by Luke Cawdell

Martin Allen will be drawing on some advice from former England boss Fabio Capello in a bid to keep a clear head.

The Gills are in a battle with Port Vale for the top spot in League 2 but Allen has no interest in getting caught up in the hype.

He recently found some notes made during a talk held by Capello (pictured) last year for Pro Licence coaches and Allen is falling back on some of those words of wisdom.

Allen said: "There will be a school of thought saying you should know about how many points you have got and how many points you need. I just can’t see the point.

"The best way – don’t read the newspapers, don’t read the fans’ forums, don’t listen to it all on the television. Don’t read and don’t do anything, just keep doing your own thing.

"Out of my briefcase a couple of days ago I found my notes from listening to Fabio Capello about eight months ago. Whatever you may think of him, he has been one of the most successful managers and he is a top, top manager.

"He said that day, ‘get leaders into your team, they drive forward your ideas’ and I thought to myself, it’s better to think these type of things than getting involved in all the outside stuff. We have got leaders in our club.

"He then said ‘you have decisions to make, only from your own mind, not from the chairman, not from the supporters and not from the media, only you and your staff.’ If I started to go left, right and centre and waivered all over the place, then could you imagine what it would be like for me?

"It is important to stay single-minded, trust the people I have around me and keep working with our players. It’s the only thing I can do anything about."

Picture: Barry Goodwin