Gillingham boss Neil Harris wants a recruitment structure at the club that will eventually stretch into Europe.

Harris says chairman Paul Scally is passionate about setting up a recruitment department that will have eyes across the country and beyond. It’s one of several projects the new manager will be working on while also trying to fight a relegation battle.

It’s something Harris has already done at his previous clubs.

He led an overhaul of the way Cardiff City conducted their transfer business while, at Millwall, he was assisted by a head of recruitment and a network of scouts as they looked to pick up promising young talent.

Harris said: “I think it is really important to try and take some pressure away from the hierarchy of the club, Paul (Scally) who does so much at the football club, for the club, and he has done for years, to try and take some of the pressure off him, try and help him implement an infrastructure in the club that isn’t just about me being the manager today but the man, or lady, that takes over from me and the next one and next one.

“The game has changed so much even in the last seven years since I have been in charge, certainly over the last 15. It is not about having masses of staff, it is about functioning in the right direction, a recruitment department and making sure agents have a port of call and making sure there is someone to support myself and the chairman in finding the right players at the right ages, making sure there is a pathway for the academy to come through.”

Setting up a recruitment team will work hand in hand with Harris’ hopes of bringing the club’s academy closer to the first-team, identifying which young players are ready to take the next step.

Harris said: “We need to make sure we recruit properly to give those players an opportunity to develop, if they play and they are not ready it doesn’t further their career.

“We have to make sure we get the players correct and ultimately you need to have a recruitment department to do that and that is something the chairman is passionate about. He believes it and we will implement it.

“We need to scout the country, we need to scout non-league, we need to scout the rest of the UK and ultimately in the future, Europe. That is the way the game has gone.

"We are not a mega rich football club, we’re playing in League 1, we have to cut our cloth accordingly and I understand that but you can work smart, as I keep saying, you find ways. I have done it at my previous two clubs, at Millwall and Cardiff City, set up recruitment departments and I want to do the same here.”