Gillingham boss Gareth Ainsworth admits he should have made more changes last summer as he plans a major rebuild.
The Gills boss says lessons have been learned from a campaign that’s fallen short, with a renewed focus now on bringing in the right “characters” and “winners” to move the club forward.
Ainsworth joined the club at the back end of last season, and enjoyed an unbeaten end to the campaign, which continued into this one. But since October, the Gills have tumbled down the league table.
Last summer the Gills handed new deals to Robbie McKenzie, Glenn Morris, Bradley Dack, Max Clark, Euan Williams and Conor Masterson, with seven senior players released and no players transfer listed.
The club have assured fans that this year will be different.
Reflecting on last summer’s decisions, Ainsworth said: “I do [look back and think I should have made more changes], because we’re the same. We haven’t improved.
“I wanted to improve. I wish I’d have made more changes, and there’s reasons why I didn’t, but sometimes there are more reasons than people think.”
Ainsworth admitted decisions made throughout the season have also played a part in Gillingham’s struggles.
“You do things that you feel are right at the time, and sometimes they come back to bite you,” he said.
Turning his attention to the summer ahead, the manager made clear that mentality will be a key factor in recruitment.
“I think we’ve lacked characters over the years here,” he said.
“I’m going to try and recruit the right characters, but also winners and people who can put the legs in when needed.
“There’s a whole range of things that have been missing here for quite a while. I intend to change that.”
Gillingham’s recruitment structure has also been reshaped, with Richard Dobson appointed as technical director, now working above head of recruitment Andy Hessenthaler.
Ainsworth believes the new set-up will strengthen the club’s approach in the transfer market.
“Andy will be working underneath Richard for the moment,” he said.
“Richard will make decisions on recruitment and what he thinks is right. The main thing is that he’s worked with me for so long — we know each other and the type of player we want.
“Hopefully we’ll get a few more names and more interesting options that we can bring in.”
The Gills boss described Dobson as the “perfect person” for the role and believes the club can improve its recruitment processes.
“I don’t believe we’ve made the most of it over the years and I think we can be better,” he said.
“It’s not been awful, but we can improve. Richard will be ideal to put some strategy in place.”
Despite the new structure, Ainsworth confirmed he will retain the final say on incoming players.
“Yes, of course,” he said.
“It’ll get whittled down to a smaller group, we’ll get eyes on them, watch them properly, look them in the eye and find out about their character. That’s what it comes down to.”
Ainsworth also highlighted the unpredictable nature of the transfer market, describing it as far more complex than it may appear from the outside.
“There might be players who say they’ll sign and then don’t, or ones you didn’t think you could get suddenly become available,” he said.
“It’s not like Football Manager — you can’t just press a button. There’s so much more that goes into it.
“I’m excited. Hopefully, we’ll get lucky in the transfer market.
“We’ve got big spenders in League Two, bigger than us. We’ve got a geography where we’re right down in the south-east. We’re not in the middle of the country where people can get there easy, trying to sign northern boys or midland boys or south-west boys.
“All these things come into it. People with families, people with kids.
“It is absolutely crazy trying to sign players.
“All I’ll say is Gillingham, when I played, was always looked upon as a big club. I’ve spoken to a few players lately and they’ve all said, ‘Yeah, I remember Gillingham’.
“When all the fans turn up and they get behind us, that really helps me with signings when opposition come here and they start seeing our fans getting behind the team and being together and all that. It really helps.
“We’re considered a big, supported club. When [the fans] travel away to Barnet [this Saturday], it’s great. It really helps.
“Hopefully, I can use that and say, ‘Look what you can come into’ and if we’re successful, I know it’s only going to get better.
“I’m looking at players all the time and seeing how they would fit in our squad and how exciting they would be. I won’t get them all. I definitely won’t get all my targets but if we can get a few in, I know that this will excite some fans as well.”
Further changes are also expected behind the scenes, with Dobson vacating the assistant manager’s position to take up his new role.
“There’ll be a space opening up in the coaching area,” Ainsworth said.
“We’ll leave that until the summer unless the right person comes along.”
He added: “There’s some structural stuff now in place which I think will make the club better and move us forward. That’s what this club has been crying out for for so many years.”
