Gillingham manager Neil Harris feels pride at the prospect of the club surpassing their best ever season ticket sales.

Last month the club passed the 3,000 mark and are now hoping to beat the best recorded figure of 3,477 which they sold for the 2009/10 season. A decade ago they sold 3,229 for a campaign, with both of those years being in League 1.

Gillingham are running an online campaign they’ve called “Operation Sleeping Giant” in a bid to get as many seats sold as possible inside Priestfield this season.

There’s plenty of excitement ahead of the new campaign and the Gills are building up to that with a short trip to Italy and a game against Serie B side Como today (Wednesday).

Harris said: “It makes you really proud to know that fans want to come and support the club you’re managing, that’s not just because of what we did second half of the season, more than anything it’s the excitement behind the scenes and how we’re trying to engage with the fanbase now.

“We’re making it a family friendly community football club, where we have not been able to do that in the last few years because of finances.

“Now it isn’t just about what happens during that 90 minutes, it’s about the fan experience.

“I have walked through the Factory before (late last season) on the way to a game at 12pm and there are 400 people in there, what’s going on! It’s because people are excited to be there.

“We’ve got the LED screens going up, the kiosks being open, the club shop coming back, the shirts being sold out in record time.

“There’s an amazing feel to it and we just want to add to that and coupled with the recruitment and how we finished last year, that’s why fans are coming to support their team, even in League 2.

“We have to keep pushing and we do want to break the record for season ticket sales and we want to get 3,500.”

Owner Brad Galinson spoke of “waking the sleeping giant” days after taking over the club at the end of last year.

He said at the time: “I am going to wake the giant with a little bit of upgrades and a little bit of money. The community and the fans are just fantastic. I am very excited.”

His investment ensured the club stayed up last season and are now among the favourites for promotion from League 2 this time around.