Gillingham can expect no favours from former boss Justin Edinburgh when they face Northampton Town on Sunday.

In what could well be a game they will need to win to stay in League One, it’s ironic that Edinburgh could stand in the way of Gillingham keeping their third tier status having been sacked by the club earlier in the year.

Having been sacked by Paul Scally, Justin Edinburgh is in no mood to do his former employers any favours and revealed this week he’d be more than happy to see the Kent side relegated:

“I’m not going to say I don’t because I am not going to lie to you. I feel all things happen for a reason, and I think where I am sitting now I am in a better place, at a better club.”

“Would I take any satisfaction in that? (Gillingham going down). It is a difficult one to answer.”

“I am a professional, this is my football club now, this is who I work for, and my players are going up against a former employer, and I want to beat them, 100 per cent.”

Edinburgh spent two years at The Gills, helping to save them from relegation in his first few months in charge having taken over from the “gang of four” after Peter Taylor’s dismissal and guided The Gills to ninth in his only full season at the club, missing out on the play-offs when it looked certain Gillingham would be in for a top six finish.

The former Spurs defender then saw his side get off to a difficult start this season and was dismissed early in the New Year, but Edinburgh believes he did a good job at Priestfield:

“I look back on my time at Gillingham with great pride.”

“I thought the group I had were an honest group, and there is no doubt they will be professional and fully focused on the job on Sunday.”

“Myself and Kers (Assistant Manager – David Kerslake) are fully aware of what the opposition threats are, and we are quite privileged in that way that we don’t need to do a lot of research.”

Ironically, Edinburgh’s Northampton Town side may well beat The Gills and still not send them down to League Two as it will all boil down to what Port Vale at Fleetwood on Sunday.

There are so many permutations that Gillingham know a win is a guarantee to not only stay up, but get one over their former boss.