It’s not often these days that you can say that you’ve had both a relegation and sat at the foot of the Football League table all in your first year with a club, but in the case of Neil Harris at Gillingham you can say exactly that.

It’s safe the say that it’s not the most pretty year of Harris’ managerial career but it’s certainly been eventful. Although from the first statement it looks like it’s all been doom and gloom but it’s been far from that, we’ve had some fantastic moments over the last year!

I think Neil would be the first to say that it’s been a rocky start to this first year at the club, but he came in and very nearly kept The Gills up in League One last season, which when he took over, no one even gave him a chance of coming close!

We took it to the final day but was ultimately relegated to League Two, but in those magical months of fighting for League One status I think Neil really did make the fans fall back in love with this football club, he brought that factor of pride back to Priestfield.

Neil came in off the back of a 7-2 defeat to Oxford United on 29th January 2022 but didn’t have much time to bring many players in after being officially announced on deadline day!

But it was an instant impact for the new boss guiding us to a 1-0 win at home to Crewe Alexandra. It was from there that Gills fans really started to believe that this might just happen, two wins, one draw and two losses in the first five for the new boss which considering the Gills were deep in the relegation battle at this point was extremely good going!

Recently resigned Conor Masterson looked to be a stroke of brilliance from Harris brining him in. He formed a great partnership with Jack Tucker and Max Ehmer which really was the base of the Gills’ quest to stay in League One.

It’s worth mentioning the man behind them Aaron Simpson was also vital to us last season!

For me the moment I truly started to believe this might happen was the 2-1 win away at Accrington Stanley, what a day and what a moment that was, but ultimately it all came down to the final day at home to promotion chasing Rotherham United live on Sky Sports!

The task was simple for both teams, Gillingham win and stay in League One, Rotherham win and gain promotion to the championship!

Rotherham ended up 2-0 winners on the day, but Gillingham certainly gave it their all to pull back into the game after going 1-0 down after 34 minutes, but an 89th minute Georgie Kelly goal that settled both teams’ fate and to say it was a weird feeling in Priestfield was an understatement, one side celebrating the highs of promotion, the other the raw emotions of relegation!

Although there were some positives of the summer transfer window, Dom Jefferies, Robbie McKenzie & Lewis Walker to name a few, it’s safe to say Harris wasn’t dealt the best hand in the window and it was shown on the pitch, Gills sat dead bottom of the Football League and were the lowest scoring side in the EFL at Christmas, but times were changing down at Priestfield when American businessman Bradley Galinson and his family completed their takeover of the Kent club.

They immediately promised new signings and a new happier era at Gillingham. Which so far they have delivered on and I think it’s safe to say he and his family have stolen the hearts of everyone at our club.

New signings through the door, 2 wins, 2 defeats and a draw in the last five (including the game against Leicester), but not only that, before January the Gills had scored 6 goals before the Galinsons took over, they now have eight since the first game of the new era, three of which have come from new boy Tom Nichols.

I think it’s safe to say, it’s not been plain sailing, but it seems the good times are back at Priestfield and that we are going to see the best of Neil Harris who is slowly earning back the love of the fans after some fruity encounters at the back end of last year!

With some new faces in the background around Harris and some old, it feels as though Neil has been handed the aces he was waiting for, it’s now up to him to show us exactly why he came so highly recommended and bring the the success the Galinsons and Gills fans are hoping for!

A year down and here’s to many more of Neil Harris’ Barmy Army!

Twitter: @JustAlexUK