It follows the departure of John Coleman after just three months in charge at Priestfield. Bartholomew Hall reports.
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00:00A fourth manager in the space of 12 months. Gareth Ainsworth takes to the helm at Priestfield
00:06at a troubling time for Gillingham. Following the summer sacking of Steven Clements, the
00:10League Two promotion hopefuls started their campaign with Mark Bonner in charge, before
00:15his exit in early January after a poor run over Christmas.
00:19Gillingham then brought in John Coleman, with the former Accrington Stanley boss managing
00:23just two wins in his 14 games at the helm. The most recent of which, a goalless draw
00:29against League leaders Walsall.
00:50Despite some mid-season relegation fears, now in 19th and 13 points safe, it's up to
00:55the new manager to keep it that way.
00:59In the bag, I think there's about a 13 point gap between Gillingham now and the bottom
01:03two, which I think realistically we are all but mathematically safe now.
01:08The worry I think a lot of people have got, and myself included, are we going to become
01:13the next version of Watford, where they seem to change managers every few months.
01:18We do need now some stability, we've been saying it for some while. I just hope that
01:23we can settle down and that supporters will get behind him, regardless of the first few
01:28results, and let's try and build for a positive future.
01:32And you've heard me say before, next season's going to be an exciting one, but this season
01:37isn't over.
01:38The new boss, Gareth Ainsworth, is moving to Gillingham from League One basement boys
01:42Shrewsbury Town. Having won just five of his 22 games in charge at the Shrews, a move to
01:48Kent will see him drop down a division.
01:50The former QPR midfielder played more than 500 games in his senior career, where he picked
01:55up the nickname Wild Thing for his rock star aspirations, fitting hairstyle and, well,
02:00musical ability.
02:09So with less than 10 games left this season, it's now the turn of Gareth Ainsworth to produce
02:13the melody that will keep Gillingham's rhythm alive.
02:16Bartholomew Hall for KMTV.