League 1 is taking shape for the 2021/22 season and Gillingham manager Steve Evans knows the challenge won’t get any easier.

There’s a three-way relegation battle in the Championship as Derby County, Rotherham and Sheffield Wednesday attempt to avoid joining Wycombe Wanderers in the third-tier next season.

Peterborough United and Hull City have secured promotion into the Championship but some relative giants will remain. Sunderland will need to succeed in the play-offs to avoid a fourth season at League 1 level.

Ipswich Town are sure to improve next term under Paul Cook after a couple of mediocre seasons by their standards while Portsmouth and Charlton are hoping for play-off success after hit-and-miss campaigns. Both are hoping to finish in the top six when the regular season finishes on Sunday.

Gills boss Steve Evans will meet with chairman Paul Scally once the dust has settled on this campaign to see where they go next. Mid-table obscurity isn’t for him.

Evans said: “I need to see a plan where I can make progress, we have made progress (over the last two seasons) and if it wasn’t for the last three Saturdays (dropping points from winning positions) we would be in the play-offs but we never dealt with them. There were reasons why and it is whether we can remedy them. I am sure our chairman will want to speak to me about certain aspects so it is both ways.

“When we joined, I had watched Gillingham for a period of four or five years, watching the club fight relegation and I said to Paul Scally he wouldn’t have to worry about relegation under us.

“I have been offered roles by a host of clubs to be mid-table but that is not what we are about. Our chairman doesn’t want mid-table either but we have to understand whether we have the mechanics to really have a chance of promotion. We don’t expect the big budgets that big teams have got, the likes of Peterborough, Sunderland, Hull and Ipswich, but we can’t be the bottom one.”

Looking ahead to the challenge next term, Evans added: “It is going to be very difficult isn’t it? What do we do? That is the point of meeting with the chairman, we have to have a plan, I am not here if there is no plan.”