Gillingham face League Two leaders Stevenage at Priestfield on Saturday and the game marks the first return to Kent of Steve Evans and Paul Raynor since the pair’s acrimonious departure from the Club back in January.

In an exclusive catch-up with KSN, Raynor has been reflecting on the pair’s time in the Priestfield hot-seat and looking ahead to their return this weekend…

“It’s a place that we’re looking forward to coming to” he told us, “there are a lot of good people there and a lot of friends still there, and we have a lot of good memories even if latterly before we left wasn’t a good time, but we’re looking forward to coming back – we had some successful times especially in our first couple of seasons…”

“It depends on going back to clubs on the relevant success or otherwise. We had some good memories at Priestfield – we had two great seasons and top ten finishes in a very difficult division which was great for everyone. We come back with good memories, so it’ll be mixed emotions! Obviously towards the end, not a pleasant time, but we’re going back with our heads held high to see some old friends.”

“There are still some of the players we know at Priestfield (Ehmer, MacDonald, O’Keefe and McKenzie), some good professionals who we still speak to on a regular basis, and it’ll be nice to catch up with the guys at the weekend. But once that first whistle blows, they won’t be friends anymore for ninety minutes at least – we’ll be doing what we normally do as we’re passionate people and we want to come to Priestfield to get the three points which are massive for both clubs.”

“It won’t be the first time that we’ve been in the away dugout of course,” Raynor recalled. “It can be quite hostile. I think that when we took the job that we always thought that whenever we came to Priestfield – when we were with Peterborough, Rotherham or whoever – we knew we were in for a hostile atmosphere, and we wanted to make that an advantage for us when we were managing at the Club.”

“It can be volatile; it can be hostile which is good for the home team. We know it can be a massive plus for Gillingham!”

Stevenage arrive in Kent on Saturday as League Two leaders something that Raynor admitted is a little bit of a surprise. “It’s a little bit of a surprise! We felt as though we recruited well in the summer thanks to the guys behind the scenes – the Chairman and the Director of Football – who have really supported us.”

“We’ve not blown anyone out of the water with what we’re spending but the infrastructure, the facilities and the norm, we’ve managed to get and that really helps! That support is bearing fruit on the pitch.”

Former Gills striker Luke Norris is leading the line for Stevenage – “Luke’s been doing well for us so far; he’s a real focal point and talisman. But it’s been a real team effort; we’ve been able to chop and change the team making five or six changes at a time for different games depending on the opposition we’ve been playing.”

“We’ve only got a squad of twenty players, but they can all come in a do a job. I don’t think anyone can second guess our team as to what it might be – the shape has more or less stayed the same, but in terms of personnel there are no real stars, everyone’s pulling together and we’re a decent League Two team.”

Raynor ended our conversation with a message for the Gillingham faithful.

“We’re looking forward to seeing them. Even during that difficult final season, the fans were incredibly supportive – they were all behind us and it’s just a pity that we didn’t get the support that we wanted from elsewhere!”

“But that’s something that we can never say about the Gillingham supporters, who were really behind us and enjoyed some really good times and as I’ve said before, we’re looking forward to seeing a lot of the staff and seeing some familiar faces, but the only thing will be that we take the three points home with us!”