Gillingham academy under the spotlight by manager Neil Harris

Manager Neil Harris was disappointed that only two Gillingham youth players have made the grade.

The club have offered professional deals to teenagers Bailey Akehurst and Josh Chambers. Harris would have liked more youth players coming through and that’s part of his long-term plan.

Second-year scholars Tom Crump, Ethan Smith, Josh Leach and Oli Britton are leaving the club this summer and Harris hopes in the future more players will be ready to make the step up.

“I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to take more than the two,” he said. “It shows that our academy has to improve and be better as a group, we have to recruit better at younger ages, we have to develop better.

“I will be delighted to work with those two (Akehurst and Chambers) moving forward and I hope they hit the ground running in pre-season. If they are good enough to be in the first team they will be, if not there will be a clear programme for them to help them develop and that will be training with the first team on a daily basis but also a loan programme so they can get what they need.

“If it means they play Isthmian Premier to get football for 10-15 games to help them develop then they will go there.

“It is about developing them to be involved in our first team in years to come.”

Gillingham have had success stories from their youth programme, with the likes of Bradley Dack and Jack Tucker going onto play plenty of football for the club in recent years.

“The academy is another area that needs to develop,” said the Gills boss.

“We need to make sure we recruit better academy players, educate better and have a pathway to come through. There has to be pathway and a thought process from the first-team manager down to the under-15 and 16s so we can see