Why Shrewsbury Town are the story of the season ahead of play-off final
With all the talk of Manchester City’s 100-point tally, Liverpool’s European adventure and the managerial merry-go-round across the leagues, there’s one story that has probably gone under the radar.
Sitting in the rural county of Shropshire, you’d be forgiven for glossing over the name Shrewsbury Town during the classified scores on a Saturday afternoon.
They finished 18th in League One last season, and 20th the campaign before that. Shrewsbury were doing just enough to keep their head above the water in England’s third tier.
Of course, there were the high points, pushing the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United in domestic cup ties spring to mind. Unfortunately, the good times were often overshadowed by the bad, a hefty 7-1 defeat to Chesterfield and a 5-1 hammering by Wigan coming in the same half of a season.
Understandably, they came into the 2017/18 season as 6/4 favourites for relegation, with many writing Town off before it had even begun.
Yet here we are, in late May, preparing ourselves to watch Shrewsbury at Wembley against Rotherham in the play-off final, 90 minutes away from the Sky Bet Championship.
It’s gone well, it’s gone very well, and it’d be difficult to find the most loyal Salop fan who thought they’d run Wigan and Blackburn close in the automatic spots and visit Wembley twice at the start of the season.
There’s a number of reasons it’s clicked. Of course, the first of which would be the boss Paul Hurst, who has guided this time to the heights they currently find themselves in.
Successful managers are popular, but Hurst had made such an impact during his time at the club that supporters have renamed the road running up to the stadium after him.
In fact, Shropshire Council were happy for it to remain, saying ‘It’s brilliant to see Shrewsbury Town doing so well this season and this sign is a great response to how well the team is doing.
‘Though it’s not an official sign we’re very happy for it to remain in place until the end of the season, when we hope Shrewsbury will be celebrating promotion.’
It starts with recruitment, and Hurst has got it right with a significantly lower budget that the two Lancashire sides he’s rivalled for many months.
Summer addition Stefan Payne, who joined for an undisclosed fee from Barnsley, sits as the side’s top scorer and Jon Nolan has been gathering admirers in higher divisions due to his performances in midfield.
The loan addition of Norwich’s Carlton Morris has created a competition for goals and he struck in the semi-final second-leg, the goal that got them to Wembley.
Omar Beckles, who made the switch to Shropshire from Accrington Stanley, lined up in the Sky Bet League One Team of the Year.
If it’s not his additions that have made the difference, then Hurst has managed to bring the best out of those who have been there in previous seasons.
A prime example would be Shaun Whalley, who is enjoying his best season in the EFL at the age of 30.
The winger was brought to the club by Micky Mellon back in 2015, and didn’t do too badly since joining.
However, this season, he’s taken it to the next level.
Whalley sits behind Payne in the top scorers chart, finding the net on eleven occasions and assisting a further 15.
He’s been devastating for opposition defences at times, and you know he’ll be key if they are to emerge victorious on Sunday afternoon.
If it’s not Whalley on the right side that are causing problems, Alex Rodman can prove to be a handful on the left.
The 31-year-old has a remarkable back-story as well, he was almost forced to quit football when three blood clots were found on his lungs during a spell at non-league Aldershot.
Rodman and Whalley have featured, to a point where Charlton forward Josh Magennis admitted that "no one has come here and done that to us all season. You boys were different class all over the pitch and I can see why you’re are up there” after Town’s regular season win at the Valley.
Although, there is no doubt that Nolan is the star of this team. He was a Hurst addition, and a remarkable one at that.
The pair were together at Grimsby, and Hurst put his faith in Nolan to pull the strings and make no mistake he has done that.
In fact, his signing at Grimsby was met with large-scale opposition. One supporter on a fan forum slammed the addition by saying ‘I usually hate people slating signings but flipping hell what a completely underwhelming signing.
‘A known trouble causer and from what I've seen, no better than what we have. We desperately needed a first team starter. We've signed two bench warmers. Nice one.’
Fast-forward to the present day and Nolan is one of the top midfielders in League One. Shrewsbury’s current position is no coincidence with his presence in the side.
You’d imagine that he will be a Championship player next season, and Town will be hoping that it’s with them.
Whilst those outfield have hit the headlines, Dean Henderson has been magnificent for large parts of the season in goal.
He's had blips, every goalkeeper does, but his contribution has been significant and he picked up multiple club awards at the end of the season.
It shows his work hasn't gone unnoticed, and with his future still not sorted at Manchester United there could be every chance of a return in the future.
Even when he picked up a three-match suspension, Craig MacGillivray stepped in and conceded two goals in three games, two of which were against potential play-off rivals.
MacGillivray was another addition of Hurst's, and whilst he isn't first-choice his performances when called upon show the belief within this side, and how the manager can get the best out of his players.
Rotherham v Shrewsbury betting (odds via Sky Bet)
- Rotherham to win in 90 minutes - 7/5
- Match to be a draw in 90 minutes - 12/5
- Shrewsbury to win in 90 minutes - 12/5
- Rotherham to be promoted - 8/11
- Shrewsbury to be promoted - 5/4
- Stefan Payne to score and Shrewsbury to win in 90 mins - 5/1
For me, this Shrewsbury Town team reminds us of the romance that is present in football.
Football feels like it is increasingly out of touch with the fans, the common man, as time progresses it seems to reach another level.
We have a team here who were unfancied, written-off, expected to fail and yet they’ve defied the odds to get themselves into this situation.
Write it into a script, it wouldn’t look out of place in an inspirational, uplifting Hollywood feature, see Miracle or Moneyball.
They’ve been to Wembley once already and failed, and now they’re back looking to finish off their story with a fairy tale ending.
For a neutral, it’d be wonderful to see them finish the job, and to have something to really show off for their incredible campaign.
This is no disrespect to Rotherham, not in the slightest, I’ve enjoyed seeing Paul Warne succeed in his first full season in charge and it’d be great for him to finish with play-off glory.
But every story needs the villain, and in this one, Rotherham may have to play that part – through no fault of their own I might add.
Whether the boys in blue will be celebrating at 5:30pm on Sunday afternoon remains to be seen. One thing is for sure though, they’ll certainly be a memorable team in parts of Shropshire for years to come.
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Odds correct at 0930 BST (25/05/18)
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