Is Gillingham’s promotion party built to last?

The Shouting Ben on the positives and negatives of the Gills start to the season

Five games in, and Gills are fourth in the table, so our dreams of a promotion party are entirely rational. But to paraphrase Prince, not all promotion parties are meant to last - and with this season’s start approximately replicating last season’s (spoiler: it didn’t end well), will 2024-25 be another case of deja vu? Or will the Galinsons be paraded in celebration in front of the Britannia like a pair of teenagers reluctantly receiving the birthday bumps? Ben Hopkins puts on his optimist’s hat and his much more dog-eared pessimist’s cap to look at the evidence so far.

Celebrations as Gills score their first goal of the season against Carlisle

Positive: The strength of the opposition so far
4-1 home to Carlisle, 0-0 away to Fleetwood and 1-0 home to Chesterfield. That’s seven points from nine from three of the teams with realistic expectations of at least making the play-offs. A 1-0 away to Morecambe also provided a taste of how Gills could triumph with a little persistence (although Morecambe seem to be in the same doom spiral that Gills were in pre-Galinsons), but that strong start hit a bump with defeat at Doncaster. Still, losing away by a single goal to possibly the strongest team in the division isn’t particularly unexpected, especially with an injury list the size of a Toolstation catalogue.

Positive: The depth of the squad
Which leads us onto the next point: the club’s strength-in-depth is the best it has been in years. Injuries have meant that the likes of Conor Masterson, Bradley Dack, Elliott Nevitt, Josh Andrews and Ethan Coleman have barely featured, but the stand-ins - especially perma-sub Robbie McKenzie - have compensated well, with even transfer-listed pair Olly Hawkins and George Lapslie contributing solidly just as their Gills’ chapters seemed to be over. Get everyone fit and there are a plethora of options - perhaps too many if Mark Bonner struggles to identify his strongest lineup.

Negative: with one exception…