Chairman Paul Scally has yet to make up his mind whether he’s going to quit the Gills.

Mr Scally has been considering his position since the end of last season after receiving a growing amount of abuse.

“I think I am on the fence at the minute,” he said, speaking ahead of his 25th season at the helm.

“I need to see how things pan out over the next couple of months, maybe.

“I took a fairly heavy battering last year and even the most hardened of thick-skinned people would have found that tough to take.

“The manager knows my views, knows where I am and we talk quite frequently. He’s encouraging me to stay for the long term, give him the support for the next year and years ahead. We will just take it one step at a time and see how the season starts.

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“Right now I am happy and I am in a good place, relaxed, and looking forward to the season.”

Gillingham manager Steve Evans is doing his best to persuade him to stay.

Evans said: "He is still not in a great place, I’m still working hard with him to make sure he is 100% on it the way we are.

"I just want him focused with us and if we get that then we will have a good season."

Mr Scally is continuing to look for financial backers to help take the club on to the next level. This week he had guests over from the United Arab Emirates.

Despite the continued interest no major investors have been found, but Mr Scally is keen to shake things up at board level regardless.

“We need to restructure,” he said. “We need to deal with a few issues that have been dragging us back all the time and we will deal with that.

“I am talking to various people, stakeholders and fans and people who care about the club. I had a lot of discussions about where I should go, what I should do and how it could pan out. I need to make decisions.

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“It is not a one-man job any more. It has been for too long.

“I do have Mike Quarrington, who is a very lovely man, a good director, but he is retired and he lives in Guernsey and he is non-executive so he doesn’t have a day-to-day or week-to-week role. He helps when he can.

“For us to take the club where it needs to go, we either need to get investment in or a group of individuals in who are able to contribute, either financially or from a business perspective, because it isn’t a one-man role any more. It is getting too big.”

Asked if he has a successor in mind should he quit, he said: “I haven’t come across them yet. If they are out there they need to come forward.

“I wouldn’t just walk out and leave the club in a mess.

“What worries me also, God forbid, what would happen if I keeled over tomorrow, or got hit by a bus?

“The club shouldn’t be reliant on one person. That is a concern for me and one I have to rectify.”

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