GILLINGHAM player-manager Andy Hessenthaler has been offered a manager's-only contract for next season after doing both jobs for the last four years.

Hessenthaler, who is expected to sign the three-year deal, will be 39 in June but has shown no signs of slowing down this season when he has often been the team's outstanding player.

He admitted: "The contract will be for less money but I will still be able to play on for a while if I decided to do that."

Hessenthaler has been at Priestfield for eight years after arriving from Watford for a then club record fee of £235,000 in August, 1996.