Gillingham fans got the chance to put their questions to club chairman Paul Scally and the management team on Tuesday night.

The fans’ forum took place in the Great Hall at Priestfield Stadium, with a broad range of topics covered.

Here's a selection, starting with the goalkeeping position;

Fan: “Stuart Nelson should be taken off the transfer list, made No.1 and club captain. He should be installed as goalkeeping coach when his contract expires next year”.

Ady Pennock: “Football is such a fantastic game and we all have opinions. Stuart is on the list, but we haven’t had offers in. He has been top drawer, a very good professional. We are all football managers and have our own ideas.”

Fan: “Will we be looking to bring in another keeper? I don’t think Tomas Holy is up to it.”

Pennock: “It isn’t right for me to say someone isn’t good enough. It would be disrespectful and unfair. In any position we are always looking for better."

Fan: “Tom Hadler. Is it worth sending him on loan to get experience?

Glen Johnson (keeper coach): “Tom has been excellent. It is important he goes out on loan and that is something we are actively trying to do.”

Fan: “Justin Edinburgh got the Northampton job days after being sacked. Did he lose his Gillingham job deliberately?”

Scally: “When you sack someone in football we are obliged to pay up their contract and it can be expensive. A few days after (sacking Edinburgh) I had the chief executive of Northampton call. I said of Justin, ‘great bloke, the most-hard working manager, committed and his thinking was way above the players. I said I might have made a mistake.

“(Their chairman) Kelvin Thomas phoned up later. I said Justin was inspirational, sacking him was a big mistake and you should take him all day long. They did and I was happy because we didn’t have to pay a considerable amount of compensation! He got another job and life goes on.”

Mr Scally also mentioned how he spent Monday at the Ashford employment tribunal, after Edinburgh brought a claim against the club. That case has been adjourned until November.

The chairman said he was 'appalled' at the conduct shown by Edinburgh when the Gills met Northampton at the end of last season, refusing to shake Pennock's hand.

Fan: “Last season was a shambles.”

Steve Lovell (coach): “Whatever happened last season has gone, we all hated it. It is a pleasure to work with these players (this season). They want to be better players, as individuals and a unit. If we have that commitment from everyone we have more than half a chance.”

Fan: “At the start of last season at Southend I watched the game and felt this is going to be the season. How did the team end up struggling to stay in the league?

Lovell: “I can’t answer about Southend, I wasn’t here because he (Justin Edinburgh) sacked me! The body language and lack of effort by certain players who performed against Southend goes to show why it didn’t succeed.”

Scally: “Last season was a season from hell. JET (Jay Emmanuel- Thomas) was by far our most expensive player and we’re still paying a substantial amount of money to QPR in back payments.”

Fan: “Have we enough experience in the squad to have a really good season and push for play-offs?”

Pennock: “It is better. (New signing) Gaby (Zakuani) has looked a million dollars, he’s a leader. I think we have a nice blend of youth and experience and we’ll see where that takes us.”

Fan: “How close is Darren Oldaker to breaking into the first team?”

Pennock: “He does some fantastic stuff and other times he tries a nutmeg on the edge of his own box. We don’t stop him doing fantastic stuff but it has to be the right time and place. He needs men’s football, he is learning his trade, but I am excited by him.”

Scally: “He could have gone to Iceland (on loan) but that deal fell through.”

Fan: “Is Charlie Edinburgh (Justin's son) still Darren’s agent?”

Scally: “No, not anymore.”

Fan: “Where is the money for Bradley Dack?”

Scally: “It is in the business. Our budget is £1.6million and we will run at about that level until we get more funds in. It is possible the court case (against Centerplate) is settled in next few days. It is just a question of how much they pay us.

“The business is financing the court case and that is already three-quarters won. They have conceded liability. They offered us £900k which we rejected. They are using top lawyers at £600 an hour. They came here last week with utility experts because they didn’t trust our meters. They were counting the lightbulbs.

“They walked out on us. They came with a truck on a Saturday night and cleaned the place out, they took everything out, even the operating manuals for the cookers.”

Fan: “How much was offered for Dack (by Bristol City) and would it have been better in hindsight to take it?”

Scally: “It was £2m and yes, it would.”

Fan: “Who will be captain next season?”

Pennock: “We will reveal that on Saturday. I will let him know on Friday.”

Fan: “We played Patro played twice in competitive games. Is there a relationship there?”

Scally: “Their owner is Wayne Woo, who is Chinese and quite why he would buy a club in Belgium is beyond me. He knows nothing about football. We were helping them out.

“We are also developing good relationships with Lille and Amiens. We went to see an Amiens player called Kamara. Ady said he wouldn’t make it but he has just been sold for £5.2m to Fulham. That is a bit annoying!

Pennock: “We couldn’t afford it.”

Fan: “Was (Dover striker) Ricky Miller on our radar?”

Pennock: “Yes he was.”

Scally: “He always wanted to go to Peterborough because he lives near there so we were always up against it.”

Fan: “Teams like Bury and Scunthorpe are spending big.”

Scally: “The chairman of Scunthorpe is worth £460m, that is why he puts in money. He’s a great bloke but he chucks his money in because he has it.”

Fan: “Do you regret signing Konchesky, O’Hara and Emmanuel-Thomas?

Scally: “Yes, all three. Jamie O’Hara was injured after one or two games and for the first time in 23 years I had someone tear up his contract. Fair play, he didn’t have to do it.

“I arranged for him to come back in for training once he got fit but he didn’t turn up. I went home and my wife said he was on Big Brother. I texted Jamie and got a reply back from a producer saying: ‘When he gets thrown out he will come back’. He was one of last to survive and by then we had given up!”

Fan: “Why is there no new kit this season?”

Scally: “While I was in hospital my (then) chief exec ordered 5,000 shirts and paid for them. We have about 8,000 pieces of kit (in the shop) and there might be a sale after Christmas! That is why he is the ex-chief exec.”

Fan: “Have you tried a psychologist?”

Pennock: “I got three in last season. We tried everything. If it helps 1% that’s not a problem. It helped some and some of them still use those individuals.

Fan: “Will there be benefits and deals for season-ticket holders?”

Scally: “We are not as advanced as we should be on a whole new system where you will have a card. We will be able to put offers on the card system and it will make fans’ life easier. We anticipate the card system to be in place way before Christmas. We can upload any offers onto the card.”