The start date for the 2020/21 Football League season has been confirmed.

Gillingham will be back in league action on the weekend of September 12.

The season will conclude on May 8/9, 2021 with the play-offs reverting back to the Spring Bank Holiday weekend at the end of May.

It’s the news fans have been waiting for and particularly Gills boss Steve Evans and club chairman Paul Scally, who wanted clarity of when a new season would commence.

The club were unwilling to hand out new contracts until they knew when they would be playing. Today’s announcement gives them the opportunity to now get their work underway. They have 50 days from the announcement before the season begins.

It's going to be a busy few weeks for the Gills' management as they have a squad to assemble. They only have a nine senior players on contract and two of those are available for transfer.

Evans does, however, have plenty of potential deals lines up. There were five or six waiting on offers along with two players from last season's squad, Brandon Hanlan and Mikael Mandron.

Fans are unlikely to be able to watch the opening few matches, however, as crowds aren't currently allowed into stadiums. That might only change from October onwards.

Fixtures are to be released “in due course” say the EFL.

The Championship season has only just ended with Charlton Athletic, Wigan Athletic and Hull City finishing in the bottom three relegation places.

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