Neil Harris spent 612 days and 90 games in charge at Gillingham but it was the first two months of this season that sealed his fate.

His goal-shy squad has seen plenty of investment during the past two transfer windows by new American owner Brad Galinson.

But a return of just nine goals in 11 League 2 games - including another blank in what proved his final game in charge at Crewe on Tuesday night - was clearly a statistic that irked those behind the purse strings.

The aim has always been to achieve a play-off place and Gills might yet still do that - and more. But they dropped out of the top seven for the first time in midweek, and within hours the decision had been made to change the manager.

Gillingham's four-match winning start to the season is already a distant memory for some fans. They won all four games 1-0 but have now scored just five more league goals, including two for the only time this season to defeat Morecambe at Priestfield.

They've lost their last three away games, all matches they could have expected to pick something up from. To lose one can happen, to lose two was unfortunate, but to lose three was a pattern that couldn't continue.

That said the former Millwall and Cardiff manager can still leave Priestfield with his head held high after experiencing some of the toughest conditions anyone could have possibly imagined.

Rewind to January 2022 when Harris was appointed. Gills were 10 points from safety in League 1. It was a big ask for Harris to turn the season around and he nearly rescued the club from inevitable relegation.

He won two of his first three league games in charge and with seven matches to go, a goalless draw with Sheffield Wednesday moved them out of the relegation zone. A win at Accrington edged them closer to safety but Gills’ short-comings were exposed again and they picked up just three more draws in their final six games – relegated after losing at home to Rotherham on the final day.

That led Harris into an angry post-match outburst at his squad.

“Ultimately, I am the manager of the football club and I take responsibility on behalf of the football club for letting our fans down this season," he said.

“The standards, the professionalism, the recruitment, it hasn’t been good enough, and we have paid the price.

“We made some quick gains, we have been relegated on goal difference, with 40 points, we haven’t got to 45-46, or 47 points, which you normally need in this division, so we have gone as far as we can.

“Do I look back at individual games and think, ‘should I have changed shape there, should I have done that slightly quicker?’ Of course I do, because I care, I look at myself in the mirror before analysing anyone else in the stadium.

“The games we have thrown away have, in my opinion, come from individual errors. Did you see Rotherham making an individual error? No. Did we? Yeah, have we? Yeah. That comes with you get what you pay for.”

Finances were to prove a major issue going forward for Harris in League 2. At this stage it was the lack of money, with then chairman Paul Scally unable to provide a competitive budget.

Harris’ hands were tied in many ways. His players were trying, they could never be accused of failing in that regard. But they were failing to convert simple chances and leaking goals at the other end. Relegation out of the Football League appeared to be a certainty.

“I don’t really know what more to say to you guys (the media) because it’s a collective responsibility and I’m the manager," said Harris after a 1-0 loss at Doncaster in October 2022.

“I said to my group, I don’t want nearly men, I don’t want men that almost score, I don’t want men that almost block a shot, I don’t want men that almost win a header. In games at the moment, I’m having nearly men at certain moments of the game and it’s not acceptable.

“I suppose it comes down to levels of players, I can only ask so much of my group. I keep demanding more, keep trying to coach more and that’s all I can do.”

To his credit, Harris stuck to the task. No-one could have blamed him had he decided to walk away at any time during that tough period.

There was one public altercation after the 3-0 home loss to Salford in December.

"There was one fan in particular who had some choice words to say to me, which is absolutely fine, as the manager of the football club and (someone) saying it is not good enough, I accept that, they are right, I 100% get that, but don’t get personal," said Harris.

“No fan can get personal with me and not expect a comment back. I have no problem them shouting at me but I will shout back and that won’t change.

“I am a passionate person and I care. I will always stand up for myself.

“There was an individual who had choice words for me, but that was the end of it for me and that’s the way it is.

"You wouldn’t shout at someone across the street because they might get something back, so don’t come into a football ground and just because you pay your money you are entitled to shout personal abuse at an individual, that will not happen.”

At Christmas, Gillingham sat bottom of League 2. Six goals, two wins and 14 points to their name from 20 games.

But Harris wanted the chance to put it right, he wanted the chance to spend the investment made by the Galinsons. He knew help was on its way. In came new faces, the contrast in results was amazing.

At the end of February, Gillingham had increased their tally to 21 goals, had eight wins and were steering clear of relegation.

Harris, who was enjoying the wins with his post-match celebrations in front of fans in The Rainham End, said at the time: "We have to keep moving in the right direction. It is nice for everyone, it leaves the past behind, how tough it has been for a period. It is a big part for me personally, it is a lovely feeling, thinking if we can win this I can have that reaction with the fans. It builds that chemistry between pitch and terraces with me part of it.

“It’s great for the fans, they respond off it and great for the players, they enjoy seeing their manager doing it, they then know they have a together football club and they have a happy manager, a happy fanbase and I am sure social media will be happy with the players, it is a big part of society.

“The reaction to the fans and the players at the end is brilliant and means so much to us all. We are becoming a united club again and the fans have got belief in their football club."

That feel-good factor carried on through to the end of the campaign, Gillingham finished 17th with 14 wins.

Expectations were raised again as more new faces arrived in the summer.

Alfie May, who ended up at League 1 Charlton, was one name regularly linked with the club.

Harris said in July: "I just don’t want people to get too excited. We are not going to have the budget that gets us in the top five, six or seven teams in the league.

“Being linked with all of these players might fuel excitement, but we know it’s not going to happen.

“People need to get in the real world, we have to still try and sign smart players and make sure we get players at the right age and right experience.”

While Harris was trying to play down expectations, his team’s impressive start was raising them. Four games, four wins - what could possibly go wrong?

The change has clearly come quicker than many expected.

Following Tuesday's loss at Crewe, Harris said: “I am just very conscious that it’s three away games now where I feel like we have fallen short at times and I think when you look back at chances created, ours are certainly better than theirs, but we lost the game.

“We have the best set-piece taker of the ball in the league. He (Mahoney) is putting really good balls into the box and we are not getting on the end of them and that is something that has to be addressed, I tried addressing and it just comes down to personnel and desire.

“I can’t bemoan too much but where is that mentality gone of us being hard to beat?

“For me, it was the amount of balls that dropped in the penalty area that we didn’t get onto, that was key. The players have to look at themselves, are they doing enough and have enough hunger to want to score a goal? Then I just look at personnel."

Harris' record from 90 games in charge ended with 31 wins, 25 draws and 34 defeats. But just 77 goals was always the underlying problem, new investment or not. His win percentage of 34% was higher than former Gills boss Steve Evans (32%) but lower than Justin Edinburgh (39%) and almost identical to Steve Lovell.