1920–21 Gillingham F.C. season

Gillingham

1920–21 season
Chairman	E.N. Crawley
Manager	John McMillan
Football League Third Division	22nd
FA Cup	Sixth Qualifying Round
Top goalscorer	League: Tommy Hall (9) All: Tommy Hall (11)
Highest home attendance	approx 12,000 vs Southampton (28 August 1920) and vs Millwall (30 October 1920)
Lowest home attendance	approx 5,000 vs Portsmouth (15 September 1920)
Home colours

The 1920–21 season was the first season in which football club Gillingham F.C. competed in the Football League. Gillingham had previously played in Division One of the Southern Football League, but in 1920 the Football League decided to add a third division to its existing set-up and did so by absorbing the entire Southern League Division One to form the new Football League Third Division.

Gillingham had finished bottom of the Southern League Division One the previous season and fared no better in the Football League, finishing bottom of the table after registering only eight wins in 42 matches.

Football League

The Gillingham team pictured before the first match of the season
Players - back row (left to right):Robertson, Battiste, Baxter, Wigmore, Sisson. Front row: Holt, Hall, Branfield, Gilbey, Roe, Gore

Gillingham had played in the Southern Football League since its formation in 1894, apart from when the league was suspended due to the First World War, but had achieved minimal success and had finished bottom of Division One in the 1919–20 season. The club escaped relegation, however, as the clubs in the Southern League's top division were admitted en masse to the Football League to form the new Third Division. In preparation for the new season the club signed a number of new players, including Wally Battiste from Grimsby Town, Tommy Hall from Newcastle United, Tom Thompson from Sunderland and Tom Gilbey from Darlington. Only five players who had represented the club in non-league football went on to make appearances in the Football League: Jock Robertson, Jack Branfield, Joseph Griffiths, Donald McCormick and Arthur Wood.

The club's first ever Football League match was against Southampton at Priestfield Stadium in front of a new club record crowd of approximately 12,000 fans, and ended in a 1–1 draw, with Tom Gilbey scoring the Gillingham goal. Four days later the team defeated Reading 2–1 away from home to register their first victory, and a week later repeated the feat at home, beating the Berkshire club 1–0 to give the club a record of two wins, one draw and one defeat from its first four matches. This was followed, however, by a run of six matches without a win, including a heavy 6–1 defeat against Merthyr Town.

After beating Exeter City in mid-October, Gillingham then played 12 consecutive matches without a win, including an emphatic 5–2 defeat at home to Northampton Town on Christmas Day. The winless streak came to an end when a George Needham goal gave the team a 1–0 win over Bristol Rovers on 29 January, but there then followed a sequence of five games in which the team could only manage a goalless draw and four defeats. The team staged a late rally in April, winning three of their last six matches, but it was not enough to avoid finishing the season bottom of the table.

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
1920-08-28	Southampton	H	1–1	Gilbey	12,000
1920-09-01	Reading	A	2–1	Roe, Gilbey	7,000
1920-09-04	Southampton	A	0–3		14,000
1920-09-08	Reading	H	1–0	Gilbey	7,000
1920-09-11	Merthyr Town	H	0–0		9,500
1920-09-15	Portsmouth	H	1–1	Battiste	5,000
1920-09-18	Merthyr Town	A	1–6	Thompson	14,000
1920-09-25	Plymouth Argyle	A	1–3	Hall	16,000
1920-10-02	Plymouth Argyle	H	0–1		10,000
1920-10-09	Exeter City	A	1–2	Wood	10,000
1920-10-16	Exeter City	H	2–1	Battiste 2	10,000
1920-10-23	Millwall	A	0–4		20,000
1920-10-30	Millwall	H	0–0		12,000
1920-11-06	Newport County	A	0–1		8,000
1920-11-13	Newport County	H	1–4	Needham	8,000
1920-11-27	Portsmouth	A	2–2	Gilbey, Robinson	15,000
1920-12-11	Swindon Town	A	1–1	Gilbey	9,000
1920-12-25	Northampton Town	H	2–5	Gilbey, Hall	8,000
1920-12-27	Northampton Town	A	0–2		10,000
1920-12-28	Luton Town	A	0–5		11,000
1921-01-01	Watford	A	1–3	Roe	6,000
1921-01-15	Brentford	H	1–3	Hall	8,000
1921-01-22	Brentford	A	3–3	Needham 2, Wood	9,000
1921-01-29	Bristol Rovers	H	1–0	Needham	8,000
1921-02-05	Bristol Rovers	A	0–2		9,000
1921-02-12	Norwich City	H	0–0		7,000
1921-02-19	Norwich City	A	1–2	Hall	8,000
1921-02-26	Crystal Palace	H	0–1		8,000
1921-03-05	Crystal Palace	A	1–4	Hall	10,000
1921-03-12	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	1–0	Waugh	7,000
1921-03-16	Watford	H	1–1	Hall	6,000
1921-03-19	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	0–1		9,000
1921-03-26	Grimsby Town	A	0–2		11,000
1921-03-28	Southend United	A	0–1		10,000
1921-04-02	Grimsby Town	H	2–1	Waugh, Wood	7,000
1921-04-09	Queens Park Rangers	A	1–0	Wood	10,000
1921-04-13	Swindon Town	H	1–1	Wood	8,000
1921-04-16	Queens Park Rangers	H	1–2	Hall	8,000
1921-04-23	Swansea Town	A	0–2		13,000
1921-04-30	Swansea Town	H	2–1	Hall, Wood	8,000

Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
42	8	12	22	34	74	28

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; Pts = Points

FA Cup

Gillingham entered the FA Cup at the fourth qualifying round, defeating fellow Kent club Maidstone United, then went on to beat another non-league club, Dulwich Hamlet. The club was then eliminated by fellow Division Three team Northampton Town in the sixth qualifying round.

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
1920-11-20	Fourth qualifying	Maidstone United	H	1–0	Gilbey	6,725
1920-12-04	Fifth qualifying	Dulwich Hamlet	H	2–1	Hall, Gilbey	8,000
1920-12-18	Sixth qualifying	Northampton Town	A	1–3	Hall	10,000

Squad statistics

Tommy Hall was the leading goalscorer for the season

Gillingham used a total of 26 players over the course of the season. No player was ever-present, but captain Jock Robertson, goalkeeper Jack Branfield and top goalscorer Tommy Hall each missed only one match.

Name	League		FA Cup		Total
	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Wally Battiste	33	3	3	0	36	3
Tom Baxter	21	0	2	0	23	0
Jack Branfield	41	0	3	0	44	0
Albert Carter	2	0	0	0	2	0
Tom Gilbey	11	6	3	2	14	8
Syd Gore	8	0	0	0	8	0
Joseph Griffiths	5	0	0	0	5	0
Tommy Hall	41	9	3	2	44	11
Andy Holt	6	0	0	0	6	0
Fred Howard	7	0	0	0	7	0
Donald McCormick	1	0	0	0	1	0
Stuart McMillan	11	0	0	0	11	0
Alfred Milton	1	0	0	0	1	0
George Needham	36	4	3	0	39	4
Ernest Ollerenshaw	1	0	0	0	1	0
Jock Robertson	41	0	3	0	44	0
Thomas Robinson	2	1	1	0	3	1
Archie Roe	16	2	1	0	17	2
George Russell	3	0	0	0	3	0
George Shaw	3	0	0	0	3	0
Tom Sisson	40	0	3	0	43	0
Tom Thompson	37	1	3	0	40	1
John Waugh	24	2	0	0	24	2
Clive Wigmore	9	0	0	0	9	0
Arthur Wood	30	6	3	0	33	6
Harry Wright	32	0	2	0	34	0

See also

• Gillingham F.C. seasons

References

• Brown, Tony (2003). The Definitive Gillingham F.C.: A Complete Record. Soccerdata. ISBN 1-899468-20-X.
• Triggs, Roger (1984). Gillingham Football Club: A Chronology 1893–1984. Kent County Libraries.
• Triggs, Roger (2001). The Men Who Made Gillingham Football Club. Tempus Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7524-2243-X.
• Bradley, Andy; Roger Triggs (1994). Home of the Shouting Men: Complete History of Gillingham Football Club 1893–1993. Gillingham F.C. ISBN 0-9523361-0-3.