Gillingham Football Club is likely to be kept afloat by its bank even if it drops right out of the Football League, according to one of the UK's top business forecasters.

Gills fan Richard Scase, professor in organisational change at the University of Kent and voted one of the Top Ten most influential people in the country, says the club's strategy is to survive.

"The reality is that the bank is now in control of the club and it doesn't want to see it go under with its loans unpaid," he said.

See our special report on the Ups and Downs of the Scally Years >>>

Chairman Paul Scally has restructured the club's finances with the Bank of Scotland. The debts are reportedly as much as £12 million.

Mr Scase said: "The strategy therefore is simply to survive with as low a cost basis as possible - the lowest possible rate for manager, back-up staff and the players. This means recruiting from non-league clubs.

"The bank will be quite happy if we stay in Division 1, go down to Division 2 and even into Blue Square so long as it gets its money back in the long term."