When Shrewsbury Town striker Stefan Payne joined Aldershot – for three days

Stefan Payne is also regarded as Aldershot Town’s oddest signing, writes Lewis Cox.

On Friday, January 27, 2012, Payne was secured by then-boss Dean Holdsworth after departing Gillingham.

Ex-Bolton striker Holdsworth took his Shots side to AFC Wimbledon the following day, where Payne started on the bench.

He came on in the 80th minute, the score remained the same – 2-1 to the visitors – but Payne, 21 at the time, was never seen in Aldershot colours again. By Monday he had moved on to Sutton United.

He is one of a trio of Shrewsbury playing links to this Saturday’s FA Cup visitors. While the two sides have other history too.

“There were a lot of players coming and going at the time,” recalls Graham Brookland, co-founder and club ambassador of Aldershot Town.

Brookland played a key role in the birth of Aldershot Town in 1992, a few months after Aldershot FC ceased to exist.

He has since had a plethora of roles at the Rec – club secretary, even media officer.

He had the unenviable task of head of media around the time of a high turnover of players in which he referenced Payne.

“I never even had the chance to meet Stefan,” he added. “I had a phone call from Dean Holdsworth saying we’d signed Stefan Payne from...Gillingham, I think it was.

“He came on for 10 minutes at AFC Wimbledon. I didn’t bother with the interview after the game because I thought ‘oh, I’ll do it next week’.

“I never found out why he went. There were a lot of players then, that was a very strange one. I had a call early the following week saying he had gone.”

Alex Rodman and Omar Beckles have enjoyed more fruitful spells at current National League club Aldershot in recent times.

Brookland reserved particular praise for Rodman, who spent two seasons with Town between 2011-2013, within which time he contracted a serious illness and had to temporarily step away from the game.

“I’ve got a huge amount of time for Alex Rodman,” Brookland said. “I liked him, he was a nice lad.

“He was diagnosed with an illness, it nearly ended his career but it’s testament to his character that’s he’s gone on to a higher level. His career drifted a bit after the illness, it takes time to get back.

“But I’m really pleased for him because he’s a nice lad and he had one hell of a scare.”

Rodman has been in superb form for Paul Hurst’s Shrewsbury this season.

“He had a lot of talent and ability. He was a good player for us,” said Brookland, a lifelong fan.

Brookland stepped down from duty when Aldershot were liquidated in 2012. He wanted to start enjoying things as a fan, minus the stress of work. He never had the opportunity to meet or work with Beckles.

The big defender spent a highly impressive campaign at the Shots, earning his major break, two seasons ago.

“Omar was a very influential player for us in a team that was struggling,” he added. “You could tell he had the ability and would push on. He was good around the club. “We hoped to have him for longer but it was not to be and he did very well at Accrington Stanley.”

One standout meeting between the clubs was Shrewsbury’s Conference play-off final success on penalties at The Britannia Stadium in 2004 to seal an instant Football League return.

But Brookland looks back further.

“I’ve never had such a change of emotions within a minute in football than the FA Cup fifth round in 1979. We made it 2-1 in the last minute and then it was 2-2. We lost the replay 3-1.

“I’ve never known it go so quite as when Shrewsbury scored. We were minutes from the FA Cup quarter-final. Shrewsbury went on to play Wolves.

“If you ask any long-standing Aldershot fan what game they remember most, they’ll say the FA Cup with Shrewsbury.”