Gills longest serving player Matk Bentley is no longer needed

We want to pay tribute to an ex-Shrimper now looking for somewhere to play footy when not so long ago he was involved in two consecutive promotions with the Essex boys.

Midfielder Mark Bentley is the longest-serving player to depart Priestfield after five seasons with the Kent based club when Gills boss Andy Hessenthaler decided to dispense with his services.

There's many who believe one of Tilly's few mistakes was allowing midfielder come centre-back Mark Bentley to leave the Shrimpers after we won promotion to the Championship in May of 2006, so off he went to the garden of England, well, Gillingham, and he's been there ever since.

He was only offered a one-year contract to stay at Roots Hall while he went for the security of two with the Gills.

However, now 33, Mark's final one-year contract came to an end in the summer with the Gills facing another season in League Two after just failing to get into the play-offs by , and after first team opportunities proved few and far between, he'll want to prove there's life in the old dog yet.

Earlier this season just ended he was even loaned out to Blue Square Conference side Cambridge United.

Hessenthaler told www.gillinghamfootballclub.com last March: "Mark told me he was frustrated in training because he just want to play and if the roles were reversed, and I was in that situation, I'd have done the same thing. He is a top lad and always gives everything he's got for this club but when it comes down to it he just wants to play football matches."

Good Luck Mark.

Mark Bentley's 2004/05 season (by Robert Craven)

The former Enfield Town battler had made a tough transition to League football during the tail end of the 2004/5 campaign, but if it was a difficult transfer from Dagenham & Redbridge, he made sure that the next time round he would prove to be a valuable member of the side.

Whilst those around him were struggling to find form in the opening gambits of the campaign, 'Beno' was toughing it out, earning the respect of opponents with a series of whole-hearted displays. He looked to single-handedly be earning Blues three points at home to Wycombe Wanderers with his first goal of the season, but a suspiciously offside-looking goal and then a screamer from Danny Senda consigned United to a 2-1 defeat.

Bentley was revelling in the absence of Kevin Maher, but with his skipper reinstated, the 25-year-old started to form one of the most formidable central midfield pairings in League Two, although it was cruelly split up when Paul Robinson ridiculously sent off the combative talent at Colchester United in the LDV Vans Trophy. Although Blues appealed against the decision, this was overturned, ironically after the 4-0 shambles at Darlington, and with Lewis Hunt playing well in his three-game absence, Bentley was not automatically assured of a return to the team.

He bided his time on the substitutes' bench, and when handed a chance to impress, netted at home to Shrewsbury Town in an LDV mauling. A sterling few minutes in the rain against the Salop at Gay Meadow had by then intensified calls for his reinstatement. Finally he came back, at Yeovil Town, and thereafter he missed just three games, all through suspension.

Indeed, if midfield partner Maher has a suspect disciplinary record, then Bentley's is positively awful, with fourteen bookings allied to that dismissal at Layer Road. A run of three bookings in the play-off matches almost earned the midfielder another ban at the start of 2005/6, which would have made his beginning to life in League One hard.

Possessing one of the strongest shots in the Shrimpers side, he finished the campaign with five goals, the remainder coming against Rushden & Diamonds, Darlington and Rochdale, all of which were eventually comfortable victories. He often pushes forward well, but an incapacity to finish with his head has meant the Bentley is less effective than he could be.