Gillingham’s former fitness coach James Russell has landed the assistant manager’s job at Barnet.

Gills fan Russell, who has a background in sports science, has been involved in professional football for the last six seasons.

Russell had previously worked with Allen at Notts County and the two linked up again at the Gills, helping the club to win the League 2 title in 2013.

It’s something he hopes to replicate in his new role.

Speaking to the Barnet club website, he said: “Working with Martin is a massive plus for me. I know how he works and it clicked at Gillingham. We had success there and we are looking for that again.”

Russell left the Gills in October 2014 during the reign of Peter Taylor and subsequently joined Dagenham.

The Gills head to Barnet on Saturday for another pre-season test, at The Hive.

Allen had been short of backroom members and had a supporter on the bench for their previous match, to help out.

He said: “James joins as new assistant manager/coach and sports scientist, all roled into one, but he was somewhere else working on Saturday and I was short of staff.”