Steve Evans has paid tribute to the “bigger” clubs who have allowed him to strengthen his squad but at the same time the Gills boss issued a chilling warning that clubs could bleed to death sooner than many have feared…

Evans told us, “I had a good meeting with the Chairman last week, and he said that if the right player pops up – and he’s the right one – then we’ll discuss it. We’ve got three or four in the treatment room which doesn’t help us.”

“They’re getting back rapidly quickly now so we have good variability in the squad now, so by Wednesday or Thursday this week, I’ll be in a position to sit with the board to look at the current status in the treatment room and then just look around the shape and the team and the squad to see if we need anything position wise. But as the Chairman said if there’s an exciting one there, do it!”

The Gills boss then paid tribute to the clubs who have allowed him to finalise his squad, saying, “the resources are tight here and without the support of Arsenal, without the support of Coventry City, without the support of Glasgow Celtic, without the support of Southampton we would not have been able to get this squad together.”

“Every one of those clubs I will personally name check as they have been so helpful that we couldn’t have had the players here – it’s been a tough time for us; we don’t have a rich benefactor sitting in America or in the Channel Islands somewhere that had has untold resources to put into a football club.”

“We have a Chairman who works incredibly hard every day to provide the resources that he does! He’s the first to say without the help of those clubs we wouldn’t have put this squad together.”

“There’s a reason why they also help us – they help us as they want their players to play football and they want them to play at a real competitive level.”

“So, it makes sense to help someone and we’re really grateful as we wouldn’t be where we are and able to look forward to every game the way we are, without those players in the building!”

Evans had a stark warning if EFL clubs don’t receive a bail out as their National League cousins did last week.

“I think that some clubs can only be a month or two away from bleeding,” the Gills boss admitted. “They’re not bleeding at the minute because they’re able to have a cash flow and advance monies from the television deals etc to get us through so far but I was listening to the Chief Executive at Portsmouth – a man I really like – and he was saying that they take around half a million pounds from a home game and it’s suddenly not there!”

“Now they might have a wealthy owner who is putting money in but I can remember that gentleman saying at the back end of last season when he said that they’re not going to be funding this just for the sake of keep going – now they’re in for half a million for home games; it’s an incredible amount of money – they need help!”

“We all need help or owners will walk away saying we just can’t do it anymore – we’re probably with the bulk of League One, if we don’t get some support when we go past Christmas it will become a problem!”

“I think that we just have to wait and let the powers that be way above my level – I’m sure the Premier League will be taking the decisions really meaningful as ultimately I know that they all care about the football pyramid – they all care about what happens in English football – and so they should!”

“I do believe that there will be – I’ve got to believe it as a football man – I’ve got to believe that there will be a package of help for my Chairman, and every other manager will be hoping the same for their Chairman because I dread to think communities without their Football Club.”

“My family home is in Peterborough and I dread to think of my community at home without Peterborough – if you look at Kent as an entity, we are the only professional club in the county; you can’t let anything happen to that – it’s unthinkable!”