New Gills skipper Gabriel Zakhuani has been talking about his aspirations for the season and his plans to just focus on the club.

He ended last season out of contract and with some Gills fans fearing they’d seen the last of the Congolese central defender.

But as Gabby told us, they needn’t have worried!  “There was never any doubt in me coming back this year after the contract was offered,” he admitted.

“I made it clear from last season that I really enjoyed it here and at this stage of my career to get a two-year deal is great.”

“It’ll give me the opportunity to enjoy my football and get on with it instead of worrying where I was going to go one contract to the next – I just wanted to play to my full potential for the next year without any worries.”

“I knew how Steve did things from last year and in the end, it was just a case of sitting down in front of the Chairman and signing the new contract.”

“It was good to see that the club kept the spine of last season which showed good intent from the club making sure we kept the best players. The new lads have settled in pretty well, and pretty quickly and have all surprised me in their own way.”

“We’re all looking to improve on last season and see where it takes us. We all know that at times last season we competed against the best in the League showing the potential of the group and it’s just about consistency – we’d have one good half and one bad half last year and if we can get some consistency, I’m sure that we can look up rather than down this year!”

“Anyone who puts a good run together can make the Play Offs and so that’s what we’ve got to be looking at, but if you’re looking to aim at somewhere it’s a great place to start!”

“If we can get a couple of wins early on it settles everyone down – if you can’t see your first win coming and all the other teams are pulling way – but when you get a win under your belt early on, it settles your nerves.”

Skippering a club isn’t strange to the new skipper as he explained. “It’s been something that I seem to have attracted at clubs that I’ve been at recently – been fining the players for being late for training and things like that, so there will be a bit more discipline in the dressing room on my watch.”

“I like to do things properly, but it’s quite an easy dressing room to captain to be honest and they’re a good bunch of lads. There’s not too much gelling to do as they’re a good bunch of guys – it’s just about getting things right on a Saturday.”

“I want to concentrate more on my Club Football this year and as a result, I spoke with the manager as I want to play as many games as I can and for as long as possible.”

“I think it’s been thirteen years of playing international football, but I’ve pulled out of the last few games saying that I want to concentrate on Club football.”