John Coleman’s time at Gillingham has come to an abrupt end with the manager leaving after less than three months in charge.

Appointed only in January until the end of the season following Mark Bonner’s departure, Coleman and Jimmy Bell were brought in to steady the ship until the end of the League Two campaign.

A statement released by Gillingham Football Club on Tuesday afternoon reads:

“The club can confirm that John Coleman and Jimmy Bell have today left the club.”

“John and Jimmy arrived at MEMS Priestfield Stadium in January as interim manager and assistant manager, and oversaw the First Team whilst the Club developed a vision and plan for the future.”

“Both John and Jimmy have worked hard to improve performances and leave with our gratitude and respect for the work they have done during the club’s transitional period.”

John Coleman said: “Jimmy and I arrived at Gillingham at a difficult time, knowing we’d be here for a short time, but hoping we could turnaround performances and work rate.”

“We believe we achieved this, particularly in recent weeks. Whilst the results haven’t reflected the performances given at times, we are pleased to leave the team more stable and having improved both in attitude and application. 

“We believe this has been vital in repairing the relationship between the team and the fans. We’ve really enjoyed working at Gillingham and wish everyone the very best moving forward.”

With Coleman leaving the club, it is expected that Gareth Ainsworth will be appointed as the new Gillingham manager later this evening having left League One side Shrewsbury Town.

Coleman was appointed on January 5th and in his 14 games in charge, The Gills won just two of them and he leaves the club sitting 19th in League Two after Saturday’s 0-0 draw with league leaders Walsall at Priestfield.