Shrewsbury Town head coach Gareth Ainsworth is moving to Gillingham, the club’s chairman has confirmed.
On Tuesday morning, reports emerged that Ainsworth had agreed to move from the League One strugglers to a team in Gillingham who are in the division below.
Ainsworth only became manager at Shrewsbury in November and there had been plans for the 51-year-old to remain as boss regardless of whether they suffer relegation.
However, it has now been confirmed by chairman Roland Wycherley that Ainsworth has requested to leave the Shropshire-based outfit with immediate effect.
Fans have been awaiting developments throughout the day and an open letter emerged on social media late in the afternoon.
An open letter from the Chairman regarding Gareth Ainsworth and Richard Dobson.
— Shrewsbury Town FC (@shrewsburytown) March 25, 2025
‘I understand the frustration’
It read: “I’m writing this open letter because I understand there is a lot of anger, worry and concern among supporters.
“As you will be aware from media reports this morning – and much to our shock and dismay – Gareth Ainsworth has informed us he wishes to leave the club after receiving an offer from a League Two club.
“First of all, I can confirm that the club has done absolutely everything in its power to persuade Gareth to stay. Failing that, we also asked if he would continue until the end of the season.
“Gareth’s contract contained a termination clause which the League Two club in question initially refused to meet. We made clear from that point we would not allow him to leave and that we wanted him to honour the remainder of his contract.
“But Gareth made clear he wanted to leave immediately, despite acknowledging the position the club are in at this moment in time. At a board meeting yesterday afternoon, the League Two club had still refused to meet the termination clause.
“At 4.41pm yesterday, STFC received confirmation that the club had agreed to pay the full termination fee for both Gareth Ainsworth and Richard Dobson. This took any further negotiations out of our hands – and Gareth and Richard once again expressed their desire to leave immediately.
“A few weeks ago, I sat down with Gareth and offered him a two-year contract extension regardless of our divisional status because, as a club, we were excited about the future with him at the helm.
“Gareth seemed pleased we made that offer and everyone was looking forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship.”
The club can confirm that John Coleman and Jimmy Bell have today left the club.#Gills
— Gillingham FC (@TheGillsFC) March 25, 2025
Gillingham act at same time…
Just 13 minutes after Shrewsbury posted their open letter, Gillingham announced that they had parted company with John Coleman.
Former Accrington Stanley boss Coleman only arrived in January, but just two wins and seven draws have come from his 14 games in charge.
At a time when Ainsworth is leaving a team in Shrewsbury that sit 14 points adrift of safety in League One, Gillingham are 19th in League Two and 13 points clear of the bottom two.
