By Luke Cawdell

Andy Hessenthaler is confident that the favourites tag won’t weigh his players down this season.

The country’s bookmakers have made Gillingham the shortest odds to top League 2 at 9/1 next May and it’s a situation the manager feels his players can handle.

He said: "It doesn’t make it any easier and if they have got us down as favourites, then you have to live with it.

"We’ve just come out of the higher division so we were always likely to be among the favourites. We have to forget about that.

"We’ll set our targets and hope that the bookmakers are proved right at the end of the season."

Also among the favourites in the betting stakes are Bradford. They have consistently under-achieved in the League’s basement division but Hessenthaler (pictured) feels that under former Gills boss and friend Peter Taylor, they will be a big threat this season.

He added: "Last year it just didn’t happen for them. Peter had gone in there to try and turn it around and they will be one of the front-runners next season.

"It doesn’t matter about being a big name, it’s about what you do. There are some big teams across the world who have that tag above their head and have underachieved. We have to make sure we are not one of them."

Who do you think will win League 2? Do the Gills have a chance? Have your say using our comments section below.