It’s fitness-first for the Gills as they head back to Priestfield today.

Nine weeks on from the end of a disappointing 2023/24 season, it’s day one for the Gillingham players in their preparations for a new challenge in League 2.

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There are four new faces in the squad and a new manager in place after Stephen Clemence was replaced by Mark Bonner earlier in the close season.

Bonner’s now got the chance to start putting his plans into practice.

Bonner said: “Pre-season will be no.1 fitness, no.2 our structure and organisation as a team, no.3 start to look at what combinations work and instantly hit off and those that need time and development.

“Pre-season is a great time of year and hopefully we get some half-decent weather so we can enjoy it but it will be a nice time to come back.

“Everyone will be excited to come back, none more than me, the amount of time I have been waiting to get back to doing training, certainly the players will be looking forward to it and they are in for a tough time. I am looking forward to getting started.

“Everyone is motivated in July, but what is the stamina of your motivation? That is really the thing that matters. Are you still motivated in November and February - that is the key.

“It is easy to create a good environment and everyone be positive and say all the things that you are going to do in July. I don’t expect anything different there but the test will be whether we can maintain that.”

The Gills have two weeks of work ahead of their first pre-season match when Neil Harris’ Millwall come to town on Saturday, July 13. Fellow Championship side Watford visit the following weekend.

The Gills also play Dartford, Southend and Woking away from home.

Bonner said: “It is a tough start, two big ones to start with here but they are good games and we have a nice variety.

“Everyone can get excited and try and work out what the team is going to be on day one for the season but truth is the eleven that start on August 10 [home to Carlisle] won’t be all of a sudden, the team.

“I change teams quite regularly and do what I think is right for any game.”

New signings Elliott Nevitt, Armani Little, Jack Nolan and Aaron Rowe will meet their team-mates this week. Bonner has a first-team squad numbering 27.

That number includes three that remain available for transfer, midfielder Dom Jefferies who still hasn’t signed a new contract and a handful of young pros.

There’s sure to be some trading still to be done over the next few weeks.

Bonner said: “We’ve balance the squad quite nicely with what we’ve signed.

“The key bit is numbers. If you can start pre-season with proper good numbers and have the majority of your squad in place that sets you up so well because you don’t get the time back, you can’t get it back physically. Once the season starts you never get the chance to work at that intensity so often.

“You get so little training time in the season because you are always preparing from one game to another or recovering from the last one. There is so little time to train flat out in the season and so this period is massive for us and so to start with good numbers is a good starting point.”

On changes that could be made, Bonner said: “Everything depends on who does well, who does what, what are players like physically.

“We don’t want a huge squad. You can’t keep all of those players fit and available but also you want cover and competition across the squad. It’s not as simple as saying two for every position, we have players who can play in a few positions which is good.

“We have good numbers now, it is more about changing and playing around with the numbers we have got rather than just adding more and more people.”