by Luke Cawdell

Gillingham chairman Paul Scally has admitted he must take some of the blame for the club's failure to win promotion.

Mr Scally, pictured, removed Andy Hessenthaler from the post of manager on Tuesday after giving him two seasons to win promotion out of League 2. On both occasions the Gills finished eighth – one place outside the play-off positions.

Hessenthaler had one year left on his contract but the Gills chairman wasn’t prepared to give him another chance.

Mr Scally said: "I’ve seen a comment that I got it wrong and of course I got it wrong. But I didn’t get it wrong on purpose.

"I had good intentions, but when it goes wrong I don’t hear those same people saying things when I get it right.

"That’s the business we are in. Perhaps the players need a different voice on the training ground, different ideas and different set-ups.

"I don’t think anyone is particularly to blame because everyone at the club put in the same effort. But ultimately the business we are in is the results business and unfortunately that’s how we are judged.

"Hessy is passionate about the football club. His failure and the failure of his management team to achieve promotion was not through a lack of effort, that’s for sure, nor a lack of integrity. It just didn’t happen and didn’t work out for whatever reason."