Manager Steve Lovell already has his eye on potential targets for Gillingham in the January transfer window.

With just four days left in December and one game left to play in 2017, the Gills boss is looking at what will help his side secure their League One status.

Having drawn 1-1 with Oxford United on Boxing Day, taking the Gills to 17th in the league, four points above the drop zone, Lovell admits he has already been identifying targets he wants to bring into the club:

“I’ve been planning – I’ve got targets and have been looking at players and had scouts looking at players at potential targets that I’d like to get and have identified.”

“We’ve done a fair bit of work of players who we know about and we will be looking between now and the middle of January to do something.”

“But I’m not going to bring just anyone in – they’ve got to be the right people and they’ve got to be the right players to fit into our style and what our ethos is at the football club.”

“They’ve got to have a proper discipline, a mentality to working hard and they’ve got to want to play for Gillingham.”

“My list will be narrowed down, and I’ll go to the Chairman and say to him, “this is who I want; this is who I want; this is who I want”, and then it’ll be down to him.”

“I know the sort of player who I want to bring to the club and what is needed and sometimes you might have the players under your nose already!”

“So, I’m not going to bring players in for the sake of it, if they’re not as good as the players we’ve got here already. There are players I would like to bring in in positions that I think we can strengthen and that’s what I will try to do.”

“Players coming back from injury as well are like players coming in and so when Bradley Garmiston comes back he’ll be like a new player to me.”

“He’s been a bit of miss for us down the left – Connor Ogilvie has done a job, but he’s a different type of player. Someone like him coming back and even Alex Lacey and Ben Nugent coming back gives us competition in places where we haven’t had any before.”

The placement of Lovell as manager of Gillingham could well be seen as a surprise to some, but the new boss admits he takes everything in his stride and is enjoying managing the club he loves so much:

“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind – I can’t believe that it’s Christmas already as this time last year I was making my way to Bromley with Neil Smith.”

“It’s been a very, very funny year – to come back to Priestfield with Ady which was brilliant and then the year that we had trying to keep the club in the League – which of course we did!”

“And then everyone knows what’s happened since then and it has been a bit of a whirlwind situation and one that for reasons you don’t like to see, people losing their jobs – and with Ady and Peter that was the case.”

“But from a personal point of view, it opened the door for me to come in and do something that I’ve always wanted to do and it’s something that I’m enjoying!”

“It’s a challenge and will remain a challenge for me, but that’s what keeps me going – it’s the enjoyment and doing the best for the players in the dressing room who have given everything for me and have been brilliant – I couldn’t have asked for any more from them!”

“And that’s the big plus as to why we’re gradually getting us out of the sticky situation that we found ourselves in from the start of the season. As long as the boys keep performing and showing the desire I’m sure we’ll get out of it.”

“When I first got the position, I did have to pinch myself, but not now – it’s a job! Being honest, I thought I would never get the opportunity and it’s funny how fate sometimes happens and you take what you believe right towards people and players and if you work hard opportunities will come no matter how young or old you are and it’s proof I think that if you keep going, and keep working, you will get the opportunity and that’s why I’m enjoying what I’m doing and it is going to be a challenge which I’m enjoying and will make sure that it’s going to continue all the way through until the end of the season and then I’m sure we’ll get out of it what we all want to get out of it!”