Gillingham manager Neil Harris comments on Nicky Shorey's departure and James King's arrival after a recruitment shake-up at the League 2 side

Gillingham manager Neil Harris has spoken of his disappointment at losing his head of recruitment.

Nicky Shorey’s departure was announced on Tuesday - with Gillingham appointing a recruitment consultant Harris only met for the first time this week. James King - a man with a background in football agency - will now work with owner/chairman Paul Scally on finding players to bring in this January.

Commenting on Shorey’s departure, Harris said: “It’s a real shame and I am really disappointed. (He’s a) top guy, a great eye (for a player) and he was my main man out scouting.

“I understand football and that you have to make changes sometimes, things change, but he is going to be a big loss. It's a shame, especially just before January.”

Setting up a recruitment department was a key objective at the club when Harris took over and Shorey was the man he chose to head it up.

“The recruitment department at the football club was in its infancy really,” Harris said. “(We were) just trying to build it. It was a start.

“We were going to build from that, and building involves investment and funding, which we haven’t been able to do yet. We were getting up and running, it was a starting point for the football club and so to take that away was a real shame.”

There were big summer changes after last season’s relegation and plenty of players recruited but the club find themselves second from bottom in League 2.

Harris said: “Was the recruitment good enough? It was very tough, we got some right but when you recruit so many players, some work out and some don’t work out. It takes time to build a squad and certainly more than one transfer window.

“The beauty of the next one, however tough it is in January, was to try and adjust and support and