FORMER Gills favourite Neil Smith believes the club have “gone on a million miles” since he was last at Priestfield. The midfielder, who still lives in Bromley, has been training with Gillingham as he tries to find a new club after being released by Reading at the end of last season.

Smith, who made 212 appearances for Gills scoring 10 goals in the mid 1990s, is in France with the Gillingham squad as they prepare for their first pre-season friendly against Kingstonian on Wednesday, July 17. But he couldn’t believe how much the club has progressed under chairman Paul Scally’s regime.

He said: “It was fantastic to be allowed to come down and work with the boys in pre-season. The club have gone on a million miles than when I was here five years ago and I appreciate the chance to be back. It really is like coming back to your old school.”

He said that all that was missing was former manager Mike Flanagan who was made redundant when the club were on the brink of going out of existence. But Smith is working hard to get himself fit and he’s hoping last year’s success at Reading will help his cause. “I helped Reading get another promotion and hopefully that will count for something on my CV.”

Meanwhile, out in France, joint first team coach Wayne Jones said the players are slowly getting themselves back into the swing of things. He told the club's official website: “There were a few tired legs yesterday, so we gave the boys the afternoon and evening off. We arranged to meet for training after lunch and have been doing a combination of fitness and ball work, finishing up with some running. Everybody is in good spirits and working really hard.”