Former Gillingham boss Steve Evans says the club remains close to his heart - but one person does not.

Evans will be bringing his table-topping Stevenage side to Gillingham this Saturday in what will be his first return to Priestfield since leaving the club by mutual consent in January.

His Stevenage side went top of League 2 after a 2-0 win over Swindon Town, a win that came courtesy of two goals from former Gills loanee Jordan Roberts.

While Evans has said little of his time at Gills and his exit from the club, chairman and owner Paul Scally described the final few months of their working relationship as dark days, and that it was a “monumental mistake” that they didn’t part company sooner.

Looking ahead to this coming weekend, Evans said: “We have a free week, we can freshen the players up and then we can be ready to go to Priestfield and all bar one person it’s very close to my heart. We look forward to seeing a lot of friends."

He added: “We will focus on the game and the 90 minutes and nothing around it.”

Back in November things were very different. The Gills had been keen to extend Evans' contract. He had led the club to two 10th place finishes in League 1 before a more challenging third campaign. Stevenage had contacted the Gills in a bid to take Evans as their manager but were knocked back.

A statement from the Gills at the time of Stevenage's approach said: "We look forward to Steve leading the team for the remainder of his contract, and hopefully beyond."

But just two months later Evans was out of the job. In April, Scally was critical of his former manager, saying: "The big mistake I made was not based on appointing Steve Evans as our manager, but more so for not removing him three months before I did.

“I have beaten myself up many times over this, it haunts me at the damage and distress that decision caused to everyone working within the club, and to the very fabric of the club, the damage that decision has caused to me personally, to my health, to my family and friends. It was a monumental mistake.

“His conduct during that period (of the current campaign) took me personally to perhaps some of the darkest places I have ever experienced in my football life, if not entire life, they were difficult, distressing and painful times."

Scally has since taken a step back at Gills, bringing in a new co-chairman to run the club on a daily basis. Evans has enjoyed himself at his new club, having joined Stevenage in March to help turn around their fortunes. They were third from bottom in League 2 when he took over.

Stevenage now top the division with 10 wins from their 13 league games so far.

Evans has already enjoyed visits to a couple of his old clubs this season, winning twice at Peterborough in cup competitions and also Crawley in the league.

It was a double from Roberts that sent Evans’ Stevenage to the top of League 2 at the weekend after a 2-0 win over Swindon Town.

Roberts played 10 games for the Gills on loan from Ipswich under Evans and the manager said they tried to get the player in permanently at Priestfield. He moved to Hearts in Scotland instead, before Evans got him back to England this summer at Stevenage.

He said: “I took him on a loan spell to Gillingham, if I said the figure, it was embarrassing why we didn’t retain him, we didn’t. We always felt there was a good player there.

“I kept in touch with his performances up in Scotland and when I got the opportunity to speak to him, given he has a family (just) north of Watford, I thought I had a big chance of getting him, considering he had multiple choices in League 1, when he called me he wanted to play for me again and he has produced it in his performances, for the last three weeks he has been outstanding.”