Gillingham Football Club is an English association football club originally formed in 1893 and known until 1913 as New Brompton F.C. The first man to hold a role equivalent to what is today referred to as a manager was William Ironside Groombridge, who was appointed as club secretary in June 1896 and quickly expanded the role to cover all aspects of team and club administration. Apart from two two-year spells when the club opted to appoint a full-time team manager to allow Groombridge to concentrate solely on club administration, he fulfilled the dual roles of secretary and manager until after the First World War. Upon being admitted to the Football League in May 1920, the club appointed Robert Brown as manager, but he resigned without ever taking charge of a match. He was replaced by Scotsman John McMillan, the club's first non-English manager.

The next significant manager of Gillingham was Archie Clark, under whose management the club returned to the Football League in 1950, having been voted out in 1938. Freddie Cox was the first manager to win a major trophy with Gillingham, taking the Football League Fourth Division championship in the 1963–64 season. Under his successor, Basil Hayward, the club was relegated back to the Fourth Division in the 1970–71 season, but Andy Nelson led the club to promotion back to Division Three three years later. After the Gills were relegated once again in the 1988–89 season, Tony Pulis managed the club to promotion seven years later. Pulis also took the team to the final of the play-offs for promotion to the second tier of English football in the 1998–99 season. Pulis was sacked immediately after this for gross misconduct, but his successor, Peter Taylor, took the club back to the play-off final the following season, in which victory over Wigan Athletic saw the club promoted to Division One for the first time in its history. Peter Taylor left to join Leicester during the close season and club captain Andy Hessenthaler took over as manager for the club's first, and to date only, stint in the second tier.

After Hessenthaler was dismissed following a poor start to the 2004–05 season, the club saw a number of managers come and go in a relatively short time before Mark Stimson's arrival in 2007. His two and a half-year tenure saw the club promoted back to the third tier via the play-offs, but he was dismissed the following season. Hessenthaler then returned to the club for a period of two years before he was promoted to Director of Football to make way for Martin Allen. Allen became only the second manager to win a trophy with the club, leading the team to the League Two championship in 2013, but he was dismissed a few months into the following season after a poor start, following which another former manager, Peter Taylor, returned to the club.

Managers

Statistics are correct up to 29 April 2024 and include all senior competitive peacetime first-team matches. Minor county competitions such as the Kent Senior Cup and Kent Senior Shield are not included as the club rarely, if ever, fielded its first team.

Name	Nationality	From	To	P	W	D	L	Win%	Honours	Notes
William Groombridge (secretary)	England	18963 June 1896	Late November 1906	416	160	91	165	038.46
Steve Smith	England	1906Late November 1906	Summer 1908	71	20	18	33	028.17
William Groombridge (secretary)	England	1908Summer 1908	Summer 1913	212	75	45	92	035.38
Sam Gilligan	Scotland	1913Summer 1913	Summer 1915	81	22	17	42	027.16
George Collins	England	191928 July 1919	12 May 1920	47	11	10	26	023.40
Robert Brown	England	1920 (1)12 May 1920	9 June 1920	0	0	0	0	!—
Johnny McMillan	Scotland	1920 (2)2 July 1920	3 August 1922	135	42	28	65	031.11
William Groombridge (secretary)	England	19223 August 1922	10 May 1923	44	16	7	21	036.36
Harry Curtis	England	192310 May 1923	30 March 1926	135	45	39	51	033.33
unknown caretaker		1926 (1)30 March 1926	12 April 1926	4	1	2	1	025.00
Bert Hoskins	England	1926 (2)12 April 1926	29 March 1929	127	36	31	60	028.35
unknown caretaker		1929 (1)29 March 1929	7 May 1929	8	1	2	5	012.50
Dick Hendrie	Scotland	1929 (2)7 May 1929	29 December 1931	108	30	22	56	027.78
unknown caretaker		193129 December 1931	18 January 1932	3	3	0	0	100.00
Fred Maven	England	193219 January 1932	25 May 1937	246	80	56	110	032.52
Alan Ure	England	193726 May 1937	16 June 1938	45	11	6	28	024.44
Bill Harvey	England	193811 July 1938	19 July 1939	48	30	7	11	062.50
Archie Clark	England	19392 August 1939	23 November 1957	577	251	128	198	043.50	Southern League champions 1946–47 and 1948–49, Southern League Cup winners 1946–47, Kent League champions 1945–46
Harry Barratt	England	195823 November 1957	4 May 1962	226	82	54	90	036.28
Freddie Cox	England	196213 June 1962	17 December 1965	172	83	42	47	048.26	Fourth Division champions 1963–64
Jimmy Boswell (caretaker)	England	196517 December 1965	4 January 1966	2	2	0	0	100.00
Basil Hayward	England	19664 January 1966	25 May 1971	282	89	80	113	031.56
Andy Nelson	England	197124 June 1971	3 May 1974	151	66	37	48	043.71
Len Ashurst	England	19746 May 1974	15 October 1975	61	23	19	19	037.70
Bill Collins (caretaker)	Northern Ireland	1975 (1)15 October 1975	27 October 1975	3	0	1	2	000.00
Gerry Summers	England	1975 (2)27 October 1975	22 May 1981	292	92	106	94	031.51
Keith Peacock	England	198114 July 1981	29 December 1987	370	161	90	119	043.51
Paul Taylor	England	198729 December 1987	26 October 1988	40	11	8	21	027.50
Bill Collins Damien Richardson (caretakers)	Northern Ireland  Ireland	198826 October 1988	31 October 1988	1	0	0	1	000.00
Keith Burkinshaw	England	198831 October 1988	11 April 1989	32	8	4	20	025.00
Keith Blunt (caretaker)	England	1989 (2)11 April 1989	18 April 1989	1	1	0	0	100.00
Damien Richardson	Ireland	1989 (3)18 April 1989	8 October 1992	173	53	49	71	030.64
Paul Clark (caretaker)	England	1992 (1)8 October 1992	26 October 1992	2	0	0	2	000.00
Glenn Roeder	England	1992 (2)26 October 1992	9 July 1993	37	8	12	17	021.62
Mike Flanagan	England	199312 July 1993	28 February 1995	90	20	27	43	022.22
Neil Smillie (caretaker)	England	1995 (1)28 February	May 1995	10	6	3	1	060.00
Tony Pulis	Wales	1995 (2)29 June 1995	30 June 1999	218	94	62	62	043.12
Peter Taylor	England	19997 July 1999	12 June 2000	62	34	12	16	054.84	Second Division play-off winners 1999–2000
Andy Hessenthaler	England	200029 June 2000	23 November 2004	228	77	54	97	033.77
John Gorman (caretaker)	Scotland	2004 (1)23 November 2004	30 November 2004	1	1	0	0	100.00
Darren Hare Iwan Roberts Paul Smith (caretakers)	England  Wales  England	2004 (2)4 December 2004	7 December 2004	1	0	0	1	000.00
Stan Ternent	England	2004 (3)7 December 2004	15 May 2005	25	7	11	7	028.00
Neale Cooper	Scotland	2005 (1)21 May 2005	15 November 2005	22	7	5	10	031.82
Ronnie Jepson	England	2005 (2)15 November 2005	9 September 2007	87	32	16	39	036.78
Iffy Onuora Mick Docherty (caretakers)	Scotland  England	2007 (1)9 September 2007	8 October 2007	5	2	1	2	040.00
Iffy Onuora (caretaker)	Scotland	2007 (2)8 October 2007	1 November 2007	4	2	2	0	050.00
Mark Stimson	England	2007 (3)1 November 2007	10 May 2010	144	48	41	55	033.33	2009 Football League Two play-off final winners
Andy Hessenthaler	England	2010 (3)21 May 2010	8 May 2012	101	39	29	33	038.61
Martin Allen	England	20125 July 2012	13 October 2013	64	27	17	20	042.19	Football League Two champions 2012–13
Peter Taylor	England	201314 October 2013	31 December 2014	67	23	14	30	034.33
Andy Hessenthaler Steve Lovell Darren Hare Mark Patterson (caretakers)	England  Wales  England  England	201431 December 2014	7 February 2015	8	3	2	3	037.50
Justin Edinburgh	England	20157 February 2015	3 January 2017	102	40	26	36	039.22
Adrian Pennock	England	20174 January 2017	25 September 2017	32	6	11	15	018.75
Peter Taylor (caretaker)	England	201725 September 2017	12 October 2017	4	1	1	2	025.00
Steve Lovell	Wales	201712 October 2017	26 April 2019	92	32	26	34	034.78
Mark Patterson (caretaker)	England	201926 April 2019	4 May 2019	2	1	0	1	050.00
Steve Evans	Scotland	20191 June 2019	9 January 2022	129	41	41	47	031.78
Steve Lovell (caretaker)	Wales	202210 January 2022	31 January 2022	4	0	1	3	000.00
Neil Harris	England	202231 January 2022	5 October 2023	90	31	25	34	034.44
Keith Millen (caretaker)	England	20235 October 2023	1 November 2023	6	2	0	4	033.33
Stephen Clemence	England	20231 November 2023	29 April 2024	34	12	9	13	035.29
Mark Bonner	England	20247 May 2024	present	0	0	0	0	!—