Gareth Ainsworth has had little time to settle in as Gillingham’s new manager ahead of a hectic schedule.

A whirlwind week at Gillingham saw Ainsworth installed as the club’s next manager - the third this season following John Coleman’s exit - and the new boss has only had two training sessions ahead of their match at Harrogate.

Ainsworth and assistant boss Richard Dobson took training at Gillingham’s Beechings Cross facility for the first time on Thursday and had another session on Friday morning before hitting the road ahead of Saturday’s game in Yorkshire.

The Gills are in action again on Tuesday night, as Ainsworth gets to manage at Priestfield for the first time, when in-form Colchester United head to Priestfield for an evening match.

Next Saturday, the Gills head north again for a game at Salford before another midweek trip, away at Chesterfield.

Ainsworth said: “My first two weeks are mayhem, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday and as a player you love those weeks, you're not training too much, you're just playing games.

“As a manager, you hate those weeks because of the prep you have to do, and we have come in three days before, there's so much to do.

“It's it's going to be a test but I think under the lights here (on Tuesday) will be a great occasion against Colchester who are flying high under the Cowleys. It's going to be a tough game without a shadow of a doubt.

“I’m looking forward to my first home game but all thoughts are on Harrogate at the moment and what we're going to do with that.

“We’d love a win to start with. We'll learn plenty in the game with our players. Training will show you so much but the game will show you so much more.

“We've worked on them, we've assessed their strengths and weaknesses, and ours.

“We’ll try and assess the whole of the squad before the end of the season and then make some tough decisions.”

Reflecting on their first time at training with the group, Ainsworth said: “They were really receptive. We bring energy to those sessions and they reciprocated that with with plenty of energy, plenty of enthusiasm.

“The players have been through the mill this season with three different managers and obviously changes of style, expectation from fans, and I do feel for them but it's new now.

“We’re talking about taking the expectation off them and going: ‘Right, enjoy your football again and energize’ because I believe that you get the best results when you're happy and when you're playing with freedom.

“I think that these these boys have shown (in training) that they're well capable of winning games. It's just now consistently doing it because that's the difference between the better teams in the league and the worst teams.

“You can raise a team to a game but the better teams do it week in week out consistently, that's what I aim to get, but again it will take time. This isn't going to happen overnight, it never does.

“I'll be working really hard and Gillingham fans can rest assured that I will be turning every stone over to make this place successful.

“What does success look like? (It’s that) we have an identity, we're tough to beat, we are back to that Gillingham team that everyone wants to come and support and we emptied the tank. This is success for me and winning becomes byproducts of all those things.”

Ainsworth’s long-time assistant Dobson will be a key man in preparing the team in training.

Dobson said: “They were bubbly and we had a good chat with them. They're all chomping at the bit to try and impress.

“We've spoken to them about our vision for the way we want this club to work and I said to them it's very much a partnership, it isn't staff at the top of the mountain and players at the bottom, it's very much a joined-up approach.

“We want a lot of communication, we want to work together and move forward as a group, as a whole.

“Some of them players have got a good knowledge of this football club, they've been here for a while, so they can help us settle in and adapt.

“We're here to have a look at the next five weeks (until the end of the season) and we'll assess, we'll look and see who's going to take us forward, not just with what they've got on the pitch but what they've got off it, the type of people that they are, whether they're the right characters to develop this club going forward.”