Spot on. I think Gillingham was a good fit football-wise all along. They have been stagnant for long enough to where he looks like a hero if they actually get their act together.
The only problem is that GA can't do his optimistic "I was walking around town and this is a lovely place" thing, as Gillingham is grim.
It really is crazy that it all happened right before they were going to come here, though. In a way it's nice that GA still might possibly never be in the opposing dugout at AP from a "that does not look right" perspective, but that is outweighed by what a wonderful reception he would get.
It was already a bit of a shame that his return was a low key midweeker, but now we're robbed of even that.
Although at least we don't (hopefully) add the final nail into their relegation. As they'll mostly lose to Birmingham away next, and a defeat to us puts them on the precipice of relegation - already being about 14/15 points off 5th bottom and only 9 or so games left.
Hopefully they don't get some hot shot manager bounce type fella in quickly.
Although we’ll never know, did he jump before he was pushed? Poor run of results. Not sure I can see Gillingham as a better bet for promotion than Shrewsbury next year. Very strange move. Needs to do well to regain his reputation. Hopefully he can.
Ainsworth doesn’t come out of this very well from a Shrewsbury perspective. They are mightily pissed off with him. Will be interested to see Ainsworth’s first interview with Gillingham.
Indeed. Regardless of the circumstances at Shrewsbury it's not a good one for the optics... It'll also make his wonders with us seem even longer ago for potential employers. Quite a bit of pressure on this job imo.
I’m writing this open letter because I understand there is a lot of anger, worry and concern among supporters.
As you will be aware from media reports this morning – and much to our shock and dismay – Gareth Ainsworth has informed us he wishes to leave the club after receiving an offer from a League Two club.
First of all, I can confirm that the club has done absolutely everything in its power to persuade Gareth to stay.
Failing that, we also asked if he would continue until the end of the season.
Gareth’s contract contained a termination clause which the League Two club in question initially refused to meet.
We made clear from that point we would not allow him to leave and that we wanted him to honour the remainder of his contract.
But Gareth made clear he wanted to leave immediately, despite acknowledging the position the club are in at this moment in time.
At a board meeting yesterday afternoon, the League Two club had still refused to meet the termination clause.
But at 4.41pm yesterday, STFC received confirmation that the club had agreed to pay the full termination fee for both Gareth Ainsworth and Richard Dobson.
This took any further negotiations out of our hands – and Gareth and Richard once again expressed their desire to leave immediately.
A few weeks ago, I sat down with Gareth and offered him a two-year contract extension regardless of our divisional status because, as a club, we were excited about the future with him at the helm.
Gareth seemed pleased we made that offer and everyone was looking forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship.
While we only received the final paperwork from the League Two club this afternoon, I would like to – as much as possible – reassure fans that we are already in discussion with suitable candidates for the head coach role.
We are working really hard to have someone in place for Saturday.
Once again, I fully understand why our supporters are feeling frustrated, confused and concerned.
I can assure you, as a supporter myself, the current situation hurts me more than I can ever express.
And with the club still in an exclusivity agreement regarding a potential takeover, we will keep you updated with events as they happen.
Tried and failed to put that in quote marks. As always it's only one side of the story, and there will certainly be a different perspective from GA & RD, but it doesn't read well does it?
Tbf, assuming the potential takeover the chairman talks about is very much going ahead, any contract extension waved infront of Gaz isn’t really worth the paper it’s written on if/when a new ownership team come in.
We saw what happened with Blooms and ML/Rice etc, and Gaz may very well have seen the writing on the wall and/or didn’t like the look over the new ownership coming in and taken on a new opportunity now, before it’s too late.
Absolutely good on him as well. Life’s too short to stay in a job you’re not 100% happy with. Whatever the reason for the move, he has to make sure it’s the right fit for him and Dobbo and perhaps the Shrews just weren’t that right fit.. Good luck to him.
Does Gaz have an agent? I was surprised he took the Shrews job in the first place. They were destined to go down. I said at the time that there was no chance he’d keep them up. Their squad is really poor. They didn’t back him in January. This feels like, yet again, another poor move for GA and Dobbo if they go to Gills.
I agree with the surprise over them taking the Shrewsbury job. It looked like the weakest squad in the league, and there is only so much magic any manager can generate with such a talent void. Though many got upset with the lack of faith in Ainsworth for those of us predicting relegation, good managers can be in bad situations.
However, I think Gillingham could work out well - I thought he would have gone for it the last time around. L2 has less relegation pressure than L1 owing to only half the spots, which are usually taken by a couple of really underperforming clubs. Gillingham have money (for the level), are in a situation where the only way is up, and appear to be ripe for someone to come in and actually motivate them. As I said above, I think the big danger is how trigger-happy Gillingham are. If Shrewsbury really did offer GA a two-year extension, they might actually have been a better bet for the L2 rebuild now that relegation is inevitable and he is already employed there.
Either way, the Bloomfield saga shows that more can be going on behind the scenes than meets the eye, but unlike Wycombe, I doubt anyone knows people that work there and can enlighten us.
I have said this before, but I do think one major obstacle (which can't be helped) for GA and Dobbo wherever they go is that although they were the fountainhead of Wycombe's success as the management duo, Bayo, Blooms, JJ were absolute culture unicorns that don't come around often, let along in the same dressing room. When you add the likes of Darius, Gape etc., it was a once-in-a-lifetime type of set up for brilliant camaraderie.
It's not that they can't be successful elsewhere (they can), but for a duo that is a lot about team chemistry, there will always be a degree of difficulty added when you see John Marquis staring back at you instead of Adebayo Akinfenwa.
I loved Blooms as manager (shocker!) and thought we played some sublime stuff, but culture wise I still felt we were at '90' (still brilliant) compared to the 100 of the Ainsworth era, simply because you can't replace the likes of what we had in that dressing room. Bayo and JJ make up that extra 10 between the two of them! My hope had been that we stayed at 90 and were let down gently when Blooms left for Ipswich. Alas.
Perhaps, just as we’ve had to come to terms with the fact that we’ll never have another Gareth Ainsworth, he’s had to come to terms with the fact that he’ll never have another Wycombe Wanderers.
If he wants to rebuild his stock with a promotion from L2 he’s got a much better chance with Gillingham than Shrewsbury. Perhaps that is mercenary behavior, but it’s a mercenary game.
Couhig-Ainsworth-Akinfenwa was a holy trinity rare in football. It was why I was both delighted and saddened when we made it to the Championship because I knew it was a once in a lifetime experience.
A bit like when I won 1,000 quid on the Premium Bonds last month. I was pleased for the win but I knew that statistically I would never win anything again...apart from the 25 quid shit.
Comments
Spot on. I think Gillingham was a good fit football-wise all along. They have been stagnant for long enough to where he looks like a hero if they actually get their act together.
The only problem is that GA can't do his optimistic "I was walking around town and this is a lovely place" thing, as Gillingham is grim.
It really is crazy that it all happened right before they were going to come here, though. In a way it's nice that GA still might possibly never be in the opposing dugout at AP from a "that does not look right" perspective, but that is outweighed by what a wonderful reception he would get.
It was already a bit of a shame that his return was a low key midweeker, but now we're robbed of even that.
Although at least we don't (hopefully) add the final nail into their relegation. As they'll mostly lose to Birmingham away next, and a defeat to us puts them on the precipice of relegation - already being about 14/15 points off 5th bottom and only 9 or so games left.
Hopefully they don't get some hot shot manager bounce type fella in quickly.
Not like you to expect the worst of someone without any knowledge of the reasons behind their decision.
Lots of people have 2 hour commutes nowadays. He and Dobbo can share the driving or they can even employ a chauffeur or use taxi.
Or charter the Wrexham Jet?
2hrs each way in a taxi! Blimey the daily commute has changed
The Club will pay the travelling expenses. Probably cheaper than giving Gareth and Dobbo accommodation.
Do you think many league 2 clubs are doing this?!
Duplicate post!
Although we’ll never know, did he jump before he was pushed? Poor run of results. Not sure I can see Gillingham as a better bet for promotion than Shrewsbury next year. Very strange move. Needs to do well to regain his reputation. Hopefully he can.
Oh well, I'm the type of guy who will never settle down
You ignored the warning signs, Shrewsbury.
https://www.shrewsburytown.com/news/2025/march/25/an-open-letter-from-the-chairman/
Double vision?
A penny for @SHREWSBURYFan1886's thoughts...
Ainsworth doesn’t come out of this very well from a Shrewsbury perspective. They are mightily pissed off with him. Will be interested to see Ainsworth’s first interview with Gillingham.
Indeed. Regardless of the circumstances at Shrewsbury it's not a good one for the optics... It'll also make his wonders with us seem even longer ago for potential employers. Quite a bit of pressure on this job imo.
In terms of nice part of the world, place to live etc it's not a positive move at all.
Feel for shrews fans but it's a good for him. Agree with @Brownie there won't be lots of people lining up for him if it doesn't work out.
By STFC
I’m writing this open letter because I understand there is a lot of anger, worry and concern among supporters.
As you will be aware from media reports this morning – and much to our shock and dismay – Gareth Ainsworth has informed us he wishes to leave the club after receiving an offer from a League Two club.
First of all, I can confirm that the club has done absolutely everything in its power to persuade Gareth to stay.
Failing that, we also asked if he would continue until the end of the season.
Gareth’s contract contained a termination clause which the League Two club in question initially refused to meet.
We made clear from that point we would not allow him to leave and that we wanted him to honour the remainder of his contract.
But Gareth made clear he wanted to leave immediately, despite acknowledging the position the club are in at this moment in time.
At a board meeting yesterday afternoon, the League Two club had still refused to meet the termination clause.
But at 4.41pm yesterday, STFC received confirmation that the club had agreed to pay the full termination fee for both Gareth Ainsworth and Richard Dobson.
This took any further negotiations out of our hands – and Gareth and Richard once again expressed their desire to leave immediately.
A few weeks ago, I sat down with Gareth and offered him a two-year contract extension regardless of our divisional status because, as a club, we were excited about the future with him at the helm.
Gareth seemed pleased we made that offer and everyone was looking forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship.
While we only received the final paperwork from the League Two club this afternoon, I would like to – as much as possible – reassure fans that we are already in discussion with suitable candidates for the head coach role.
We are working really hard to have someone in place for Saturday.
Once again, I fully understand why our supporters are feeling frustrated, confused and concerned.
I can assure you, as a supporter myself, the current situation hurts me more than I can ever express.
And with the club still in an exclusivity agreement regarding a potential takeover, we will keep you updated with events as they happen.
Tried and failed to put that in quote marks. As always it's only one side of the story, and there will certainly be a different perspective from GA & RD, but it doesn't read well does it?
Tbf, assuming the potential takeover the chairman talks about is very much going ahead, any contract extension waved infront of Gaz isn’t really worth the paper it’s written on if/when a new ownership team come in.
We saw what happened with Blooms and ML/Rice etc, and Gaz may very well have seen the writing on the wall and/or didn’t like the look over the new ownership coming in and taken on a new opportunity now, before it’s too late.
Absolutely good on him as well. Life’s too short to stay in a job you’re not 100% happy with. Whatever the reason for the move, he has to make sure it’s the right fit for him and Dobbo and perhaps the Shrews just weren’t that right fit.. Good luck to him.
Does Gaz have an agent? I was surprised he took the Shrews job in the first place. They were destined to go down. I said at the time that there was no chance he’d keep them up. Their squad is really poor. They didn’t back him in January. This feels like, yet again, another poor move for GA and Dobbo if they go to Gills.
I think that if this one goes the way of QPR and Shrewsbury then he would be better off following his dream of rock music stardom.
His stock with possible future football club employers would be rock bottom surely.
Feel sorry for Dobbo though.
His cowboy boots are in the last chance saloon or something
Hmmm.
I agree with the surprise over them taking the Shrewsbury job. It looked like the weakest squad in the league, and there is only so much magic any manager can generate with such a talent void. Though many got upset with the lack of faith in Ainsworth for those of us predicting relegation, good managers can be in bad situations.
However, I think Gillingham could work out well - I thought he would have gone for it the last time around. L2 has less relegation pressure than L1 owing to only half the spots, which are usually taken by a couple of really underperforming clubs. Gillingham have money (for the level), are in a situation where the only way is up, and appear to be ripe for someone to come in and actually motivate them. As I said above, I think the big danger is how trigger-happy Gillingham are. If Shrewsbury really did offer GA a two-year extension, they might actually have been a better bet for the L2 rebuild now that relegation is inevitable and he is already employed there.
Either way, the Bloomfield saga shows that more can be going on behind the scenes than meets the eye, but unlike Wycombe, I doubt anyone knows people that work there and can enlighten us.
I have said this before, but I do think one major obstacle (which can't be helped) for GA and Dobbo wherever they go is that although they were the fountainhead of Wycombe's success as the management duo, Bayo, Blooms, JJ were absolute culture unicorns that don't come around often, let along in the same dressing room. When you add the likes of Darius, Gape etc., it was a once-in-a-lifetime type of set up for brilliant camaraderie.
It's not that they can't be successful elsewhere (they can), but for a duo that is a lot about team chemistry, there will always be a degree of difficulty added when you see John Marquis staring back at you instead of Adebayo Akinfenwa.
I loved Blooms as manager (shocker!) and thought we played some sublime stuff, but culture wise I still felt we were at '90' (still brilliant) compared to the 100 of the Ainsworth era, simply because you can't replace the likes of what we had in that dressing room. Bayo and JJ make up that extra 10 between the two of them! My hope had been that we stayed at 90 and were let down gently when Blooms left for Ipswich. Alas.
John Marquis is crying
Perhaps, just as we’ve had to come to terms with the fact that we’ll never have another Gareth Ainsworth, he’s had to come to terms with the fact that he’ll never have another Wycombe Wanderers.
If he wants to rebuild his stock with a promotion from L2 he’s got a much better chance with Gillingham than Shrewsbury. Perhaps that is mercenary behavior, but it’s a mercenary game.
You’d be gutted if you were a Shrews fan.
Hmmmm (TW:Steve Evans)
Over rated manager who when arrived was 3 points from safety, when he left 14 points.
No tactics and just long ball football to attackers who couldn't win a header.
Clueless against Stevenage and Bristol rovers.
Talks well great with the media, but take away his crocodile skin shoes and rock star looks is just another Steve evans
Couhig-Ainsworth-Akinfenwa was a holy trinity rare in football. It was why I was both delighted and saddened when we made it to the Championship because I knew it was a once in a lifetime experience.
A bit like when I won 1,000 quid on the Premium Bonds last month. I was pleased for the win but I knew that statistically I would never win anything again...apart from the 25 quid shit.