WYCOMBE BOSS MADE A STAND ON DAY HE FACED NON-LEAGUE HELL
GARETH AINSWORTH recalls all too painfully the “best and worst day” of his seven-year reign at Wycombe Wanderers.
It came in May 2014 when Wycombe were one defeat from being booted out of the Football League and victory at Torquay kept them up on goal difference.
Fast forward five years and Ainsworth has guided Wycombe to joint top of League One.
He is among the most soughtafter managers outside the Premier League and the club is on the brink of a multi-million pound takeover.
Ainsworth, 46, has done a remarkable job and yet the most important day and the turning point in his managerial career also came on one of the darkest days in the Chairboys’ history.
“I stood on the touchline and looked at the prospect of Wycombe going out of the Football League,” said Ainsworth, who celebrated at the final whistle (right) with midfielder Stuart Lewis. “That day was a nasty time. It was the best and the worst day, and definitely a turning point for me.
“I decided from that day onwards, with my assistant Richard Dobson, that we would manage it our way.
“I think I saw myself as a former player and it was natural progression to be a manager. But you have to change.
“You can’t be friends with players while making tough decisions. You have to be your own man and make the decisions you think are right for the team. We started rebuilding from there.
“I’ve developed as a manager, I’ve used different tactics. I’m not the control freak that I was when I first started.
“I’ve learned to trust the staff around me – from the medical team to the sports science.
“Now to be in this position with a bottom-five budget is incredible. I’ve seen headlines after we drew at Blackpool on Tuesday that Wycombe missed out on going top.
“It should read: ‘This is ridiculous – how can Wycombe be up there?’”
More remarkably, Ainsworth has lasted seven years in charge at Adams Park when the average reign for a manager is 13 months.
AINSWORTH IN CHARGE AT ADAMS PARK
2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 2016/2017 2017/2018 2018/2019 2019/2020
W 17 15 26 19 26 27 16 7
But he has reunited a club which was saved by a supporters’ trust and is now in the process of being taken over by American lawyer Rob Couhig.
Couhig’s firm Feliciana EFL Ltd has beaten off competition from a star-studded consortium – including Dennis Bergkamp, Henrik Larsson and Dirk Kuyt.
Ainsworth is convinced the club is heading in the right direction.
He said: “We’ve always been the underdogs, the overachievers, but now maybe there’s a chance that will change.”
Former QPR and Wimbledon winger Ainsworth makes no secret of the fact that he is ambitious, and he was one of the
L 17 23 11 19 19 14 24 2
A 56 61 53 51 69 74 80 16 names in the frame for the Sunderland job which went to Phil Parkinson.
He said: “It would take something very special for me to leave Wycombe.
“But I don’t think anyone would begrudge me because I would be leaving the club in much better shape.
“I want to manage in the Championship and I’d love that to be with Wycombe.
“I’ve got huge respect for the likes of Paul Cook and Nigel Clough, who have done that with smaller clubs.
“But I also admire Sean Dyche, Eddie Howe and Chris Wilder. You have to look at their stories.
“To manage in the Championship for me would be to make it as a manager.
“To do it in the Premier League would be the equivalent of playing for England!
“But, let’s be honest, I know when jobs crop up in the Premier League, a string of fantastic names always come up to be the next manager.
“The likes of me would probably have to creep up on the blind side and take a team up.”