Gillingham manager Andy Hessenthaler has released eight of last season’s squad following their failure to win promotion from League 2.

Hessenthaler met with the Gills players on Wednesday to discuss their futures and among the casualties are both of his goalkeepers and experienced midfielder Mark Bentley.

Defenders John Nutter, Tony Sinclair and Josh Gowling will be seeking employment elsewhere as will young forward Andrew White and more experienced Mark McCammon.

Neither keeper Alan Julian (right) or Lance Cronin (below left) have been offered new terms by the Gills boss.

Seven other players are out of contract and the club have yet to announce their fate.

Those players are Kevin Maher, Andy Barcham, Chris Palmer, Dean Rance, Connor Essam, Adebayo Akinfenwa and Joe Martin.

Bentley (below right), 33, moves on after five years at the club where he made just short of 200 appearances.

Nutter was signed by previous manager Mark Stimson from Stevenage and has been a regular at left-back for the last three and a half years. He made 37 appearances this season.

Sinclair joined in the summer having impressed Hessenthaler during his non-league days. He started as a youth player with the Gills but then drifted away from the professional game. He failed to keep a regular place in the side this season.

Gowling played 60 times for the Gills in central defence, having signed in the summer of 2009.

Former Reading youth striker White made just two sub appearances for the Gills this season.

McCammon, believed to be one of the club’s highest earners, hasn’t appeared in the second half of the season and leaves after three years at the club where he scored five times in 62 games.

Julian, another signing by Stimson from Stevenage, has been the club’s number one keeper this season after taking over from Simon Royce, who opted against staying with the Gills last summer.

He moves on after playing 80 times for the Gills.

Fellow keeper Cronin also departs having failed to impress sufficiently following last summer’s move from Ebbsfleet.

What do you think about Gillingham's decision to release these players? Leave your comments below.