Gareth Ainsworth was a player of some repute, a winger who could weave his way past the full backs and always had a keen eye for a goal or two, scoring 118 in 617 senior appearances.

You don't end up in the top flight without good reason, nor do you remain a hero at former clubs you've long-since departed.

He's a chairman's dream, a rock 'n' roll manager with fashion sense, one to get the ladies swooning and the men saluting.

His persona is somewhat at odds with his anti-football approach to the game. For all his swashbuckling abilities, Ainsworth played in a series of less than attractive teams, tutored under John Beck at Cambridge, Preston and Lincoln, the latter being where he made his name.

A £400,000 move to Port Vale followed, before a quick switch to Wimbledon for a reported £2m.

The Crazy Gang were a thing of the past, but the direct approach was still very much evident when he rocked up at Selhurst Park.

Last season he guided Wycombe to third place in League Two, a little greyer than his playing days, but still every bit as enigmatic and striking as he ever was.

This will be his seventh season at the helm of the Chairboys, his first ever promotion.

His tactics are based very much on those of John Beck, the long-ball merchant who took unfashionable Cambridge to within a whisker of the Premier League as well as bringing promotion and third-tier football to Sincil Bank for the only season in three decades.

It was never pretty, a stringent adherence to playing the ball into certain areas was required. Anyone failing to do so was immediately substituted.

Ainsworth is a little more flexible than his mentor, certainly far more likeable, but the presence of man mountain Adebayo Akinfenwa is testament to his style of play.

Akinfenwa is a player who gets better with size, not age. He's a fine physical specimen, perhaps more suited to boxing than football, but last season he was as prolific as anyone in League Two.

Can the direct approach and spoiling tactics win hearts and minds in League One? Probably not, but if it wins football games then the rock star manager and his collection of organised efficient players won't mind one bit.

Football is a game based entirely around winning and as Gareth Ainsworth has proved throughout his career, he is a winner over and above everything else.

[ad_pod ]