by Luke Cawdell

Paul Scally has backed manager Mark Stimson to bring the good times back to Gillingham.

With the club fighting to avoid relegation to League 2, the Gills’ chairman still has his eyes firmly set on a return to the Championship and he hasn’t lost any faith in the man he appointed to get them there.

Mr Scally (pictured) said: "I’m not even thinking about it (relegation). I’m talking about next season with Mark and for three years at least.

"I believe he can bring success to the club in his own way and we’ll see what happens."

The Gills chairman lays much of the blame for the club’s troubles on the crippling injury list that has left key players sidelined throughout the season.

He does admit, however, that his manager may not have always made the right decisions.

"I think he is a good man," added Mr Scally. "He’s been focused and stuck with it.

"Sometimes he’s made mistakes but then we all make mistakes. Sometimes, perhaps, he would do things differently if he had his opportunity again on certain situations but he has to make the call at the time.

"You make the call thinking it’s the right call and you only ever know if it’s right if things work out well.

"I have never known a season where so many things have conspired against us in a season.

"We’ve performed well most of the time and there have only been a handful of games where we’ve played badly.

"Mostly we’ve played well but for whatever reason, we haven’t got the results.

"(It doesn’t help) when you change the side the number of times the manager has had to change the side and the catalogue of injuries we’ve had. We have carried a lot of cost this year without having the benefit of having the players.

"It’s been a strange season from that point of view. Am I disappointed that we are where we are? Of course.

"I would be delighted if we stay up and I know that next season will be a better season."

The Gills have three games to save themselves from the drop but Mr Scally admits relegation would not be the end of the world.

He said: "It won’t finish the club off and we won’t be slitting our wrists but it’s not something we want to do, we want to stay in League 1.

"We want to push on and try and get into the Championship."

Do you think Mark Stimson is the right man to lead the Gills to the Championship? Have your say below.