Major summer overhaul needed as Gillingham’s squad lets down its manager again
Once again, Gillingham's players have shown they're not good enough to mount a promotion challenge. So it's time the manager starts planning to bring in players who are.
After an excellent start to the 2025/26 campaign – following a great finish to last season – the wheels appear to have come off Gillingham’s season.
Just four wins since September highlight the major issue at the club as we head into the final dozen or so games. After being one of the hardest teams in the country to beat, the side just cannot win football matches.
It’s been a bizarre, yet totally predictable drop-off in form. I say predictable, because it’s happened in each of the last two or three seasons. On each occasion, we’ve got out of the blocks like Linford Christie, “On the ‘B’ of the BANG”. But as soon as we hit October the team just collapsed.
And so it was again this season. Shortly after racking up 20 games unbeaten to beat the previous club record, Gareth Ainsworth’s side inexplicably lost at home to Harrogate Town. Then, manager Gareth Ainsworth went into hospital for heart surgery.
A familiar story
During the gaffer’s absence, the team’s form went off a cliff. And even after he returned to the side, the team’s previously rock-solid, “refuse to lose” mentality seemed like a distant memory as draws turned into losses, and wins turned into draws. And while the players should take the brunt of the blame for their inability to compete after September, the gaffer needs to take his share of the blame, too.
The January signing of prolific frontman Ronan Hale has failed to bring the turnaround Ainsworth, and everyone connected with the club, had hoped for. There are several reasons for this, including Ainsworth’s bizarre decision to play him on the left of a front three, rather in his natural position as a centre forward.
Since Ainsworth’s return to the dugout, the team has barely stayed the same from week to week, with the team seemingly in a constant state of rotation as players are played one week, then left on the bench the next, with those changes rarely linked to their on-pitch performances – indeed, some of our more disappointing performers have remained near-ever-presents in Ainsworth’s otherwise chopped-and-changed team selections.
The Gills’ most recent performance saw them well beaten by Oldham Athletic at Priestfield. The visitors bullied Ainsworth’s side, that didn’t seem to have the fight, the backbone, or the ability, to match a side that started the day below them in the table.
Clear the decks
Clearly, things need to change, and while some inside Priestfield were calling for Ainsworth’s head, the prevailing view – one I agree with – seems to be that it’s the players, rather than the manager, who need to be shipped out.
The team has 20 players out of contract in the summer, which offers Ainsworth the perfect opportunity to clear the decks and bring in his type of player in the summer. While big questions have to be asked about some of our recruitment, it’s also true that players who arrived with decent reputations have failed to deliver. Often, in the case of players like Jonny Williams and Jack Nolan, it’s been a case of them being solid players who don’t fit the mould of the managers they were signed for.
Many of our other signings have simply shown themselves to be bog-standard League 2 players who can do a job at this level, but this season (and seasons past) have demonstrated that you can’t have too many players like that in your side if you have any ambitions of promotion.
The truth is you need League 1-calibre players to get out of League 2. I’ll let my fellow Gills fans assess for themselves how many of those they think we have in our squad. Chances are they won’t need both hands to count them.
Summer changes
It seems clear that this summer is going to be huge at Priestfield. If we’re serious about challenging for promotion, or even challenging for the playoffs, in 2026/27, the squad needs a major overhaul. That could mean a near-unprecedented summer of change, with a lot of departures, and almost as many incomings, as the squad gets a complete refresh for next season. Anything less will leave us at risk of the same issues returning next year.
The team clearly needs a new starting goalkeeper, two new starting full-backs, and at least one wide midfielder – Bromley’s Mitch Pinnock is probably the best example I’ve seen in League 2 of a wide player who works the full length of the pitch and offers a real attacking threat while providing defensive cover for his full back behind him.
We’re also sorely lacking a central midfielder who can pass the ball effectively and consistently, as well as a proper strike partner to play alongside Hale.
The work starts now
Changing the players is only part of what’s needed. There are other factors at play, some of which Ainsworth can address right now, because they involve him.
For starters, this team has no idea what it is. Identity-wise, we’re bereft of shape, direction and leadership. The constant changes in personnel and formation week-to-week only exacerbate the situation, and leave the fans frustrated.
It would help things hugely if Ainsworth drew a line in the sand, picked his first-choice XI and stuck to it, only making changes to cover poor form and injury. The system should also be much more consistent. We’ve gone through games where we’ve cycled through three different formations in 90 minutes. That smacks of a side that doesn’t have a identity, or a plan.
We also need to find out how to get the best out of Hale up front. That almost certainly means playing him through the middle, and probably in a two, with a strike partner.
We have other forwards in our squad, and it would be great to see Ainsworth trying some different options to partner him in the remaining games. Personally, I’d like to see the partnership of Hale and Seb Palmer-Houlden tried for a few games, with the team looking to keep the ball on the deck a bit more. Sadly, Ainsworth’s penchant for a target man hasn’t brought the desired results, with Sam Vokes looking not too mobile these days, and Josh Andrews sadly not delivering on the potential were sold upon his arrival.
So, there’s much for Ainsworth to do as he first looks to get to the end of the season in a more positive place than he, and his team, currently find themselves. Then the real work begins as he looks to build a squad capable of sustaining a season-long promotion push, rather than a collective that looks great for the first two months, then evaporates thereafter.
The optimist in me hopes that Ainsworth can see what’s needed and that he’ll make the sort of changes we require in the summer. But given his inability to get the side consistently winning games since the clocks went back, the jury remains out.
I’m hopeful, if not expectant, but with the potential for major change just around the corner, I’m looking forward to the summer already.