Championship football remains the aim for Gills goalkeeper Stuart Nelson.

He signed a two-year contract at Gillingham this summer without considering any other offers because he believes he is at the right place to realise his goal.

Nelson said: “We all aim to do stuff at certain times and I want to play in the Championship. When it happens, it will happen and hopefully it will happen here.

“I am not saying it needs to be done this year but I signed for two years and it is a bit more longer term.

“We have a good stadium here, the facilities are decent and we have a new manager now. He is having pre-season with us, instead of coming in and doing a bit of fire-fighting like he did last season and just trying to maintain our League 1 status. Now he is off scratch and it starts again.

“He is going to bring in his own players, which he wants, instead of having to deal with someone else’s players that can make it hard. There are good times ahead for Gillingham.”
Nelson signed a new deal at the Gills less than a week after the end of the season.

“It didn’t take me two seconds to sign it,” Nelson said.

“It was offered and I just took it – it was done so quick. I said after the player-of-the-year do, before the offer, that I love playing for this club and that was no lie. My only question was ‘where do I sign?’

“I didn’t look at whether there were other offers out there. I just took the contract and signed it. I wanted to play for this club and there is the infrastructure here to enable the club to push on.

“They have the ambition, the gaffer does and so does the chairman. I want to progress with my career and play higher so why go anywhere else? It has worked for me here so far and I just need to take it to the next level.”

Nelson may not have looked for a move elsewhere this summer but admits he might have done had the Gills not been able to match his own ambitions.

“That’s why I signed,” said the 32-year-old former Notts County keeper. “If that wasn’t the case I would have looked around and found maybe a number two position at a Championship club to get my foot in the door.

“But nothing beats playing. I want to play in the Championship, that’s my ambition now, that’s the next step for my career. I am ready to do that and I feel this is the best path to do that.”