After yet another disappointing season for Gillingham, the question still remains as to what the future holds.

Saturday’s draw at Northampton Town leaves Andy Hessenthaler’s side facing yet another season in League Two, something that wasn’t either expected or demanded by the Gillingham hierarchy back in the summer.

Faced with the reality of another year (at least) in the fourth tier of English football, Gillingham now need to decide where they go in the short and medium term.

With the prospect of a ground move looming large in the long term, it’s a case of getting the playing side right in the short term. To that end, fifteen players find themself out of contract this summer, with Andy Hessenthaler set for yet another mass clearout as he looks to begin his third assault at promotion.

I for one believe Hessenthaler will be given the third year of his three year contract to deliver the goods with Chairman Paul Scally set to back his close friend.

The biggest question Hessenthaler and Scally will have to talk through is as to where it all went wrong this season.

Fans will analyse that over and over again. Many will point the finger at Hessenthaler, some at Scally, some at the players, but for me it has to be a multitude of reasons.

Injuries and suspensions have to be one of the biggest factors in my mind, with the loss of Adam Birchall in pre-season a massive blow to Gillingham’s hopes of promotion.

The loss of a fox in the box striker, someone who has been prolific at Dover Athletic, was a huge loss to Hessenthaler and despite bringing in Jo Kuffour as a replacement, he never really found that twenty goals a season target man.

Throughout the season, Hessenthaler was constantly forced to chop and change his side for one reason or another and although other teams used more players, using thirty players across the season tells its’ own story.

You only have to look at sides that go on and win titles and their starting line up rarely alters. For Gillingham, that hasn’t been the case with Hessenthaler unable to field the same side for more than three games in a row.

When Gillingham have been able to field their “best eleven”, they have shown that they can be a match for any side in League Two and on paper, they look to be one of the strongest squads in the division, but all too often players have missed games through injury or by having clocked up too many cards.

Seven red cards have taken their toll, whilst the likes of Charlie Lee picking up fifteen yellow cards for the season has forced Hessenthaler to go into games without some of his better players.

Fans have also stated their desire to see players played in their preferred positions for the coming season, with Lee having to play at right back at times throughout the season after injuries to Barry Fuller and Matt Fish.

Despite the doom and gloom at the moment, the future does look bright for Gillingham Football Club with a nucleus of good players coming through the ranks to compliment the senior pros already signed up for next season.

You only have to look at how far youngsters Connor Essam and Jack Evans have come this season, whilst Ashley Miller has shown glimpses of what a bright future he could have with the club.

The loss of Luke Rooney to Swindon must have come as a huge blow in January as he was the kind of player that could conjure something up from nothing, even if he could frustrate at times.

As for Paulo Gazzaniga, Gillingham will have a battle on their hands to keep hold of the tall Argentinian with a host of clubs rumoured to be looking at him and just a year left to run on his contract.

With over fifteen players believed to be out of contract this summer (Oli, Lawrence, Spiller, Jackman, Davies, Rance, Essam, Evans, Brown, Hawkes, Brunt, Carter, Kuffour, Fuller, King, Richards, Weston) and both Gavin Tomlin and Rowan Vine’s loan spells coming to an end, Hessenthaler has some big decisions to make as to who stays and who goes.

The Gills boss will be heartened by the players he has got (Flitney, Gazzaniga, Frampton, C Lee, Whelpdale, J Payne, Kedwell, Martin, Fish, Miller, Montrose, Birchall.), but will surely look to move some on to free up some cash to bring others in.

It would be a big surprise if Jo Kuffour decides to stick around for another season, with the former Bristol Rovers striker believed to want another go at life in League One.

Signing Tomlin has to be one of Hessenthaler’s top priorities for the next season with the on loan Dagenham enjoying a new lease of life at Priestfield, but an ankle injury forcing him to miss the tail end of the season.

Whoever comes and whoever goes, I will still support the football club I started watching some thirty years ago, firm in the belief that this year could be our year.