New Gillingham boss Gareth Ainsworth has been introduced at MEMS Priestfield and is naturally enough looking forward to starting his new job and a two-year plan to take the Gills forward. 

Speaking to KSN and other local media, the new boss told us, “The “fit” with Gillingham, is that I believe that the Club has been through some really tough times, some really testing times over the last two or three years, and probably if you go back to my biggest success story which was Wycombe Wanderers, very similar starts.”

“Again Shrewsbury Town, I can’t say that that wasn’t dissimilar as well – the fit was there! Sometimes as a manager you realise what you are good at and I think that a journey, a build is something that attracts me and with Richard Dobson (his assistant) we certainly do put the process to build and make things better!”

“It does take time, so I think that the time again was an attractive option as you cannot come in and change things round in six months – there is no chance!”

“You do need time in this game, and it’s not often given, but to have that message from the owner and Joe (Comper, the managing director) is very attractive to us and we want to get involved with this journey!”  

“Leaving Shrewsbury Town was a big wrench, I have to say that first and foremost,” Ainsworth admitted.

“They wanted to keep me – the reasons that I won’t go into too much detail, but what I will say is that the Chairman and Micky Moore, the Director of football have got a lot of stick for me going and I think that that stick could be aimed elsewhere because there are more reasons that that!”

“Those two fought hard to keep me, doing everything they could, but the fact that here at Gillingham, we (Ainsworth and Dobson) had met Brad and Shannon (Gallinson) six to eight months earlier in the summer, they had put their plans for us for this season, and yet again when Shrewsbury gave me permission to talk to Gillingham again, the plans were outlined again and guaranteed plans which are all very exciting; this is a two year journey that we want you to be a part of!”

“I am very flattered that I am the manager who they have highlighted to do that two-year journey, and of course the added bonus is that I could move back home because I did miss my family a lot whilst I was in the Shropshire area.”

“The decision wasn’t taken lightly, but I am really happy now; it’s almost like a bad decision is better than no decision – we have made a decision, it’s a good decision as we know where we are going, we have plenty of backing from the owners to execute this plan that I think that this Club has been crying out for!”  

“When Rich and I were out of work in the summer after leaving Queens Park Rangers, we had quite a few Clubs come in for us.”

“One of them would have been a fantastic project abroad which really whet our appetite after we had been hit hard at QPR, and that was the main reason we didn’t come in the first place as we were holding out for this project that never materialised.”

“You make these decisions sometimes and we made the decision so when they came back, they were true to their word that we were their number one targets… We’re really pleased and look forward to Brad, Shannon and Joe with the moving forward of this Club.” 

“We are an attacking side, we have an attacking style, we have a front foot style. We will work and press, we are very adaptable from game to game which I think is a big plus in the modern game where you have to be adaptable. We often get at teams.”

“But one thing I will guarantee to Gillingham fans is that every player who puts a blue shirt on will empty the tank on that pitch.”

“I will empty the tank on the pitch on the side of the pitch and I believe as a football fan, which is what I am myself, that is all you ever want to see from your players; you can accept win, lose or draw, but I believe when you empty the tank and pull all those processes in place, winning becomes a bi-product of that and we all know where a lot of wins get you.” 

“But… one step at a time!” 

“I want to work with these boys and make sure they understand exactly what it takes to play for me and see them do it. I am very early in my tenure here and so far, so good, but there is a long way to go!”   

Picture supplied by Gillingham Football Club.