Gillingham boss Neil Harris has described the club’s recent recruitment as a shambles and it’s something he wants to sort out immediately.

Bringing in a head of recruitment at the club is a top priority for the Gills manager.

He insists the move needs to happen quickly after becoming frustrated over the condition of the players he has inherited. He wants someone to oversee the club’s signings in a bid to avoid the situation the club had got into this season.

Barely a game goes by without a player limping off with a muscle injury. Robbie McKenzie was the latest on Tuesday night as he limped off in a 1-0 defeat to Charlton Athletic.

”Getting a head of recruitment in is just as important as getting points at the moment,” said Harris, who at the weekend said players were deconditioned.

“We haven’t got the bodies and the recruitment at the club has been a shambles, the conditioning of the players isn’t good enough and ultimately it falls on me to get the best out of the players we have got.

“We will be down to probably nine senior players (for the weekend). No disrespect to Charlie Kelman and Tom Dickson-Peters but they are not senior players, they are players who have come into help us and are doing a great job for me, it is where we are at the moment.

“We have too many injuries and that falls back on recruitment and the players that have been signed. (It’s about the) age of a player, injury record, references on players, ability to be able to repetitively train and play, it is something moving forward that has got to be addressed.

“From what I understand it can go all the way back to pre-season where they didn’t have a full pre-season because of Covid but then maybe training standards before I got here.

“It is just recruitment. You have to box clever. I have never run a football club and had injuries anything like this because I signed the right players at the right ages at the right condition.

“I can’t control today, but moving forward as a football club that is part of the big project.”

When asked about appointing a head of recruitment Harris added: “Something needs to be done immediately.”