Shrewsbury hero Paul Hurst happy to be the villain against former side Rotherham
Paul Hurst is ready to go from hero to villain if it means Shrewsbury win at Wembley and reach the Championship.
The Town manager’s former club Rotherham stand in the way of Salop and a remarkable return to the second tier after a 29-year absence.
Hurst represented The Millers on 494 occasions across a 15-year stay in South Yorkshire. His first time lining up against United was with Shrewsbury in November, with Town winning 2-1.
The boss, who was given a fantastic welcome by Millers fans ahead of kick-off that day, admits he has a massive allegiance with the club – and that he sees the Wembley tie on May 27 as ‘fate’.
“Someone messaged me to say ‘for once you’ll be the villain’ – he seems to think I haven’t played that role too often,” Hurst said.
“I guess we did it once when we won at their place earlier in the season. A few people seemed to forget I’d played for the club for quite some time.
“But others gave me a fantastic reception and afterwards were very complimentary.
“I get there being hype around it but for me, once it arrives, we will both desperately be trying to get our clubs promoted.
“But it does seem fate that it has turned out this way.
“It doesn’t matter who you play, it’s an emotional game, when it comes to that day everyone knows who I want to win and I understand who everyone at Rotherham want to win.
“What I would say is, after a bit of time, we’ll all be pleased for the other person.”
Hurst was a team-mate of current Millers chief Paul Warne as well as assistant Richie Barker and goalkeeping coach Mike Pollitt during his time at Rotherham. He is also close friends with first-team coach Matt Hamshaw.
“Warney is a great lad,” Town’s boss added. “As well as a lot of other people that are still there in roles at the club.
“One guy, who was a commentator when I was playing and we had our successful time in promotion to the Championship, still messages me after every game and congratulates me.
“There’s a lot of good people there. Naturally I’ve got a lot of respect and friendship but we all know that goes out of the window.
“From my point of view, it clearly doesn’t make any difference in terms of how I want to win, but I think Rotherham are extremely strong and arguably the team to beat.”
