by Alex Hoad

Paul Scally says he is 'delighted' that Martin Allen agreed to take over as Gillingham manager on a two year deal after an exhaustive selection process which lasted more than two months.

The Gills chairman unveiled the former Brentford and Barnet boss, 46, as the new man in the Priestfield hotseat on Thursday afternoon and predicted: "He's going to be an interesting man to work with."

Mr Scally (pictured below) revealed former boss Andy Hessenthaler had been involved in the appointment, taking part in a unanimous vote among board members which led to Allen being chosen from an initial list of more than 60 applicants.

Mr Scally revealed: "It has been a very extensive process. We have seen some extremely good applicants but I have got to know Martin very, very well and I am delighted that he has accepted the role.

"I've had over 60 CVs sent to me since May 6. The directors and Andy (Hessenthaler) and I went through them and we saw 16 individuals, some of them for a second time.

"After those meetings we made a shortlist of four and we met with them again. At the end of that process we unanimously agreed to offer the job to Martin."

Mr Scally added: "Martin is very determined, he's a football man, he's a winner, he's different, has some different ideas and I think he's going to be a very interesting man to work with.

"He has a lot of ability and experience and with his determination and a bit of luck, hopefully we can achieve our goals this season.

"The target for everyone is to try and improve this season and get promotion. That would have been the same target irrespective of who the manager is."

Allen is expected to bring in his own backroom team with Gills physio Steve Allen revealing on twitter that he was 'absolutely gutted' to be leaving after two years with the club.

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