Gillingham Football Club have announced that three further players have been released after their current contracts came to an end.

Defenders Simon King and Garry Richards have been allowed to leave Priestfield with striker Jo Kuffour also heading for the exit from The Gills.

The trio follow defender Matt Lawrence, midfielders Dean Rance, Danny Spiller and Curtis Weston and striker Dennis Oli out of the door from Priestfield.

King, Richards and Kuffour have been released with the club having to submit their retained list to the Football League, therefore there is still a chance that they could still be signed by Gillingham in the future.

Much will depend on who the new manager wants to keep when he is appointed.

King has struggled with an ankle injury for the past three seasons, being restricted to just a handful of games in a Gillingham shirt, whilst Richards broke his leg towards the end of last season.

Kuffour signed a six month deal with The Gills back in January after negotiating a release from his contract at Bristol Rovers and is believed to want to play in League One.

It transpires that King found out about his departure on Twitter and had this message to his fans:

“Thanks for ur comments, very touching! Obviously very disappointed to be leaving, felt I was over my injury nightmare and thought I still had a lot to give!”

“Thanks for your constant support and I will take away some amazing memories, promotion, wembley,villa, goal against Torquay this season.”

“I wish the club, fans and players every success and hope the youngsters get a chance cause there is a lot of talent there.”

“Disappointed to find out on twitter that I had been released but I don’t want that to leave a sour note for me cause I have had A quality time at the gills and met some life long friends….”

A firm fan’s favourite, King will be the biggest loss to The Gills having signed from Barnet in the summer of 2007 for £200,000.

The talented defender undoubtedly could have played at a higher level had he not sustained the injury in the pre-season game against Bromley in the summer of 2009, just weeks after agreeing a new deal at Priestfield.

King made 112 appearances for The Gills in the past five seasons, scoring three goals in the process, whilst Richards leaves the club after four years in which he scored six times in 122 apperances.

As for Kuffour, he initially signed for The Gills on loan in September and went on to score nine goals in 31 appearances.

Meanwhile, six out of contract players have been handed new deals with The Gills. Goalkeeper Daren Hawkes, defenders Jack Evans, Callum Davies and Joe Carter, and midfielders Alex Brown and Tom Brunt have all been handed new one year deals.