Stimson took his side back into League One with promotion last season

Gillingham have revealed they cannot afford to bring in any more players until next January at the earliest.

The Gills have been forced to end their interest in loaning West Ham defender Matt Fry due to a lack of funds.

Boss Mark Stimson says he has been told there is no money left in the playing budget and he cannot see that changing.

"I haven't got the money at the moment, and we haven't got any players to go out on loan because the squad isn't the biggest," Stimson told BBC Radio Kent.

"With the couple of injuries we've got, we can't allow anybody else to go out on loan who's really going to make that much difference to the money situation.

"The boy from West Ham [Fry] - we had to try and do a deal but at the moment we can't bring any players in so unfortunately he's staying there."

But there is good news on the injury front for the Gills as defender Gary Richards, who limped off during their reserve game at QPR on Tuesday, will be available for Saturday's home game with Norwich City.

He is likely to be on the bench - with Josh Gowling and Mark Bentley continuing at centre-half.

Had he been ruled out, then it would have left Stimson with just Tom Wynter, who has never played a first-team game, as central defensive cover.

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