Olly Lee was Gillingham’s guest of honour on Saturday as he returned for a special send off.

The 31-year-old was forced to retire this season after being diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis and Raynaud's condition - a rare condition that causes pain in parts of the body, usually fingers and toes.

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Lee has previously spoken about the “extremely painful journey” he had been on, as he tried to continue playing, but eventually was forced to quit. His last game for the Gills was in December and he announced his retirement in February.

He first came to the Gills in 2012, on loan from West Ham, and after spells at the likes of Birmingham, Luton and Hearts, he returned to Priestfield in 2019, first on loan and then permanently before the 2021/22 season. He’s clocked up over 100 appearances for the club.

Health issues have meant he’s been far from his best this season and manager Neil Harris hopes people remember the player he once was.

“He has bene a super player,” said the Gills boss, after they lost 2-1 on Saturday to Newport. “(He) certainly shouldn’t be remembered for him finding it tough in the first half of the season here because physically he was unable to do it and we were poor (as a team).

“With a fit and firing Olly Lee a couple of years ago, we would have been better than that first half (on Saturday), that’s for sure.

“He has had a wonderful career and deserves the applause he got.

“He didn’t want to finish his career now, it’s too early for him, he is a top player, top lad, great personality in the changing room.

“I didn’t want to lose him, he has been robbed of that, it was probably one thing we didn’t do (on Saturday), we didn’t do Olly Lee justice and we didn’t do (former chairman) Tony Smith justice with that performance, again it shouldn’t reflect my players as a whole because they had been excellent, but it would have been nice for us to finish with a better result and performance than that.”

Lee has been coaching for a few years now and has been working with Tottenham Hotspur.