Gillingham step up preparations for the new season as the newly formed management team get their heads together this week.

It will be full-systems go next Monday (July 1) when the players return from their close-season break but before that, there will be a week of planning to ensure everything is in place for when they get back.

Manager Mark Bonner has already had seven weeks to settle into the job and his team of coaches will be at his side from today. He’s got ex-Sunderland and Charlton coach Anthony Hayes in as his assistant, Pete Gill as first-team coach and some familiar faces staying on to assist a new challenge for success in League 2.

Goalkeeper coach Deren Ibrahim and fitness specialist James Russell continue in the positions they held before Bonner was appointed.

Bonner’s not had a team to coach since leaving Cambridge United in November 2023 and he’s buzzing for a return to what he enjoys.

He said: “The players are working on their off-season programme so that they will be ready to go when we come back in and we are just finishing off bits around the training ground and the stadium so that it is ready for when the players come back.

“We have a planning week so by the time everyone comes back we will have lots of things boxed off and it will be nicely organised for the players. Hopefully they will see and feel a difference when they come in.

“It’s been a slow and long off-season and I think everyone is ready to get going now, especially with the Euros and plenty (of football) to watch on the tele, it makes everyone want to get going.

“By the time I address the players for the first time as a group I will have been here two months so it will feel like I have been here ages, it won’t be like a new thing for me. I think that is good.

“The timing has worked well, it has got me back into work and we’ve put lots of things in place already and looking forward to getting started properly.

“I was supported really well by the club to bring in the people that I wanted to work with and that was important. It’s a new team and that excites me.

“I have worked with Pete before at Cambridge, I have not worked with Anthony Hayes before, both have worked with Deren, both live within a commutable distance from here so location helps because it is hard to be all-in if you’re not and you’re too far away, that helps.

“The chemistry of the team will be outstanding, I know that, and the competency of the people is very good.

“We have James Russell working on all things sports science and fitness and he’s exceptional.

“I think we have a strong team and looking forward to starting to work with them.

“We are preparing real detailed sessions and we have all the offices finished off at the club. We are all in the same place which will really help us and we we are looking to getting back to work properly and starting properly.

“We have a whole week of planning together and then we will see the players on Monday 1.”