SOMEONE SAID WYCOMBE WERE LIKE An ELEPHANT In A TREE. THAT WAS MUSIC TO MY EARS First things first, Gareth – we got it wrong, we’re sorry... How worrying was the situation at the club last summer?
Rock ‘ n’ roll gaffer Gareth Ainsworth defied the doubters to mastermind his beloved Chairboys’ promotion to the Championship last term – and tells FFT all is forgiven for a dodgy prediction...
Fourfourtwo has an apology to make, and thankfully, Gareth Ainsworth is
ready to accept it. It’s all right! [ Laughs] When I spoke about it A year ago, FFT gathered together in interviews, it was always slightly tongue in our panel of Football League experts cheek. I think someone had sent it to me and and predicted the League One table said, ‘ This is what Fourfourtwo magazine are for 2019- 20. We tipped Wycombe to predicting’. We’ve proved the odds wrong for finish 23rd, above only beleaguered so long and it doesn’t affect me too much – Bury – a club that ultimately wouldn’t even but the more the season went on, the better start the campaign. it looked that we were defying them. We were Nearly 12 months later, the Chairboys were in a real mess at the start of the season, and toppling Oxford in the play- off final to reach if things had stayed the way they were, even the Championship for the first time in their I would have been in agreement with you. 133- year history. It was a truly remarkable But then [ American businessman] Rob Couhig achievement, and FFT’S prediction table had came in and helped us financially, and I used never been far from their gaffer’s thoughts. it as motivation to say, ‘ Right, they thought He had pinned it on his office wall, and even you’d finish second- bottom’. The players are referred to it in interviews – particularly after aware of most things anyway, especially with Wycombe went seven points clear at the top. social media these days, so it was more with Luckily for us, the 47- year- old is also one of the staff that I used it. To be fair, you got a lot the nicest men in football, and wasn’t likely of predictions right, but I’m pleased you got to bear a grudge... us totally wrong!
It could have been a real disaster campaign. We’d been trust- owned for around seven or eight years. They kept the club running during some difficult times and were fantastic with me, but we needed help. They knew my plan was to get to League One and then survive in League One, and we’d just about exhausted every single resource at the club to do that. We survived, but then the chairman, Trevor Stroud, said they had to take at least 30 per cent – maybe 35 per cent – from the budget. I was working off a bottom- end League One budget, so that would have taken it down to a bottom- end League Two budget. I said to Trevor, “This could mean the worst for us”, and he said, “I know, everyone understands”.
How did things turn around?
Trevor tried to get investors in and that was when I first met Rob, just before pre- season.
He said, “I can put your budget back to where it was.” We still had a bottom- five budget, but I’d cleared out the squad after what Trevor told me, so I had spaces to fill. We brought in Paul Smyth, David Wheeler, Fred Onyedinma, joining the likes of Adebayo Akinfenwa, Matt Bloomfield and Joe Jacobson, and I thought, ‘ Wow, we could even finish mid- table’. Then we went on a ridiculous run and were seven points clear. I’ve got to say, I was surprised...
Someone at the club tells us you also had another source of inspiration mid- season – something about an elephant up a tree...
[ Laughs] It was some motivation off Twitter. Apparently there was this picture posted by a fan – of one of the bigger teams in League One, we thought. It said, “Wycombe are like an elephant in a tree. No one knows how the hell they got up there, but they’re in for a big fall”. Again, all of that was music to my ears, knowing what kind of characters I’ve got in our dressing room.
The Chairboys were 8th when the season halted, but the table was so tight that you moved to 3rd on points per game. Without knowing at the time, if the campaign had gone on for a couple more days, everything could have changed.
It’s crazy to look back now and think one win and we could have got automatic promotion, but one defeat and we could have missed out on the play- offs. We lost at Doncaster in our final match before lockdown, but if I’d gone into that game saying, ‘ Win this one and you might seal promotion’, it’s a whole different game. In the end, though, we came third, the play- offs were going to take place and it was a chance we couldn’t turn down.
What was it like during lockdown, before anyone had any idea about how the season would be resolved?
Those 10 weeks were really difficult without a decision. I phoned my players individually each week and asked how their families were – and about anything else other than football – because I didn’t know what was happening. They wanted to ask me questions that I didn’t have answers to. But I’m not going to preach all season that I’m there for them, then once lockdown starts, not talk to them! I wanted to check everyone was fine. I think when we came back, the boys thought, ‘ The gaffer was there for us, so we’re there for him’.
How did it feel when the final whistle went in the play- off final?
Disbelief for about 20 seconds – then seeing the players’ faces, I was just really happy for them. Hardly any of them have played in the Championship before – they’d only dreamed of it. Boys were coming up to me and saying, “Thank you”, but I was saying it to them. It was an amazing feeling. We got kicked out of Wembley Stadium at 11.30pm. One of the stewards told me they’d never seen a team celebrate that long before!
Achievements like that are never possible without a very good manager – what was key to pulling it off?
I appreciate the kind words, but a manager is only as good as his staff and players. I can put them together and create a culture, then they have to take it on. That culture and spirit can play a far bigger part than many people realise. My most powerful weapon is talking. Some coaches put on great sessions, some read tactics very well – I talk, and I also listen. Those two things are huge. Everyone knows their job as well. When I played, sometimes a coach would say, ‘ Go and play right wing’, but it’s really important to tell them how you want your right- winger to play. I’ll try to give my boys almost a job spec for every game – all matches are different, but in this one, this is your job. At any time between zero and 94 minutes, everyone knows where they should be, what they should be doing, what intensity they should be at, where everyone else is and that everyone is looking out for them. We’re all there for each other.
You became Wycombe boss in 2012 and were the longest- serving manager in the top four tiers – until Harrogate went up and Simon Weaver pinched your record...
[ Laughs] At least that’s not on my head any more, so thanks Harrogate! But I’m proud to have been here for so long. If I’m honest, in the early days it was bumbling through, not
“AT 11.30PM WE WERE KICKED OUT OF WEMBLEY. A STEWARD THERE SAID THEY’D NEVER SEEN A TEAM CELEBRATE THAT LONG”
being ready. During the first couple of years I thought, ‘ I haven’t done this right. I’ve tried my best, but it wasn’t good enough’. My best needed to be better.
In your second season Wycombe were in the League Two relegation zone, needing a win going into the last game at Torquay.
Wembley was the best day of my career, but Torquay was the biggest day, and it’ll never not be. Wycombe going out of the Football League would have been more catastrophic than them not reaching the Championship, but I’m so glad I went through that because I needed it. At that stage, it was, ‘ You either learn from this, or you get off this managerial horse’. I learned, and I’m so proud of where we are today.
You’d previously been caretaker manager at QPR, under Flavio Briatore. Was that an eye- opener for you?
Yeah, very eye- opening – that introduced me to how chaotic this job can be. Managing up, down, sideways, all over the place. Flavio was very controlling with the team and the club – he’d pumped a lot of money in so he wanted to control everything, and I needed to fight my corner sometimes. That made me realise I had a couple of years left in me as a player, and wasn’t ready for management. I couldn’t have done it – it wouldn’t have been fair on the QPR fans – so I chose to carry on playing, and went to Wycombe to do that.
I’ve turned jobs down as they didn’t feel right for me. Finance isn’t everything to me – it’s about being happy and secure. I’m blessed with a great family and I’m very pleased with where we’re located right now – we’re happy and that’s really important.
Do you have ambitions to coach in the top flight in the future?
I’d love to manage in the Premier League one day – that’s got to be the next aim. Premier League management really excites me, but I have to admit, the Championship is pretty exciting at the moment, too.
You’re also the lead singer of a rock band...
Yeah, we’re keeping the Cold Blooded Hearts going and recording our own stuff. It’s been difficult because football takes over – it was much easier when I was playing and in the band Dog Chewed The Handle. Monday night is rehearsal night these days – although if we get a Monday night Championship game on Sky, I may have to change that...
You’ve been playing for Woodley United in the Hellenic League, too. Will you continue that in 2020- 21?
That got curtailed because I was injured, but I’m on the road back at 47 years old! I’m still signed with Woodley. Just because Wycombe have gone up to the Championship, it doesn’t mean that I’m going to change. I love being the Wycombe manager, I love my music and I love my football on the side. I always think, ‘ Be who you are’ – as you see with the clothes I wear on the touchline!
Which managers have influenced you the most in your career?
Everyone I’ve worked with has played a part. At the start of my career, John Beck made me believe and gave me a chance – I think I got my drive from him. John Rudge refined me at Port Vale, and Ian Holloway at QPR made me realise how strong emotion is. John Gregory had incredible belief in me at 36 or 37, and I’ll never forget what Gary Waddock, Wycombe’s previous manager, said to me on the day he got sacked. He simply said, “Your turn now – have a go.” He gave me a free run at the job, without feeling guilty. That was so powerful. They all played a part in who I am, although I don’t want to copy anyone else – if I did, it would probably be [ musicians] Jim Morrison or Michael Hutchence!
Adebayo Akinfenwa will be playing in the Championship for the first time this season, at the grand old age of 38. What does he bring to your side?
He brings so much, whether he’s in the team or out of the team. Bayo leads that dressing room – no one’s going to argue with him, so I’m very glad he’s on my side! On the field, he brings a hell of a lot – when he’s on, hell fire you know about it. He’s certainly going to get his opportunities this season, and I’m hoping some centre- backs in the Championship are thinking he’s a lower- league player...
How huge a step up are you expecting the Championship to be?
Well, I don’t think I’ll be quite as annoyed by
Fourfourtwo’s prediction table if you put us down near the bottom this time – there’ll be no offence taken! It’s going to be a very hard season, but I also believe we’ll surprise a few people as we’re not a conventional team. My job is to win matches however I can – we’ve been known to try to destroy what opponents do, and that’ll be even more apparent in the Championship. We have to disrupt them and create chances ourselves.
Would you take 21st place right now?
Yeah, I’d probably take 21st, but I don’t want anyone at Wycombe reading it as a negative. Let’s just find our feet in the first season and then we’ll see what happens. However many seasons we’re in the Championship, we have to be super proud of what we’ve all achieved. But I aim to make it more than one season.