Gillingham will be able to tap into all levels of the game following the appointment of Nicky Shorey as their new head of recruitment.

Manager Neil Harris has already worked with Shorey during his days at Millwall and knows what he is going to get from the former England international footballer.

Shorey has played in all four divisions of English league football, earning a couple of caps for his country along the way. Harris feels he’s ideally suited to start picking his way through the thousands of footballers that will become available in the summer.

It will be a rebuild job for Harris in the summer, with many of his current players on expiring deals, and now he has a man to help him through it.

“He is a fantastic appointment at the football club,” said Harris, who previously described the club’s recruitment as a shambles.

“I think in the modern game, in the football industry, having someone that knows all levels of football, and we are talking about younger players coming out of Premier League teams and players out of contract at League 1, 2 and Championship level, you have to know the non-league scene and you certainly have to know under-23 football. Nicky knows all players at all levels of football and is going to be a huge help for us, in a summer when we have so many players out of contract.

“Recruitment is going to be a big part of the next five months of our lives. Nicky is a football man, he is trustworthy, he is honest, he is hard working and he has got an array of contacts at all levels of football that will help us recruit the right characters and the qualities in players that we need.”

Harris has been hindered at the Gills with so many players picking up muscle injuries. The club weren’t help by a disrupted pre-season campaign because of Covid but the manager feels they can get better value for money with meticulous planning when it comes to recruitment.

“The search for players started before I took the job,” Harris said. “I had been watching games and Nicky’s extensive knowledge helps with that and while we have our full focus at the moment on staying in the division and battling to pick results up every game, there has to be an element from me and my staff and the chairman, now more so the recruitment department, to look towards the summer rebuild.”

Shorey’s appointment was key for Harris in his long-term vision for the club. In previous roles at Millwall and Cardiff City he also made changes to the recruitment process.

The new man fit the bill for what he was looking for, saying: “I know his character, he worked for a period at Millwall when I was manager there, even though I didn’t work with him every day, I am familiar with how he works and I trust his eye for a player and his football knowledge. We want to recruit not just the right characters on the pitch but off it as well.”