Gills hopeful of keeping Barcham

Barcham's loan spell at Priestfield will now expire on Boxing Day

Gillingham chairman Paul Scally hopes Tottenham Hotspur striker Andy Barcham will want to stay at the Medway club until the end of the season.

Barcham scored both goals in the Gills' FA Cup win over Stockport, but his loan spell runs out before their third round tie with Aston Villa on 4 January.

Scally told BBC Radio Kent: "Under the rules he has to go back.

"But there will be lots of discussions. We would like to take him back on 1 January until the end of the season."

Scally added: "I think he's enjoyed his time with the club and he's getting good experience in the first team, so (Tottenham manager) Harry Redknapp will be pleased about that I'm sure.

We want to try and make (coach) Mark Robson a permanent fixture at the club

Gillingham chairman Paul Scally

"And given that he is cup-tied I don't think there will be too many objections.

"We'll have to wait and see but it's certainly something we'll be trying to do."

The Gills are expected to earn up to �250,000 from the Aston Villa game at Priestfield and Scally hinted that he may allow Mark Stimson to add to his squad in the January transfer window.

"He's got a decent budget for this division, which he's happy with and we're pretty much up to that budget.

"But it does give us a bit of scope to do things that we couldn't previously do.

"We want to try and make (coach) Mark Robson a permanent fixture at the club because he's done a great job with Mark since he's come in.

"And, of course, it's always good to have a little bit of a surplus there so we can go and have a look at what's there in the transfer window."