How are Carlisle United's opponents Gillingham shaping up?

Here’s a rundown of the Gills’ build-up to 2024/25, and what else the Blues can expect.

FRIENDLIES

While Carlisle United’s friendlies produced a mixed bag of results, Gillingham head into 2024/25 having yet to be beaten since last season.

Mark Bonner’s side have faced sides from the Championship and non-league and returned three wins and two draws.

They opened up with a goalless draw at home to Millwall on July 13 and, a week later, defeated Watford at Priestfield thanks to goals from then trialist Euan Williams - who has since joined permanently - and Jack Nolan.

A midweek trip to Dartford brought a 4-0 win with two goals apiece for Jayden Clarke and Harry Bridle, and then the Gills defeated Southend United 3-1 at Roots Hall thanks to Nolan, Clarke and Marcus Wyllie.

Summer signing Jack Nolan has been among the goals in Gillingham's pre-season (Image: PA)

Their final pre-season outing came at Woking, where Bonner’s side were held to a 1-1 draw and Jacob Wakeling on target for the visitors.

Gillingham also reportedly defeated a Southampton Under-21 side in a training ground encounter.

It all means that the last time they experienced defeat was on the penultimate day of last season, with their 2-1 defeat at Mansfield.

At home, the Gills’ last defeat came on January 6, when they were beaten by Sheffield United in the FA Cup. In the league, they’re unbeaten at Priestfield since Boxing Day last year; a 2-0 defeat to promotion-bound Crawley Town.

INS AND OUTS

Top of the list is Bonner, the former Cambridge United manager, who was appointed very early in the close-season.

Bonner is the permanent replacement for Stephen Clemence after he was sacked at the end of the campaign, having replaced Millwall-bound Neil Harris (Clemence, incidentally, is the new Barrow boss).

Bonner’s backroom team has also seen new arrivals, with Anthony Hayes leaving Sunderland to become assistant manager, and Peter Gill departing Charlton Athletic to be first-team coach. Deren Ibrahim has been retained as goalkeeping coach.

On the pitch, there have been some notable additions.

In attack, Elliott Nevitt has arrived as a now relatively experienced League Two frontman, having previously been with Tranmere Rovers and Crewe Alexandra, scoring 18 goals for the Railwaymen last season.

Elliott Nevitt has joined the Gills from last season's play-off finalists Crewe (Image: PA)

He is joined up front by the recent signing of Jacob Wakeling, the ex-Swindon Town and Barrow man who has joined on loan from Peterborough United. He scored against Carlisle for Swindon early in the 2022/23 campaign.

Another goalscorer to join the Gills is the non-league marksman Marcus Wyllie, who was prolific for Enfield Town, scoring 34 times in 49 game as Enfield won promotion to National League South.

Their midfield ranks are bolstered by Armani Little, a key man for AFC Wimbledon last season, while Jack Nolan’s arrival from Accrington Stanley sees a man who contributed 17 goals last season adding to the Gills’ threat.

Another wide man, Aaron Rowe, has joined from Huddersfield Town permanently, after a series of loan moves, latterly with Crewe, while yesterday they sealed the signing of former Charlton Athletic midfielder Euan Williams after a pre-season trial spell.

There has also been pre-season intrigue surrounding talks with former Gills star Bradley Dack.

Of the new arrivals, Nevitt and Little have been sidelined with injury recently, with Ethan Coleman and Josh Andrews also working their way back to fitness.

Of those to leave Priestfield, the ex-Carlisle striker Ashley Nadesan has departed on loan, joining Jayden Harris at Sutton United. Veteran midfielder Shaun Williams, who scored a late winner in Gills’ previous meeting with United in 2023, while a key midfield man, Dom Jefferies, turned down the chance to stay and is now at Lincoln City.

Left-back Scott Malone has joined Crawley Town while well-travelled frontman Macaulay Bonne has also moved on, likewise a younger face in Kieron Agbebi, who has joined Dover Athletic.

The latter left along with fellow rookie pros such as Ike Orji, Matty Macarthur, Ronald Sithole, Josh Chambers and Nathan Harvey.

Nadesan and Malone were among four players Gillingham made available for transfer at the end of 2023/24 but the other two – attacking midfielder George Lapslie and striker Oli Hawkins – are still part of the squad.

WHAT’S THE MANAGER SAYING?

This is Bonner’s second managerial role after his long and respected stint at Cambridge, which came to an end last November.

The 38-year-old signed a two-year deal in May and is targeting success at Priestfield, where they last hosted League One football in 2021/22.

It has been a varied pre-season in terms of opposition but Bonner was satisfied with the kind of test they got from Woking in their final warm-up game.

It was “much more like the type of game we will play in the league,” he told Kent Online.

Mark Bonner (Image: PA)

“There [were] loads of restarts, loads of goal-kicks, loads of throw-ins, much more reflective of what a league game looks like – and more of a direct game.

“It was good to face that challenge ahead of next weekend and then work out, ‘How do we not get disconnected? How do we make sure we are closer together, more aggressive in certain moments, that it’s not as easy for them to get to our box and create chances?’

“It was too easy in moments. We had splatterings of good play and not enough of them.”

UNITED’S RECORD AT GILLINGHAM

Hmm. Can we gloss over this one?

Carlisle’s last win at Priestfield came in January 1999, but that wasn’t against Gillingham – it was a 3-1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion when the Seagulls were groundsharing.

Against Gillingham, Carlisle haven’t won there since New Year’s Eve 1994, when Dean Walling headed the only goal.

Since then it’s been seven winless trips, four defeats and three draws, and just a single goal scored by United – that’s a round trip of 4,672 miles, roughly the equivalent of London to Kazakhstan just to see Danny Grainger score a penalty (2017).

Danny Grainger, right: United's only goalscorer at Gillingham in seven visits (Image: Barbara Abbott)

In total, Carlisle have four away wins at Gillingham, nine draws and 13 defeats.

Certain notable/notorious trips include the 1-0 defeat in February 1998 which proved the solitary United appearance for Cameroon midfielder Jean-Claude Pagal (who kindly watered the pitch while he was there), while 1973 saw Chris Balderstone hospitalised after a nasty clash of heads during a 2-1 League Cup victory.

Then there was 2006’s 2-0 loss, preceded by new Blues loan striker Jermaine Beckford predicting that United were “gonna pound them”. That game proved the solitary outing for the reissued ‘deckchair’ away strip.

A happier occasion came in the otherwise bleak season of 1991/92, when Carlisle sniffed out a 2-1 victory through the splendidly-named goalscoring pair of Holmes (Mick) and Watson (Andy)...

And, speaking of Gillingham, supporters of a certain vintage also recall the fact it's now 60 years since the Kent club pipped United to the Fourth Division title despite Carlisle, level on points, smashing a record 113 goals in their 46 games. The Gills, who only scored 60, took the 1963/64 crown with a goal average of 1.967, compared with United's 1.948, as the Blues went up in second place (followed by Workington Reds in third).

We'd probably settle for it being that tight at the top of the fourth tier this time...

ANY BLUES LINKS?

Not many, although there is one familiar face on the Gillingham staff: Paul Simpson’s predecessor, no less.

Keith Millen’s next role after being sacked by Carlisle in February 2022 was at Gillingham as their head of academy coaching.

He stepped into the caretaker manager’s chair for a spell last season after Harris’s departure, before reverting to his original role.

Max Ehmer was at United in 2013/14 (Image: News & Star)

On the pitch, striker Nadesan, who had two Carlisle loan spells in 2018, is on the books, but now away on loan, but still in the home defence is Max Ehmer, a long-serving figure at Priestfield who had a loan at United from QPR in 2013/14.

He’s made 400 appearances for the club since 2014, a season with Bristol Rovers in 2020/21 the only break to his time at Priestfield over the last decade.