4 things Gareth Ainsworth needs to fix urgently at Gillingham FC | OneFootball

Gareth Ainsworth has taken over at Gillingham with the club desperately in need of a reboot. Here are four key areas he needs to address ASAP.

March saw Gillingham make yet another change to the managerial position at Priestfield, with Gareth Ainsworth coming in as the club’s next permanent first-team manager.

The club has underachieved since the arrival of new owners Brad and Shannon Galinson, whose investment into the club to date may have improved much off-field at the Kent club, but has yet to see any sort of on-pitch return for the long-suffering Gills fans.

Hopes are high that the arrival of Ainsworth can spark a fresh start, and some positive changes at the club. Here, we highlight four key areas Ainsworth needs to address in order to put Gillingham on the front foot in 2025/26.

Establish an identity and a way of playing

It’s been a topic of conversation for months. What is Gillingham FC’s identity?

Right now, the club’s identity, if there even is one, is of an underperforming side, that changes their manager every six months, with an attack that couldn’t hit water if it fell out of a boat.

All of the above needs to change, and quickly.

Ainsworth needs to lead the way in establishing a culture, and a way of playing, that can take the club into next season and beyond. But the hard work to achieve that starts right now.

The team has lacked a consistent way of playing, a clear structure on the pitch, and strong leadership, on and off the pitch, both by example, and through vocal captaincy.

The issue of managerial changes is out of Ainsworth’s hands to a degree, but the club has committed its next two years to the new boss, and hopefully they will give him those two years to build Gillingham back into a side that can start to push for promotion into League 1.

Success won’t happen overnight, but the need to quickly establish an identity to build from is an absolute must.

Identify the players to keep, and the players to let go

Ainsworth has already stated his preference to work with a small squad and, concerns over injuries aside, that will be music to the ears of the Galinsons.

Currently, Gillingham's squad is bloated with players who are on decent money for the level, but haven't returned decent enough performances to justify that outlay.

It's something the club needs to get away from as quickly as possible, and with the contracts of 11 first-team squad members set to expire in the summer, the first steps towards that aim can be made at the end of the season.

We've already seen hints that Ainsworth is checking out some of the players he feels could still be a part of his plans moving forward, with notable returns to the pitch for Jonny Williams and Jayden Clarke in his first two games in charge.

Someone like Williams could be like a new signing for the club under Ainsworth, with the former Welsh international's performance against Colchester looking much more like the player we snatched away from a Bradford hotel room to sign a couple of years ago.

It's a similar situation for Clarke, who was sidelined under both Mark Bonner and John Coleman. He's still raw, but he has shown he can contribute pace, and goals, from wide areas. If Ainsworth can get the best out of him, that’s another weapon to add to the club's somewhat gunshy arsenal.

But, while assessing the current squad is important, arguably the critical issue concerns the players he’ll need to bring in…

Manage the summer recruitment process

One of the biggest failings at Gillingham during the Galinson era has been its recruitment.

At times it's looked like the tail has been wagging the dog, with the manager – or, in Stephen Clemence's case, the head coach – seemingly not as heavily involved as they really should be.

Rightly or wrongly, the perception has been that the manager has had final sign-off, but perhaps hasn't been as involved during the crucial talent identification stage.

It's absolutely vital that the club is set up in a way that the recruitment team works FOR Ainsworth, rather than provides players TO Ainsworth.

It's a distinction that ensures that the man picking the team every week has players in his squad that he himself is invested in, rather than players he has inherited from an adjacent team and their processes.

Get the team scoring goals again

It sounds like a blindingly obvious statement, but if Gillingham want to achieve any sort of success, Ainsworth needs to find the key to transforming the team’s fortunes in front of goal.

Let’s not sugar-coat it, either. Managers may come in after games and say that the team was unlucky not to have scored, but the lack of finishing ability in the final third has been consistent across each of Gillingham's last four managers.

The team hasn’t had player hit double figures in the league since Vadaine Oliver hit 17 in 2020-21, while the last player to hit 20+ goals in the league was Tom Eaves back in 2018-19.

These are stats that need to be wiped from the record books, with a legitimate goalscoring threat (or threats) the clear number-one need in the transfer market this summer.

A change in approach may bring better chances, and maybe some more goals, from the team’s existing set of players. But it’s already clear that the squad as it stands has proved itself incapable of hitting the net as frequently as it needs to in order to be competitive in a poor League 2 this season.

The addition of one, and possibly two, legitimate goalscorers could prove transformative. But, as we mentioned above with regard to the club’s recruitment processes, it’s crucial that those signings are Ainsworth’s, not someone else’s.