Gareth Ainsworth leaves Shrewsbury Town - Ollie Westbury and Nathan Judah analysis
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00:00It's just another quiet day at Shrewsbury Town.
00:09Oh my days, yes.
00:12Another quiet day.
00:13A season of quiet days.
00:15Crikey.
00:16I don't think it could get any worse.
00:19No, there's been some dull afternoons on a Saturday watching the football, but bloody
00:23hell they keep your entertain off the pitch, don't they?
00:27So yes, another day, another day in the merry-go-round that is Shrewsbury Town.
00:33So yeah, Gareth Ainsworth set leaving Shrewsbury, set to take charge of League 2 Gillingham.
00:38I mean, from the outside looking in, and I think for a lot of people and a lot of fans
00:42as well, this is a massive shock, a massive, massive shock.
00:45I understand that, you know, things can change very quickly in football, but from everything
00:52that's come out of Gareth Ainsworth's mouth, you know, for the last, you know, two, three,
00:57four, five, four months, it's been very positive towards Shrewsbury.
01:00It's about building, you know, a legacy here and yet to turn around, to leave the club,
01:08not saying it's all his fault at all, you know, there's obviously both sides will have
01:12a story to tell, but to go to a struggling League 2 club who, you know, will just about
01:19be in League 2 next season is a huge story and a massive blow.
01:23Let's start off, a massive blow for Shrewsbury Town.
01:28It's been a pretty, it's been a bleak season, but one of the, I mean, obviously we've just
01:36had Richard Dobson on our Shrewsbury News podcast, who's obviously Shrewsbury's assistant,
01:40and one of the things that I've written in the last few weeks is that, you know, while
01:44it's been a very, you know, dark and dismal season with not a lot to get excited about
01:49for Shrewsbury Town, the one thing that you did feel is that, you know, if they're going
01:53forward with some investment and with Gareth Ainsworth in the dugout, that there's a chance
01:59that there's a brighter future ahead.
02:01You know, obviously Gareth is a decorated manager in lower league football, you know,
02:06promotions out of League 1, promotions out of League 2.
02:09There's been a considerable improvement or probably up to the last few weeks, you know,
02:13Gareth Ainsworth's first 10 to 15 games in charge showed Shrewsbury, you know, show mid-table
02:19form really or lower mid-table form.
02:21That has fallen away in recent weeks with, you know, they've lost six out of the last
02:25eight and scored one goal in the last six.
02:26So, you know, they've been in pretty, pretty terrible form of late, but overall, you know,
02:31it was an improvement after he came in from Paul Hurst.
02:35And so for Shrewsbury going forward, you know, dropping down into the fourth tier, obviously
02:39relegation has not been confirmed, will be confirmed, they're 14 points adrift with nine
02:45League 1 games left.
02:48It's going to be, well, a bona fide miracle and more to keep them up from this stage.
02:53So Shrewsbury find themselves in a tricky spot.
02:57But the fact that he was going to be there next season, it felt like the only real, you
03:02know, inch of positivity that Shrewsbury fans could cling on to.
03:06And now that has been, you know, the last ray of hope, aside from a takeover, that they
03:11had to kind of hang on to between now and the end of the season for a summer rebuild
03:16was that Gareth Haynesworth was in the dugout and even that has now gone as well.
03:21So yes, it's a massive shock.
03:24You know, you're going to Gillingham who are, what, 19th in League 2.
03:29It's even more of a head-scratcher.
03:30You can kind of maybe understand it a little bit more if you're going to Reading or, you
03:35know, pushing up the League 1 table, but clearly not Gillingham.
03:42Let's move, let's part Gareth Haynesworth to the side for one minute.
03:48Obviously, we'll come back to that.
03:51The knock-on effect and what a lot of people are fans of and instantly when I saw the news,
03:55it kind of like almost you go towards the takeover.
03:59You go towards what's happening here.
04:00Like, does this mean the takeover is dead?
04:02This must mean the takeover is dead.
04:04Because, you know, he made no secret of saying that this was a big reason why he went to
04:08Shrewsbury Town, the fact that of the future of the takeover of what could happen at Shrewsbury
04:13next season.
04:14In terms of what your understanding is, do you feel that this is almost confirmation
04:19that this is not going to happen now that this has fallen through, that Shrewsbury is
04:22still looking for a buyer?
04:24Or is that, is it too easy to say, to make that correlation?
04:28I don't think we can confirm that it's not happened on the basis of this news, because
04:34I think what we can have reading between the lines, based on what we've heard from
04:38Gareth Haynesworth in his press conferences, what we've heard basically whenever he's
04:42had a microphone put in front of his face, is that, you know, he kind of, he was asked
04:48the question directly, wasn't he, at a Supporters Parliament a few months ago.
04:52If the takeover does not happen, will you, will you go?
04:56And he didn't answer that question convincingly at all, which kind of left everybody thinking,
05:00oh my God, if the takeover doesn't happen, then Gareth Haynesworth is going to leave.
05:06So I think that that's part of the reason, the part of the reason that he's nailed his
05:11colours to the mast in terms of how important the takeover was for convincing him to come
05:15to Shrewsbury Town, to the fact that he's kind of cut and run.
05:19He's not going up the pyramid, he's going down the pyramid, albeit Shrewsbury will be
05:22in the same division as Gillingham next season.
05:25It kind of leaves you scratching your head as to why, and the only logical thing is that
05:31probably, then probably the best way of saying it is that Gareth Haynesworth clearly is not
05:36convinced it's going to happen.
05:38I mean, that's the only logical thing that you can draw from it because, I mean, I struggle
05:42to think of why else, you know, perhaps next season they might have, Gillingham might have
05:48a more competitive budget, but that again, you know, what promises have been given by
05:51Gillingham, but that again, kind of points towards the fact that, you know, that he's
05:56not convinced that the takeover was going to happen.
05:59So, yeah, I mean, that is the reason.
06:04We have not had any confirmation of that and that it's, our understanding is it's ongoing,
06:10you know, and the longer that something goes on and the longer it lingers on, the more
06:15doubts that creep in and, you know, I think everybody's the same.
06:19You know, it was back in the end of November that around the time of his appointment that
06:24it was announced that they'd gone into a period of exclusivity and everybody's waiting with
06:28bated breath for some news, some form of update.
06:32So, and for the record, we are absolutely 100% asking all the time, can we get some
06:37answers?
06:39But it's not that straightforward, is it?
06:42You know, there's got to be either some answers to give and I think that's my understanding
06:46of the situation is that there aren't really, they're in a period of exclusivity.
06:50They're kind of waiting on the person who's going to buy it and, you know, that's my
06:55understanding of the situation.
06:56We still know further on than we were when they went into that period.
07:00So I don't know whether that's changed.
07:03You know, we'll have to wait and see.
07:04Hopefully we get some comms from the club, you know, regarding the situation as we find
07:09it and how the situation is going to play itself out over the next few days.
07:13I mean, Nicky Moore said, and quite rightly so, I can remember when I was with you at
07:18the unveiling of Gareth Haynes with Ole and it was a coup for the club and it was a coup
07:22for the club, but the way they were at that point, it was a big move.
07:26It was a big statement and like you say, it gave fans just that glimmer of hope in an
07:33awful season.
07:34Yeah, there was obviously the likelihood that they were going to go down and they are going
07:39down.
07:40But, you know, you've gone from, in the space of a few months, a very good lower league
07:47manager under new ownership to no Gareth Haynes worth and potentially no new ownership.
07:55I mean, it's a nightmare and it leaves this club massively in limbo going into what's
08:00going to be another essentially important summer.
08:02Because as we all know, Ole, the difference between League One and League Two football
08:07is not a lot and you can go down into League Two and it can be a long time before you come
08:12up and also if you do not and if you stand still or go behind the eight ball in League
08:17Two, then you can find yourselves with a battle in that division as well.
08:20So in terms of the fans, which you've got to feel for, I think, more than anyone in
08:24this situation at this moment in time, just a huge question mark over this summer and
08:29going forward to the future of Shrewsbury.
08:31It's a slippery slope, isn't it?
08:33Once you're on it, it's so hard to get off it and it feels like that's the position
08:37that Shrewsbury have been on for some time now.
08:39They're on the slope.
08:40It's like that multiplier effect that once things start, it's like a leaky tank, isn't
08:47it?
08:47Once things or a broken engine, like once things start going, you just cannot, you can't
08:55fix them.
08:55And that feels like that's the position that Town are in at the moment.
08:59They're putting kind of small plasters over each little issue, but it's just not working
09:05at the moment.
09:09In terms of what's happened in chronological order, what you believe has happened for this
09:16move to happen?
09:17Because I'm sure that the worst case scenario, Shrewsbury would have wanted at least him
09:21to stay to the end of the season.
09:22That doesn't appear to be the case.
09:24Obviously, nothing's been officially confirmed by the club at this stage when we record this
09:28video.
09:29Yeah, so what I gather the situation was is at some stage late last week, contact was
09:36made between Gillingham and Shrewsbury.
09:37Shrewsbury said no, they refused, didn't want him to go.
09:42Then gather there by law, I think they have to say that a club has come in for their manager,
09:48so they have to give him the right to speak to the other club if they want to, which obviously
09:52Gareth Ainsworth is open to it because he's going.
09:55So by law, they've given him the opportunity.
09:58He's then spoken to Gillingham.
10:01He went down there last Thursday because there was a release clause just to just because
10:05there's a release clause.
10:06Yeah, not because they wanted him to go.
10:08I mean, they absolutely didn't want him to go and they wouldn't have sold him.
10:12Well, they haven't sold it.
10:13He's gone because he wants to go.
10:16So yeah, obviously gone down to to to Gillingham.
10:20I believe there was some bartering in terms of Gillingham trying to pull a fast one on
10:24the deal and then there was some discussion.
10:27I think Shrewsbury were prepared to forego less compensation in order for him to stay
10:32till the end of the season to kind of, I mean, they've got a huge league one game against
10:36Birmingham.
10:37Whether their season has been decided or not, you know, they're not going to want to go
10:41and get beaten 4-0 for the next nine weeks.
10:43I mean, you know, they've got professional pride to play.
10:47You know, there's things at the bottom of the league.
10:50You don't want to be a member of a squad that has one of the lowest ever points tallies.
10:54So there's things for Shrewsbury to play for.
10:58So that's the situation.
11:02Gareth, I think, just wanted to go.
11:06So yeah, he wanted to go and it's been reported, you know, this morning at first by Sky Sports
11:14and then, you know, from then onwards, it's kind of frantically putting calls in to kind
11:18of chase up the situation to see what it's at.
11:20And I imagine that we'll have some confirmation of the move fairly soon, maybe not today,
11:26maybe as we record this video on a Tuesday, maybe on a Wednesday, we'll have some form
11:30of confirmation as to, you know, the direction and, you know, where the club goes.
11:36Yeah, it'll be interesting Shrews views this week with yourself and Jonny Drury.
11:39I'm sure you have a bit more information to hand as well.
11:41That'll be watch out for that.
11:43Look out for that later on in the week.
11:45Just to kind of finish this video, Ollie, in terms of Shrewsbury going forward and look
11:49at, like you say, everything's in limbo at this moment in time.
11:51But but for the short term, you know, Egypt, Birmingham City this weekend in terms of the
11:59rest of the season and in terms of going forward, do you feel that there could be an interim
12:04manager brought in?
12:05Do you feel that'd be someone who's still at this football club?
12:07And I know that Gareth Ainsworth and the others have left, but someone who's still at this
12:11club, someone who's still in there who might, you know, look after them until the end of
12:14the season.
12:16Is it best to just right right off the season and have a summer to look for a new manager?
12:21It's me and you are going in until the end of the season.
12:26We'll take it.
12:26We'll take it.
12:27We can't do any worse.
12:30Yeah, I think we're very early stages, aren't we?
12:34We're still kind of dissecting the news of Gareth Ainsworth going.
12:37And actually, it's quite strange because normally the most important thing post manager manager
12:42go in is everybody starts thinking, well, who could we have now?
12:45What do we have now?
12:46Actually, nobody seems to not care.
12:49But everyone's focus is up.
12:51Focus is actually on what does it mean for the takeover?
12:55More so than the manager.
12:57Truth is, League One fate has already been sealed.
12:59So I would be, you know, I would say that they're probably going to appoint someone for
13:04nine matches and then, you know, read, you know, look at things again.
13:08Come the summer, they can have a fresh start and they can really, you know, try and try
13:15and get back and try and pick up some momentum as they, you know, begin, you know, their
13:20League Two campaign.
13:21You talk about obviously Gareth Ainsworth and the decision at the end of the day, it's
13:25his decision, you know, which is how desperately want to keep him till the end of the season
13:29at the least and obviously going on beyond that.
13:31And that's Gareth Ainsworth has taken that decision.
13:33He wanted to go.
13:35In terms of...
13:36They had actually offered him a new two-year contract as well.
13:39I haven't actually mentioned that, but there's been a contract on the table for him to sign
13:44that he's chosen not to.
13:45So, you know, they wanted him to stay.
13:50There's no question whether they want, they didn't want him to go.
13:53They wanted him to stay.
13:55You know, there's different situations, isn't there?
13:57Tom blocks and they made the decision to sell Tom blocks.
14:00And this kind of here has been taken out of their hands for argument's sake.
14:03So, so, yeah.
14:05But in terms of, you know, the owner and Robin Wisherley and do they need to take some
14:10responsibility here too?
14:11Do you feel that it's completely out of their hands or do you feel that the situation, the
14:16contract, I mean, look, Gareth Ainsworth might not have come to shoes, but if it wasn't,
14:19that wasn't in his, in his, in his contract anyway.
14:21So whether that, but, you know, do they need to, to hold their hands up and say, there's
14:27been some errors on their side as well, in terms of the position they've got themselves
14:31into that's ultimately worked out that he's left today or pretty much left today?
14:37Yeah, I think they take, they must take the responsibility for the positions that the
14:41football club finds itself in, which is rock, you know, rock bottom of league one, 14 points
14:46from safety with nine games to go.
14:49Ultimately, Robin Wisherley is the chairman.
14:51He is the boss.
14:52He's the man making the decisions.
14:55And while he does a lot of good for the club, the club have got him to a position where
14:59they're in a real mess.
15:02They're in a real mess for whatever reason, whether that be because of things that happened
15:05last year for the things that happened, you know, on the previous regimes, they're in
15:09a mess.
15:09So ultimately he carries the can for that just because that that's just the way things
15:13work.
15:14This situation, I do have a bit of sympathy for him for, I don't see what there is the
15:18Shrewsbury could do any differently.
15:20You know, the takeover itself that they're, they've done everything they can.
15:23They're just waiting for the, you know, they're waiting for completion, aren't they?
15:29They're waiting for the person, you know, who's, who's buying the club to come in and
15:33take over and complete the deal.
15:36They're in a period of exclusivity.
15:37There's nothing they can do on that.
15:39Obviously, they've not done a good enough job of convincing, you know, Gareth Ainsworth
15:45that it's going to happen.
15:46But, you know, once someone's got a release clause in there, once he's decided he wants
15:49to go, I'm not really sure what else that is they can do, you know, and I suppose it's
15:55the pretty, you know, if they were maybe doing better on the field, maybe if they were still
15:58competing for league one safety.
16:00But, you know, Shrewsbury are a bit of a shell of their former selves right now, aren't they?
16:04And that's the position that they find themselves in.
16:06And yeah, every that they must take, they have to take some blame.
16:11And while I feel sorry for them in this situation, because of, you know, I don't feel like there's
16:18a great deal that they can could have done to stop this, given where they are, there's
16:22plenty that they could have done differently over the last couple of years to have avoided
16:26getting themselves in a position where they're 14th from bottom.
16:29And, you know, that's a pretty soul-destroying position to be in.
16:33And that's not good enough.
16:42to Gillian.
16:43This is a developing story.
16:44And of course, all the latest you'll be able to find on ShropshireStar.com.