Gillingham manager Neil Harris planning a summer clear-out after relegation to League 2

Only a handful of players are wanted from the current Gillingham squad next season says boss Neil Harris.

He plans to meet his players in the coming days but very few will be with the club to battle it out in League 2 next season.

The Gills were relegated on Saturday after a 2-0 defeat against Rotherham United meant they dropped out on goal difference.

Harris has been in charge since the end of January and apart from midfielder Ben Thompson, it’s a squad he inherited. Only seven players are contracted for next season and he only wants a few of them.

He said: “We tried to compete with Rotherham but they have got better players than us. Better players, better squad and look at the bench, we don’t talk about them as subs anymore, we call them game-changers. Game-changers? I don’t seem many (in the Gills squad).

“We have scored 13 goals this season at home, it is a disgrace for any football club, certainly a football club I am representing.

“We are going to go into league 2 next season and all of a sudden we are not going to be Gillingham Football Club with the biggest budget in league 2, it is not going to happen, we have to compete and cut our cloth accordingly and get on with it, that will be the challenge for me, to put a squad together.

“I have got seven players under contract, those seven, not all of them will be here under me, not by choice anyway, some will be gone. There are a couple of players out of contract I would like to keep. Players haven’t been good enough.

“You can always blame past regimes and so and so, this and that, but players have to take responsibility as well. I have protected my players since the day I walked in and I take responsibility on behalf of the football club, does the dressing room take