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WONDERS OF THE PYRAMID: Gillingham continue to set the pace in League Two… PLUS Norwich fan overcomes trolls to raise £55,000 for cancer charity

• Gillingham were reeling at 92nd of 92 in the Football League eight months ago
• They are now top of League Two after four 1-0 wins in a row to start the season
• WATCH: ‘It’s All Kicking Off’ – Episode 2 – Mail Sport’s brand new football show

• It was a chilly January lunchtime earlier this year when former winners Leicester came to Gillingham for an FA Cup tie.

  Kent’s only Football League club welcomed a full house that day and while the Foxes might think they were the VIP guests, there was another star attraction.

  Just before the players took to the pitch at Priestfield, new owner Brad Galinson, the Florida-based real-estate mogul, did a lap of the stadium with his wife and sons after he completed a takeover to end 27 years of turbulent stewardship under Paul Scally.

• That FA Cup clash, in which Leicester narrowly edged in front of the television cameras, provided a means of escapism for Gillingham fans. After being relegated from League One the season before, Neil Harris’s team entered the year staring down the barrel of abyss.

  Gills were 92nd of 92 in the Football League, bottom of League Two with just seven goals and two wins to their name after 23 matches. After decades of mismanagement at board level, it felt like this club were tapdancing dangerously over the non-League trapdoor.

  Since then, though, Gillingham have begun living their own American dream. Galinson might not have the Hollywood status of Rob McElhenney or Ryan Reynolds at Wrexham, though Mail Sport understands he was approached by television producers for a fly-on-the-wall docuseries.

  The American declined, instead wanting to focus on the team’s survival bid and not be distracted by producers. After amassing 14 points in the first 23 games, Gills took 41 points from the final 23 matches. They finished 12 points clear of relegation, just three adrift of the top half.

  ‘It’s no secret that the last few months have been difficult,’ said Harris on that day in January. ‘It’s been the worst time of my management career by far. Our Football League status is on the line. I am proud of the team and proud of the football club today.

  ‘Today we saw the link between the terraces and the pitch. That’s what I came here to do. Hopefully this is a new era with the owner and appointments. It’s a mega start. We have to embrace change because this football club is moving forward and in the right direction.’

  After four games, Gillingham are top of League Two and now bookmakers’ favourites to win the title. That might be an overreaction but they will certainly be up there. Some fans have jokingly called them ‘One-nil-ingham’ as every match so far has ended in a 1-0 victory.

  They’re the first team in English league history to win their first four games of a campaign by the same scoreline, and the second in history to win 1-0 in five straight games – they ended last season with that result, too – after Everton in autumn 2002. No team has ever done so in six.

  

  Seventeen players have joined the club under Galinson – rival fans will accuse them of spending big but most have been free transfers or low-cost deals – and the standout names are Tom Nichols and Ashley Nadesan, both poached from Crawley, plus Jonny ‘Jonnyiesta’ Williams.

  As well as key on-pitch acquisitions, there have also been a few wise appointments in other departments. Kenny Jackett joined as director of football and Andy Hessenthaler now heads up the recruitment team.

  But Harris deserves all of the credit for this turnaround. He inherited a sinking ship in League One and off-the-pitch turmoil could have easily seen him walk away. The former Millwall and Cardiff boss stayed on and is now seeing dividends.

  Gillingham, of course, are not the only Football League club in a positive patch thanks to American owners. Last season saw Burnley, Ipswich, Leyton Orient and Wrexham all promoted – all four clubs have US-based stakeholders.

  While Galinson and family might not get the newspaper inches of Wrexham’s owners – the Welsh club have 455,000 more followers on X (Twitter), for example – he is quietly going about some fine business and has the club only looking up.

  In a witty BBC sketch earlier this year, comedian Joe Wilkinson joked: ‘What can I tell you about Gillingham? David Frost went to school here apparently, there’s a famous dockyard… oh, there’s a cracking skating rig near where my brother lives.’

  Now, after nearly three decades in the mire under Scally’s turbulent ownership, Wilkinson might add that the town boasts a football club to be proud of again – and one only heading in one direction. Welcome to Gillingham

  Norwich fan overcomes trolls to raise £55,000