Salop social: Let’s enjoy special Harry while we can

Chris Hudson

I can’t recall the last time a new player came in and made quite as big an impact as Harry Chapman.

The Blackburn Rovers man has been electric since checking in on loan at Montgomery Waters Meadow. His winner to sink Sunderland on Tuesday was his fourth goal in his last four appearances.

It got me thinking about the best loan players we’ve ever had. Already, Chapman has done enough for his name to feature prominently in the conversation.

It’s hard to look past Dean Henderson and Ben Godfrey for sustained impact or for ability. Both are Premier League players now, of course – and both will go on to win many England caps, I’m sure.

There are others who scored important goals in the last decade to keep Town at this level – Sullay Kaikai and Tyler Roberts being two that stand out for me.

Going further back, I well recall Darren Currie announcing his arrival from West Ham with a stunning debut goal. He was a Rolls Royce player, someone I always loved to watch in a Shrewsbury shirt.

But Chapman is undoubtedly special. Out of contract in the summer, his form in blue and amber will surely have some big suitors scrapping for his signature. We should enjoy him while we can.

Steve Jones

Tuesday’s win reinforced what most of us already knew: There is nothing to fear in this league.

Every team is beatable and without looking at the stats it seems like everyone is beating everyone. There’s really not much in it.

Shrewsbury, in 17th, have taken a result off every side currently in the top seven and beaten five of them. Why can’t the play-offs be in our sights?

Depending on your disposition, you may think a 10-point gap is too much to make up. But, with two games in hand on sixth place and almost half the season still to play, it’s really not.

No wonder the club were so keen to add more quality in January, they want to take advantage of a genuine opportunity.

All this play-off talk goes to show what a bonkers 12 months it’s been in more ways than one. Not long ago, fans were worried about where the wins would come from to avoid relegation.

Steve Cotterill, Aaron Wilbraham and David Longwell deserve all the praise they are getting for this remarkable turnaround.

Nathan Rowden

After the first few games of Steve Cotterill’s reign there was a lot of optimistic but mostly tongue in cheek talk about how far he could take Shrewsbury, not just in the future, but this season.

I quickly shrugged off any suggestions of play-offs or indeed a top-half finish as a joke or fan delusion. I personally thought Steve would do well to keep us in the league.

But Shrewsbury have become a delight to watch and with every passing week and are reaping the benefits are hard work and some solid tactical understanding.

When Steve was appointed I read a comment from a Bristol City fan that said, ‘if you get behind Cotterill and the project it will be a lot of fun’.

I’m only now starting to understand what he meant.

A Gillingham supporting friend of mine Whatsapped me this week to say ‘you guys are flying, play-offs?’.

I started thinking, is that so wild? Then I took a look at the league table, and with games in hand, it incredibly doesn’t seem the ridiculous prospect it would have done just a few short months ago.

I’m not sticking my neck out here and saying I think it will happen, but I certainly would be a lot less surprised if it did now. The only kicker here would be that there are no fans to see it.

The main aim still has to be league and financial survival this season, and I’m 99 per cent sure that will be achieved, at least in terms of the league anyway.

I am willing, however, to go out on a limb and say that in the next season or two, under Steve Cotterill we will have a decent go at promotion from League One.

How exciting!