Gillingham summer signing James Brophy says manager Gareth Ainsworth was a key factor in deciding to join the club

Summer signing James Brophy has outlined the key role manager Gareth Ainsworth played in persuading him to join Gillingham.

Brophy was released by promoted Cambridge in the summer after five years at the Abbey Stadium.

There was plenty of interest in the 32-year-old but no-one could turn Brophy’s head after he met with Ainsworth.

“I met a few managers over the summer,” said Brophy. “Gareth was actually the first one I met.

“I hadn't met a new manager or been interviewed for about five years so I was fairly cold to that kind of game.

“But he came across really well to me. Throughout my career I've always said the only thing that, as a player, I can choose is the manager I play for, the manager I sign for. That's normally my deciding factor when I've moved.

“He came across as a manager that I would want to play for.

“I think his honesty, how he sees the game, how he wants his team to look. The characteristics he wants from his team really applied to me.

“Following on from meeting him first and then a couple of other managers, I saw myself here.

“There's various factors that are outside your control as a player. But the one thing I can decide for myself is to be at a place where I'm wanted and where I feel like I have a connection with the manager.

“They're the things that I went off in meeting the various managers this summer. I felt a genuine honesty from this manager, a genuine humbleness as to how he wants his team to look, how he wants to play, but how he wants to communicate as a person.

“He understands the playing side of the game and I think he's really in touch with what players want and need. That was the deciding factor in it for me.

“He's a really positive person. He wants to see his teams play with an energy