Steve Evans: Gillingham part company with manager 'by mutual consent'

Steve Evans (left) and his assistant Paul Raynor both departed Gillingham after a 4-0 home defeat by Ipswich

Steve Evans has left his position as Gillingham manager with immediate effect, after agreeing to terminate his contract by mutual consent.

The Gills, who have lost six of their past seven League One games, are 22nd in the table and lost 4-0 at home to Ipswich on Saturday.

Former Rotherham United and Leeds United boss Evans, 59, had been in charge at Priestfield since 2019.

Assistant manager Paul Raynor has also left the club.

Their departures follow a run of 13 matches without a win in all competitions.

In a statement, Gillingham said: "The club wishes to thank Steve for all his efforts over the past two years in circumstances that have been significantly more difficult and challenging due to the Covid pandemic and wishes him well in the future.

"The search for a new head coach/manager will begin immediately."

Evans led both Boston and Crawley into the Football League before overseeing successive promotions at Rotherham, taking them into the Championship in 2014.

The Glaswegian took charge of Leeds during the 2015-16 season and then managed Mansfield and Peterborough before succeeding Steve Lovell at Priestfield.

But, having guided the Gills to 10th-place finishes in both of his first two seasons, Evans was unable to arrest their recent slide.

League Two side Stevenage requested permission to speak to Evans about taking over as manager less than two months ago, but the approach was rejected by Gillingham chairman Paul Scally.