Planning is under way for a January reshuffle at Gillingham.

Manager Neil Harris hopes to add to his squad when the transfer window opens and they’ve already got targets in mind.

Harris said: “We have tried to be prepared and it’s not easy for a first-team manager to get overly involved when we are approaching 30 games by Christmas but (it’s happening) behind the scenes with the recruitment and board, with my input and advice.

“I'm clear in what areas of the pitch I want to add for January, and we have talked targets, players we have watched and availability.

“Between now and January, we will work with the group we’ve got and keep trying to develop us and pick up results.”

With Harris focusing on improving the league form with the squad they assembled in the summer, head of recruitment Nicky Shorey is the key driver behind getting the pieces into place before the transfer window opens in January.

Harris said: “Not to put all the work on Nicky’s shoulders, but recruitment is his department and he has to focus on that and organise a couple of scouts we have to watch players and have an opinion and find out availability.

“There are so many agents in the world these days, at all levels, Tom, Dick and Harry want to be an agent and have an opinion and a player, you have to go through the rubbish information to get the correct information at times and that is sometimes where the first-team manager has to get involved.

“January is a tough window. Summer was tougher because we had to recruit so many players, January will be different because we don’t need so many players that’s for sure but it is very, very difficult to recruit players in January at all levels, so we will be mindful of that.

“Work has started early, we have to make sure we are in the best possible position we can be and that doesn’t just involve the recruitment department and the manager, that involves the football club as a whole being financially in a position to be able to do that.”

Harris will hope there are funds to add to his squad rather than be in a one-in one-out scenario, but he accepts some may be leaving in January. Additions will be key, however.

He said: “Hopefully we can add to the group, I always want to add, we have been quite light on bodies for the majority of the time.

“I would like to add to the group but you can never rule out players going in January and again it is not always because they are forced out by a manager or a club, sometimes it’s for pastures new, family reasons, football reasons. I'm really open-minded to all scenarios come January.”

Harris only has three strikers, aside from teenager Joe Gbode, so will want to add to that department and has also expressed his desire to add more creativity to the ranks.

Asked if he had the spark in the current squad, he replied: “We have not had it so far so getting it out of them, yes, but getting it out for themselves is a big thing.

“Watching Tuesday’s game [a 1-0 win against Fylde] back we should have been 4-0 up at half-time. We should have been out of sight at half-time. We created chances and that has to continue for us to win games of football.”