Gillingham’s retained list: Gareth Ainsworth clears the decks ahead of summer reboot

Fans hoping Gareth Ainsworth would be brutal in his off-season decision-making have largely gotten their wish, with 16 members of the 2025/26 squad departing the club.

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The news is out, and so is almost half of Gillingham’s playing staff.

Gillingham’s released and retained lists have been published on the official club website, and they make clear what’s about to happen at Priestfield this summer.

A total of 16 players will depart the club this summer, led by the retiring Sam Vokes, who got a classy send-off – first from his teammates, then from the Priestfield faithful – at the final game of the season against Shrewsbury. The other 15 have been informed that their services will no longer be required when their respective contracts expire this summer.

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Departing the club

• Josh Andrews

• Harry Bridle

• Lenni Cirino

• Max Clark

• Conor Masterson

• Glenn Morris

• Elliott Nevitt

• Shad Ogie

• Aaron Rowe

• Stanley Skipper

• Jake Turner

• Sam Vokes (retired)

• Euan Williams

• Jonny Williams

• Marcus Wyllie

Contract extension options triggered

• Bradley Dack

• Armani Little

• Garath McCleary

• Damien Theodore

Apprentices offered pro contracts

• Cruz Beszant

• Louie Dayal

• Michael Luxton

Players already under contract for 2026/27

• Cam Antwi

• Omar Beckles

• Ethan Coleman

• Logan Dobbs

• Sam Gale

• Ronan Hale

• Taite Holtam

• Remeao Hutton

• Nelson Khumbeni

• Robbie McKenzie

• Seb Palmer-Houlden

• Stan Sargent

• Andy Smith

• Harry Waldock

• Harry Webster

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It all means Ainsworth will head into the summer transfer window with 22 players in his squad. And with nine of them still very much in the developmental stage in their careers, that means there’s plenty of space for the Gills boss to start adding new bodies ahead of the new campaign.

The vast majority of fans wanted to see the decks cleared in the summer, and it appears that’s exactly what’s happened. Now all the attention turns to the club’s recruitment strategy, which will now be headed up by Ainsworth’s longtime assistant Richard Dobson, who is now in a new role as the club’s Technical Director. He is well aware of the sort of player Ainsworth likes, and hopes are high that the recruitment under Dobson will offer better synergy with what the manager actually wants.

There’s unlikely to be too much movement until June 1, when a lot of EFL contracts tend to expire. But turning the page on the calendar will be like sounding the starting pistol on what will be an extremely busy summer of transfers in League 2, and especially at ME7.