Gills boss Steve Evans is in doubt about the strength of League 1 next season - labelling it Championship 2.

The division seems to get stronger every year and 2021/22 will be no exception.

Sheffield Wednesday - down from the Championship - and Bolton Wanderers - up from League 2 - have joined the collection of ex-Premier League clubs in the third tier of English football.

Sunderland, Charlton, Ipswich, Portsmouth and Wigan are the others and there are plenty more ambitious, well-resourced clubs to deal with.

“I could probably name 10 clubs now which makes League 1 for me the toughest League 1 possibly that’s ever been there,” said Evans.

“In recent times you’ve had the likes of Leeds United and Leicester City, but when you look at the sides and the amount of big clubs in League 1...

"You often hear supporters around the town here in Gillingham tell me they want to watch Championship football - we’ve got Championship 2 here this season.

“Where should Sheffield Wednesday play? Ask the fans. Charlton, Ipswich, Portsmouth, Sunderland, Bolton, Rotherham United?

“It’s really tough for us so we need to be, in my opinion, significantly better than we were last season.

"That’s tough because we were the one team with four weeks to go, no one wanted to play us because we were very good then.”

Money isn’t everything, of course.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat and, in Gillingham’s case, they’ll be looking to out-run and out-work the opposition.

That much was clear when Evans spoke about Olly Lee’s arrival on a permanent deal after leaving Hearts.

He shone after rejoining on loan in January but should be even more effective next season.

Evans said: “We get the opportunity now to give Olly a proper pre-season.

"He only joined us midway through, of course, which is very difficult in terms of getting up to speed with the fitness levels we have to play at.

"We have to play with higher fitness levels and higher agility levels than most other teams in the league because we play at such high intensity.

"But he’s a wonderful footballer and I know how much he’s looking forward to it."

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