Gillingham manager Mark Bonner has yet to finalise his backroom team – but there’s no rush.
Bonner was assisted at Cambridge United last season by Barry Corr and coach Kevin Besty, who remain at the League 1 club under their current boss Garry Monk.
Forming a coaching team is high on the priority list for Bonner but he’s got time to assess his options thanks to Gillingham’s decision to make a quick managerial appointment.
Bonner was offered the Gills job just a week after they decided to relieve Stephen Clemence of his duties, shortly after their league campaign ended.
Commenting on bringing in his own coaching team, Bonner said: “We will build a team that we think is the right one and there are lots of considerations there. The scope is there to add to the coaching staff.
“I am working on that, we hope maybe a week to 10 days down the line we will be in a position to do it.
“One of the beauties is that we have time, it is not something we have to rush. I don’t want to take two months over it but we will make sure we have a strong team.”
Clemence left the club alongside his assistant Robbie Stockdale. Goalkeeper coach Deren Ibrahim and former interim boss and B Team manager Keith Millen also assisted on match days.
Bonner said: “There are some existing staff here in different positions who are really strong and really good people who I have met briefly already and we will spend a lot of time together next week.
“It would be wrong to comment on any individuals or situations now but we will certainly make some additions.
“In terms of personnel, I will certainly make recommendations to the club and it’s their job to come to an agreement to make that happen but they certainly won’t be employing the assistant coach for me. It will be someone I want to work with and someone I know that I will have a real strong relationship with.”
Managing director Joe Comper said: “The conversation has pretty-much been, ‘this is the budget we have got to play with, let us know how you want to spend it’.
“It would be absolutely wrong [for the club to choose an assistant]. I wouldn’t like it if Mark came and started to tell me who should be in the sales team, it is his team, he has got an opportunity to build it here.”
