Gillingham boss Mark Bonner insists he’ll have the final say on players the club will be looking to sign this summer.
Bonner took over as manager this week and will already have an idea of the kind of players he wants. Prior to his arrival, there had already been work done on attracting new players.
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The new man will be working with the club’s head of recruitment Andy Hessenthaler and director of football Kenny Jackett, along with input from managing director Joe Comper.
Chairman Brad Galinson has said the club are keen on making use of analytics to help find the right personnel.
Bonner will have his own ideas, but appears enthused about the idea of a collaborative approach, while making use of the experience at the club.
“There has been some really good work that has gone on here already,” he said.
“Kenny and Andy are going to be massive for me, in terms of their knowledge of the club and the league and the players and the work that has already gone on.
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“As a younger manager, with 200 games, there are people there in the club who have massive experience that I can lean on and I can’t wait for their help to get me through it.
“I will make the final call on which players go and which players stay and we will get to work on that.
“We have some targets, some ideas of where we want to add and strengthen and we will get to work on that straight away.
“We met (on Tuesday) for a few hours and that work will carry on now, it is not easy to get things done, it is very early, the season is only just done and the play-offs are still ongoing.
“It might take a bit of time bit there is certainly a huge desire to add and a real plan about how we go about it.”
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Bonner has welcomed the support he’ll get at the club, saying: “That has become clear really quickly, that is one thing you look for, an element of stability in the people.
“I am good at building relationships, I think we can build a team that goes together and my job is to lead the football team.
“I will be accountable for what happens on the grass but it takes a lot more people to build a really successful club, It is everyone, more we than me, therefore working with those people and the collaborative approach they have taken at the club is something I have been really impressed with.”
The club have yet to confirm Bonner’s backroom team and his no.2. Assistant coach Robbie Stockdale left along with Stephen Clemence at the beginning of last week.
