Steve Evans has left his position as manager of Gillingham Football Club.

He leaves following a 4-0 defeat to Ipswich Town on Saturday, with the Gills seven points adrift of safety and sitting third from bottom in League 1.

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Evans has been in charge for the past two and a half seasons but leaves following a poor performance against Ipswich which assistant boss Paul Raynor said was the worst they had experienced since being in charge.

Raynor has also left the club. Both were contracted to the club until the end of this season.

In November the Gills rejected the advances of League 2 Stevenage after they wanted to talk to Evans about their management vacancy.

Gillingham have been on a dreadful run of form, without a win in any competition in 13 games. Their last victory came against bottom club Doncaster Rovers on October 19.

A short statement from the club said: "Gillingham Football Club can confirm that the contract of manager Steve Evans has been terminated by mutual consent with immediate effect.

"The club wishes to thank Steve for all his efforts over the past two years in circumstances that have been significantly more difficult and challenging due to the Covid pandemic, and wishes him well in the future.

"The search for a new head coach/manager will begin immediately.

"There will be no further comment from the club on this matter."

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Prior to this season's problems the Gills were pushing hard for a place in the League 1 play-offs, finishing 10th place in the previous two campaigns. There were hopes this year could be third time lucky but it's now a battle for survival for the club, as they look to avoid dropping into the bottom tier of the EFL.

Gillingham are next in action against Burton Albion, on Saturday.

They could go for a familiar face in former player Neil Smith for their next managerial appointment. He's been out of work since leaving Bromley and has been a regular at Priestfield this season and was watching at the weekend.