League Two high-flyers Gillingham have confirmed via a fan forum that Paul Damien Phillip Scally has been removed as a director of Gillingham Football Club.

Owner of the club, Brad Galinson, read out a statement announcing the decision last night. However, Galinson made it very clear that he couldn’t go into further detail due to legal restrictions. Still, the fans erupted into applause when they heard the news, but why?

Galinson said during the forum: “Mr Scally was removed as a director today, both at the football club and at GFC Holdings.” GFC Holdings is the investment management company behind Gillingham FC.

Although he implied he’d love to go into details, he bit his tongue, after receiving legal advice on the situation.

“It actually hurts the club if we say the wrong thing, or too much.

“After we became involved at the club a number of matters, in relation to Mr Scally’s conduct, came to light. These included: his conduct as a senior member of the club’s management, his treatment of club staff, and his management of club assets.

“As a result of an investigation, the club concluded that Mr Scally had acted in a way that has breached his duties as a director.”

FOOTBALL #Gills owner Brad Galinson confirms former owner/Chairman Paul Scally has been removed from the club's board after a vote by shareholders.

🔵 The Galinsons bought a majority shareholding from Mr Scally in 2022, ending a tenure of 27 years in charge of the club. pic.twitter.com/qlPIce4nKv

— BBC Sport Kent (@BBCKentSport) October 10, 2024

Scally has been in charge of the club for the last 29 years, since buying a majority stake in the club back in 1995. However, he sold his ownership of the club to Galinson in 2022 due to financial issues, and continued to work for the club as a non-executive director.

The decision immediately cuts any ties between the club and Scally.

So what is Paul Scally’s history at Gillingham? What do we know about this situation?

Paul Scally: A Knight in Shining Armour?

Cast your mind back 29 years ago to 1995, Gillingham had faced a decade of financial turmoil, and the club was in bits. The club had entered administration, and finished 19th in England’s fourth tier, narrowly avoiding relegation.

Tony Smith had bought the club just seven years prior, and injected £1 million of his own assets in order to keep the day-to-day running of the club, but still in 1993 financial reports the Gills found their accounts offset by £2 million.

It was clear that the club needed saving, in order to save money the Administrators from Kidson Impey (now known as HLB International) had already sacked Mike Flanagan, who was managing at the time.

The Gills had been forced to play out the season with Neil Smillie as player-manager, and things were looking bleak.

Until, of course, Paul Scally rocked up. A man who lined his pockets via the sale of his company Metronome, who sold and serviced photocopiers. Scally purchased the club for just £1, a bit of a rip off given the debts he inherited!

🗞️ | #OnThisDay in 1995 Paul Scally officially became the Chairman of Gillingham Football Club.

Congratulations to the Chairman on reaching 25 years in charge! 👏👏 #Gills pic.twitter.com/aW1LPLkyyX

— Gillingham FC (@TheGillsFC) June 29, 2020

That being said, Scally did exactly as he intended. Thanks to a Company Voluntary Agreement, or CVA, Gillingham’s debts were dwarfed. It was because of this, and only this, that Gillingham still exist to this day.

Staff would have been made redundant, players made free agents, and fans would be left distraught. Yet, thanks to Paul Scally, they’re still here.

That was just the beginning of Scally’s journey at Gillingham filled with highs and lows, which crescendo’s with our current situation, where the man who once saved Gillingham can no longer step foot in the stadium he built.

Brad and Shannon Galinson: Architects of Change

Opinions on Paul Scally today couldn’t be a starker contrast, with a man who was once hailed as a saviour, ending his tenure with Gillingham as a villain.

Culminating in last week's fan forum, the fanbase has done a complete u-turn on Paul Scally, seemingly as a result of his own actions.

Whilst the club endured it’s golden years under Scally’s ownership, we’ll have to go back a few years to see stormy clouds begin to form around the Priestfield Stadium. The club had sank once again to the foot of the English Football League, until yet another saviour rescued Gillingham.

Brad Galinson, a wealthy American, saw potential in the club despite being nailed to the foot of the fourth division. In December 2022, he bought Paul Scally’s majority stake of the Kent club.

It’s clear to see why Galinson saw Gillingham as a promising investment, they owned their ground, and remain the only EFL club hailing from Kent thus providing a much larger fanbase than other sides in their position.

The real estate expert disregards all stereotypes of American ownership in football, he’s a football purist, and runs far cry operating compared to the money-making schemes apparent in the Premier League.

Popular YouTuber and X user, Matt GillsInTheBlood, sat down for an exclusive interview with Football Park. Whilst we’d planned to speak about Paul Scally, I couldn’t help but rake his thoughts on the the start of the Galinson era.

“In terms of the Galinsons, they’ve done an absolutely brilliant job since arriving nearly two years ago now, they’ve been a breath of fresh air. What they did really well, was that they researched the Football Club and what it stood for, and it what it’s community stood for before taking over.

“They realised what was vital to the community, they’ve managed to get back loads of local companies who had stepped away from sponsoring the football club.

“Off the field everything is absolutely spot on; and now it’s up to Mark Bonner, his staff and his players to make sure that the success off the pitch can hopefully be matched by success on it.”

Along with his wife Shannon, Brad has fallen in love with his club, and the Galinsons have treated Gillingham like their child. Meticulously, the two have rebuilt the once Championship side, and made it clear their goals to reinstate their place in the second tier.

Despite buying Scally’s majority, Galinson actually convinced the former owner to stay on at the club as a non-executive director.

But it was the Galinsons who made all the right moves, both on and off the pitch. Although Scally had been the one to appoint former Cardiff boss Neil Harris, who had the club occupying top spot of League Two for a period in the 2022/23 season. The Galinson's were who stocked his squad with quality individuals, like Scott Malone, who had played under Harris at Millwall.

Not only that, but the highly experienced Kenny Jacket was brought in as director of football, a spot which he occupies to this day. His know-how has been invaluable for the Gills, who are now pushing for promotion to League One. Mark Bonner, who proved his quality at Cambridge United, now manages the Gills in their charge up the EFL.

Whilst appointments like Harris and signings like Malone departing, there is one thing that has remained during the Galinson era, the willingness to spend to assist the clubs development. Wages from the playing squad to behind the scenes staff increased, which couldn’t have been more vital.

The Galisons have revamped the club from top to bottom, also focusing on quality of life improvements at Priestfield. New LED advertising boards were purchased, the club shop given new life, and the training ground modernised. Gillingham really feel like a modern EFL club, which couldn’t be more different to the dull out-dated side they had become under Scally.

But by far the most important change made was the promotion of Joe Comper, who ditched his duties as head of commercial to become director of operations. Under Comper’s leadership, the club is in it’s most promising position of recent years.

Coming from the clubs own website, it’s stated that Comper was responsible for: Season ticket sales being at the highest in the Club’s history, the Commercial team tripling sponsorship and advertising revenue, and the Club making fierce strides in the area of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.”

1 year ago today these two took over The Gills. It’s still not perfect, but my word it’s in a better place than it was because of them. They are remarkable people.

Stick together. Rome wasn’t built in a day.#Gills pic.twitter.com/R3Na0viIqR

— Joe Comper (@JoeComper) December 23, 2023

Scally’s Downfall: Pantomime Villainy:

With Scally remaining a director at the club during all these positive changes, it might be hard to see where it all went wrong for Scally.

However, it appears that Scally’s conduct behind the scenes was disastrous for him, and it’s hard to know just how long these problems had been occurring. Whilst Galinson is forced into silence for the sake of protecting the club, it’s clear that he and his wife are appalled by the actions of Scally, whatever they may have been.

I’m sure it will come to light in the near future, but right now we can only take Galinson, and the rest of the Gillingham board’s votes as an indication for how bad things are behind the scenes.

The bad taste that Galinson appears to have in his mouth is clearly reciprocated by fans, who burst into applause following the announcement of Scally’s eviction from the club.

Plenty of fans took to twitter to voice their opinions, and it couldn’t be clearer how they all feel.

Paul Scally was involved in Gillingham for my whole life, only got to hear stories throughout the years of how he treated staff, players & handling his business to know what type of man he is. Good riddance. Great day for the club. #Gills

— LH (@louishart_) October 10, 2024

So when Scally agreed to an exclusive interview with The Mirror, it’s not a surprise fans weren’t too pleased with his retelling of his treatment.

Regrettable interview by Paul Scally. Tremendous own goal by him. It will simply just reinforce many fans' dislike of him. And strengthen the fans' like of the Galinsons. Unfortunately, he cannot let go & portrays himself as incredibly bitter. Nobody buys into his victim defence.

— Nicholas Coote (@NicholasCoote1) October 8, 2024

In the aforementioned interview with The Mirror, Scally commented on his situation: “They’ve told me I’m not welcome. I came to the club because I love football not because I want to make money. It’s my life. I’ve been at the club for more than half my working life. It’s a really bad situation.

“I haven’t been to a game this season. I’ve been completely isolated from the club. It feels they’re trying to destroy me. I had a meeting with Brad in April which turned into a bit of an argument. That was the last time we had a proper conversation.

“If Brad Galinson doesn’t want me around the club, why not just come to me and sort it out? Instead, I’ve been banned from all official areas of the club and it’s very hurtful. My email account has been blocked and staff have been told they are not allowed to talk to me. The biggest problem is how much I miss the football.”

It’s clear to see that Scally thinks he’s been wronged by the Galinson’s, and Gillingham football club. Whilst they fell abruptly during the final years of his ownership, he did achieve a lot there. That being said, due to the hushed nature of his behind the scenes conduct, it appears there is no one to blame but himself for his eviction.

Matt feels similarly to the majority of the Gillingham fanbase. Whilst he respects what Scally has done in the past, he thinks the interview with The Mirror reflects exactly why its time for Scally to leave.

“I think now was probably the right time for Paul Scally to move on. I said at the time of the takeover from the Galinsons, in December 2022, that it was the right call to keep him on. He’s got vast experience of running a football club in England, and vast experience of the Football League.

“Unfortunately, his actions in the intervening two years is of a man that seems desperate to stay in the spotlight.

“He’s come out and said he’s going to take us to court, he’s gone to the Daily Mirror to play the victim card.

“He must be the most unfortunate businessman in football, because it seems that everyone he encounters is a horrible person who does him ill.

“People can make their own decisions on that.”

Whilst he says now that it’s time for Paul Scally to leave, it’s not always been his view. What is important to all of the Gillingham fanbase is the club succeeding.

“I was always asked for years and years, was I Scally in or Scally out? I always said that I just wanted Gillingham Football Club to be the best version of itself. Whether that was with Paul Scally in charge, with investment from other minority stakeholders; whether that was with Paul Scally selling up completely or selling a majority stake like he did to Brad and Shannon Galinson, then I was all for it.

“He’s constantly blaming fans for stuff. Don’t get me wrong, if there’s personal abuse or personal attacks then that’s uncalled for, but I think Paul Scally needs to look at himself as well as others. I cannot reiterate enough, it’s time for him to go.”

Was Scally’s Tenure Really All Bad?

Disregarding current opinion on Scally, and focusing solely on football, it’s difficult to argue that Paul Scally didn’t have his moments while he owned Gillingham. Whilst he’s now left the club a villain, it’s difficult to remember the times he was hailed as a hero.

There were, of course, just as many low points along the way. Scally left the club in a very similar position to the state he purchased it in, which isn’t great progress for a 27-year stint as majority owner.

Promotion in 1995/96 - Positive

Immediately after Scally’s takeover, he appointed Tony Pulis as manager. The move paid off for everyone involved, and Gillingham finished second in the fourth tier, gaining promotion.

1999 Play-off Final - Negative

Gillingham, still under the management of Tony Pulis, reached the third-tier play-off final in 1999. They appeared to be cruising to a 2-0 victory against Manchester City, until two late goals saw the game head to a penalty shootout, which they lost 3-1. That wasn’t Scally’s fault, of course, but further problems occurred after the game.

Tony Pulis was relieved of his duties almost immediately after the game, with differing reports of ‘gross misconduct’ and ‘an argument with Scally’. In an article from the Guardian, it appears this disagreement stemmed from Pulis bringing to light a financial discrepancy from a match against Wycombe Wanderers.

Pulis claimed he was owed almost £200,000 by the club, and simply was suggesting he hadn’t been paid because the club was in financial trouble, whilst Scally claimed the manager tried to blackmail him with these documents.

Whilst we may never know the true nature of this ‘disagreement’, it’s clear that a financial discrepancy did take place under Scally’s ownership.

Revival of the Priestfield - Positive

After Scally’s arrival in 1995, work almost immediately began on rejuvenating the clubs tired ground.

Three stands were demolished and rebuilt within the first five years of his ownership, and the club was better off for it. Housing over 11,000 seated fans, the stadium is much larger than those in similar positions to Gillingham were.

Sadly, the fourth stand that was demolished proved too expensive to rebuild, and a temporary stand remains in place until this day at Priestfield.

2000 Play-off Final - Positive

This time around, Gillingham did it. Under Paul Scally’s ownership, and Peter Taylor’s management, the Gills beat Wigan Athletic in extra time at Wembley.

The club that Scally purchased for just £1 five years prior, now played in the second tier of English football, and things had never been more positive.

They spent five seasons running in the second tier, and unfortunately were then relegated back to the third tier.

Relegation, Relegation, Promotion, and Relegation once more - Negative

Following their drop from England’s second tier, Gillingham wallowed in the Second Division for a few years, before again dropping off to the fourth tier of English football.

Immediate promotion followed, which was then followed by…

Immediate relegation. From that point onward, Gills remained in League Two, sliding down the League table. A transfer embargo followed, and Gillingham was run on a one-in one-out basis. Until of course the Galinson’s bought up Scally’s shares, bringing us back up to the events which saw Scally removed from the board of directors.