Gillingham appointed Neil Harris as their new boss midway through the League One campaign last time out in a bid to try and help them steer clear of the drop.

Whilst the side ultimately came close to an escape, it may have been too little too late. The Gills were eventually demoted down to League Two on goal difference whilst Fleetwood stayed up and they will now have to prepare for life as a fourth tier outfit.

Neil Harris will have plenty of work to do this summer now in order to get his side straight back up. The boss has plenty of experience in the Football League and success much higher up the football pyramid, so will fancy his chances of being able to do well with the side given the opportunity to develop his own type of squad.

He hasn't had much opportunity to build a team at Gillingham yet but now that the season has come to a close, the manager will have a full offseason to evaluate the squad, clear out the deadwood and bring in more of the type of player that he himself wants at the club.

Harris then will have a busy summer ahead - and he has now spoken to the club's official website with an update over his recruitment plans, how many more deals he plans to do and when fans could expect to see more business done by the club.

The boss revealed that he has held talks over other deals and that he could ideally get plenty more transfers in before pre-season begins too, no doubt so he can have a full squad to run the rule over as he prepares for League Two.

Speaking to the official website about his recruitment plans then, Harris said: "We are close but it's like a see-saw at times, one minute we're up and the next minute we're down, we've got one in and then we haven't.

"I've met one player today, he's come to the stadium to meet me, can we do the deal? I don't know at the moment. What we can do is try and develop scenarios and try and get the best players that we feel fit what I want from the DNA of the football club. I'm hopeful of doing a couple more this week, that's for sure.

"I'd want as many in for the start of pre-season. But the big problem at the moment, with a lot of League Two and League One clubs, is we're going to have to rely on the loan market. We can take loans, we can only use five on matchday, so I wouldn't want to take more than five. Would we use all five spots? Quite possibly."

The Verdict

Neil Harris could have been the perfect appointment for Gillingham at the time and he will now be determined to prove that he can still do well in the Football League and take a side out of the depths of the pyramid.

Harris has done well much higher up the EFL and will want to add a promotion with the Gills to his CV going forward. If he can get the players in that he wants during the offseason and can mould the team in his image, he has a proven record of success and can do similar things with his current side.

It sounds like the boss does have an idea of who he wants and also how many players he will want to bring in - the issue is just how many of those deals he can get over the line and whether the Gills can fund and afford them or even beat other interested parties to their signature.

His stance on loans suggests there might not be a whole lot of money to work with - but utilised correctly, loan deals can work well and can help the side to push on next season.