IWAN ROBERTS’ new role as Gillingham’s forwards-coach carries with it a sense of irony.

If he does his job well off the pitch working with the club’s young strikers it could affect his chances to shine on it. If, however, he bangs in the goals he could keep his young charges on the bench.

But that’s football and the new man sees it as a win-win situation.

He said: “It would probably be better seeing someone else you’ve helped out put the ball in the back of the net. I’ve played in this division for 12 years so I know it inside out. I know the people they’ll be coming up against.

“I’ve played under some very, very good managers and if I haven’t learned anything I’ll have been a fool.

“I worked with Bruce Rioch, he was a great coach for strikers. He‘s probably been the biggest influence on my career. Mark Hughes is another one I’ve learned from. He’s only a young manager but what a coach he is. Some of his team talks were unbelievable.

“But I still want to carry on playing. I always set myself a target of between 15 and 20 goals every season to be doing my job. I only started 14 games for Norwich last year and scored eight goals so that wasn’t a bad ratio.

“Competition for places is one of the best things at a football club. If you’ve got four or five players going for two positions then that will improve the team.”

Roberts joins a team who will be looking to make amends for a bad season. Poor results, poor performances and an injury list as long as your arm contributed to the Gills’ brush with relegation.

But he already knew a lot of the players before he joined and is confident they can be in the shake-up at the end of the season.

“Paul Smith has always been a great player, a good passer of the ball. I played with Nicky Southall when he was on loan at Norwich and he can cross a great ball.

“Danny Spiller is a great player for his age. I’m glad the club has kept him. There’s a lot of interest in him and he’s going to be a great player. I knew I could settle in.

“In my first training session I looked around and it’s quite a young squad but when you look in key areas you have got experienced players who have been there and done it. If you can get the spine of the team you’re half way there.

“And if the lads perform with the players we’ve got at the club there’s no reason why we can’t get into a play-off position.”