Steve Lovell isn’t ruling out signing young players from former club Gillingham on loan at Herne Bay.

Bay have revealed in recent weeks new summer arrivals ahead of the start of pre-season training today.

Lovell was appointed as Herne Bay’s new boss on a two-year deal last month as they return to competing in Isthmian South East this season.

The former Gills striker has been in charge at Priestfield twice, once leading to Lovell taking the top job permanently and once just on a caretaker basis.

With the League 2 outfit, now led by Neil Harris, set to introduce a younger side alongside the first-team, Lovell is open to taking any of their young players on board to give them senior experience if circumstances suit both parties.

“You leave your options open on any avenue to get players in,” he explained. “I’ve, obviously, got a good relationship with Gillingham.

“Any youngsters we perhaps might need to have during the season, it’s nice to be able to ring them up and ask them for help.

“But we will see how pre-season starts.”

Bay will welcome a Gillingham XI to Winch’s Field on Saturday, July 22, with Gills also having a trip to National League South Dartford organised for that same day.

Lovell said: “It’s nice that they’re bringing a team down. It’ll be a good run-out for us.

“Obviously, they’ll have two games going on that weekend, so I guess there will be a mixture. But it’ll be nice.”

They also have warm-up matches at home to Lordswood (July 4), Canterbury City (July 8), Lewisham (July 11), Margate (July 14) and Deal Town (July 18) pencilled in, alongside a trip to VCD on July 25, as well as their Gills game.

Lovell added: “Pre-season is all about getting players fit and trying to understand the way we’re going to play this year.

“We’ve got a lot of games. I’ve done that for a reason because you don’t have a lot of time to work with the players regarding shapework.

“In games, you can do it, so that’s the reason we’ve got the games.

“You always come across one or two problems [in pre-season] - injuries and things - so let’s hope we can get through the period without too much trouble and we can be in a strong position when the season starts on August 12.”

Bay have signed Jack Richards, Gil Carvalho, Sammi Takaloo and Harry Brown.