Gillingham manager Neil Harris ready to rebuild for a challenge in League 2

Work is already under way at Gillingham to ensure they can challenge to make an immediate return to League 1.

Gills tasted relegation on Saturday for the first time since 2010 when they dropped into the bottom rung of the Football League.

Manager Neil Harris didn’t have enough time to save them from the drop and they went down on goal difference following a 2-0 home defeat against Rotherham.

Harris knows the limitations on the club from a financial standpoint but is ready for the challenge.

He said: “Everyone has to understand the parameters we were working with and we have to accept that, because that is where we are as a football club. We have to rally, be together, be united and we have to accept the challenge next year.

“I am trying to immediately set the standards and we have to accept the challenge that next year we are going to be in League 2. We want to push for a top-seven finish in League 2, that is why I am here.”

Harris and his management team were out over the Bank Holiday weekend scouting teams and players, and that will continue while football in the lower tiers comes to a close.

Meetings with players will also be taking place from his current squad, most of whom he doesn’t want to keep, including some of the seven who remain in contract for another season. A retained list will be announced shortly.

Harris came close to keeping the Gills up and has been a popular appointment, with blame for relegation falling at the door of others.

He said: “We were 10 points adrift and about 3,000 goals behind everybody else [when I took over] and ultimately the goal difference has cost us. We have got a lot more points than the teams around us since I took over but we have just given ourselves too much to do.

“I backed