Gillingham boss Gareth Ainsworth has thanked the owners for their backing after beating several League 1 sides to the signature of striker Ronan Hale.
Reading were among the higher-league teams believed to have been interested in the 27-year-old striker, who has scored 30 goals in a season-and-a-half at Ross County.
Hale’s transfer fee is undisclosed, and although it’s likely to be less than the figure of £250,000 reported elsewhere, it’s still been a considerable investment for a club that is trying to become more sustainable, after several seasons of considerable losses.
Ainsworth said: “I can’t thank Brad and Shannon (Galinson) enough for their support and backing and (managing director) Joe Comper for getting it over the line. It’s been a real team effort.
“League One clubs were looking at him, and I think that speaks volumes again of the ambition of this club, where we want to be one day.
“It’s not going to be built overnight. We’d love it sooner rather than later. But he’s a big piece of this plan. By the end of the 2027 season, we want to be out of League 2. That’s what I want to do.
“These owners have got ambition and I know Gillingham fans appreciate what they do because they sing Brad and Shannon’s name a lot. I know they’re very appreciative of what they do.
“I’ll just reiterate that. They’re fantastic people. For this football club to have owners like that, it’s a rarity in football, believe me, it really is in the lower leagues. We’re very lucky to have them.
“I can’t say thanks enough to Brad and Shannon for backing us and backing us on the football side of things.
“They’re probably a victim of the fees going through the roof at the moment because people are paying a lot of money for players, and it bumps everyone else up. But if that’s the market price, then that’s the market price. You’ve got to go there.
“They had no worries backing myself and Dobbo, saying, ‘Look, these are the players you want, we’ll get them in and hopefully they can make a difference’.”
Gillingham made three bids for Hale, rejected twice, before finally getting their man this week.
Hale had told Ross County of his desire to leave and the club’s chief executive Steven Ferguson described just how keen the Gills were to make the deal happen.
Speaking to the Ross-shire Journal, Ferguson said: “We certainly didn’t want to lose him with the success he has had in the last 18 months, but Gillingham were relentless in trying to get him and we received a third improved offer.
“There was also the fact that Ronan had stated very clearly that this was a move he wanted. He put his cards on the table very early that it was something he would like to do, and the football club becomes bigger than one player.”
Ainsworth hasn’t ruled out more additions in the window for Gillingham and said: “You can never say never until the transfer deadline, and we won’t say never.
“I’m very happy right now where I’m sitting. We’ll see what happens over the next few days.”
And on possible exits, he added: “We’ll see. I’m sure we’ll get calls about players in the latter end of the window.
“Teams will look at other teams. You’ll see who’s not playing, who’s not been in the squad, who’s maybe unused subs and things like that and then there’s always inquiries about that.
“We’re expecting interest in some of our players.
“We’d have to consider it if somebody’s not been playing and somebody else comes in for a meet. It’s fair to consider that.
“But, as a manager, I’m really pleased with the squad that I’ve got.”
