Gareth Ainsworth Was Bought With Darren Huckerby Money

The year is 1995, Steve Wicks has been sacked, and John Beck is rebuilding Sam Ellis’s squad, which Wicks had already broken. Ellis had Dean West and David Puttnam; Wicks got rid of them and brought in Kevin Hulme. Beck’s job was no small one.

We had a saleable asset in Darren Huckerby, and it’s widely accepted he was sold to fund the rebuild. That may be so, but he and Ainsworth overlapped at City, for a grand total of two matches.

Huckerby hadn’t left when we signed Sir Gareth. The two played together twice, once in a tempestuous trip to Mansfield where two men were sent off for the hosts and we won 2-1, and against Hartlepool later that week, when Huckerby bagged his last Imps’ goal.

Okay, the funds from Huckerby’s sale may have helped cover Gareth Ainsworth’s transfer fee, but he wasn’t bought with the Hucks’ money.