STAN TERNENT arrived at Priestfield in bullish mood as he attempts to steer Gillingham away from the relegation zone.

Ternent, along with number two Ronnie Jepson, take control of first team affairs with immediate effect and will pick the team to travel to Wigan on Saturday.

Initially, Ternent has a contract until the end of the season with an option on a further two year extension. And he said he was confident Gillingham will still be in the Championship after the nest 24 games.

He said: "I've never suffered a relegation and don't intend to start now. As challenges go it's a good one but it's something that I enjoy. At the end of the day it's down to the players. They will govern the club's destiny.

"I was very impressed by the chairman. He was very positive. We're in a difficult situation at the moment but I'm confident we can maintain our Championship status. We've got very good players and I think we'll be ok."

Ternent also confirmed that former manager Andy Hessenthaler was a big part of his plans, on and off the field.

STAN TERNENT FACTFILE:

Born: June 16, 1946.

Playing career: Played for Burnley and Blackpool in a career spanning 12 years before a knee injury forced him to hang up his boots.

September 1979: Took his first managerial role at Blackpool but was only in charge for five months.

February 1980 - November 1989: Gained experience with various coaching and assistant roles at Leeds, Bradford and Crystal Palace.

November 1989: Appointed manager at Hull City and enjoyed relative success by guiding the club from the bottom of the Third Division to a consistent mid-table side. After leaving the club in 1991 he was assistant manager at Chelsea in the top flight.

September 1995: Became manager at Bury after being Mike Walsh's assistant for a few months. Won two consecutive promotions to the First Division.

June 1998: Appointed Burnley manager and transformed the club from a mid-table Second Division side to a solid First Division team and narrowly missed out on a play-off place in 2001 and 2002.

June 2004: Ternent paid the price for not quite managing to return Burnley to the top flight and was not offered a new contract at Turf Moor.

December 7, 2004: Appointed the new Gillingham manager 14 days after Andy Hessenthaler stepped down.

*Ternent spoke to KM-fm Sports Editor Simon Watts about his appointment...