Gillingham

1986–87 season
Chairman	Roy Wood
Manager	Keith Peacock
Third Division	5th
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Second round
Associate Members' Cup	Southern section semi-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Tony Cascarino Dave Shearer (16 each) All: Tony Cascarino (30)
Highest home attendance	16,775 vs Swindon Town (22 May 1987)
Lowest home attendance	1,984 vs Colchester United (26 January 1987)
Home colours Away colours
← 1985–86 1987–88 →

During the 1986–87 English football season, Gillingham F.C. competed in the Football League Third Division. It was the 55th season in which the club competed in the Football League, and the 37th since the club was voted back into the league in 1950. Gillingham began the season strongly and were top of the Third Division table shortly before the mid-point of the season. The team's form declined in the second half of the season; to qualify for the play-offs for promotion to the Football League Second Division, the team needed to win their final game and both Bristol City and Notts County had to fail to win theirs. A victory over Bolton Wanderers, combined with both the other teams being held to draws, meant that Gillingham finished in fifth place and qualified for the play-offs. After beating Sunderland in the semi-finals, Gillingham faced Swindon Town in the final. The two teams drew 2–2 on aggregate, necessitating a replay at a neutral venue, which Swindon won 2–0 to claim a place in the Second Division.

During the season, Gillingham also reached the third round of the FA Cup, the second round of the Football League Cup, and the southern section semi-finals of the Associate Members' Cup. The team played 63 competitive matches, winning 31, drawing 12 (including one decided by a penalty shoot-out), and losing 20. Tony Cascarino was the club's leading goalscorer, with 30 goals in all competitions. Howard Pritchard and Paul Haylock made the most appearances; both played in 62 of the club's 63 matches. The highest attendance recorded at the club's home ground, Priestfield Stadium, was 16,775, for the home leg of the play-off final.

The 1986–87 season was Gillingham's 55th season playing in the Football League and the 37th since the club was elected back into the League in 1950 after being voted out in 1938. It was the club's 13th consecutive season in the Football League Third Division, the third tier of the English football league system, since the team gained promotion from the Fourth Division as runners-up in 1974.^[1] In the 12 seasons since then, the team had achieved a best finish of fourth place, one position away from promotion to the Second Division, a feat achieved in both the 1978–79 and 1984–85 seasons.^[1] The club had never reached the second level of English football in its history.^[2] In the 1985–86 season, Gillingham had finished fifth and missed out on promotion by two places.^[1]

Keith Peacock was the club's manager for a sixth season, having been appointed in July 1981.^[3] Paul Taylor served as assistant manager,^[4] Bill Collins, who had been with the club in a variety of roles since the early 1960s, held the post of first-team trainer, and John Gorman managed the youth team.^[5][6] Mark Weatherly took over as team captain, replacing Keith Oakes, who was only named as a substitute for the opening game of the season and left the club soon afterwards to join Fulham.^[7][8] Before the season began, a series of disputes took place involving the club's board of directors. In late June, chairman Charles Cox announced that he had dismissed three directors from their posts; the following day, the ousted trio gave an interview to the press and claimed that under his chairmanship the club's debt had reached £700,000 and that it faced the threat of a potential liquidation order from the Inland Revenue.^[9] Four days later, following a showdown meeting between the two parties, Cox resigned as chairman and the three deposed directors returned to the board with one of them, Roy Wood, becoming the new chairman. The directors then issued a statement to Gillingham supporters stating that the club's finances were under control and that money would be available to manager Peacock to sign new players in anticipation of another challenge for promotion.^[10] In July, the club's financial director announced that a settlement had been reached with the Inland Revenue.^[11]

Following the resolution of the issues behind the scenes, Peacock signed six new players before the season began. In July, midfielder Trevor Quow joined from Peterborough United for a transfer fee of £8,500.^[12] The following month, Gillingham signed Howard Pritchard, a winger who had made one appearance for the Welsh national team in 1985, from Bristol City for a fee of £22,500.^[13] Defender Graham Pearce and midfielder Mel Eves arrived from Brighton & Hove Albion and Sheffield United respectively on free transfers,^[14] and the club paid semi-professional club Welling United a fee of £3,000 to sign winger Dave Smith.^[15] Defender Paul Haylock signed for £25,000 from Norwich City, having rejected a new contract shortly after helping the team win the Second Division championship.^[16] Several players left the club, including defender Mel Sage, one of the club's most promising young players, who joined Derby County of the Second Division for a fee of £60,000. Gillingham had hoped for a significantly higher fee, but with the two clubs unable to agree on terms, the transfer fee had to be set by an independent tribunal.^[17] Karl Elsey came close to leaving the club, but failed to agree a contract with Reading and so remained at Gillingham.^[18] The team prepared for the new season with several friendly matches, including a testimonial match for the long-serving Weatherly, for which Tottenham Hotspur of the First Division provided the opposition.^[19] The team retained the first-choice kit worn in the previous season of blue shirts with a white panel down each side. The away kit, to be worn in the event of a clash of colours with the home team, changed from plain red to white with a blue zig-zag band across the chest.^{[20][21][22][23]}

The team's first game of the season was an away match against Newport County; Haylock, Pearce, Pritchard and Quow all made their debuts in a 2–1 victory. Weatherly scored the team's first goal of the season and Dave Shearer scored the winner.^[24] The first home league game took place at Priestfield Stadium seven days later against Bristol City in front of a crowd of 4,185, the largest attendance for Gillingham's opening home game since 1981.^[25] Shearer scored in a 1–1 draw and then got the only goal of the game away to Rotherham United to give Gillingham the win and seven points out of a possible nine from the first three games of the season.^[24] The team's unbeaten run in the league extended to six games with a goalless draw against Middlesbrough and 2–0 wins against both York City and Brentford, before the first defeat of the season came against Mansfield Town.^[24] Colin Greenall, a highly rated defender who had been signed from Blackpool for £40,000 at the start of September, made his debut in the Middlesbrough game.^[24][26]

A game against Chester City which should have taken place in late September was postponed because of an outbreak of illness among the opposing players.^[27] Following the defeat at Mansfield, Gillingham were unbeaten for the next seven league games, winning five and drawing two. Shearer scored in four consecutive games, taking his total for the season to seven goals.^[24] The team had no game on October 11, as the scheduled match away to AFC Bournemouth was postponed because Dorset Constabulary did not have sufficient manpower to police both the match and the Conservative Party Conference, which was taking place in the town.^[9] The unbeaten run came to an end with a 2–0 defeat away to Doncaster Rovers on 7 November, but the team then won 3–1 against fellow promotion-chasers Notts County, a game in which Shearer scored twice.^[28] Despite a defeat away to Wigan Athletic on 29 November, in a match which was unusually played in the morning to avoid a clash with an international rugby league match taking place in the town,^[29] Gillingham ended the month in second place in the league table.^[24]

The postponed game away to AFC Bournemouth was played on 2 December; since the start of the season Bournemouth had won every league game played at their home stadium, Dean Court. Gillingham, however, secured a 2–0 win with goals from Martin Robinson and Pritchard, which took the team to the top of the Third Division table.^[30][31][32] In the next league game, Gillingham lost 3–0 away to mid-table Bolton Wanderers, a game in which Tony Cascarino was sent off.^[33] Gillingham bounced back from the defeat with a 4–1 victory over Bristol Rovers which ensured they were back on top of the division heading into the Christmas period.^[34] The team ended 1986 with two games on consecutive days; a draw with Fulham on Boxing Day followed by a defeat to Swindon Town the next day left Gillingham in third place in the Third Division table going into the new year.^[24] The game against Swindon, regarded by fans as one of Gillingham's rivals since the 1970s,^[35] drew an attendance of 9,982, more than 4,000 higher than that at any other match at Priestfield to that point of the season.^[24]

Gillingham began 1987 with a home win over Walsall on New Year's Day. Pritchard scored a hat-trick before half-time in a 4–0 victory which brought the team to within one point of league leaders Middlesbrough, who lost away to York City.^[13][36] After this the team lost four of their next six matches and increasingly began to lose touch with the teams at the top of the league; following a defeat against Brentford on 21 February Gillingham had dropped to sixth in the table.^[24] In February, Shearer sustained an injury, so Peacock signed Colin Gordon on loan from Wimbledon; the striker scored twice in four games before returning to his parent club.^[37] In the same month, goalkeeper Phil Kite joined from Southampton, initially on loan, after Ron Hillyard was injured; the transfer was made permanent after some impressive performances and Kite retained the goalkeeping position for the remainder of the season, playing in every match.^[38] Midfielder Steve Jacobs, who had joined the club from Charlton Athletic in December, made his debut in February and played six consecutive league games, but then did not play again for over a month.^[39][40]

In March, Gillingham won three consecutive league matches for the first time since November, beating Carlisle United, Darlington, and Bournemouth.^[24] Shearer, in his first start after his injury, scored twice against Carlisle. Against Darlington, Cascarino became the second Gillingham player of the season to score a hat-trick, with three goals in a 4–1 victory. The Bournemouth game, played on Easter Monday, drew the club's largest home crowd since the Swindon game in December.^[24] Experienced defender Les Berry joined Gillingham from Brighton & Hove Albion during March; he made his debut in an away defeat to Bury at the end of the month and was an ever-present for the remainder of the season.^[41]

The team began April with two consecutive wins against Doncaster Rovers and Blackpool but then lost to Walsall.^[24] On his return to the team against Walsall, Jacobs was sent off for retaliating after being fouled by an opponent. He did not play in any of the team's remaining games and left the club at the end of the season.^[39] A win against Bristol Rovers on 25 April left Gillingham in fifth place in the league table, but the next three games produced two draws and one defeat, after which the team had fallen to seventh position with one game remaining.^[24] At the start of the season, the Football League had introduced a new play-off system, under which the teams which finished just below the automatic promotion places in the Second, Third, and Fourth Divisions would have the opportunity to compete for one further promotion place; in the Third Division this meant that the teams finishing third, fourth, and fifth in the final table would take part.^[42][43] To finish in fifth position and qualify for the play-offs, the team needed to defeat Bolton Wanderers on the last day of the league season and needed both Bristol City and Notts County not to win. A goal from Cascarino secured a 1–0 win, and as both of their rivals were held to 1–1 draws, Gillingham clinched a play-off place.^[44][45] Cascarino's goal was his 16th of the season in Third Division matches, tying him with Shearer as the club's top goalscorer in league matches.^[46]

Key

Results^[24]