Gillingham manager Neil Harris says departed chief operating officer Paul Fisher kept him sane

Gillingham manager Neil Harris has paid tribute to Paul Fisher after the club’s chief operating officer left Priestfield at the end of last week.

Harris praised Fisher “for keeping me sane” during a tough first half of the season that saw the Gills struggle to score a goal never mind win a game while they waited for Brad Galinson’s takeover to go through.

The Gills boss has been working more with former chairman Paul Scally, who remains a minority shareholder, since a restructure behind the scenes.

But he’ll certainly miss Fisher, who was brought to the club as co-chairman by Scally before switching to chief operating officer under Galinson.

Fisher’s departure was announced on Thursday night, with the businessman deciding to focus on his growing advisory and consultancy company, GVS.

Harris said: “What I will say is a huge thanks from me personally to Fish because he kept me sane quite a lot in the first half of the season.

“He’s a class act, an absolute class guy in business and in person. I really enjoyed working with him.

“Since the restructure I’ve not had a lot to do with him on football matters - I deal more with Paul Scally - but Paul Fisher is an absolute class bloke and he’s certainly going to be missed by me.”