Morgan Feeney reflects on disappointing Shrewsbury campaign and spell in Shropshire
Former Shrewsbury Town defender Morgan Feeney says he enjoyed his time in Shropshire, despite it being a challenging couple of years.
The former Everton man signed for Salop in the summer of 2023. He was one of the first additions made by director of football Micky Moore and new head coach Matt Taylor.
But Town have endured a challenging couple of seasons. In Feeney’s first year, he made 41 appearances under Taylor and Paul Hurst as the team narrowly avoided relegation to League Two. They finished 19th.
His second campaign in blue and amber turned out to be a lot more challenging. This time he made 39 appearances in a Town team that lost 29 out of their 46 League One games and was relegated as the bottom-placed club.
And Feeney opened up on his time at the Croud Meadow.
“I enjoyed my time at Shrewsbury,” he said. “Last season did not go the way we wanted it to.
“But I gained loads of experience there and played in some decent games - I enjoyed my time there.”
Feeney signed for Carlisle United last week, the team he left to join Shrewsbury back in 2023.
The move at the time led to criticism from Blues fans and their manager Paul Simpson.
The 26-year-old got a hostile reception when Town played at Brunton Park in September 2023 and he had an angry exchange with Simpson at full-time due to things he had been saying in the media.
With the Cumbrians now in the National League, Feeney has made the decision to rejoin them and he says he is focused on the job in hand and not the past.
“It is football,” he continued. “Things happen in football, I am here to do my best for the club. I have always loved this club (Carlisle). I have always loved playing for this club. I am back now hopefully to go and perform on the pitch.
“For me, there was never any hard feelings or anything like that, that is just the game, things happen in football. My main focus now is getting the club back up to where they need to be.”
Feeney spent most of his time at the Croud Meadow playing as a centre-back, but when Paul Hurst flipped the formation from a back five to a back four, he found himself playing a right-back.
“I am a centre-back,” he said. “I did not play right-back as much as I have seen what people have said. I am a central defender.
“I did a job at right-back and tried to do as best as I could, but I feel like my best position is centre-back. Wherever I am asked to play, I'll do my best.”
Feeney scored his one goal for Town in their 1-0 win over Lincoln last season - that was one of the seven wins they managed over the course of the campaign.
He was released by the club at the end of the season, along with seven other of his former team-mates, and Shrewsbury moved swiftly to bring in another defender with Tom Anderson joining from Doncaster on a two-year contract.
