August–December

Gillingham's first two matches of the season were both at home to teams from the city of Bradford. The first took place on 24 August against Bradford (Park Avenue); Gordon Pulley scored Gillingham's first goal of the season and Brian Gibbs added a second to give the team a 2–0 victory.^[11] Four days later, the team drew 0–0 with Bradford City; Gillingham were the only team in the Football League to concede no goals in their first two games of the season.^[12] The game against Bradford City was the first of three consecutive draws for Gillingham in Fourth Division games as they were also held by Southport and Exeter City.^[11] Following a win away to Bradford City and a draw away to Hartlepools United, Gillingham beat Lincoln City 1–0 on 18 September to go top of the league table on goal average.^[11][13] Hudson scored the winner, the only goal he scored in more than 300 Football League matches.^[14][15] At this point Gillingham had conceded only one goal in seven Fourth Division games.^[13][16] The team concluded September with a victory over Darlington and a draw against Tranmere Rovers.^[11]

Gillingham began October with four consecutive victories, defeating Lincoln, Halifax Town, Carlisle United, and Doncaster Rovers. George Francis scored five goals in three games at the start of the month.^[11] After 13 consecutive Fourth Division games without defeat, Gillingham lost for the first time on 15 October when they were beaten 3–1 by Carlisle; they were the final team in the Football League's four divisions to lose a game during the 1963–64 season.^[17][18] The team won their next two matches without conceding a goal, but then lost two consecutive games without scoring one.^[11] Despite the two defeats, Gillingham remained top of the Fourth Division at the end of October, one point ahead of Carlisle.^[19] Gibbs was the team's top league goalscorer at this point in the season, his four goals in the month taking his total to eight.^[11]

Gillingham won three out of four matches in November and remained top of the division.^[11][20] Gibbs scored five goals in three games, including two in a 3–1 win at home to Workington, the first time the team had scored more than twice in a game at Priestfield during the season so far.^[11] On 21 December the team topped this performance by winning 5–1 at home to Southport, their biggest win of the entire season. Ron Newman scored three times, the team's only hat-trick of the season.^[11][21] Gillingham's final two matches of 1963 were both against Chesterfield. On 26 December Pulley scored twice as Gillingham won 3–0 at their opponents' Saltergate stadium, and two days later Gillingham won 1–0 at Priestfield with Gibbs scoring the only goal, his 14th Fourth Division goal of the season.^[11] Gillingham finished the year top of the Fourth Division, one point ahead of second-placed Carlisle. They had conceded only 15 goals, the best defensive record in the division; only four other teams in the Fourth Division had conceded fewer than 30.^[22]

January–May

Gillingham's first two games of 1964 both resulted in goalless draws, at home to Rochdale and away to Exeter,^[11] after which they were still top of the table, one point ahead of Carlisle, although Carlisle had played one fewer game.^[23] On 18 January Gillingham won 2–0 at home to Hartlepools with two goals from Newman, the team's fifth consecutive game without conceding a goal.^[11] After this the team underwent their longest run of the season without a win; they drew the first four games of February and then ended the month by losing 2–1 away to Brighton & Hove Albion, ending a run of ten games without defeat.^[11] During the draw against Doncaster Rovers at Priestfield on 22 February, Cox was barracked by fans unhappy at the team's defensive style of play; he responded by throwing a bucket of water over them, and later told the press "They deserved it. Some people here know nothing about football."^[24] Despite the winless run, Gillingham remained top of the table at the end of February.^[25]

Gillingham beat Chester 2–1 in their first match of March, the team's first win since 18 January. The attendance of 5,274 was the lowest recorded at Priestfield during the season.^[11] The team's next two scheduled games were both postponed,^[26][27] allowing Carlisle to overtake them and top the table at the end of March.^[28] Gillingham's scheduled match against Oxford United on 4 April was also postponed,^[29] and after the matches which did take place on that day the team had slipped to fifth in the table, outside the promotion places.^[30][31] These postponements led to Gillingham being required to play eight games in just over three weeks at the end of the season, beginning with a 3–1 win at home to Barrow on 8 April.^[11] The result took the team back up to second place in the table, one point behind Carlisle,^[32] but Gillingham then only won one of their next four games to slip to fourth, the lowest position which would result in promotion, although they did have the advantage of having more games still to play than all the other teams in the top half of the table.^[11][30][33]

On 25 April, Gillingham lost 2–1 away to Rochdale, but Bradford City's defeat to York City later on the same day meant that Gillingham remained in fourth place, ahead of fifth-placed Bradford on goal average.^[34][35] As Bradford had now played their final game of the season, Gillingham were effectively promoted, as they could only drop below Bradford if they lost both their remaining games and conceded at least 17 goals in the process, an implausible scenario.^[36] A 1–0 victory two days later away to York guaranteed that Gillingham would be promoted.^[37] Gillingham's last match of the season was away to Newport County on 30 April. Before the match, Gillingham were two points behind league leaders Carlisle, who had already played their final game of the season. A win for Gillingham would mean that they would end the season level on points with Carlisle and the championship would go to the team with the better goal average.^[38][39] A goal from Francis gave Gillingham a 1–0 victory and meant that they won the Fourth Division championship as their goal average of 1.967 was superior to Carlisle's 1.948.^[40][41] It was the first Football League divisional championship the club had won as well as the first time the club had won promotion to a higher division in 32 seasons in the League.^[4]

Match details

Key

Results^[11]

Partial league table

FA Cup

As a Fourth Division club, Gillingham entered the 1963–64 FA Cup in the first round; they were beaten 4–1 by Queens Park Rangers of the Third Division.^[30][43]

Football League Cup

Gillingham entered the 1963–64 Football League Cup at the first round stage and were drawn to play Bristol City of the Third Division.^[30] Peter Stringfellow scored twice, his only goals of the season, in a 4–2 win for Gillingham.^[11][44] In the second round, Gillingham played at home to Bury of the Second Division; despite playing a team from two divisions higher, Gillingham won 3–0.^[30][45] Their third round opponents were Bristol Rovers of the Third Division;^[30] the initial match at Eastville Stadium in Bristol ended in a 1–1 draw, necessitating a replay at Priestfield, which Gillingham won 3–1 to reach the fourth round (last 16) of the competition.^[46] Their opponents at this stage were Leicester City of the First Division, the highest level of English football.^[30] Playing at their opponents' Filbert Street stadium, Gillingham lost 4–1 and were eliminated from the competition. Although Leicester were missing five regular starters, the correspondent from the Daily Herald noted that they "made rings round Gillingham's defence".^[47]