Gainsborough Trinity Condemns Bogus Manager Impersonation
Gainsborough Trinity have condemned a bogus operator who has been posing as their manager and approaching players with fake transfer and wage offers.
The Northern Premier League Premier Division club say the individual has contacted “a number of players” at different levels of the non-league game, falsely claiming to represent boss Russ Wilcox.
Chief executive Matt Boles moved quickly to distance both Wilcox and the club from the approaches, stressing that none of the messages came from them.
He said he wanted to make it “categorically clear” that any communication about potential deals “had not been from manager Russ Wilcox or on behalf of the club”.
On the club’s website, Boles did not hold back.
“We strongly condemn the actions of the individual responsible,” he said. “Impersonating a football manager and making false representations to players is completely unacceptable and has the potential to cause unnecessary disruption and reputational damage to players, managers and clubs.”
The scam only came to light when managers and officials from other sides started contacting Wilcox directly. They suspected something was wrong and wanted to check whether he was genuinely behind the offers.
According to Boles, that reaction said plenty about Wilcox’s standing in the game.
“Many have done so precisely because they know Russ, know the professional standards by which he conducts himself, and immediately recognised that this is not the manner in which he would approach or attempt to recruit a player,” Boles explained.
Once the pattern became clear, the tone hardened.
Boles issued a blunt message to the person behind the hoax: “Enough is enough. Stop impersonating our manager, stop wasting the time of players and clubs across the non-league game and, quite frankly, get a life.”
Gainsborough, who reached the FA Cup second round in 2024-25 and the first round the previous season under Wilcox, have reported the matter to both the Northern Premier League and the Football Association.
Wilcox has been in charge at Gainsborough since 2023, adding the role to a managerial CV that already includes spells at Scunthorpe United and York City. As a player, he turned out for Northampton Town, Hull City, Doncaster Rovers, Preston North End and Scunthorpe.
For a club built on reputation and relationships in the tight-knit non-league world, the message is clear: they will not allow someone else to trade on their name.
