The 38-year-old has had a long association with football in Gretna dating back to 2004.
Speaking to the Annandale Observer, Gilfillan said: “It came as a surprise. We’re just keen to get started, keen to get players in and keen to get coaching staff in. It’s a massive rebuild.
“I got a phone call from Mr Rome and I came in, met with the committee and met with the board. I liked what they had to say and I know they are very ambitious.
“Just looking at the facilities, it didn’t take much selling to be honest with you.
“They are a big club, I think they are a lot bigger than people from the local area think. The phone has been non-stop for a week now and a lot of folk are kind of envious because of the size of the club.”
The new gaffer does have some previous experience in management with a spell in charge at Upper Annandale in a player/manager role during 2017. And he also knows plenty about the Lowland League as last season he spent six months as assistant to Eddie Warwick at Dalbeattie Star.
Gilfillan added: “Dalbeattie was probably the biggest learning curve in my short coaching time. It’s definitely stood me in good stead for what I’m about to face here, that’s for sure.”
His predecessor, Michael McIndoe, steered The Anvils clear of the drop last season. However, they still finished third bottom in an increasingly tough Scottish fifth tier.
Gilfillan said: “It’s a very good challenge to try and pit your wits against clubs that have got massive wage bills and massive budgets.
“We’re under no illusions of how difficult it’s going to be. We probably will have the lowest budget in the league outside Edinburgh Uni, but we’re going to give it a crack that’s for sure.”
Midfielder Franny Kilpatrick was brought in to the club earlier this week, the manager said: “We’ve got Franny in, he’s signed. We’ve spoken to about 50 players from as far away as Wigton, up to Glasgow and through to Edinburgh.
“We did the loan market a bit last year with Dalbeattie and it came back to bite us a wee bit.
“I’d rather develop our own players and our young players.”
Gilfillan, who runs Little Tekkers Football Academy and also works as a self-employed heating engineer, added: “I’m going to throw everything at it. It’s a dream, everybody wants to be a professional footballer, everybody wants to be a part of a professional team.
“It’s going to be difficult, but I’ll use all the resources I’ve got to try and make this club successful again.
“I think one thing with football is you just never know what’s going to happen. I think if the fans stick with us they’ll see what we’re trying to do, we’re trying to be as positive as possible and we’re trying to be as transparent as possible.”
