With the publication of their retained list, Gillingham boss Steve Evans now knows the foundations that he has for next season and is already looking for the pieces of the Gills 2021/2022 jigsaw…

News that Jordan Graham, Connor Ogilvie and Jack Bonham all turned down new deals and will be leaving Priestfield came as blow not only to Gills fans but to Evans as well as he explained to KSN in his final chat with us before the summer break.

“It’s really galling,” the Gills boss admitted. “To lose Jordan Graham as he was back playing the way he was for Wolves; to lose Connor Ogilvie playing his best football since he’s been at the club and to lose Jack Bonham who’s been very consistent for two years is hard to take!”

“It’s disappointing but the challenge always in football is that you then get an opportunity to go into the market and we need to get the summer market right. And that’s something we didn’t do last year in totality as we went with the younger strategy – and it’s not to say that younger players don’t work – but it didn’t work for us.”

“We were still younger to a degree in January, but we signed players who could play at that level…”

The Gills retained list was published soon after the final game against Plymouth which surprised many after the elongated will they / won’t they sign scenario Evans found himself in at the end of 2019/2020 with former skipper Max Ehmer and striker Brandon Hanlan.

We asked Evans about the speed of the announcement and he confirmed, “The speed at which we got the retained list published did have a lot to do with last year and the way we kept waiting for certain players.”

He then admitted, “It was disappointing to lose Max and Brandon as we made them good offers but the offers they got from Bristol blew us away – simple as that! But it just shows you that money doesn’t always pay as Rovers got relegated.”

“We knew the decisions of Jordan, Connor and Jack the day before the Plymouth game and that made the decision very easy.”

“I wanted to keep Alex McDonald and Stuart O’Keefe – both of them were easy as they both sat down in my office and just uttered the words “I want to stay” and I just had to say to them “Speak to the Guvnor (the Chairman) and see what can be done” and both were done within 24 hours! And that’s what you want as a manager – you want commitment and people who want to be around us.”

There has been speculation about Evans’ own future – he though had some comforting news for the Priestfield faithful, “The Chairman knows that there has been interest in myself too – the people who look after me have been aware, and my conversation with the Chairman was very honest – this is a longer-term project and not for a year or two.”

“He was the one who first spoke to me about that and that is why I said that I can take Gillingham to where we want to take them on low resources, but I will have to be given time to build those resources.”

“The Gillingham supporters want a manager who wants to be at the club, and it’s the same from me – I want players who also want to be here.”