Thank you Gaz and Dobbo
Thank you Gaz and Dobbo. What you have achieved for our club is incredible. Getting a club with under 6,000 attendance to the Championship is a rare, rare feat. Oh and losing out by only one point…wow!
And bringing in and developing some of our greatest ever players. And building the greatest team spirit I have seen in my 15 years as a season ticket holder.
You both deserve your chance to manage at a higher level. We’ll hope to see you in the Premier League some day.
Thank you again…I’ll bite my lip and look forward to Saturday for both of your teams.
8
Comments
A bitter sweet day. They have earned this chance. But it hurts badly.
Forever Wycombe legends.
However... we move
Bloomfield will be amazing for us
Thank you Gareth.
I was just starting university when your Wycombe era started, having only just begun to go along to games from the 2009 season onwards.
You’ve been a huge part of my life ever since, without me even knowing you on a personal level!
In the days where I was too anxious to go out and party during freshers, you were there as Wycombe manager.
In the days where I was bored in lectures and my mind wondered to my team on football manager, you were there as Wycombe manager.
In the days where I met my girlfriend (now wife) in my final year in Oxford, you were there as Wycombe manager.
In the days where I yearned for the nostalgia of childhood and struggled to adapt to adulthood, you were there as Wycombe manager.
In the days I started my first ever full-time job, you were there as Wycombe manager.
In the days I stressed to buy my first house, making sure it was close enough to Wycombe for me to still come along every other week, you were there as Wycombe manager.
In the days where I struggled to train my new puppy (now a happy 5 year old dog), you were there as Wycombe manager.
In the days where my son was born prematurely and had to live in hospital for the first month of his life, you were there as Wycombe manager.
Thank you Gareth for being a constant in an ever-changing world over the last 12 years. You are and will always be one of the most important men in my life, and the impact you’ve had on me will never be forgotten.
That's really beautiful @Jonny - thanks for sharing it
Some rambling....
Gaz will always be fondly remembered for some epic seasons and setting the standard of what it is to play for us. From that Bristol Rovers game, counted out, to glory of sorts at Torquay with some players and characters that needed to go , that remarkable turnaround that summer, JJ Sido Sammy Saunders, Sammy Wood, Hayes, Mawson, Pierre, Scowen, Murphy PCH Yennaris, The Plymouth semis, the 112th minute winners, Wembley. Spurs, Villa, rebuilds, Bayo, Scotty K, Curtis, Tyson, L09 Macca and Gapey, Chesterfield away, Stocko, Fred, Namdi, PPG, Wembley again and who knows where a season that started with no goalie and no defenders, saw Alfie come back and retire and Ping and Co smashing odds. Not to forget the decency of the bloke, time for everyone despite all the opposition comments.
Dobbo needs recognition from much earlier, our wonderful academy, Tools, Hause, Phillips and all but particularly Ibe who may not have have had the career we hoped but probably saved the club, and then to pivot when the scheme was torn away from him seamlessly to the ultimate no2 and much more, raising the rookie manager and adding humility and tactical genius at times.
Wish them both every success and happy to steadfastly blame everyone else at QPR if it doesn't work out for them.
Add to that Dobbo list - Josh Scowen, Charles Dunne, Kareem Harris, Kortney Hause and Matt Ingram.
That shows how big Dobbo’s impact was in our club. Arguably as big as anyone else.
He is a really massive loss!!
Hi guys, QPR fan here and just thought I'd pop in to give mine and the supporters thoughts in general about Gareth's appointment.
I've been checking in fairly regularly on this forum over the past few days to see if there were any ITK scoops as I'm sure many of you were on the various QPR forums for the same reason. I've seen WATRB bandied about as one example but that place is like a dilapidated Slough pub on a Saturday night so it's probably not the best example of supporter sentiment.
In general I feel like most supporters are happy with Gareth's appointment - yes, you'll always have those fans that feel like we should have been aiming for a Guardiola+Klopp dream team in which case I can understand why they would be dissapointed with Ainsworth!
The worry among many of us with Gareth's appointment lies more so with how our club is being run in general though. Yes, we are a bit of a basket case right now under the stewardship of Les and Hoos who have left a lot to be desired over the past 8 or so years in terms of how they've run us. They have expressed numerous times about us wanting to be a tiki tacki, front foot ball playing team and that has been an aim of theirs since Shteve was in charge a few years back. So this appointment, on the back of a truly disastrous and misguided Critchley appointment feels like an attempt from the board to placate us with a club legend and likeable guy to take the heat off of them. Whilst I fully believe that Ainsworth's football isn't as bad as some people make out it is different to the styles we've had coached at the club and the ethos that Les has preached for many years.
We're worried that MAYBE our problems run so deep that an 8pt(!) cushion might not be enough, and trust me, if you'd seen us play over the last 18 games (of which we've only won once) you'd understand that fear and recognise that the club is in a deep pool of shit.
The club should have brought in the right man after Beale left as every fan immediatly had reservations about Critchley. Not as a coach, but as a motivator. Go watch any of his interviews and tell me if that guy would be able to inspire you to leave your house whilst it's on fire.
Now I personally do think Gareth IS the right man for the job and think he'll do a tremendous job with us. He is what we need, a motivator, a good man and someone to breath life and passion back into the club.
As a side note it does feel weird and maybe a tad dirty for me that we've taken your manager after so long. He was with you for an extraordinarily long time and found great success here despite all of the walls your club has to face given your size and financial assets at hand so its nothing short of amazing.
The culture from what I've seen over the past few days at this club is incredible, not just at the club but the supporters in general. You've all been incredibly classy, understanding, thankful and most importantly optimistic about the whole ordeal.
Everyone knew it would take something big for Gareth to leave. Not in terms of opportunity as he was never going to leave you for someone like Cardiff or Reading for example but big in terms of something close to Gareth's heart which is a testement to how much your club actually meant to him. If Gareth wanted a bigger and more lucrative job over the years then I feel like he could have gotten one but such was his love for Wycombe, and all the unusual aspects of managing the club like filling in rabbit holes, Gareth never wanted to leave until now. He's a truly one of a kind character and I really hope he can replicate what he did with you at our place but at a higher level (I'm not quite in the mood for your miracle at Torquey!)
I live in Bracknell so Wycombe is fairly close to me so I've always kept an eye out for your results. I really would love to see you guys back in the Championship again as you guys were cracking there last time and held your heads high right down to the last game of the season.
Bloomfield is probably the next best man for the job. You've got another legend and a promising manager to boot which I think is the best appointment you could ask for after Gareth left. You won't be in turmoil but lets hope you get back here for next year and we can have two good games of banter! Onwards and upwards!
That summer after Torquay surely has to be our best ever summer window.
JJ, PIerre and Hayes all felt like incredible signings that we knew about or had seen play for us already.
Mawson a surprise that was the best of the lot, and Sido an absolute cult hero too.
Aaaaaah bollocks, it's actually sunk in this morning. Thanks for the memories lads. The tears. The disappointments. The wonderment. The unbridled joy. You helped us to achieve what was beyond our wildest dreams. Good luck, we'll miss you.
@Weareshit1882 Excellent post, thanks for dropping by. On the football style point, there's a few amazing things you've just gained here with the appointments of Gaz and Dobbo: Gaz's style is to play to the strengths of the players he has - when Bayo was here it was definitely a lot of long balls to the big man as those balls stuck to him like glue. Since Bayo left, that style has been evolving into "get the ball in the opposition half as quickly as possible and then knock it around like 1970 Brazil until there's an opening" - we have a lot of cultured forwards at the club these days and this absolutely plays to their strengths. It might take a few games for them to work out the strengths of their new squad, but when they do I'd expect the football style to evolve yet again to whatever works with that team. Opposition managers will, every week, expect you to play John Beck hoofball, waste time and kick lumps out of their precious artists, every week they'll say "You know what you're going to get with an Ainsworth side" and yet every week they'll be wrong, and will likely have set up their own tactics to counter their preconceived notions. Gaz doesn't give a toss about football styles, he cares about winning, and he really cares about that.
@Weareshit1882 , Gareth and Dobbo's success is based on building a culture of unity between all aspects of the club - fans, staff, players, management. His people are invariably decent hardworking honest people. You have got a good one (well good two really)
We are sorry to see him go but recognise that it is their right to move on for a new challenge if that is what they want to do. We wish them every success in the future and have nothing but gratitude for all they have done.
We have but one thing to ask from you and your fellow supporters. Building that culture at your club is not an overnight job - he'll get there but you might need to give him a little patience and understanding while that evolves. Treat our boys well. If you do I have every confidence that you will be knocking on the door of the Premier in 2024/5 or 25/6. We will be watching with great fondness and cheering G+D on from afar.
@Weareshit1882 I wouldn't worry too much about style of play, we could be a tough watch in years gone by, these days we play some great stuff. We have off days of course, earlier this season we were struggling and resorted a little too much to the old long ball method. This however can mainly be attributed to the injuries we suffered at the time with a number of our better players out of the team. I'd describe our style (if we have one!) as fast, direct, attacking.
As @drcongo pointed out, do expect opposition managers and fans to have a very preconceived idea of how you'll play, seemingly forgetting that Bayo has retired and hadn't been a regular starter for us for a number of years anyway. They'll still complain about anti-football even after you've played them off the park (hello Derby!), or come up with ridiculous excuses, such as referees give Wycombe everything because Gareth's a nice guy (hello Ian Evatt!).
One of the greatest abilities the GA / Dobbo pairing have, is the ability to learn and solve problems. If there's a problem on the pitch, you can bet your life that they've identified it and will fix it. It may take a bit of time, a transfer window perhaps, but they will be working on it. I always got the impression that problem solving was a part of the job they really enjoyed and got great satisfaction from. That side of things does require patience though, something fans and more specifically owners don't always have. The rewards for that patience though... You'll have yourself a very, very good team.
@Weareshit1882 you shouldn’t under estimate the contribution that Richard Dobson will make. He is very intelligent, can spot a good player to bring in and he can work out oppositions strengths and weaknesses for every game. He is just magnificent and for me he is the greatest loss of all.
I understand he was a boyhood QPR supporter, so he will fit in perfectly.
He is very quiet and humble and will want to stay in the background but he is the full package.
For me, Dobbo was our slightly bigger loss. Has anyone noticed that since we employed the GK coach, (ironically from QPR), Dobbo has had time to work on set plays in the attacking third. Wing, after he scored the goal against Bolton pointed straight to Dobbo in gratitude and the same when he scored against Derby.
Such a shame about the timing as we haven't scored much from set pieces for years.
The thing with Gaz's style, is he never had chance to develop one. Chucked into the mire at the base of the league, without money to spend on anyone who could play.
It's clear that he doesn't really care about possession, and his real skill is getting a tune out of whatever is available. At times the attritional stuff could be tedious and I would've preferred us to take the game to opponents at home more, but the way he got the team fighting and together was absolutely more inspiring to see that an insipid 2-0 win with 800 completed passes a game.
There was certainly one season where Bayo and Samuel pretty much job shared the central striker role.
Even the craziest opposition fan can't possibly think we played the same way with those two chalk and cheese options.