Shrewsbury Town manager Gareth Ainsworth has worked under or with such an array of characters, meaning there are an abundance of great stories that he has up his sleeve, enough to fill many dinner time conversations.
John Beck
You could easily spend hours with Gareth and still wouldn’t know half the tales he had to tell from both his playing and managerial career. Nevertheless, there is one story that stood out to Ainsworth, one that could be considered barely believable in the modern game, which he revealed exclusively to The Real EFL:
“John Beck was arrested 10 minutes before the first game of the season in the dressing room. It’s probably not John’s favourite story, but for me, looking back now, it’s the craziest thing that you could think of. The chairman came in at half-time, saying John had been arrested and not to worry about it. We all thought it was a stitch-up with people in fancy dress trying to arrest him, but it was actually 2 policemen who knew where he would be at 2:50 on a Saturday afternoon and came in and arrested him.
“I have to say it was all a misunderstanding, but that was typical of that time and the players. I think we drew 1-1 against Leyton Orient, and I actually scored that day. Not having a manager, knowing that he’d been carted to the police station was quite funny, but there are all sorts of stories throughout my whole career.
“I’ve been lucky enough to play for some great teams, the Crazy Gang, there’s plenty of stories there, and QPR. I’ve done ‘Under the Cosh’ and the stories from there are genuine, that was a mental time as well. But I’m sure they’re not done, there’s one or two more stories coming out of Shrewsbury Town. We will have to wait and see with bated breath! There’s even more that would get many people into trouble! I’m probably the same as most footballers though.”
Potential Career Path
With evident talent as a footballer, he also had ambitions as a musician, which he did fulfil in some respects. Nicknamed ‘Wild Thing’ in his playing days, he did combine the two careers at stages of his career but football came first to the detriment of becoming a rock star.
But in 2019, Ainsworth was the front member of The Cold Blooded Hearts, who released their debut album in the summer of 2023. When it comes to comparing the two though, there is no debate in the eyes of the 51-year-old.
“My mum was a professional singer, so that was in the blood and now my daughter is a brilliant musician and she plays around. Back when I was young, music was probably just not as cool as being a sportsman and being a footballer was the way to go. But I will say that if you give me Mick Jagger’s life or David Beckham’s, I’d pick Mick Jaggers every day!
“There’s definitely a musician in me and it grounds me, it gets me away from the stresses and the pressures of management. I can always write or play a song, I think unless you’re a musician, you probably struggle to find out what I’m talking about. It’s a passion, it’s something that you are it’s a real identity and music always be there and that’s something I’ll take with me forever. Football players get old, sore and injured and have to retire. Football managers go through cycles but I’ll be a musician till the end.”
