Millwall fan here. As some of you may have read, your manager is on a three man shortlist to be our next manager. I have read quite a lot on this board about Gareth Ainsworth and he seems to be very popular indeed. If you have read any of our forums then you will see that he is not a popular choice for us. Partly because of his past clashes as a player against us which quite a lot of our fans don't want to forgive and also because of what we, as outsiders, see as a decent manager but not outstanding. I personally am underwhelmed at the prospect of him being our manager.
I was wondering if you can tell me why he is so revered at Wycombe, what sort of manager he is in terms of style of play and perhaps more pertinently, his temperament when things are not going well and how he handles pressure.
Well robbo, You'll never hear him in the press slagging off the ref, the other manager, his own team, quite refreshing these days.
He's dealt with almost being relegated out of the football league, losing a play off final, losing countless star players and having mad financial restraints.
Despite all that, he's gone from strength to strength, learnt a lot along the way, hence you see him 2nd in the league, and courted by tonnes of teams.
Style wise, he'll get a lot of bad press, but the truth is he uses the strength of the players we have. We can smash it as high as anyone to Bayo Akinfenwa, but we have a real set of star wingers at the club too. Hard work, a lot of pressing, but getting it down when there's time
@Malone said:
Well robbo, You'll never hear him in the press slagging off the ref, the other manager, his own team, quite refreshing these days.
He's dealt with almost being relegated out of the football league, losing a play off final, losing countless star players and having mad financial restraints.
Despite all that, he's gone from strength to strength, learnt a lot along the way, hence you see him 2nd in the league, and courted by tonnes of teams.
Style wise, he'll get a lot of bad press, but the truth is he uses the strength of the players we have. We can smash it as high as anyone to Bayo Akinfenwa, but we have a real set of star wingers at the club too. Hard work, a lot of pressing, but getting it down when there's time
He won't go to Millwall though.
Thanks for the reply. I had no idea about the financial constraints he has had to manage under. Why is this? I always thought of Wycombe as a well-run club from the outside.
Well, firstly I should say there's a before and after to this. We have a huge vote on ownership over the next 2 weeks. If that goes the wrong way, then he'd without doubt be open to moves, including Millwall.
But if that goes the "right" way for us, it'd take something impossible to turn down to walk away from the best squad he's had here, just as he's finally been able to piece together a terrific squad.
We're talking a QPR, or Blackburn, teams he has real ties to.
Money wise, we just about recovered from the last owner, and years of stretching a bit beyond our means (not Bury style of course). The new owners (if voted in) would fund a bit of a bridging gap for a while, in a bid to hit the Championship and make efficiencies and bring more punters in.
You never know what Gareth is thinking, but Millwall just doesn't strike me as the right club for him right now. Especially as his decision would come BEFORE the vote result.
@Malone said:
Well, firstly I should say there's a before and after to this. We have a huge vote on ownership over the next 2 weeks. If that goes the wrong way, then he'd without doubt be open to moves, including Millwall.
But if that goes the "right" way for us, it'd take something impossible to turn down to walk away from the best squad he's had here, just as he's finally been able to piece together a terrific squad.
We're talking a QPR, or Blackburn, teams he has real ties to.
You never know what he's thinking, but Millwall just doesn't strike me as the right club for him right now
Ok. Interesting stuff. He obviously has deep ties to you and is well respected by the fans.
I would agree that we wouldn't suit him and vice versa.
Thanks for your replies and wish you all the best with the ownership vote and the future.
We were a well-run club. Then we weren’t (sold out to someone who threw too much of his (ie ours in loans) to make us successful. Then we were (back being supporter owned and cutting our cloth). Then we weren’t (just costs too much to compete in the EFL for a club with no benefactor and debts to pay). After tonight? Who knows.
But with Ainsworth you would get a manager who respects his opponents and fellow managers and is, an old-fashioned term, a gentleman.
More importantly, given time, he assembles a team of players who would run through brick walls for him, give everything and punch above their weight.
In terms of style we have developed a reputation for ‘shithousery’ (Sunderland fans words - basically time wasting and falling over) which at times has been justified but other times we have taken advantage as teams underestimate us and at its best has allowed us to beat total football teams like Plymouth by basically taking the piss.
But more seriously he adapts the style of football to the players at his disposal. At times it has been a hard watch but at others we are a really good team. (And I wish I shared Malone’s optimism)
@bookertease said:
We were a well-run club. Then we weren’t (sold out to someone who threw too much of his (ie ours in loans) to make us successful. Then we were (back being supporter owned and cutting our cloth). Then we weren’t (just costs too much to compete in the EFL for a club with no benefactor and debts to pay). After tonight? Who knows.
But with Ainsworth you would get a manager who respects his opponents and fellow managers and is, an old-fashioned term, a gentleman.
More importantly, given time, he assembles a team of players who would run through brick walls for him, give everything and punch above their weight.
In terms of style we have developed a reputation for ‘shithousery’ (Sunderland fans words - basically time wasting and falling over) which at times has been justified but other times we have taken advantage as teams underestimate us and at its best has allowed us to beat total football teams like Plymouth by basically taking the piss.
But more seriously he adapts the style of football to the players at his disposal. At times it has been a hard watch but at others we are a really good team. (And I wish I shared Malone’s optimism)
I have been guilty of just looking at Ainsworth as an outsider and judging on not much else, which is ignorant of me.
The shithousery would go down very well at our club, as you can imagine.
In my experience, the best judge of a player or a manager or a chairman without any question is the hardcore supporters of a club. Real supporters see things that casual observers and outsiders do not which is why I appreciate your (and others) input.
Thanks for the reply. I wish Wycombe well with regard to the ownership. Believe me, I know from bitter experience as a Millwall fan of 40 years that getting the right people running the club at the very top is vital.
@robbo555 , as others have said Gareth is a remarkable manager. He has provided cup runs playoff finals and promotion on a budget thought to be in the bottom six of the division (at best). Last season he had us flying and then saw cuts to playing squad mid season on thought to be a bottom two budget. Better still you will never hear him complain and is a thoroughly decent bloke. He chooses players of the right character and then inspires them to outperform. Under any other manager, odds are at best we would be bottom end of league 2 probably more likely conference.
You will struggle to find a supporter who wouldn’t place him at least in the top two all time WWFC managers - some would have him level with Martin ONeill.
One day he’ll leave - we know that. We will wish him well. Frankly I hope and think he deserves to go to a club with more obvious potential for success than Millwall (with all due respect). If he does choose that path though, i hope and expect him to do very very well for you.
@robbo555
"In my experience, the best judge of a player or a manager or a chairman without any question is the hardcore supporters of a club. Real supporters see things that casual observers and outsiders do not which is why I appreciate your (and others) input."
I would take very little notice of the poster DevC, he is as far from a hardcore supporter as you can get, never attends any games and even swapped his club allegiance in the past.
@DevC said: @robbo555 , as others have said Gareth is a remarkable manager. He has provided cup runs playoff finals and promotion on a budget thought to be in the bottom six of the division (at best). Last season he had us flying and then saw cuts to playing squad mid season on thought to be a bottom two budget. Better still you will never hear him complain and is a thoroughly decent bloke. He chooses players of the right character and then inspires them to outperform. Under any other manager, odds are at best we would be bottom end of league 2 probably more likely conference.
You will struggle to find a supporter who wouldn’t place him at least in the top two all time WWFC managers - some would have him level with Martin ONeill.
One day he’ll leave - we know that. We will wish him well. Frankly I hope and think he deserves to go to a club with more obvious potential for success than Millwall (with all due respect). If he does choose that path though, i hope and expect him to do very very well for you.
That is a ringing endorsement. On a par with Martin O'Neill is quite some achievement when you consider what O'Neill did for Wycombe.
I must admit I had no idea of the financial restraints Ainsworth has had to work under and the cuts to the playing squad last season.
I can understand what you are getting at when you say you would hope he goes to a team with more potential. I would say this though. We have recently won a very long legal battle with the local council with regard to land ownership around the ground which would allow us to regenerate the area and could potentially bring in huge finances. We have also forged a close relationship with Huski chocolate who are owned by a billionaire Swede who has developed a rather strange fondness for the club and fans, not that I'm complaining.
I must admit that the more I learn about Gareth Ainsworth, the more I like him.
I appreciate you taking the time to reply and wish you and your club all the very best.
@robbo555 said:
I must admit that the more I learn about Gareth Ainsworth, the more I like him.
Hopefully I can put an end to that for you. If Millwall gave Gareth the job his very first action would be to re-sign Fred Onyedinma.
Dunno. I always liked Fred. Thought he got a raw deal from our previous manager and is better than Aiden O'Brien who isn't half as talented but played a lot more.
@robbo555 I have enjoyed my visits to The New Den and if you secure the services of a manager half as good as ours you will thrive. I should also say I appreciate the mutual respect shown in this thread as it has so often been lacking when we have encountered visiting supporters in the past.
Seven seasons of pretty good raw experience, no money but one thing that has not been mentioned is his great eye for excellent loan players who often return like Fred, Alfie mawson, Aaron pierre and McCarthy (not sure where he is now) and Dominic Gape and some of the oldies have given us some great memories. A club that needs immediate results is a tough ask for a lot of managers as Nathan Jones has found out. I expect Gareth to stay.
@Onlooker said: @robbo555 I have enjoyed my visits to The New Den and if you secure the services of a manager half as good as ours you will thrive. I should also say I appreciate the mutual respect shown in this thread as it has so often been lacking when we have encountered visiting supporters in the past.
Appreciate the comments. It seems to me that Ainsworth is well respected by the Wycombe fans and that says a lot about him as a person as well as a manager.
@Wendoverman said:
Seven seasons of pretty good raw experience, no money but one thing that has not been mentioned is his great eye for excellent loan players who often return like Fred, Alfie mawson, Aaron pierre and McCarthy (not sure where he is now) and Dominic Gape and some of the oldies have given us some great memories. A club that needs immediate results is a tough ask for a lot of managers as Nathan Jones has found out. I expect Gareth to stay.
I rate McCarthy and have been advocating him being a regular and maybe that will change under whoever is our new boss. There definitely seems to be an emotional attachment with Ainsworth and Wycombe and that will be hard to break and I tend to agree with you that he will stay, mainly because, as I have learned, he is a decent bloke and manager.
I sincerely thank all the people who have taken the time to reply. It's been instructive and whatever happens I will have a respect for the job that Gareth Ainsworth is doing at Wycombe and hope that the upcoming boardroom vote works out for the fans.
@Wendoverman said:
Seven seasons of pretty good raw experience, no money but one thing that has not been mentioned is
I sincerely thank all the people who have taken the time to reply. It's been instructive and whatever happens I will have a respect for the job that Gareth Ainsworth is doing...
Such a refreshingly positive approach in complete contrast to the all too common trolling I have become accustomed to online. Good luck in your quest @robbo555
@Wendoverman said:
Seven seasons of pretty good raw experience, no money but one thing that has not been mentioned is his great eye for excellent loan players who often return like Fred, Alfie mawson, Aaron pierre and McCarthy (not sure where he is now) and Dominic Gape and some of the oldies have given us some great memories. A club that needs immediate results is a tough ask for a lot of managers as Nathan Jones has found out. I expect Gareth to stay.
I rate McCarthy and have been advocating him being a regular and maybe that will change under whoever is our new boss. There definitely seems to be an emotional attachment with Ainsworth and Wycombe and that will be hard to break and I tend to agree with you that he will stay, mainly because, as I have learned, he is a decent bloke and manager.
I sincerely thank all the people who have taken the time to reply. It's been instructive and whatever happens I will have a respect for the job that Gareth Ainsworth is doing at Wycombe and hope that the upcoming boardroom vote works out for the fans.
Also, good luck to you guys in securing a great manager, just not ours eh!
Gareth took a good couple of years as manager to start moulding a squad to his image and has continued to do so; I can't think of (m)any 'big clubs' (or clubs whose owners and fans consider them selves 'big') who would give a new manager at least two years to start to turn things around; hopefully that would work in our favour as regards keeping him here for a while at least.
@MindlessDrugHoover said:
Gareth took a good couple of years as manager to start moulding a squad to his image and has continued to do so; I can't think of (m)any 'big clubs' (or clubs whose owners and fans consider them selves 'big') who would give a new manager at least two years to start to turn things around; hopefully that would work in our favour as regards keeping him here for a while at least.
Especially as, had they had any money, he may well have been given the tin-tack after Torquay in his second season!
Did anyone see the Wycombe bit on BBC London News this evening? Gaz did nothing to rubbish the Millwall speculation, but I still can't see him going there. Maybe he's just angling for a new, better deal here...
Listened to an interview yesterday from the Millwall chairman who said they went through a robust selection process , interviewed some excellent candidates but the crunch was , they needed someone with Championship experience. Hence the appointment of Rowett. Is this a problem Ainsworth is facing as he goes for ‘ better’ jobs having lost out on Sunderland, Reading and now Millwall in the last few weeks. Our gain but his loss !!
@davecz said:
Listened to an interview yesterday from the Millwall chairman who said they went through a robust selection process , interviewed some excellent candidates but the crunch was , they needed someone with Championship experience. Hence the appointment of Rowett. Is this a problem Ainsworth is facing as he goes for ‘ better’ jobs having lost out on Sunderland, Reading and now Millwall in the last few weeks. Our gain but his loss !!
I suppose the major points on this are if he actually 'lost out' rather than withdrew any interest and if he actually sees them as 'better jobs'.
Comments
Ex-loanee Tony Craig wasn’t it?
Millwall fan here. As some of you may have read, your manager is on a three man shortlist to be our next manager. I have read quite a lot on this board about Gareth Ainsworth and he seems to be very popular indeed. If you have read any of our forums then you will see that he is not a popular choice for us. Partly because of his past clashes as a player against us which quite a lot of our fans don't want to forgive and also because of what we, as outsiders, see as a decent manager but not outstanding. I personally am underwhelmed at the prospect of him being our manager.
I was wondering if you can tell me why he is so revered at Wycombe, what sort of manager he is in terms of style of play and perhaps more pertinently, his temperament when things are not going well and how he handles pressure.
Many thanks.
Well robbo, You'll never hear him in the press slagging off the ref, the other manager, his own team, quite refreshing these days.
He's dealt with almost being relegated out of the football league, losing a play off final, losing countless star players and having mad financial restraints.
Despite all that, he's gone from strength to strength, learnt a lot along the way, hence you see him 2nd in the league, and courted by tonnes of teams.
Style wise, he'll get a lot of bad press, but the truth is he uses the strength of the players we have. We can smash it as high as anyone to Bayo Akinfenwa, but we have a real set of star wingers at the club too. Hard work, a lot of pressing, but getting it down when there's time
He won't go to Millwall though.
Thanks for the reply. I had no idea about the financial constraints he has had to manage under. Why is this? I always thought of Wycombe as a well-run club from the outside.
What makes you think he won't go out of interest?
Well, firstly I should say there's a before and after to this. We have a huge vote on ownership over the next 2 weeks. If that goes the wrong way, then he'd without doubt be open to moves, including Millwall.
But if that goes the "right" way for us, it'd take something impossible to turn down to walk away from the best squad he's had here, just as he's finally been able to piece together a terrific squad.
We're talking a QPR, or Blackburn, teams he has real ties to.
Money wise, we just about recovered from the last owner, and years of stretching a bit beyond our means (not Bury style of course). The new owners (if voted in) would fund a bit of a bridging gap for a while, in a bid to hit the Championship and make efficiencies and bring more punters in.
You never know what Gareth is thinking, but Millwall just doesn't strike me as the right club for him right now. Especially as his decision would come BEFORE the vote result.
Ok. Interesting stuff. He obviously has deep ties to you and is well respected by the fans.
I would agree that we wouldn't suit him and vice versa.
Thanks for your replies and wish you all the best with the ownership vote and the future.
We were a well-run club. Then we weren’t (sold out to someone who threw too much of his (ie ours in loans) to make us successful. Then we were (back being supporter owned and cutting our cloth). Then we weren’t (just costs too much to compete in the EFL for a club with no benefactor and debts to pay). After tonight? Who knows.
But with Ainsworth you would get a manager who respects his opponents and fellow managers and is, an old-fashioned term, a gentleman.
More importantly, given time, he assembles a team of players who would run through brick walls for him, give everything and punch above their weight.
In terms of style we have developed a reputation for ‘shithousery’ (Sunderland fans words - basically time wasting and falling over) which at times has been justified but other times we have taken advantage as teams underestimate us and at its best has allowed us to beat total football teams like Plymouth by basically taking the piss.
But more seriously he adapts the style of football to the players at his disposal. At times it has been a hard watch but at others we are a really good team. (And I wish I shared Malone’s optimism)
I have been guilty of just looking at Ainsworth as an outsider and judging on not much else, which is ignorant of me.
The shithousery would go down very well at our club, as you can imagine.
In my experience, the best judge of a player or a manager or a chairman without any question is the hardcore supporters of a club. Real supporters see things that casual observers and outsiders do not which is why I appreciate your (and others) input.
Thanks for the reply. I wish Wycombe well with regard to the ownership. Believe me, I know from bitter experience as a Millwall fan of 40 years that getting the right people running the club at the very top is vital.
@robbo555 , as others have said Gareth is a remarkable manager. He has provided cup runs playoff finals and promotion on a budget thought to be in the bottom six of the division (at best). Last season he had us flying and then saw cuts to playing squad mid season on thought to be a bottom two budget. Better still you will never hear him complain and is a thoroughly decent bloke. He chooses players of the right character and then inspires them to outperform. Under any other manager, odds are at best we would be bottom end of league 2 probably more likely conference.
You will struggle to find a supporter who wouldn’t place him at least in the top two all time WWFC managers - some would have him level with Martin ONeill.
One day he’ll leave - we know that. We will wish him well. Frankly I hope and think he deserves to go to a club with more obvious potential for success than Millwall (with all due respect). If he does choose that path though, i hope and expect him to do very very well for you.
@robbo555
"In my experience, the best judge of a player or a manager or a chairman without any question is the hardcore supporters of a club. Real supporters see things that casual observers and outsiders do not which is why I appreciate your (and others) input."
I would take very little notice of the poster DevC, he is as far from a hardcore supporter as you can get, never attends any games and even swapped his club allegiance in the past.
That is a ringing endorsement. On a par with Martin O'Neill is quite some achievement when you consider what O'Neill did for Wycombe.
I must admit I had no idea of the financial restraints Ainsworth has had to work under and the cuts to the playing squad last season.
I can understand what you are getting at when you say you would hope he goes to a team with more potential. I would say this though. We have recently won a very long legal battle with the local council with regard to land ownership around the ground which would allow us to regenerate the area and could potentially bring in huge finances. We have also forged a close relationship with Huski chocolate who are owned by a billionaire Swede who has developed a rather strange fondness for the club and fans, not that I'm complaining.
I must admit that the more I learn about Gareth Ainsworth, the more I like him.
I appreciate you taking the time to reply and wish you and your club all the very best.
Hopefully I can put an end to that for you. If Millwall gave Gareth the job his very first action would be to re-sign Fred Onyedinma.
Dunno. I always liked Fred. Thought he got a raw deal from our previous manager and is better than Aiden O'Brien who isn't half as talented but played a lot more.
@robbo555 I have enjoyed my visits to The New Den and if you secure the services of a manager half as good as ours you will thrive. I should also say I appreciate the mutual respect shown in this thread as it has so often been lacking when we have encountered visiting supporters in the past.
Seven seasons of pretty good raw experience, no money but one thing that has not been mentioned is his great eye for excellent loan players who often return like Fred, Alfie mawson, Aaron pierre and McCarthy (not sure where he is now) and Dominic Gape and some of the oldies have given us some great memories. A club that needs immediate results is a tough ask for a lot of managers as Nathan Jones has found out. I expect Gareth to stay.
Appreciate the comments. It seems to me that Ainsworth is well respected by the Wycombe fans and that says a lot about him as a person as well as a manager.
I rate McCarthy and have been advocating him being a regular and maybe that will change under whoever is our new boss. There definitely seems to be an emotional attachment with Ainsworth and Wycombe and that will be hard to break and I tend to agree with you that he will stay, mainly because, as I have learned, he is a decent bloke and manager.
I sincerely thank all the people who have taken the time to reply. It's been instructive and whatever happens I will have a respect for the job that Gareth Ainsworth is doing at Wycombe and hope that the upcoming boardroom vote works out for the fans.
Such a refreshingly positive approach in complete contrast to the all too common trolling I have become accustomed to online. Good luck in your quest @robbo555
Also, good luck to you guys in securing a great manager, just not ours eh!
Gareth took a good couple of years as manager to start moulding a squad to his image and has continued to do so; I can't think of (m)any 'big clubs' (or clubs whose owners and fans consider them selves 'big') who would give a new manager at least two years to start to turn things around; hopefully that would work in our favour as regards keeping him here for a while at least.
Especially as, had they had any money, he may well have been given the tin-tack after Torquay in his second season!
What a blessing in disguise that turned out to be.
Did anyone see the Wycombe bit on BBC London News this evening? Gaz did nothing to rubbish the Millwall speculation, but I still can't see him going there. Maybe he's just angling for a new, better deal here...
Tranmere away in the cup may be a bit underwhelming as a spectacle, but in more positive news:
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11735/11841540/millwall-appoint-gary-rowett-as-their-new-manager
Listened to an interview yesterday from the Millwall chairman who said they went through a robust selection process , interviewed some excellent candidates but the crunch was , they needed someone with Championship experience. Hence the appointment of Rowett. Is this a problem Ainsworth is facing as he goes for ‘ better’ jobs having lost out on Sunderland, Reading and now Millwall in the last few weeks. Our gain but his loss !!
I suppose the major points on this are if he actually 'lost out' rather than withdrew any interest and if he actually sees them as 'better jobs'.
He didn't lose out on the Reading job, was never in the frame.
Taking us up will sort him for championship experience!