Manager John Coleman hasn’t ruled out Gillingham making another addition before the weekend but admits it’s unlikely.
Gillingham look set to hand Crystal Palace forward Asher Agbinone his debut on Saturday against Doncaster Rovers and the club are working hard on closing at least a couple more deals.
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Coleman, who is looking at options in all areas, admits neither are straightforward so the weekend might come too soon, particularly with a 12.30pm kick-off this Saturday.
Speaking on Thursday afternoon, ahead of the Doncaster match, he said: “It’s a funny industry really, in the fact that you try to get people to do the jobs to the best of their ability, but you’re always looking to replace them.
“There’s not many industries that do that but that’s the nature of the game. If you stand still, you go backwards.
“I am looking to strengthen all over, as the club are. The club are always looking to get better players in to compete at the top end of the table.
“We’ve spent a lot of time and passed on a load of people we could have signed. I think that’s just as important.
“People don’t realise that for every signing you make, you’ve got to dismiss about 30 or 40. I had that with Accrington when we signed Colby Bishop and Dion Charles. People don’t see the people that you dismiss to sign them in the first place.
“If we feel that players can come in and make a difference to us, we’ll be open to signing them.”
Asked it anyone could come in by the weekend, he said: “I’d never say never, but the mechanics of one or two players that we think we’re going to get might make it difficult.”
Coleman’s happy with his first addition but says he’s learnt from past mistakes when it comes to recruitment. No signings can be better than dud signings.
He said: “You can’t make signings just for the sake of them. If they’re not going to improve your team, don’t sign them.
“I had one season where I had to sign players that possibly weren’t the right ones for me at Accrington. That was the season we got relegated from League 1.
“I vowed from that day on, and that was the only season I ever did it, that I would never make that mistake again.
“If I can’t get players in who I think will make a difference, I’ll go with a low number rather than fill a squad up with players who won’t play.”
Coleman’s not short of options with the current squad.
Conor Masterson remains out injured but Oli Hawkins is the latest to return from injury.
The Gills had a full-scale practice match in the week at Priestfield to give the players a better idea of what the manager wants.
Coleman said: “I wanted to get a handle on the players playing on the pitch and I think when they put kits on, they tend to take it a bit more serious, shin pads and all that. It gives you a few ideas.
“We can film it as well so we can go back and show them things that they’ve done well and things that they can improve on.
“I think every day should be a learning curve for you. Every day is a school day.
“You’ve got to keep on trying to educate yourself. You’ve got to keep on trying to better yourself and a little bit more knowledge every day certainly helps when you come into new surroundings.”
The Gills boss has seen some good things from the squad since taking his first session on January 7 but other areas that need improvement.
He said: “I’ve been impressed with the quality, the way they handle the ball. I think we can tighten things up a little bit.
“Even in training we’re still a little bit guilty of giving the ball away unnecessarily and that’s something that we have to tighten up on, but there is a lot of quality in the squad.”
