# Gareth Ainsworth
**Gareth Ainsworth** (born 1973 in [Blackburn](https://www.edgepedia.org/blackburn), England) is an English football manager and former winger who is best known for more than a decade as manager of Wycombe Wanderers, whom he led from the Conference's doorstep to the Championship, and who is currently the manager of Gillingham.[1](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gareth-ainsworth/stationen/trainer/8037) He was nicknamed "Wild Thing" for his long hair and rock-musician sideline, and he is the lead singer of the band Cold Blooded Hearts.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/feb/21/gareth-ainsworth-wycombe-wanderers-league-two)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1973, Blackburn, England; UEFA A Licence; preferred formation 3-4-1-2[1](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gareth-ainsworth/stationen/trainer/8037) |
| Playing career | Winger for clubs including Preston, Wimbledon and QPR; moved to Premier League Wimbledon for a club-record £2m on 29 October 1998[3](https://vitalfootball.co.uk/who-are-the-league-one-managers-no-23-gareth-ainsworth-wycombe-wanderers/) • [1](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gareth-ainsworth/stationen/trainer/8037) |
| Wycombe Wanderers | Manager from September 2012 to February 2023, 505 matches at 1.47 points per match; won promotion from League Two in 2017-18 and to the Championship via the 2020 play-off final[1](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gareth-ainsworth/stationen/trainer/8037) • [4](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/12040/11890825/joe-jacobson-interview-wycombes-league-one-surge) • [5](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/09/wycombe-gareth-ainsworth-hair-championship-football-rock-n-roll-manager) |
| QPR | Head coach from 21 February 2023 to 28 October 2023 (28 matches, 0.68 points per match); his final QPR record across three spells was 39 games, 8 won, 6 drawn, 25 lost[1](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gareth-ainsworth/stationen/trainer/8037) • [6](https://www.qprhistory.co.uk/managers/manager-profiles/ainsworth) |
| Later jobs | Shrewsbury Town, November 2024 to March 2025 (22 matches, 0.91 points per match); Gillingham from 25 March 2025 on a contract to 30 June 2027[1](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gareth-ainsworth/stationen/trainer/8037) |
| Career record | 207 wins, a career win percentage of 38.62%[7](https://footystats.org/managers/england/gareth-ainsworth) |
| Honors | LMA League Two manager of the year for 2014-15[8](https://www.the-independent.com/sport/football/football-league/gareth-ainsworth-dignity-is-the-new-rock-n-roll-for-wycombe-manager-formerly-known-as-wild-thing-10445792.html) |
## Playing career
Ainsworth played as a winger, and his clubs included Preston, Wimbledon and QPR, with QPR the club he made the most appearances for.[1](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gareth-ainsworth/stationen/trainer/8037) His best-known transfer came on 29 October 1998, when he moved to Premier League Wimbledon for a club-record £2m, a fee Port Vale received after four successive wins had lifted the club out of the bottom three.[3](https://vitalfootball.co.uk/who-are-the-league-one-managers-no-23-gareth-ainsworth-wycombe-wanderers/) He kept his playing registration into his managerial career and formally retired as a player on 1 July 2020.[1](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gareth-ainsworth/stationen/trainer/8037)
## Wycombe Wanderers (2012–2023)
Ainsworth arrived at Wycombe Wanderers as caretaker manager on 24 September 2012 and was made permanent on 8 November 2012, initially as player-coach.[1](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gareth-ainsworth/stationen/trainer/8037) The club was in financial turmoil: in the summer before the 2014-15 season he bought full-size goal nets on eBay for £29.95 each because purchase orders were being frozen, and in June 2019 he had only seven outfield players on the first day of pre-season before the American investor Rob Couhig arrived to save the club.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/feb/21/gareth-ainsworth-wycombe-wanderers-league-two) • [5](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/09/wycombe-gareth-ainsworth-hair-championship-football-rock-n-roll-manager)
**Survival and the Wembley near miss.** His first full campaigns produced both extremes. On the final day of the 2013-14 season Wycombe beat Torquay 3-0 to avoid relegation out of the Football League, which Ainsworth called his "biggest single learning day". In May 2015 the team reached the League Two play-off final, conceded a 121st-minute equalizer against Southend United, and lost 7-6 on penalties; Wycombe finished the season with 84 points, and Ainsworth was voted LMA League Two manager of the year.[8](https://www.the-independent.com/sport/football/football-league/gareth-ainsworth-dignity-is-the-new-rock-n-roll-for-wycombe-manager-formerly-known-as-wild-thing-10445792.html)
**Promotions.** Wycombe won promotion from League Two in third place in the 2017-18 season, the first promotion of Ainsworth's managerial career, and he was given a new three-year contract.[3](https://vitalfootball.co.uk/who-are-the-league-one-managers-no-23-gareth-ainsworth-wycombe-wanderers/) • [4](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/12040/11890825/joe-jacobson-interview-wycombes-league-one-surge) In the Covid-interrupted 2019-20 season, Wycombe had been in the top two for much of the campaign but slipped to eighth before the table was readjusted on a points-per-game basis, which placed them third. They beat Fleetwood Town 4-1 away in the play-off semi-final first leg and then defeated Oxford United 2-1 at Wembley in July 2020, reaching the Championship for the first time in the club's history. Ainsworth noted that the club had never paid a transfer fee up front during his tenure, saying, "I don't know if anyone has been promoted to the Championship without having paid for a player."[5](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/09/wycombe-gareth-ainsworth-hair-championship-football-rock-n-roll-manager)
By 2020 he was described as the longest-serving manager across all four divisions in England, having led Wycombe since 2012.[5](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/09/wycombe-gareth-ainsworth-hair-championship-football-rock-n-roll-manager) His decade at Adams Park ended in February 2023, when he moved to QPR in the Championship and former Wycombe player Matt Bloomfield succeeded him.[9](https://www.chairboys.co.uk/history/managers.htm) Across the whole tenure Transfermarkt records 505 matches at 1.47 points per match.[1](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gareth-ainsworth/stationen/trainer/8037)
## Queens Park Rangers (2023)
QPR appointed Ainsworth as head coach on 21 February 2023, after more than a decade at Wycombe.[10](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/12816580/qpr-gareth-ainsworth-appointed-rangers-manager-after-more-than-a-decade-at-wycombe) He inherited a side with the second-worst defensive record in the Championship, having conceded 71 goals that season, and during his time at [Loftus Road](https://www.edgepedia.org/loftus-road) the club kept only two clean sheets.[11](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66401076) He left on 28 October 2023, with Transfermarkt recording 28 matches at 0.68 points per match for that spell.[1](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gareth-ainsworth/stationen/trainer/8037)
The QPR club-history site counts his three spells at the club together and gives a final record of 39 games, 8 won, 6 drawn and 25 lost, a win percentage of 20.51%.[6](https://www.qprhistory.co.uk/managers/manager-profiles/ainsworth) By that reckoning his loss percentage of 64% is the worst in QPR's history among managers who took 20 or more games, with [Mark Hughes](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-hughes)'s 58% the closest, and the run of 12 home games without a win was the worst in the club's history. [Lyndon Dykes](https://www.edgepedia.org/lyndon-dykes), Chris Martin and Kenneth Paal were his top scorers there, with 3 goals each.[6](https://www.qprhistory.co.uk/managers/manager-profiles/ainsworth)
## Shrewsbury Town and Gillingham
Ainsworth returned to management with Shrewsbury Town on 13 November 2024 and left on 24 March 2025 after 22 matches at 0.91 points per match.[1](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gareth-ainsworth/stationen/trainer/8037) On 25 March 2025 he was appointed manager of Gillingham, a League Two club, on a contract running to 30 June 2027.[1](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gareth-ainsworth/stationen/trainer/8037) His Gillingham side won 8, drew 6 and lost 4 of its 18 League Two matches in 2025-26, at 1.67 points per match.[7](https://footystats.org/managers/england/gareth-ainsworth)
## Style and public image
Ainsworth's Wycombe teams were built on a direct, physical style that drew criticism from neutrals for its long-ball character, and he worked under a financially restrained model that relied on free transfers, loans and swap deals rather than fees.[12](https://sidewayssammy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/sideways-sammy-2018-19-season-preview.pdf) • [5](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/09/wycombe-gareth-ainsworth-hair-championship-football-rock-n-roll-manager) His squads mixed experienced professionals, whom he called his "generals", with young players, and the club ran a deliberately lean operation with no academy, reserve team or goalkeeping coach during his early years.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/feb/21/gareth-ainsworth-wycombe-wanderers-league-two)
His public image is tied to his long hair and his band, the Cold Blooded Hearts, in which he is the lead singer; he has said that people in football told him to cut his hair to get a bigger job, and he refused. "There won't be any hair cutting, believe me. This is me."[2](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/feb/21/gareth-ainsworth-wycombe-wanderers-league-two) • [5](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/09/wycombe-gareth-ainsworth-hair-championship-football-rock-n-roll-manager) After the 2015 play-off final defeat he stood alongside the opposing manager Phil Brown during the penalty shoot-out, an act he described as putting dignity back into football.[8](https://www.the-independent.com/sport/football/football-league/gareth-ainsworth-dignity-is-the-new-rock-n-roll-for-wycombe-manager-formerly-known-as-wild-thing-10445792.html)
## References
1. [Gareth Ainsworth – History, Transfermarkt](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gareth-ainsworth/stationen/trainer/8037)
2. [Gareth Ainsworth: 'It's a unique model but it works for Wycombe', The Guardian (2018)](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/feb/21/gareth-ainsworth-wycombe-wanderers-league-two)
3. [Who Are The League One Managers? No.23: Gareth Ainsworth, Vital Football](https://vitalfootball.co.uk/who-are-the-league-one-managers-no-23-gareth-ainsworth-wycombe-wanderers/)
4. [Joe Jacobson interview: Wycombe's League One surge, Sky Sports](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/12040/11890825/joe-jacobson-interview-wycombes-league-one-surge)
5. [Gareth Ainsworth: 'People have said cut your hair and you'll get a big job', The Guardian (2020)](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/09/wycombe-gareth-ainsworth-hair-championship-football-rock-n-roll-manager)
6. [Gareth Ainsworth QPR Record, QPR History](https://www.qprhistory.co.uk/managers/manager-profiles/ainsworth)
7. [Gareth Ainsworth Stats – Gillingham Manager, FootyStats](https://footystats.org/managers/england/gareth-ainsworth)
8. [Gareth Ainsworth: Dignity is the new rock 'n' roll, The Independent (2015)](https://www.the-independent.com/sport/football/football-league/gareth-ainsworth-dignity-is-the-new-rock-n-roll-for-wycombe-manager-formerly-known-as-wild-thing-10445792.html)
9. [Wycombe Wanderers – Managers, Chairboys.co.uk](https://www.chairboys.co.uk/history/managers.htm)
10. [QPR: Gareth Ainsworth appointed Rangers head coach, Sky Sports](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/12816580/qpr-gareth-ainsworth-appointed-rangers-manager-after-more-than-a-decade-at-wycombe)
11. [Gareth Ainsworth: QPR situation was 'crazy' after joining from Wycombe, BBC Sport](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66401076)
12. [Sideways Sammy 2018-19 season preview, Wycombe Wanderers](https://sidewayssammy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/sideways-sammy-2018-19-season-preview.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Association football › Football people and teams › People › Managers and coaches › English managers and coaches*
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