     gillingham football club is an english professional football club based in the town of gillingham, kent. the only kent-based club in the football league, the "gills" play their home matches at the priestfield stadium. in 2013â14, gillingham competed in football league one, the third tier in the english football league system, after gaining promotion from football league two as champions the previous season. the club was founded in 1893 and joined the football league in 1920. they were voted out of the league in favour of ipswich town at the end of the 1937â38 season, but returned to it 12 years later after it was expanded from 88 to 92 clubs. twice in the late 1980s they came close to winning promotion to the second tier of english football, but a decline then set in and in 1993 they narrowly avoided relegation to the football conference. between 2000 and 2005, gillingham were in the second tier of the english football league system for the only time in their history, achieving a club record highest league finish of eleventh place in [[2002â03 in english football|2002â
1893_establishments_in_England Association_football_clubs_established_in_1893 Football_League_clubs Football_clubs_in_England Football_clubs_in_Kent Gillingham Gillingham_F.C. Southern_Football_League_clubs Sport_in_Medway