Gillingham midfielder Mark Byrne has had a career full of highs and lows.

From being relegated with Barnet, to winning the player of the year and players' player of the year at Newport County - Byrne has been through a lot.

The central midfielder finds himself at the heart of a revival at his current club, with Steve Lovell's Gills currently five games unbeaten in the league, as they sit in 16th spot in the League One table.

Football League World Founder and Chief Editor Sam Rourke managed to catch up with the 29-year-old to talk all things Gillingham, Nottingham Forest, Edgar Davids and more.....

What have you made of the season so far?

Obviously we didn't have the best start to the season, but recently we've really started to look good and are pushing ourselves up the league table.

We had an excellent Christmas, and Lovell is telling us to just go out and win games of football and enjoy yourself.

What impact has Steve Lovell had since taking the top job at Gills?

He's been brilliant with the boys, he tells us to go out and enjoy our football and to take risks. Steve's a top, top guy and it's a real pleasure to work with him.

Has training been any different under Lovell compared to when Pennock was the main man?

Not really, it's pretty similar - Lovell used to take some of the training when Pennock was there. He's just doing a few more tactical drills and has been trying out different formations for games.

He just encourages the boys to go out and enjoy yourself and don't be afraid to make mistakes, and if you make mistakes, it's not the be all and end all.

Is Steve Lovell quite a calm manager in his persona?

Yeah he is, he's a good man to man manager. Ady Pennock was the same. He says at the end of the day, it's a game of football, just go out and play with freedom, don't worry if you make mistakes.

After a great run of form over Christmas and you now in 16th spot, is the plan to continue winning games to push up the table?

That's it, we're going to try push up the table, you never know what can happen. We had a bad start, but we've improved and we just have to take each game as it comes.

Moving onto some more personal questions, what has been the best moment of your career?

Probably getting over to England when I was younger, about 17, I thought I was going to be left late, I went on trials at a number of clubs but I kept getting rejected because I was too small.

I never really had that academy football back in Ireland so to get the chance to come over to England when I was 17, it was a real proud moment.

Obviously Nottingham Forest took you on as your first club in England, what was your experience like there?

I really enjoyed it, Colin Calderwood was the manager there and I made my debut under him. It was a good club, they had a lot of young lads that were getting in and around the team.

I was getting on the bench quite a lot. Unfortunately Calderwood got sacked about a year later, and Billy Davies was appointed and I think I played two games under him.

Then, he got a bit of money and decided to buy some experienced players and that is when I started to go out on loan. It was the right move, I didn't want to be left on the bench at Forest.

What was the lowest moment of your career?

Yeah, when I got relegated with Barnet. We had a bad start to the season, one point after 12 games, then Edgar Davids took charge, we went on a good run, but we ended up getting relegated on goal difference on the last game of the season.

True to form, if we had started well and had Davids been in charge, we would have been in the play-offs. We just left it too late.

What was it like working under a world star like Edgar Davids?

It was a good experience for me, he was a different sort of manager compared to a lot I have worked with.

He was just a winner, everything he did, he just wanted to win.

Whether it was just stuff in the gym or two-touch, or anything on the training pitch, everything had to be perfect for him.

A few humorous questions now, who is the worst dressed at Gills?

Alex Lacey.

Lacey comes in old stuff he's had in the wardrobe for years, really shocking.

Is there anyone that stands out as being the best dressed at Gillingham?

Ummmmmm.

If i'm honest nobody stands out!

Who is the DJ in the Gillingham dressing room?

Josh Parker or Conor Wilkinson.

Final question, who did you look up to as a kid?

For me being Irish, it has to be Roy Keane.

Being a Manchester United fan, I liked Roy Keane and David Beckham, but being Irish and playing central midfield, it had to be Keane.