GILLINGHAM chairman Paul Scally has been adding up the colossal cost of Gillingham’s relegation from the Championship.

The fall in television and sponsorship monies, together with an anticipated drop in attendances, will cost the club hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Central payments from the Coca-Cola League’s sponsorship and broadcasting pool drop from £750,000 to £350,000 now that Gillingham are members of League 1.

The club finished the season with the Championship’s fourth lowest average attendance of 8,528. That could dip next term unless the club head for an immediate return.

The club’s relegation means Gillingham will also find it hard to charge the same for sponsorship packages, though main sponsors MHS Homes Group have pledged to renew their deal.

With so many members of the squad out of contract, the club will be short of the kind of money needed to retain their most experienced and better players.

Mr Scally will almost certainly issue a rallying call to supporters ahead of the 2005-06 campaign.

After fans stayed away from the club’s televised match against Sheffield United in October, he hit out.

He said: "What people don’t realise is that when they fail to turn up, the club loses valuable income. The Sheffield United match, as an example, lost us more than £20,000 as a direct result of supporters staying away.

"Losing finance in this way doesn’t allow us to go out and bring in players who could help us overcome our current situation.

"We must develop income streams which ensure we constantly operate profitably, have little or no debt, so that we can compete against the best clubs without relying on handouts from television, the Football League or other grants.

"These hand outs should be the icing on the cake, if they happen - they shouldn’t be regarded as our bread and butter."

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