The highest attendance recorded at the club's home ground, Priestfield Stadium, was 10,595, for a game against promotion rivals Preston North End.

[6][7] In early June, however, shareholders and creditors voted overwhelmingly to accept a takeover bid from Sevenoaks-based businessman Paul Scally, who paid a nominal fee to purchase the club.

[17] Midfielder Dave Martin joined from Bristol City on a free transfer and was immediately installed as the new club captain.

[18] Simon Ratcliffe joined from Brentford,[19] and shortly before the first match of the season, Mark Harris and Dominic Naylor arrived from Swansea City and Plymouth Argyle respectively.

[23] Seven days later Dennis Bailey, who had joined the club from Queens Park Rangers shortly after the opening game,[24] made his league debut and scored in a 3–0 win over Lincoln City.

[25] The winning run came to an end with a defeat by Colchester United on 2 September and in the next two games the team only managed two draws and dropped to second place in the table.

[30] After this result, Gillingham were three points clear of second-placed Preston North End and had conceded only five goals in thirteen matches, fewer than half the number allowed by any other team in the division.

[17] The scheduled game against Chester City on 9 December was postponed,[36] allowing Preston North End to move above Gillingham into second place on goal difference.

[37] The team played away to Preston on 23 December in front of a crowd of 10,682, the largest attendance of the season for any match involving Gillingham.

[39] Against Chester, Steve Butler, who had joined the club from Cambridge United in December,[40] achieved the team's only hat-trick of the season, scoring all three goals in a 3–1 victory in a 17-minute spell.

[30] On 9 March, first-placed Gillingham drew 1–1 at home to second-placed Preston; the crowd of 10,595 was the largest attendance of the season at Priestfield Stadium.

[23] During the following week, with the team having only scored one goal in five games, Pulis bolstered his attacking options by signing striker John Gayle on loan from Stoke City.

[23] The next game resulted in a 2–0 defeat to Rochdale, after which Gillingham fell to second place in the table and were overtaken by Preston, who would go on to remain atop the division for the rest of the season.

[48] After an unbeaten run of six games following the defeat to Rochdale, Gillingham went into the penultimate match of the season away to Fulham knowing that victory would clinch promotion to the Second Division.

Although the match ended in a 0–0 draw, third-placed Bury's failure to defeat Exeter City meant that promotion was still confirmed.

[51] In March, Keith Pike of The Times had characterised the Gillingham team as "an army of six-footers able to belt the ball into orbit and tackle themselves into a frenzy" and stated that their approach to the game was effective but unattractive to watch and had "no craft, no flair, no guile".

Gillingham finished the game with nine players after both Neil Smith and Martin were sent off and Pulis was also ejected from the technical area for arguing with the referee.

Stannard made the most appearances of any Gillingham player during the season; he played in 53 of the team's 54 matches, missing only one game in the Football League Trophy.

Chairman Scally registered himself as a player towards the end of the season in the hope that, if the club had already secured promotion, he would be able to play in the final game and thereby win a bet with friends, but Pulis refused to select him.

[66][67] FW = Forward, MF = Midfielder, GK = Goalkeeper, DF = Defender The club's players and officials celebrated promotion with an open-top bus parade through the streets of Rochester, Chatham, and Gillingham.

Martin, who had captained the team to promotion, and Naylor both left the club after a single season and joined Leyton Orient.