GILLINGHAM may not be able to afford Chris Hope when his present contract expires next year, club chairman Paul Scally has warned.

The ever-present centre-back, who makes his 145th consecutive appearance for the club tomorrow night against Wimbledon, opened new contract negotiations last week.

Explaining the reasons for the delay in contract talks, Mr Scally said: “If anyone has suffered from the fall-out following the collapse of ITV Digital, it has been Chris Hope.

"He would have got a new contract a year ago. Unfortunately, we were in the discussion stage when ITV pulled the plug and I had to shelve all contract discussions until now.

“The contract I’m proposing is one that takes into account our current financial position which I hope will improve in years to come. I spent sometime with his agent and hope we can get something finalised.

“Hopefully, we can come up with something that we can structure so it rewards him nearer the end of his contract."