Shrewsbury Town chairman Roland Wycherley confirms departure of head coach and Gillingham managerial target Gareth Ainsworth

Shrewsbury have confirmed they have parted company with Gillingham managerial target Gareth Ainsworth.

The departing Shrews head coach looks set to take over at the Gills from League 1 basement boys Shrewsbury.

In an open letter on Tuesday afternoon, Salop said the League 2 club Ainsworth will join - understood to be Gillingham - initially refused to meet a termination clause in the 51-year-old’s deal before they did so at 4.41pm on Monday.

“I’m writing this open letter because I understand there is a lot of anger, worry and concern among supporters,” the letter from chairman Roland Wycherley said.

“As you will be aware from media reports this morning – and much to our shock and dismay – Gareth Ainsworth has informed us he wishes to leave the club after receiving an offer from a League 2 club.

“First of all, I can confirm that the club has done absolutely everything in its power to persuade Gareth to stay.

“Failing that, we also asked if he would continue until the end of the season.

“Gareth’s contract contained a termination clause, which the League 2 club in question initially refused to meet.

“We made clear from that point we would not allow him to leave and that we wanted him to honour the remainder of his contract.

“But Gareth made clear he wanted to leave immediately despite acknowledging the position the club are in at this moment in time.

“At a board meeting yesterday afternoon, the League 2 club had still refused to meet the termination clause.

“But at 4.41pm yesterday, STFC received confirmation that the club had agreed to pay the full termination fee for both Gareth Ainsworth and (assistant manager) Richard Dobson.

“This took any further negotiations out of our hands – and Gareth and Richard once again