Gillingham manager Neil Harris has admitted he feared the sack when the team hit rock bottom in League 2 - but is loving the club’s revival.

Harris always knew a takeover was on the cards but was reliant on a patient hierarchy at the club to retain him as manager. He’s had the chance to rebuild with fresh investment and has quickly turned things around.

Gillingham are averaging two points a game since the mid-January reshuffle - form that over a season would leave them challenging for the title rather than fending off relegation.

When they lost 1-0 at Stevenage on January 2 - before they could make moves in the transfer window - the Gills were rock bottom with 14 points from 23 matches - the halfway point of the season - with just seven goals scored.

The Gills have gone from a points average per game of 0.6 to 2.0 in a two-month period. They head to Walsall this Saturday sitting nine points clear of the relegation zone.

Harris said: “I am not immune to criticism or immune to the sack, you’re bottom of the league and you are struggling to win games.

“You are trying to change formations, trying to change players, you fear that sooner or later the club might change the manager.

“The club made a decision to stick with the manager and change the players. We invested in January, moved players out that we wanted to move on and brought players in and it has changed us as a group.

“Of course I feared [the sack]. I didn’t want it to happen because I do enjoy working for the football club.”

Harris has reconnected with the fanbase having had run-ins with a few individuals during the tough times.

“We had an horrific run and people would lose faith in a manager, I accept that,” he said. “I understand why.

“My commitment has never wavered, my love to win games has never wavered. We didn’t win them and I accept I am a huge part of it, but I am also a part of what is happening now moving forward and enjoying it.

“The emotional outpouring at the end, the celebration with the fans, is for me and the players to say thank you. I want to keep building that chemistry, keep building that trust in me because I thoroughly enjoy my job.

“The fans have been brilliant here. They have supported me from day one. Had a little wobble, when we were bottom, I totally agree as a fan as to why they did, but they are fully supportive again.”

The Gills are closing in on safety with 11 games left. Once that’s assured it will be all systems go for a promotion push from League 2 next season.

“We’re on 38 points and it would be nice to get over the 40-point barrier, that is another massive hurdle,” Harris said.

“We just have to keep going, building performances, 11 games to go, that’s a quarter of a season still.

“It’s ridiculous to think back before we played Hartlepool (on January 14) that we were on 14 points at the halfway stage! That’s embarrassing to look back and see that but how far we have come as a group, huge credit to the club and players.

“We have to try and get away from being that team which went to Stockport the other day to have to sit and defend deep for our lives and nick a point on the road.

“It will take time and at the moment we are a force to be reckoned with at home, five wins in six, and on the road we are being very difficult to beat.”

After Saturday’s trip to Walsall, Gillingham host Crewe on Tuesday night.