Sacked Gillingham manager Neil Harris was in charge for 21 months: the Gills were relegated from League 1, survived a League 2 relegation battle and are now looking to win promotion

Neil Harris spent 612 days and 90 games in charge at Gillingham but it was the first two months of this season that sealed his fate.

His goal-shy squad has seen plenty of investment during the past two transfer windows by new American owner Brad Galinson.

But a return of just nine goals in 11 League 2 games - including another blank in what proved his final game in charge at Crewe on Tuesday night - was clearly a statistic that irked those behind the purse strings.

The aim has always been to achieve a play-off place and Gills might yet still do that - and more. But they dropped out of the top seven for the first time in midweek, and within hours the decision had been made to change the manager.

Gillingham's four-match winning start to the season is already a distant memory for some fans. They won all four games 1-0 but have now scored just five more league goals, including two for the only time this season to defeat Morecambe at Priestfield.

They've lost their last three away games, all matches they could have expected to pick something up from. To lose one can happen, to lose two was unfortunate, but to lose three was a pattern that couldn't continue.

That said the former Millwall and Cardiff manager can still leave Priestfield with his head held high after experiencing some of the toughest conditions anyone could have possibly imagined.

Rewind to January 2022 when Harris was appointed. Gills were 10 points from safety in League 1. It was a big ask for Harris to turn the season around and he nearly rescued the club from inevitable relegation.

He won two of his first three league games in charge and with seven matches to go, a goalless draw with Sheffield Wednesday moved them out of the relegation zone. A win at