Former Peterborough United striker Tom Nichols on the move after being told he could not play at Crawley

Nichols has now completed the paperwork that will see him officially become a Gillingham player on January 1.

The 29-year-old striker has moved for an undisclosed fee and has become the club’s first new signing since new owner Brad Gallinson took over from Paul Scally.

The ex-Posh man has been linked with a move for several weeks and has not been allowed to feature for the Sussex side since Matthew Etherington and Simon Davies left Posh’s youth ranks to take over at the League Two club.

Nichols had continued to train with the club but boss Etherington has been unable to pick him based on orders from the club’s owners. Etherington described the situation as being “out of his hands.”

Crawley- who are owned by controversial WAGMI United- released a statement stating that speculation about the future of Nichols would be an unnecessary distraction for the new boss.

Nichols joined Crawley in the summer of 2020 after a three-year spell at Bristol Rovers and enjoyed the best scoring spell of his career at the Broadfield Stadium. He scored 23 goals in 101 League Two matches, with a season-best of 11 goals.

He walks into a Gills side who are the lowest scorers in the Football League- scoring a shocking six goals in 21 matches.

Nichols joined Posh from Exeter in 2016 as a highly-rated young forward for a fee of over £300k. He did manage to score on his debut in a 1-0 win over Chesterfield and at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea in the FA Cup in 2017 but he largely failed to live up to expectations at London Road.

He spent two seasons at the club, scoring just 11 goals in 50 league games before being allowed to join Bristol Rovers.

It was rumoured that Nichols failed to settle at the club after being told by boss Graham Westley he was signed by the club’s ownership and not him.