Gillingham manager Neil Harris is keen to look to the future after a difficult first year in charge.

He took over a Gillingham team deep in trouble 12 months ago and despite improvements was unable to save them from relegation into League 2. In December this year they hit rock bottom, a 1-0 home defeat to Colchester United on Boxing Day leaving the Gills at the foot of League 2.

Few people had expected Harris to take on the challenge at the Gills, having previously managed higher up the pyramid with Cardiff City and Millwall, but he could see the potential at Priestfield - lured to the club with the prospect of a takeover.

He said: “What a rollercoaster, the first three months was so enjoyable, we had a difficult time in the last few weeks of the season where we couldn’t win a game and got relegated and then it has been a real tough period again and now we are back going up again, speeding around corners.”

Harris took over a team that had just lost 7-2 at home to Oxford. They were joint bottom of League 1. It couldn’t have been much worse.

The Gills beat Crewe in Harris’ first game but making up a 10-point deficit to safety was a massive task. Without the chance to make any other additions last January - apart from his former Millwall favourite Ben Thompson - the club was destined for League 2.

“I (expected) exactly what I found,” Harris said. “We made so many quick gains in the first few months to get it up to speed as a football club and then just naturally things revert to type sometimes, quality and pitches and things like that.

“We dragged it as far as we could but sometimes it is just investment that we didn’t have at the time to make things better. We are now in the process of building, we have that support and we can build on what is broken.”

Gillingham came so close to survival, losing their League 1 status on goal difference.

A year on since Harris' arrival and the Gills are in different hands. Brad Galinson’s takeover has changed everything.

Harris said: “I have had a difficult spell here but I can’t wait to continue the positivity and the building process, and that just keeps coming.

"We keep improving all the time, myself, the group but improving the infrastructure and the players on the training pitch are key to success.

“It has been very different but we have a great changing room now and we are a happy camp, we are looking forwards and not backwards.”