MAMADY SIDIBE’S rejection of a new contract could be the beginning of an exodus of Gillingham’s senior players.

Sidibe rejected the club’s proposal on Tuesday.

His agent interrupted Paul Scally’s Tenerife holiday to reject the deal, much to the chairman’s disappointment.

He said: “We bought Mama to our football club and made him a better player.

“Now that we’ve been relegated he’s not prepared to stay and help us get back into the Championship, as he thinks he can do better.”

In a thinly-veiled attack on Sidibe’s goalscoring record – the Mali international notched 15 in 115 appearances – Mr Scally said: “In any event we will find another player that will score more goals.”

Sidibe, who joined Gills from Swansea in August 2002 after impressing during a friendly, has been linked to a number of clubs including Sunderland, Wigan, Sheffield United and Stoke.

With John Hills and Nyron Nosworthy suggesting they won’t be at the club next season, boss Neale Cooper has a job to keep the squad together.

Skipper Paul Smith and seven other members of the first-team squad are also out of contract and could leave for nothing if not offered deals by the end of this month.

But Cooper has learned how to deal with players from one of the best in the business – Sir Alex Ferguson.

Cooper played under the Manchester United boss at Aberdeen in the early 1980s.

He said: “He’s obviously a very busy man but I speak to him still from time to time and he can be very helpful on certain issues with players.”

Cooper has been unable to talk about his exit from Hartlepool because of an ongoing compensation process.

But the Scot wants Gills to enjoy similar success to his old club, which reached the play-offs in two consecutive seasons under his guidance.

He said: “When I first came to Hartlepool everyone tipped us for relegation and I used to pin articles up on the dressing room wall to inspire the players.

“But at Gillingham we will go into a number of games as favourites and the players will have to learn to deal with that.”