appearances, playing 47 times. The highest attendance recorded at the club's home ground, Priestfield Stadium, was 10,425, for the FA Cup game against Sheffield Wednesday. The lowest attendance was 963, for a Football League Trophy game against Brighton & Hove Albion, which was the smallest crowd recorded for a competitive match at Priestfield for more than 20 years.
Background and pre-season
The 1994–95 season was Gillingham's 63rd season playing in the Football League and the 45th since the club was elected back into the League in 1950 after being voted out in 1938. It was the club's sixth consecutive season in the English football league system's fourth tier, which had been named the Football League Third Division since 1992. Since being relegated to the fourth tier in 1989, Gillingham had only once finished in the top half of the league table, with a low point in the 1992–93 season when the team finished 21st out of 22 teams and narrowly avoided being relegated into non-League football. In the 1993–94 season, Gillingham had finished 16th.
At the start of the 1994–95 season, Mike Flanagan was the club's manager, a position he had held since the summer of 1993. He was assisted by Neil Smillie, who held the position of player-coach. Adrian Foster, a forward, was the only new player to join the club before the start of the season, arriving from Torquay United for a transfer fee of . Gillingham lost their top goalscorer of the previous season, however, as Nicky Forster rejected the offer of a new contract and left to join Brentford of the Second Division, for which Gillingham received a fee of .
The team prepared for the new season with a number of friendly matches, including a testimonial match for Ron Hillyard, who played for the club from 1974 until 1990, and a match to mark the club's centenary, which had been celebrated during the preceding season. Arsenal of the FA Premier League provided the opposition for the centenary match; the same club, then known as Woolwich Arsenal, had been the opposition in the first match contested by Gillingham, then known as New Brompton, in 1893. The previous season's kit was retained for a further year. It had been designed to mark the club's centenary and added panels of black and white stripes to the usual blue shirts, which were worn with white shorts and socks; the club's original shirts when it was founded in 1893 featured black and white stripes. The away kit, to be worn in the event of a clash of colours with the home team, was all red with similar black and white panels on the shirts.
Third Division August–December
Gillingham's first match was at home to Hartlepool United and resulted in a goalless draw. Foster made his debut, but had to be substituted after injuring his ankle. Although he was able to continue playing for two weeks, the injury then recurred and kept him out of the team until November. He scored his first goal for the team in the second league match of the season, a 3–0 victory away to Wigan Athletic; this was Gillingham's biggest win away from home for more than three years. The team extended their unbeaten run from the start of the season to three games with a 1–1 draw at home to Rochdale but then lost away games against Scunthorpe United and Exeter City. In Foster's absence, Andy Arnott was brought into the starting line-up against Scunthorpe for the first time since the opening game of the season. Neither he nor fellow forward Paul Baker were able to score against Scunthorpe or Exeter, however, and Gillingham lost both games 3–0. In response to the lack of goals, Flanagan signed Scottish forward Paul Ritchie on loan from Dundee. It was the second loan spell at Priestfield Stadium for Ritchie, who had played six Third Division games for Gillingham in 1993. He scored on his second debut for Gillingham to help the team to a 3–1 win at home to Scarborough on 10 September.
Gillingham then began a run of consecutive defeats, losing at home to Preston North End and away to Hartlepool and Walsall. With Foster still out of action and Ritchie due to return to Dundee, Flanagan signed experienced Welsh forward Chris Pike from Hereford United for ; he made his debut on 1 October at home to Mansfield Town. The match resulted in a fourth consecutive league defeat, leaving Gillingham 20th in the table, only two places off the bottom of the entire Football League. A week later, Pike scored his first goal at home to Torquay United as Gillingham won 1–0 to end the run of defeats. He scored four more goals in the next four games, which resulted in two defeats, one win, and one draw, after which Gillingham had risen to 17th in the table.
Gillingham extended their unbeaten league run to four games with two more draws in the last two games of November, but then began December with consecutive defeats at home to Wigan Athletic and away to Rochdale. Paul Watson, the only player to have played in every game up to this point in the season, was sent off in the defeat to Wigan. Foster scored his first goal since August against Rochdale. Gillingham ended the year by playing three games in six days. On Boxing Day the team won 4–1 at home to Fulham, the first time Gillingham had scored four goals in a game for nearly two years. The attendance of 4,737 would prove to be the largest of the season for a Third Division game at Priestfield. The following day Gillingham lost 1–0 away to Barnet. The team's final match of 1994 was a 1–0 defeat at home to Carlisle United on New Year's Eve; Gillingham finished the year 18th in the table. Although the team had only lost 3 of 10 league games at Priestfield up to this point in the season, their league position suffered from the fact that they had only won once and drawn twice in 11 games on their opponents' grounds, the worst away record in the division.
January–May
On 9 January, after nearly a decade of financial difficulties and with debts estimated at £2 million (equivalent to £ million in ), the club was declared insolvent and placed in receivership. Administrators from accountants Kidsons Impey took over the day-to-day running of the club while searching for a buyer. The first game after this announcement was away to Northampton Town and resulted in a 2–0 defeat for Gillingham, the team's third consecutive league defeat. The next game, which did not take place until 4 February due to the postponement of two scheduled matches, was a goalless draw at home to Lincoln City, the fourth consecutive league game in which the team had failed to score; the result meant that Gillingham had again slipped to 20th in the table. The team ended the goalless run with a 2–1 victory away to Doncaster Rovers in the first game of February, Pike scoring twice. It was the first time Gillingham had won away from home in the Third Division since August. The team's form away from home remained poor, however; they played three further away matches during February, against Chesterfield, Darlington and Mansfield Town, and lost all three without scoring a goal.
On 28 February, three days after Gillingham lost to Mansfield, the administrators made Flanagan redundant as a cost-saving measure; Smillie was appointed player-manager for the remainder of the season. His first game in charge resulted in a 3–1 defeat at home to Walsall. Following this game, however, Gillingham did not lose for five games, their longest unbeaten run of the season. The sequence began with a 0–0 draw away to Scarborough, only the second time in the last eight away games that Gillingham had not lost, and continued with a 2–2 draw at home to Scunthorpe United. Gillingham then won 3–0 at home to Exeter City, another team struggling near the foot of the division, before achieving draws away to Preston North End and at home to Bury. In the game at Preston, defender Joe Dunne scored his only goal in over 130 games played for Gillingham between 1990 and 1996. Steve Brown, newly signed from Colchester United in a player exchange deal under which Robbie Reinelt was transferred in the opposite direction, made his debut against Bury in place of Pike and scored Gillingham's goal; Brown would start every game for the remainder of the season, paired with either Foster or Pike. The unbeaten run ended with a defeat away to Carlisle United, which was followed three days later by another at home to Colchester.
Gillingham beat Barnet 2–1 at Priestfield on 15 April to climb slightly to 18th in the table, but two days later lost 1–0 away to Fulham. On 22 April, Pike achieved the team's only hat-trick of the season, scoring three times in a 4–2 win over Doncaster Rovers. The final home game of the season was a goalless draw with Hereford United; at the end of the game the Gillingham fans invaded the pitch to mark what many believed could be the last game ever played at Priestfield due to the club's still-unresolved financial issues. Gillingham's last game of the season was away to Torquay United and resulted in a 3–1 defeat, which meant that Gillingham finished 19th in the 22-team Third Division. Even if they had finished bottom (which would normally have resulted in relegation into non-League football) they would have retained their League status as Macclesfield Town, who won the fifth-tier Football Conference, were ineligible for promotion because their stadium did not meet the required standard.
Match details Key
In result column, Gillingham's score shown first H = Home match A = Away match
pen. = Penalty kick o.g. = Own goal