SKIPPER Paul Smith has reassured Gillingham supporters that he will remain at Priestfield - so long as the club want him to stay.

The influential captain, who last week attracted a £500,000 offer from Division 2 leaders Reading, insisted he was happy at Priestfield after signing a four-year contract in the summer. Rumours from Reading suggest that manager Alan Pardew, who has long admired Smith, will return with an increased offer in the summer as he wants to make the midfielder the cornerstone of his side in Division 1.

“I'm happy at Gillingham and would not have signed a four-year agreement if I wasn't,” he stressed. If the club are happy with me then I'm happy to stay. But should they come to me and say they've accepted an offer for me from another club, then I would have to consider it.

“I'm no different from any other player in that respect. At the moment all I'm focused on is making sure that Gillingham finish higher than they did last season.”

Smith, who has been ever-present this season, faces relegation-haunted Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday at Hillsborough despite aggravating an ankle in Tuesday's 2-1 win over Grimsby.

He was forced to come off after 79 minutes following a reckless challenge from Grimsby defender Andy Todd who was cautioned for the tackle.

“I wasn't happy with the challenge,” said Smith. “But after the game, he came up and apologised and said it was all down to the pressure of fighting relegation. I thought it was a decent gesture and we shook hands.

"I picked up the injury against Wolves on Saturday and it was unfortunate that Andy Todd caught me in the same place. I had no qualms about coming off because we had someone of Mark Saunders’ calibre on the bench to come on.”