Gareth Ainsworth's Gillingham FC can quickly change MK Dons and Chesterfield promotion narrative | OneFootball

After an unbeaten start and a strong transfer window, Gareth Ainsworth may have transformed Gillingham from pretenders to League Two contenders.

Gillingham put a two-year plan into motion with the arrival of manager Gareth Ainsworth. But, following a strong summer transfer window, fans are wondering if the Gills could mount a promotion challenge this season.

Ainsworth arrived at Priestfield during the run-in last season with fans expressing a concern over the club’s lack of identity – a point that was raised during a fan forum with the club’s owners, Brad and Shannon Galinson, and managing director Joe Comper, who were lock-step in agreement that the club needed a refresh, and a new direction.

The man tasked with plotting that course is Ainsworth, who took an underperforming Gillingham side and made an instant impact. The Gills remain unbeaten under the former Wycombe, QPR and Shrewsbury boss, and have scored in every league game they’ve played under his stewardship.

The upturn in performances brought some much-needed optimism back to Priestfield, and hopes were high that a strong transfer window could help take the club to a new level. And, with that transfer window now closed, Gillingham fans find themselves feeling much more positive about where the club is heading.

The Gills currently sit at the top of League Two, and are undefeated in 18 games. And now, following the transfer window, they look like they have a squad capable of mounting a serious promotion push to challenge the likes of pre-season favourites Chesterfield and MK Dons.

Deadline Day trio gives Gillingham cover and quality where it matters

Deadline Day saw three more players added to the Gills’ squad, with Watford’s teenage defender Travis Akomeah arriving on a short-term loan to help provide additional cover for the injury absences of Conor Masterson and Shadrach Ogie in defence.

He was swiftly followed by the season-long loan of Wigan winger Jonny Smith, a player who, according to Latics fans, was unable to thrive under Ryan Lowe’s 3-5-2 formation.

For Gillingham, it was exactly the sort of signing the club needed – a pacy, direct winger with the ability to deliver quality crosses from out wide, but with the helpful knack of cutting inside and finding the net from range.

The positivity continued with the club’s third Deadline Day signing, as 38-year-old former Wycombe, Nottingham Forest and Reading winger Garath McCleary signed a permanent deal with the club.

McCleary, who was signed by Ainsworth at Wycombe, revealed that his relationship with his old boss convinced him to turn down a move to a club higher up the football pyramid (thought to be Reading) to head south to ME7 and reunite with Ainsworth and former Wycombe teammate Sam Vokes.

Gareth Ainsworth’s squad rebuild has made Gillingham look like potential contenders

The three Deadline Day signings cap off a successful summer transfer window for Gillingham, who now have a squad with plenty of strength in depth.

The window began with the club moving quickly to secure new deals for all of the out-of-contract players they wanted to retain. Goalkeeper Glenn Morris, defenders Max Clark and Conor Masterson, midfielders Robbie McKenzie and Euan Williams, and forward Bradley Dack all signed new deals with the club,

In terms of new faces, 35-year-old Sam Vokes arrived to provide additional experience and physical presence up front, while 21-year-old Seb Palmer-Houlden was brought in to provide pace and energy to a forward unit that was a tad one-paced last season.

Defensively, former Hull City centre back Andy Smith joined on a permanent deal to pick up where his loan spell with the Gills left off last season. He was joined by former Blackburn Rovers trainee Lenni Cirino, whose signing after a brief trial period looks like a real gem.

Those signings, along with the club’s Deadline Day acquisitions, now leave Ainsworth with a team with key options in almost all positions, with fans now openly discussing the possibility that Gillingham's two-year project to earn promotion could potentially be brought forward to this season.

Ainsworth wouldn’t outwardly state that he’s gunning for promotion in 2025-26, but he was certainly left very happy with the squad that he now has at his disposal.

“I think we’ve done very well,” Ainsworth told the club website after the window closed.

“I’m really pleased with the window, where it’s gone. I would have been pleased with not getting as many (but) I think we’ve got the perfect number now of what I want.

“The seven faces that we brought in for the new season, I think are going to make big impacts, and I think people are going to be happy with them. I’m definitely happy with them.”

Despite Gills sitting top of the League Two table at this early point of the season, it is still Paul Warne's MK Dons and Paul Cook's Chesterfield that are odds-on favourites with the bookmakers to simply win promotion to League One. They are the "surest" bet for the league title, too, with Grimsby Town, Swindon Town and Walsall all seemingly well fancied as well.