Gillingham owner Brad Galinson is fully behind manager Neil Harris as the club battle to avoid the drop.

Mr Galinson has already invested money on improving the team - on and off the field - and their new signings made a huge difference last weekend as the Gills beat Hartlepool in a battle of the bottom two in League 2.

• More: Brad's crazy in love with the Gills

The Gills head to Colchester United this Saturday, playing a team who have also spent money on improving their fortunes in a bid to avoid dropping into the non-league ranks.

Mr Galinson was impressed with how Harris got his newcomers to gel straight away last weekend and will keep the chequebook open to ensure they maintain their Football League status.

The club owner said: “We love Neil. He is a top man and a gentleman.

“He was a big part of interviewing and convincing players to come, working with Andy [Hessenthaler, the head of recruitment] and Kenny [Jackett, the director of football] on who should come in.

“The fact he got four new players with 24-48 hours’ notice and he put them on the pitch and it looked like they played together forever, that is what he can do. I'm certainly a big fan.”

Few managers would have kept their job after the first 23 games of the season - the Gills sunk to the foot of the EFL, had won twice and scored seven goals - but Mr Galinson was fully aware of the problems at the club. His money has now brought in the quality players Gills need to compete.

The Gills were transformed last weekend, with four new signings in the team and deserving of their 2-0 win over Hartlepool. They head into this Saturday’s match three points from safety with games in hand.

Survival is the No.1 objective for the Gills.

“Our laser focus is that we have to stay in the Football League,” said Mr Galinson.

“Almost everything else can wait. Once we get that right, then all of the other 50-100 things on the list we can start to do more easily. It is overwhelming to speak of anything but that.

“Kenny and Andy came on board and they are top professionals and they started our transfer window, we saw some success on Saturday and there’s a bit more to go.

“Things are moving forward but it is hard right now as we focus on staying in the EFL, everything else is secondary. Everyone is seeing that we are starting to make the strides we need to.”

Mr Galinson had seen the Gills before taking over officially and the mood at the club has changed significantly. Last weekend’s performance helped.

He said: “Hats off to Kenny, Andy and Neil, they put some superstars on the pitch and we saw them passing. [They were] aggressive and were controlling the game.

“We saw two goals and there could have been six.

“We knew we had the right players [that were signed] but some had trained for only one or two days, so there was that trepidation of ‘can they work together?’.

“But they are such professionals, so skilled, they just came together like they had been working together all season.”