Shrewsbury Town F.C.
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| Shrewsbury Town | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Shrewsbury Town Football Club |
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| Nickname(s) | Salop, The Shrews, Blues, Amber-Blues or Town |
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| Founded | 1886 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Gay Meadow Shrewsbury |
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| Capacity | 8,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Roland Wycherley |
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| Manager | Gary Peters (since November 2004) |
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| League | Football League Two | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | League Two, 10th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Shrewsbury Town Football Club are an English football club currently playing in Football League Two, the fourth tier of English football.
The club was promoted in 2004 from the Nationwide Conference (fifth tier). They won promotion back to the Football League at the first attempt, having been relegated from what was then called the Third Division (fourth tier) in 2003.
Actor Harry Shearer immortalised Shrewsbury Town in film, as his character Derek Smalls wore the blue and amber shirt in the cult rock and roll movie Spinal Tap.
The reserve squad play matches in the Pontin's Holidays League Division One West.
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[edit] Milestones
Shrewsbury Town were elected to the Football League in 1950 following the decision to expand the league from 88 to 92 clubs.
The most successful manager to take charge of Shrewsbury Town is Graham Turner, who won the Third Division Championship in 1978-79 - his first season in charge - and took the club into the Second Division for the very first time. They remained there for ten years against all the odds, although Turner departed for Aston Villa in 1984.
Shrewsbury's Second Division life ended at the end of the 1988-89 season after ten years and they slipped into the Third Division, falling through that trap door three years later.
Shrewsbury won the new (fourth tier) Division Three championship under Fred Davies in 1993-94, and remained in Division Two (third tier) for three seasons before slipping back down again at the end of the 1996-97 season - after a drastic loss of form in the final weeks of a season which had begun with a promotion challenge on the cards. They never even gained a playoff place over the next six seasons and were finally relegated to the Conference at the end of the 2002-03 season under the management of Kevin Ratcliffe, just four months after they had achieved a famous 2-1 home win in the FA Cup over Premiership giants Everton which seemed to rule out any lingering fears of relegation.
Shrewsbury regained their league status at the first attempt in 2003-04, winning the Conference playoffs thanks to the efforts of a hardworking side managed by Jimmy Quinn. But Quinn has since made way for Gary Peters, who succeeded in preserving Shrewsbury's league status in the 2004-05 Coca-Cola League Two campaign. Towards the end of the 2005-2006 season, assistant manager Mick Wadsworth departed and was replaced by Leroy Rosenior. At the end of the season, Rosenior became manager of Brentford and John McMahon became the new assistant manager.
Rival clubs include Wrexham, Walsall, Hereford, Chester and finally AFC Telford, although Kidderminster was considered a derby until they dropped out of the Football League in 2004/2005 season.
[edit] Stadium
Their home ground is the Gay Meadow in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, arguably one of the most picturesque grounds in the football league, on the banks of the River Severn and near to the historic town centre.
The club are moving to a new ground currently under development, provisionally called the New Meadow, which will have a 10,000 all-seater capacity with much more car parking than the current ground. The current 2006/2007 season will be the last season at the Gay Meadow.
The current ground is frequently flooded by the River Severn and when footballs were kicked out of the ground into the river, Fred Davies (whose namesake managed the club in the mid-1990s) provided a service of retrieving them in his coracle.
In October 2006 the Shrewsbury Town released a statement that enraged supporters by claiming the seats at the 10,000 New Meadow will be blue and white.
This was a move that angered many Shrewsbury town supporters, who wished for the ground's seats to be of a blue and amber colour scheme. Despite the club's colours being blue and white until the late 1960s, the club has since adopted a blue and amber colour scheme, which most fans feel is more identifiable with the club.
After considerable pressure from fans, and a meeting with Shrewsbury Town supporters' groups, a comprimise was met, with the seats to be blue in colour with the club's initials (STFC), spelled out in amber.
[edit] Players
[edit] Notable former players
Former Town player Arthur Rowley is famous for being the Football League's all-time top goalscorer, and hold's the club's single-season and all time scoring records. Mickey Brown holds the club record for most appearances, accumulated during three spells.
Several Shrewsbury players have gone onto, or came from prominent top-flight careers. These include current and former top-flight managers David Moyes, Gordon Lee, David Pleat and Gary Megson. International stars John McGinlay, Jimmy Quinn, Mickey Thomas, Carl Robinson and Neville Southall all spent time at Shrewsbury.
More recently, Premier League winner Mark Atkins spent later seasons of his career at Shrewsbury, as did Nottingham Forest duo Nigel Jemson and Ian Woan. Coventry City stalwart Steve Ogrizovic was previously a Shrewsbury player. A notable recent departee is Shrewsbury-born England U19 goalkeeper Joe Hart, who joined Manchester City in the summer of 2006.
[edit] Current squad
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[edit] Out on loan
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[edit] Player Records
- Most league goals in a season
38: Arthur Rowley (1958-59) - Most league goals in total
152: Arthur Rowley (1958-65) - Most league appearances
418: Mickey Brown (1986-91, 1992-94, 1996-2001)
[edit] Honours
- Welsh Cup winners 1891, 1938, 1977, 1979, 1984, 1985; runners up 1931, 1948, 1980
- Football League Third Division (third tier) champions 1979
- Football League Third Division (fourth tier) champions 1994
- Football League Fourth Division (fourth tier) runners up 1975
- Football League Trophy runners up 1996
- Midland League champions 1938, 1946, 1948
- Birmingham League champions 1923; runners up 1914, 1924, 1937
- Nationwide Conference Playoff Winners 2004
[edit] References
- ^ Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified. STFC official website. Retrieved on November 24, 2006.
- ^ GP Lands Winger. STFC official website. Retrieved on November 24, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Shrewsbury Town F.C. on BBC Sport: Club News - Recent results - Upcoming fixtures - Club stats
- shrewsTRUST Supporters Trust
- Vitalshrews
- Local Paper: The Shropshire Star
- Shrews blogger David Craig
- Blue and Amber: Unofficial Website
- Shrewsbury Town Supporters Trust
- News Of The Shrews
- Scandinavian Shrews
- Danish Branch
- Player list
- Kit History page
- Spinal Tap reference page
| Football League Two, 2006-2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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