 In the club 's first match in the newly created Football League Division Three , Gillingham held Southampton to a 1 – 1 draw in front of a new record Priestfield crowd of 11 @,@ 500 , with Tom Gilbey scoring the club 's first goal in league competition . Under new manager John McMillan the team struggled and finished the 1920 – 21 season bottom of the table , and in the years to follow there was little improvement , with the club regularly finishing in the lower reaches of the bottom division . Gillingham did not manage to finish in the top half of the table until 1925 – 26 , when the team finished in 10th place , due mainly to the goals of Dick <unk> , who was promptly signed by Liverpool for a fee of £ 1 @,@ 750 , a new Gillingham record . Manager Harry Curtis departed soon afterwards to take over at Brentford , and former Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Albert Hoskins stepped down a division to manage the club , but he could do little to change the team 's fortunes and left in 1929 after Gillingham finished bottom of the table once again . 
