Shrewsbury Town’s decade in League One: The aftermath of Paul Hurst’s departure
After play-off agony in 2017-18, it was business as usual for Shrewsbury Town as they finished 18th in League One the year after.
It was a turbulent summer for Salop as Paul Hurst, who had been manager for 19 months, was poached by Championship club Ipswich.
Hurst had been favourite for the job for a number of weeks, but the Tractor Boys waited until after Salop’s play-off defeat at Wembley before they approached their man.
The Yorkshireman signed a three-deal at Portman Road describing the move as 'too good to turn down'. He left alongside his long-term assistant Chris Doig, leaving Town managerless.
That did not last long as Salop moved swiftly to appoint John Askey - who had just won the National League title with Macclesfield - 48 hours after the departure.
Askey’s time in Shropshire never got going, and he was relieved of his duties by mid-November with the team having just won four of their opening 17 games.
It was a tough start to the season, and there was a lot of speculation online and in the media about Askey’s future before the decision was eventually made.
It took Salop three weeks to find a new boss. Goalkeeping coach Danny Coyne was in caretaker during that period with him being able to get a tune out of Salop. They won five of those matches and moved seven points from safety.
Former Swansea, Hull, Bolton and Wolves defender Sam Ricketts was then poached from their cross-border rivals Wrexham - he had the Red Dragons sitting fourth in the National League at the time.
Ricketts signed a two-and-a-half-year deal as Shrews boss. He would win his first game in charge against Walsall in the EFL Trophy, but Town’s league form was indifferent.
He took nine points from his first 12 league matches, drawing six of those and securing one victory, but it was a decent end to the campaign, which saw them win back-to-back games against Peterborough and Doncaster which got them back on track.
There was another steady FA Cup run for Shrews as they made it to the fourth round of the competition until they were eventually knocked out by Wolves.
On that journey, they knocked out Salford City and Stoke over two legs as well as beating Scunthorpe 1-0 at the Meadow.
They drew at home against Wolves 2-2 but lost 3-2 in the replay at Molineux.
There were a few notable names in the Salop squad that season. Town legend and Shropshire Star columnist David Edwards featured, but not regularly.
Arguably Town’s best player last season, Alex Gilliead, made more than 30 appearances across all competitions during the campaign.
Anthony Grant and Luke Waterful were the only players to start 40 or more league games.
Luton, Barnsley and Charlton were the teams that were promoted that year. Interestingly the three leading scorers in the division were James Collins, Tom Eaves and John Marquis. All former or current Shrews players.
