Graham Westley has emerged as the new favourite to land the manager’s job at Gillingham.

The former Stevenage and Preston manager – who had a brief spell at Gillingham early on in his playing career - is now odds-on with both SkyBet and Bet Victor.

He is currently out of work after being sacked by League 2 Newport County in March, when they were 11 points adrift at the bottom of table.

Former Gills skipper Michael Flynn came in following Westley’s dismissal and pulled off an unlikely escape, before transforming them into a top-end club.

Westley’s long career in management started at non-league Kingstonian. He would eventually end up at Stevenage, who he has managed on three different occasions.

He won the FA Trophy with Stevenage, shortly after losing out in the Blue Square Premier play-offs. He went one better the following year and clinched the league title in 2010.

Westley completed back to back promotions with a win in the League 2 play-off final in 2011.

Preston, then in League 1, swooped for him in January 2012 and after a 15 place finish in his first season he overhauled the squad. Just over a year after his appointment he was sacked, with the club sitting just above the relegation zone.

His return to Stevenage ended in relegation, finishing bottom of League 1 in the 2013/14 season. He fought back the following year, taking them into the play-offs, but losing out to Southend in the semi-finals.

Westley enjoyed a short and unsuccessful spell at Peterborough before landing the Newport job.

He is the latest manager to be linked with the Gills. The club have already made an approach for Mansfield Town boss Steve Evans while former title-winning manager Martin Allen is out of work and ready to step in.

The Gills are currently under the caretaker management of Steve Lovell, who guided the team to a 1-0 win over Peterborough on Saturday. He replaced outgoing director of football Peter Taylor.

Lovell has received backing to get the management job himself and is as short as 8/1 with the bookies. Chairman Paul Scally has been searching for a manager since Ady Pennock left the club.