Gillingham are bottom of League 2 at Christmas - but does that mean they are doomed to relegation?

Recent history is hardly on their side but the omens are not as bad as it seems if you look back over the past decade.

It’s been a shocking return of points for goalshy Gills, who with just six goals to their name will sit down for their roast turkey and Brussel sprouts with only 14 points from 20 games in League 2.

Indeed, it’s only down to their relatively tight defence that they are still in touch with the teams immediately above them - just one point separates the bottom four - and Gills know victory on Boxing Day will guarantee lifting them off bottom and could even see them reach the heady heights of 21st place.

So, what has been the fate of the side sat rock bottom of the Football League when Father Christmas hands out his presents? It’s good and bad news for Gills fans.

Starting with the bad news, the team that has spent Christmas at the bottom of the tree in each of the past three seasons has finished the campaign in the relegation zone (albeit Stevenage were reprieved in their case).

Last year was terminal for both Oldham and Scunthorpe, the Christmas bottom two, who never recovered from a miserable start to the campaign with off-field issues playing arguably an equally big role to their failures once they were over the white line. Gills fans will see their current struggles in the National League as a warning to the potential dangers of dropping into the non-league circuit.

The same could be levelled at Southend in 2020/21. Their return of 13 points from 18 games put them on the backfoot and they never looked like making up the ground and remain in the National League.

As for the good news. Only Dagenham in the 2015/16 season of the remaining campaigns in the past decade have been bottom at Christmas and still finished in the relegation zone - everyone else has steered clear of danger.

While four of the teams sat in the drop zone at Christmas in the past three seasons have finished there, only four teams in the previous seven campaigns have been relegated, so it’s not mission impossible just yet for the Gills.

Their chances will, of course, be improved if they can strengthen the squad in the January transfer window. It's a whole new ball game thanks to what many Gills fans will consider an early Christmas present with Brad Galinson completing his takeover of the club on Friday. But time will tell if they can get the deals over the line, and the new arrivals won’t have too long to settle as they will need to deliver pretty quickly to turn the season around.

New faces are on the horizon in the transfer window so the recent wintry weather has been a ray of sunshine for Gills boss Neil Harris, whose team was last in League 2 action against Salford on December 3.

Since then, fixtures with Bradford and Stockport have been postponed and FA Cup progress means that the home league game with Crewe in early January has already been delayed. If Gills can find the right players with their fresh investment, then there is the potential that a ‘new-look’ Gillingham side will take the field for those matches, another factor that should improve their chances of avoiding the drop.

So while Christmas present doesn’t look great in terms of the league table at the moment, a morale-boosting win on Boxing Day and some fresh-faced arrivals could yet see Gillingham added to the list of clubs who sat bottom of League 2 on Christmas Day - and stayed up. Here’s hoping!