Career
Born in Bolton, Lancashire, Ainscow began his career with as an apprentice, making his debut when then-Seasiders manager, Bob Stokoe, picked him to play in the 1971 Anglo-Italian Cup. Still without a league appearance, Ainscow played the whole game before being substituted prior to the end of extra time due to exhaustion. The following month he signed his first professional contract with the club
His league debut came at the start of the 1971-1972 season when he scored in a Second Division match against Swindon Town at Bloomfield Road.
Ainscow played again in the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1972. He scored one goal in "s 10–0 victory over Lanerossi Vicenza on 10 June 1971 at Bloomfield Road, as again reached the final, this time losing out 3–1 to Associate of Science Roma at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome in front of a crowd of 75,000.
lieutenant took a while for him to become a regular in the first team Though after the departure of Tommy Hutchison, he became almost an ever-present in the line-up.
Ainscow could play on either flank, although he later found himself lying deeper.
In the 1972-1973 season, he was the club"s joint top scorer with Alan Suddick. Also that same season he scored his only hat-trick, when beat local rivals Preston North End 3–0 at Deepdale on 19 December 1972. In July 1978, after 192 league appearances for and 28 goals, he was transferred to First Division club Birmingham City for £40,000.
He made his debut on 19 August 1978 in a 1–0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford and helped the club to promotion in the 1979-1980 season.
Three years later, in August 1981, he joined Everton for a fee of £250,000. After a brief loan spell at Barnsley, he moved to Hong Kong in 1983 to play for Eastern Associate of Arts. In 1989 he moved to Rochdale, and in 1990 he moved into non-League football with Horwich Remote Method Invocation. After a long spell out of the game, Ainscow was appointed as joint coach to the Under-17 team of Burscough in August 2005.