When football returns this season, Gillingham boss Steve Evans insists his team will be ready.

Professional football is currently on hold until the end of April, at the earliest, because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Evans said: “We understand the decision and support it but as professionals we will try to be at our best for the minute that we are clear to return to work.

“Whenever this starts again, I am telling supporters now, you watch the results, they will be different.”

The Gills players were in on Monday for a training session but then off for the rest of the week.

Evans, speaking earlier in the week, hoped to have them back in this coming Monday as they build up to a potential return.

But, like the rest of the country, the club are constantly reviewing their options as things change.

“We need all of our players fit but we should be in terrific shape when we come back,” he said.

The EFL said on Thursday that games throughout April are now all postponed, extending their initial plan to return on April 4.

Evans had initially hoped to keep his team full at it for the duration but took advice from the medical department this week and crucially, other managers.

He said: “We are constantly taking advice from the medical department and taking advice from our bodies, the league managers’ association and the players’ union.

"Probably the biggest factor was speaking to other managers, five or six of them, they had already made the decision that they would leave their boys at home.

“We will probably review it at the weekend, take the advice again, present and discuss those findings with the chairman and then we will make a decision.”

The break has at least let the likes of Barry Fuller and Max Ehmer overcome niggles. Each player has been given a specific programme to work on by the sports science team.

As a club, the Gills have closed their offices, their shop and ticket office until this Monday, at the earliest. Phone lines are also down as staff take time away from work.

This will be Gillingham’s second free weekend. They should have been travelling to MK Dons on Saturday.

Evans was back watching his former club Stamford last weekend but the FA have since shut down all levels of the game and that has left the manager pacing the floor.

He said: “I was planning to go to Boreham Wood but that was called off and I got re-routed back up the A1.

“I thought I could go home and sit infront of the television, and probably get made to make the tea, or I could head to Stamford and I always get a great welcome there, I only won them a couple of titles! They are great people and I always get well received.

“Now I just find myself looking on the TV for games. I would usually be looking at what is taking place, what I can go to, what I can watch?

“I am like a bear with a sore head. My wife told me to go for a walk on Monday and ‘take a while’, I think was the phrase!”

A possible extension to the league season was made easier by the decision from UEFA to postpone Euro 2020 for a year, playing it the following summer instead.

There are many scenarios for what to do next, with some suggesting scrapping the 2019/20 campaign altogether, but the EFL aren’t responding to hypothetical situations.

In a statement earlier this week, the EFL said: “Whilst the league and its board understand there is a strong desire from both the media and general public to understand what may happen next, there have, at this current time, been no decisions taken.”