GILLINGHAM will slash their debt repayments by £500,000 a year when chairman Paul Scally completes the restructuring of the club’s debts.

Mr Scally is due to sign the final documents with the club’s bankers next month and that, he believes, will leave Gillingham in the clear.

He said: “On December 14 I sign my final contract with the banks that restructures our debt and puts the football club in a very healthy position. It will be one of the healthiest clubs in the football league.

“That shows a massive vote of confidence from the bank in the efforts we’ve made to turn the business side round.

“We’ve reduced our debt by over £3million a year. It’s been tough and there have been lots of casualties.

“There’s been a huge amount of effort behind the scenes, which makes it a little galling sometimes when you see fans turn on the club.

“Many of them don’t appreciate what goes on behind the scenes and how hard people work here.”

The last financial figures revealed the Gills had debts of £12 million. With the restructuring, Mr Scally feels he can now continue to turn loss into profit and leave the club with a much smaller burden.

“We will save half a million pounds a year on interest, which is quite substantial,” he said. “The club is pretty much on a level footing now. I haven’t got a problem with two or three million pounds of debt at a football club. That’s easily manageable and it is quite normal commercial debt.

“Our problem was well documented four years ago and it’s taken four years to recover.

“We’ve recovered in the right way. We haven’t had to go into administration or insolvency, or even come near to it.”