Gillingham’s owners have told supporters that the goalscoring issues are a problem they’re looking to fix – a year on from their takeover of the club.

The transfer window is opening at the start of January and the Gills are almost certain to be looking to make additions in a bid to end an ongoing issue.

It’s a year since Brad and Shannon Galinson took on a majority ownership of the club, leaving long-term chairman and owner Paul Scally with a minority stake and a place on the club’s footballing board.

The Galinsons sanctioned the sacking of manager Neil Harris in early October in a bid to get the team playing a more possession-based brand of football with a lot more goals. Possession has gone up but the goals haven’t and the Gills have slid backwards in the league table.

A goalless draw at Forest Green Rovers on Friday night leaves the Gills heading into their Boxing Day clash with Crawley Town 11th in the table, three points off the play-off places and 11 off the automatic positions.

With just 19 goals from 22 games, they are the lowest scorers in the division.

Average goals scored have gone up slightly since Harris departed but goals against have risen sharply. Crowds are also down as the pre-season optimism has faded.

Addressing the lack of goals in a message to supporters, Mr Galinson said: “Like any family, things are not perfect, our heads are not in the sand, we are not scoring enough goals, everybody knows it.

“Kenny (Jackett, the director of football) knows it, Hessy (Andy Hessenthaler, head of recruitment) knows it, Stephen (Clemence, head coach) knows it, Robbie (Stockdale, assistant coach) knows it, every single player knows it. We are trying to deal with it, we will get there.

“Nobody likes winning more than we do, nobody hates being in League 2 more than we do, so please know it is known, it is being dealt with, we hear you, we read your posts, we see the frustration and we need to score more goals.”

Gills fans will be hoping the Galinson can bring another boost to the team during the January transfer window, as they did last year. Harris’ team went from relegation certs to one of the best teams in the country in terms of points accumulated.

Clemence was asked about the transfer window on Wednesday, ahead of their trip to Forest Green, which ended up being another 90 minutes of ineffectiveness in front of goal.

He said: “I still have a few games before then, I am not fully focused on it, I’ve said (before), I have got very experienced people in the building that are looking into that, they know what we need, we all know what we need, so they are working hard on that, but my focus is on the next game and we have a few more before January.”

Asked if forwards are incoming, he said: “We will have to see. January is always a difficult window to deal in, yes, you can get players but you have to get players that are going to improve on the ones we already have got here.

“There is no point having stocking fillers, squad fillers, whatever you want to call them, if anyone is going to come into the building I would like to think they are going to be making big improvements to the team.

“Sometimes the summer transfer window is a better time to do that. People are working hard at the club, looking at all our options and we will see what January brings.”

In their joint message to fans, Shannon Galinson said: “We have had quite a year, a year that I am both grateful for and incredibly proud of.”

She went on to thank the fans as the club sold 10,000 more tickets on the previous year figure and two and a half times the amount of replica kits.

Mrs Galinson also acknowledged the hard work of the staff they have at the club, new and old, and her pride at increasing the amount of businesses that have started sponsoring the club, with 88 new companies joining the ‘Gills family business partnership.’

The Gills are back at Priestfield on Boxing Day with a home game against Crawley Town.