Shrewsbury Town manager Gary Peters today left the football club by “mutual agreement” after a run which has seen the side win just one game in the last 12.
Mr Peters paid the price for a run of results which has seen the League Two side slump from play-off contenders to hovering just 10 points above the relegation trap door.
See also: Chairman ‘reluctantly’ agrees split
Was Peters solely to blame for Town results?
Blog: Peters’ exit ‘not before time’
Gary Peters’ career - in pictures
Flashback: Town’s Wembley play-off in pictures
The final nail in the coffin came on Saturday when Town slumped to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of struggling Barnet.
Despite this morning insisting it was “business as usual” at the club’s Oteley Road ground, the club this afternoon issued a statement confirming they had agreed to part company with their manager after just over three years.
The statement from chairman Roland Wycherley said: “During this morning’s meeting between Town chairman Roland Wycherley and Gary Peters it was decided by mutual agreement for Gary to leave the club.
“It is a very difficult and painful decision that has been taken by both parties for the benefit of Shrewsbury Town Football Club.
Speaking about the decision, Mr Peters said: “The negativity towards me at the moment might be affecting the team and whatever we can do for us to get results we need to do.
“If that is by me leaving the club then that is what needs to be as I don’t want that negativity to get to the players.”
Mr Wycherley said he was disappointed to have agreed to the decision after the work Mr Peters had done to turn the club around.
He said: “It was a very difficult decision bearing in mind the way Gary has taken the club forward, particularly the trip to Wembley last year, and the year on year progress that we have made.
“It is with much reluctance that we’ve agreed that Gary will leave. We believe that we are acting in the best interests of the club.”
Shrewsbury Town fan Rob Fox said: “He’s worked tirelessly over the three years and has taken the club forward without a shadow of doubt.
“My personal view is that it’s not a good time for the club to be without a manager and we won’t get a replacement immediately.
“It’s not a good time for a change of manager with so many younger players here but I understand how it’s come about.
“As a supporter I think we have a very good board of directors and trust their judgement.”
Loading ...
70 Comments
Business as usual? More defeats, illogical team selections, baffling tactics?
Heaven help us.
Yes we should all be getting behind the club and GP. Not the right time to critisise
I’m sick and tired of people sticking up for Peters, you’re probably the same idiots that kept saying we should keep Ratcliffe til the end of the season and look what happened then. Don’t be so naive.
It’s the same with any job, if you aren’t performing well you get the boot. Peters seems to take this stance with his players if they underperform he doesn’t hesitate to put them in the reserves or out on loan or just get rid of completely, some times even for non-footballing reasons. You’re not doing a good job Mr Peters so it’s time to walk.
We have the stadium, we have the loyal fans (3rd best average in league), we have the players, but is
now apparent, after continued failure to deliver, we do not have a manager that understands tactics,
or probably more importantly, how to get the best of a set of players who are more than capable of
taking the Town up… Lets make a change before it’s to late!! the Fan base is loyal, but not stupid….
Appeals for unity are futile. Fans unite behind the manager naturally when they believe in him.
The manager’s decision making is baffling, team selections contrite, motivational tactics not working, post match interviews and media management is a collection of half-witted sound-bites.
Uniting behind this idiot is to be complicit in the poor management of the football club I have supported since I could barely see over the wall on the riverside, as we slide inevitably to a relegation scrap.
The manager is responsible for the team he puts out and the football the play, and consequently their results. Measure GP’s performance on any of these metrics, and he’s got to go.
2007 Play off finals yet this year facing the possibility of near relegation.
Okay the manager doesnt go out on the pitch each week and play but is it not his job to unite the players as a team and put out the performance that they should?
Gary Peters has lost it all together. What kind of a person leaves the away ground knowing full well that Radio Shropshire wanted to speak with him, as they do, after every match? A man who has run out of excuses that is who!
Shrewsbury will achieve nothing if they dont get a decent replacement and quick sharp.
Perhaps you could get back from loan all your hard working players who obviously were loaned out because they disagreed with the Manager!!!
He has gone! I am disappointed actually.
I guess things are worrying but I am not sure who else will do a better job. The grass is always greener!!
I think everyones begining to think the unbeleivable is possible.Town with their new stadium playing in the conference.I dont know if we could get much of a new manager in at this point of the season ( unless Leroy is available….please God !!! )
If in the short term we have to get experienced defenders in on loan then so be it.We can have the bun fight after weve stopped up.
As a Shrews fan in exile (NE Scotland) I have been kept up to date by my home and away supporting son. Peters has now gone and judging by his ungracious, baffling and frankly offensive comments; not before time.
To say that last season was the Shres best ever ignores the facts; when Graham Turner and Chic Bates were in charge we had a great team, League 2 (Championship) football and a great club spirit.
Peters disrespect for those that have gone before and his inept team selections meant that he really had to go.
Bring back Chic Bates as a caretaker until the end of the season and then take a look at what’s available.
thank you gary for what you have done for stfc and thanks for the brave decision you have made, now is the time to rally around the club and snuff out those critics who will moan at anything. thank you again gary for the good times.
Peters Gone! Best news of the day! Thank god for that. Now lets get some decent management in and get Shrewsbury Town back where they should be up the table. Peters way of management divided the supporters now we can all get together again and pull together. Now we can look forward and upwards! Great news!
Garry can hold hes head up high he done a god job at the meadow. but hes gone now and we need to go back to basics so lets get jake king back pronto
About six months to late.
It is not Gary Peters fault that the Town are in the position they are in. Negative comments by a small section of so called fans have crucified him and undermined the team. It is the law of the lynch mob that has got him out. I hope they are happy now. Where we go from here? Who knows but one thing I am fairly certain about things are about to get a whole lot worse.
needed to go, was a nobody when he cvame and is leaving a nobody!!! another useless appoinment by the town again!!!!cant wait for the next useless appoinment
It’s a shame, he was doing a brilliant job. Long may his legacy last. Keep your head up Gary.
We will miss the results you got us.
Doesn’t mean a thing to a non-fottie fan like me, yet I had a second cousin who played for Walsall FC in 1950’s and an uncle who was a Manager of Maidenhead Utd in 1960’s.
I am furious, the boo boys won, what a disgrace.
It’s ups and downs in football, and some one just can’t understand that.
A string of poor results and all goes mad and in panic, I wonder how the boo boys tackle their own
problems - they certainly goes in panic.
In Peters we lost a good manager. I took Graham Turner a while to get Hereford where they are now, the
same will go for any other manager Town may have - Rome was not built in one day.
Deport all the boo boys to Telford, and leave the real fans left.
Peter bariclugh - yet another example of the lynch mob. Slagging off the new manager before he is appointed. Its no wonder we do not have a lot of success these days with that sort of attitude.
Things are going to get a lot worse, I think the lynch mob will rue the day that they pushed Gary Peters out.
Thanks to gary for all his hard work , some fans have very short memories, but have got their way.good luck in the future.
Hi Denis, I think you are basically right. The anti manager brigade have got their way (I suppose they will now be quiet for a bit, at least until a new target is appointed). Now we must prepare for painful rebuilding as the new man will surely want his own players in.
With hindsight as much as many of us remained loyal to GP his teams have not produced and with relegation not promotion staring us in the face few can complain at his demise.
Short term lets just get another 10 points on the board then start looking to next season.
PETERS IS OUT ,THAT IS GREAT NEWS ,SO LETS ASK GRAHAM TURNER TO TAKE OVER AND BRING BACK SOME MUCH NEEDED ATTACKING ATTITUDE.
John Larsen - Deport all the boo boys to Telford?
It seems with silly errors in your “piece” such as “They certainly goes in panic” which doesn’t make sense, “I took Graham Turner” did you we well done for that! and “and leave the real fans left” another poor example of English. It seems like all the literate people have also been deported!
Glad he’s gone, his team selections were baffling beyond belief!! How many pairings at centre half has he had this season which culminated in him playing Tierney out of position while Murdock is on the bench and Kempson farmed out on loan. Maybe Jimmy Ryan might get a game!!
I think the time is right for a new manager. Gary Peters had totally lost the plot. Lets hope the board make the right decisions about who the next manager will be. Peters had to go we could not risk another season or seasons in the conference.
i have to agree with pete!!! what did that joke ever do for the town??? may aswell just pluck a name out a hat !! any name will do !!!! thats what they seem to do all the time!!!!
boo boys??? he was a disgrace!!!!!! u play football like trhat and u deserve to get the boot!!! if i performed that poor at work i would certainly get the boot!!! bye and good ridance
The braindead (I hesitate to use the word true supporter) have won again.He who shouts loudest gets his own way.
How can some of these people truly have the welfare of Shrewsbury Town FC at heart.
Good Luck Gary!
Mr Larsen - the boo boys can come to Telford at least our Team are at the top of their game and league be it only the Blue Square North.
Okay I am not a Town fan but I do feel that Gary Peters has given them nothng this season.
How can he use the excuse that the bad feelings toward him is the problem as to why the players are getting poor results week on week, there wouldnt be bad feelings towards him in that instance if he did his job.
Aload of Shrew> We cannot all be as good in english as you. If you don’t recognized it,
I am from Denmark, and there may be some grammatic failures and type errors.
I count you amongst the boo boys.
Reading some of these comments, anyone would think that the so called boo boys were responsible for the appalling results of STFC! Somewhat perverse logic. The manager is responsible for results, the “boo-boys” arrive when he does a bad job, and threatens the future of STFC with relegation. It’s that simple.
Shame really I was looking forward to the conforence derby games next season”"”"”"
After the Hereford he complained about their loan players, not accepting that they had played better football the right way. Let us hope the ball gets back on the grass more. he should have gone a while ago and stopped whinging.
Surely, boo boys, purists, true supporters are however you are, YOU pay to watch, to travel (not an inexpensive past time), but spending hard earned each week to see your team loose, or drop two points, needs something to happen & it has.
But please don’t forget who finances managers & players. I personally think he was sacked because he ran out of chapters in the Peters excuse book !!
Sid - Rude again writing in capitals.
Also come up with realistic suggestions. Graham Turner owns Hereford and has no intention of managing Shrewsbury or any other club for that matter.
Unfortunately the lynch mob have had there way.How long before they start undermining the new manager. This is a dark day in the history of Shrewsbury Town. I think those that called for Gary Peters to go will rue the day.
Mr Laursen, I thank you for your comments on this thread, while i find your comment about Telford truly hillarious, unfortunately due to you not being local you probably didn’t realise that Telford wasn’t really the best bit of symbolism you could have used. They have their own club run by themselves, a fantastic management duo for their level and although not owned a decent stadium for their level. Telford has very little “boo boys”, it is a club who encourage their players.
I don’t care if you think i am a boo boy, i know that i am a well respected individual around the area and would never Boo someone at work. I don’t find this sort of thing to be very helpful and slurring other towns before our own is in order is simply pitiful!
How pathetically fickle are so many town fans? it almost makes me ashamed to be one. The past 5 months have been the first time since peters took over that we have not been progressing and as soon as this happens these morons get on his back and have effectively forced him out of his job. Certain comments say he doesn’t understand tactics and can’t get a group of players good enough to win promotion to win football matches, but those individuals should remember it is Peters who has brought these players to the club and it is them who are letting us all including Peters down, after all we now have Langmead in the centre of our defence,before Peters we had Fat Les in defence, or as he was otherwise known, Matty Redmile. That difference in quality sums up what Peters has acheived in his time and i firmly believe if he had had time he would have won promotion for us sooner or later. These so called fans who got on his back should be ashamed of themselves and we all may well come to regret the departure of Peters sooner or later as well.
Wow looking at some of these hostile comments I can’t for the life of me see who would want to manage Shrewsbury Town, sounds like a number are set against the poor fellow before the off.
I have supported Town for over 30 years and have always given my full support to the board and their appointed manager. I have held opinions about various managers over the years but have always felt it best to keep thoughts private, Its the boards job to sort the managerial side, they are best informed when to make change. They are the ones to balance results versus attendances.
I can’t work out what the anti manager, anti board, anti everything people hope to achieve, they only do the club harm at a time we need everyone pulling in the same direction. (they must be from rival clubs with the sole intention of doing our wonderful club harm).
DO NOT BE DOWN DIRECTORS YOU GIVE PETERS EVERY CHANCE BUT HES TAKING US NO WHERE . NOW BRING SOME BODY LIKE GRAHAM TURNER BACK TO SHREWSBURY.
Reading some off the comments it seems some suppiers of Peters would like to see us go down, Peters has only himself to blame,im glad to see him go.lets all get behind the new Manager because Peters has left him witha big problems to sort out.
Gary did a great job for the town and I am gutted he is gone. The boo boys are completely unrealistic, a club with our resources should be counting their blessings for another season out of the conference, which is surely where we are headed now.
Good luck Gary, I’m sure all the real salop fans will appreciate what a great job you did for us.
Well done Sid Denis is short sighted going by his commets and cant see the rubbish shrewsbury have been playing last 5 months.
I agree with Denis, it’s very rude to write in capitals.
If you really think that this will make your comments more interesting, you think wrong.
Aload of Shrew> Even you can make errors, Iam not Mr. Laursen, but Larsen
it was about time, bad result’s, shrewsbury town are a big club now, you only have to see the great stadium, bigger crowd’s, and in few year’s time league 1 football. as a norm, brian robson maybe lol
Yes the buck stops with the manager,but some of those players have not performed.
Six months is along time in football and I would like to thank GP for last season.
But please dont mention Chic Bates as a replacement his time has been and long gone.
And before anyone says anything I respect what he did for town but the club and game are totally different know.
sid my old darling, for the nth time graham turner is not going to sell HIS own club hereford united to manage, at present, a much less successful side like stfc. now that gary has graciously departed we need to look for a young player manager,or an up and coming manager from towards the top of the blue square league and i have in mind the manager of exeter city or torquay united, or a famous name like alan shearer who wants management experience prior to bigger things. what we do not want at this dangerous time of the season is a journeyman manager who will make things worse.whoever is our new manager, the remit must be 10 points for safety and soon, and bring back some of our older past players like luke rodgers
Shame it had to come to this but for some reason GP had lost it big time. I really wanted him to succeed but his irrational team selection, release of valuable players and tactical incompetence was getting worse by the minute. Whoever gets the job needs to employ an assistant with the club at heart, a respected ex-player would be a good choice for the fans(any ideas?).
Agree with Martinshrew (first time i’ve said that!) Strange to see that some are less than optimistic about who we will appoint. I guess that the glass is always half empty for some.
Great opportunity for Town to bring in someone of quality. It’s a Shame Nigel Perason got snapped up. He would have been ideal for me (always assuming we could afford him??)
From who available, Steve Cotterill might not be a bad choice.
The type of football has been depressingly dull for ages. Too many excuses, post match tactical gobbledygook (and an associated implication that we, the fans, were too thick to grasp such subtleties), spinning about formations being to blame, concerning himself to almost paranoid lengths about the opposition all made him it is diificult to feel sorry for. Add to that the fact that he was incredibly arrogant, dismissive and hypersensitive to the slightest criticism and I think this is a good day for STFC. How much more were we prepared to take before the plug was pulled? Some of us here seem to have short memories: we were rubbish and getting worse under Peters….with the best bit being that he admitted encouraging the players to pass the ball of late (sorry, isn’t that the point of football….look after the ball, pass, move,etc?)rather than hoofing it upfield and hoping for thing to happen (by common consent we were becoming infamous for our ugly approach to playing the game). New broom? Nigel Clough, please.
Look first those who insist in writing in capitals, it is the rudest thing you can do on the internet.
Those who are so pleased to see Gary Peters go think again. Look what has happened at Newcastle, the lych mob got Allydyce out and got in Keegan and now things are even worse. I hope they are satisfied.
IAN PAYNE-why bother making a comment if you have absolutely no interest in football?waste of space.
Pointless sacking him now, should have kept him till end of season.
However, he didnt help himself with letting backbone of playoff team go and buying average low league journeymen.
************hot of the press news ***************
the new manager will be alan knill ex rotherham. has made the club loads of transfer money but has had little success in the league. watch this space*********
The final straw came last Saturday, hammered by a team below us in the table who had lost five games in a row. Add to that a run of bad results, negative tactics, poor signings, players being played out of position, dire footbal being served up all season long and a revoloving door policy with players. What alternative did Roland have? Gary Peters was doing a decent job up to the start of this season and had something to build on from the play offs , but instead he chose to break up the team and bring in players who just aren’t up to it (Garner, Kempson, Murdoch, Pugh, Hunt). We’ve taken a giant step backwards this season and we’ve shown that we are nowhere near competing with the top sides. The table doesn’t lie, we are where we deserve to be. I’m sad that it’s come to this, but it should come as no surprise to anyone who’s watched the Town this season. I just hope that now the players can express themselves a bit more and play with some freedom, then we can all unite behind a new manager with a bit more tactical awareness and get those wins that we need to lift us away from the relegation dog fight.
er alan knill is currently at bury, watch this space
One dead weight gone…good start. Just the players to replace now and STFC might have a chance of some success. On the bright side though if they do get relegated STFC will have one of the best non league Stadiums in thr country. Name suggestion for the new meadow…. “The White Elephant”
Good to see that the board have been proactive rather than waiting for relegation then acting. There was an element of progress made in the Peters era but looking at the facts we finished 21st in his 1st season (though he only arrived in November) and he leaves with us in 16th- he hardly turned us into world beaters, or even genuine promotion contenders. Last season was an adventure but a real over-achievement and Town certainly weren’t good enough for promotion. Good luck to Peters in the future- can’t say he didn’t try. Though not keen on some of his outspoken comments about the fans- big mistake at any football club.
It will be interesting to see the names banded around as a replacement. Teddy Sheringham will be looking for his 1st managerial position…
I don’t understand the references to ‘boo boys’ when it is blatantly obvious that without a change now, the club is at risk of dropping into the relegation battle!! look at the facts, this time last year we were in a playoff position with a chance of promotion, where are we today? and what do you think will happen next year to the season ticket revenue if things don’t change? We all have the club at heart and want success, but somtimes difficult decisions have to be made to achieve this. Lets all get behind the new manager and players and I am sure we can get the success the club deserves.
it was inevitable. we are now at about the same position as when gp came, so for all the ‘building’ it has all been lost. how? so many changes players out players in. that’s not building. at man u alex ferguson took about 4 years to rebuild, but he had some rotten attitudes and dead wood to get rid of and players’ respect to earn so that he eventually developed a committed and loyal squad. this was not the situation here. the most evident thing about the last 12 games is that the team has some good skills but is totally lacking in confidence. why? there have been plenty of rumours of discontent in the dressing room (jimmy ryan, darren moss?) and people saying they would never play for shrews again or being told that they wouldn’t. there’s no smoke without fire, and if this is about bad atmosphere in the dressing room it was never going to turn round with the same manager. an aggressive style might work at some clubs or with some players, but with this very young group it would be disastrous, and relegation a real possibility. gp was credible at his october question and answer session about being patient, build a young team around experienced players and make it mature. but he also talked about playing ‘ugly ‘ to get the results and for some reason it hasn’t worked and more seriously, something very negative has been building up instead. so it was too big a risk to go from game to game like this, the players cannot really be blamed and as this is what football management is about, gp had to go.
Who will be the next custodian of the Shrewsbury Town ejector seat? (thats the one connected to the panic button).
The word going round is that we are not going to call him Manager, Coach or Boss. He is to be called Scapegoat.
As I see it things can only go one of 2 ways
1) We get better
2) We get worse
Lets all hope its the former
I never realised that there were so many boring people about who only have a view on life if it’s connected with a fourth rate football team playing at a first rate facility.
Normanis29 - another non supporter trying to make matters worse
Elect me as Manager and I’ll bring us promotion! Next season anyway
Looking forward to playing you next season.
From all at the MIGHTY BUCKS
I cannot see why so much print space is devoted to a subject that is of interest to about 5% of a population approaching 100,000. I’m with Normanis29 on this one, let’s discuss something interesting.
who cares???
john - because I want to mate !!!
Sorry it came to this but not unexpected,Iwould have loved the opportunity to go to wembley again.
However statistics speak very loud.
How many players good ones have gone from town, loans or sold or any other way, last seasons defence was very good but he let some go at the end of the season which was the start of the towns decline, Gary said he was a softie, I agree with that but he’s big enough to admit it, thank you Gary for your efforts and knowing when its time to quit,
town must employ a manager of top quality, experienced, player respected live his life as Shrewsbury town right on the door step and train his players to play hard good football on the ground, be as fit as any team in any of the leagues
and then and only then will he get good results that will please all the fans,sincere good luck to the new manager, although with the number of players town have had this season I could have picked the team, but I dont want the job.who does.
IAN PAYNE-I’m not your mate,thank god