Gareth Ainsworth to take QPR job after more than decade as Wycombe manager

Gareth Ainsworth will be confirmed as Queens Park Rangers manager on Tuesday after accepting the chance to take charge at his former club.

QPR are long-term admirers of Ainsworth’s work at Wycombe and swiftly identified him as their No 1 target to succeed Neil Critchley, who was sacked on Sunday. Ainsworth will be joined by his longstanding assistant, Richard Dobson, who had been at Wycombe for 15 years, and analyst Josh Hart.

Ainsworth will take training at QPR on Tuesday afternoon after saying his goodbyes to Wycombe players and staff. Ainsworth extended his Wycombe contract in June but the lure of managing QPR, where he made 141 league appearances across a seven-year spell, was too big to turn down.

He launched his managerial career with Wycombe in September 2012, as caretaker player-manager, and spent 10 and a half years in charge, guiding them into the Championship in 2020. Critchley, who worked as an assistant to Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa, replaced Michael Beale in December with the club targeting the playoffs. QPR felt they had to seek their third manager of the season after Critchley won one of his 12 matches.

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Ainsworth and the former Blackpool manager Michael Appleton were on QPR’s three-man shortlist when Beale got the job last summer. Critchley was preferred to Ainsworth in December but QPR have moved quickly in the hope of tempting Ainsworth this time. QPR, who are 17th, host Blackburn, where Ainsworth was born and started his career, on Saturday.