The team began the season with a 4–0 victory over Scunthorpe United but their form was inconsistent; not until February did they manage to win two consecutive league games.

David Crown was the team's top goalscorer, with 22 in the Fourth Division and 24 in all competitions, not including an expunged goal.

The highest attendance recorded at the club's home ground, Priestfield Stadium, was 7,328, for a game against Brentford in the FA Cup.

[4] His assistant manager was fellow former Gillingham player Ron Hillyard,[5] and Alan Walker was the team captain.

Karl Elsey, a midfielder who had played for Gillingham between 1985 and 1988, returned to the club on a free transfer from fellow Fourth Division team Maidstone United.

[7] Paul Clark, a defender who had played nearly 400 Football League matches, also arrived without a transfer fee, having been released by Southend United of the Second Division.

[13][18] The run included defeats to Wrexham, Blackpool, Crewe Alexandra and Chesterfield,[13] although they were able to hold second-placed Barnet to a 3–3 draw.

[20] Gillingham ended their winless league run on 12 October, beating Halifax Town 3–0; David Crown scored twice.

[13] Two weeks later Crown scored the team's first hat-trick of the season as they beat Northampton Town 3–1 at Priestfield;[13] midfielder Neil Smith, recently signed on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, made his debut.

Gillingham defeated Aldershot 3–1 on 30 November,[25] ending a run of seven games without a win in all competitions,[24] and then drew twice more, against Rotherham United and York City.

[13] The team's final match of 1991 was on 26 December against the same opponents they had faced in the first game of the season, Scunthorpe United;[13] Gillingham lost 2–0,[26] which left them 15th in the league table.

[28] The team beat Walsall 4–0 on 11 January, Crown scoring his second hat-trick of the season, but then conceded four in a defeat to promotion-chasing Burnley.

[33] A week later, defender Richard Green, recently signed on loan from Swindon Town, scored twice on his Gillingham debut as the team defeated Cardiff City 3–2 at Ninian Park.

[34] The team failed to win in the next three games but ended the month with consecutive home victories over Mansfield Town and Wrexham,[13] which took them up to 10th in the league table.

The match at Brentford's Griffin Park stadium ended in a 3–3 draw after Gillingham had trailed 3–1 with less than 20 minutes remaining, necessitating a replay at Priestfield.

[50] Gillingham defeated Maidstone 4–2 in front of a crowd of 2,300, the lowest attendance at Priestfield during the season,[24] to reach the first round.

Clark and Lovell made the most; both players were ever-present during the season, playing in all 51 games, including the two which were expunged following Aldershot's expulsion from the Football League in March.

Branagan made one league appearance in October and Tim Dalton played in one Associate Members' Cup game.

FW = Forward, MF = Midfielder, GK = Goalkeeper, DF = Defender Superscript figures represent appearances and goals in the two games against Aldershot which were expunged when the team was expelled from the Football League.