Shrewsbury Town FA Cup magic will always bring a smile to Joker Jason Cummings' face

It was Steve Cotterill, calling from his Bristol hospital bed.

“He phoned me and wished me luck even though he’s going through a hard time with Covid,” Cummings said, having left Shrewsbury for Dundee in his homeland at the end of last month.

“I hope he gets better soon, but he took the time to phone me and wish me all the best, which I thought was brilliant.

“I thought it was different class. I was delighted when he phoned me, we got on really well.

“He didn’t play me, he was honest with that, maybe I wasn’t his type of player or whatever, these things happen in football.

“But every day in training him and Albie (Wilbraham) and Davey (Longwell) were different class with me.”

Cotterill remains unwell. But he is still pulling the strings at Shrewsbury Town and cares deeply for his players, enough to give Cummings – who barely featured since his appointment – an emotional call.

“It shows the class he’s got, giving me a phone and wishing me all the best,” Cummings, 25, adds. “Once he came in, you can see from the results, the boys took to him straight away, he brought in a winning mentality.

“I wasn’t expecting him to call me, I spoke to Albie and Davey and said my goodbyes to all of them, they were brilliant.

“I was actually just driving up the road, it wasn’t long after (leaving). Even though he’s been poorly, I know what he’s like, he’ll still be checking his phone and keeping up to date with everything.

“He was just saying all the best, it was good to meet you, that I was a good lad and he liked me. He reckoned it was a good idea for me to go home and get game time. It was brilliant.”

Scotland international Cummings is a mercurial individual. This season he scored his100th career goal having just turned 25. A big game player, he departed Shropshire with just 10 goals in 48 appearances – 30 of them starts – in a little over a year. But ‘the Joker’, a moniker owing to his unique body ink, leaves the legacy of a night against the Premier League champions elect that he and many Shrewsbury fans will never forget.

“Honestly, personally – as far as a personal game has gone in my career – it’s at the top of the list,” Cummings said of his legendary FA Cup double from the bench against Liverpool last January, which pre-empted memorable full-time scenes on the Meadow pitch.

I didn’t even start the game! I was on the bench and talking to Mo Salah and others, I told him ‘I’m going to come on and score!’

“These players, you see them on TV, it’s a pleasure to share the pitch with the calibre of those. It was a special night.

“I came off the bench and thought ‘come on, let’s get a goal here’. I took that penalty, I was confident.

“I scored the other one and the fans went mental, even afterwards when the fans came on the pitch, I’m kicking about with that crown on my head, it was a special night.

“My old man (David) was down and a couple of my mates, we managed to have a few beers after the game, it was a night I will never forget.”

He gets serious on his next point – “But I’ll tell you what sums up my Shrewsbury career – I didn’t even start the next game! I managed to salvage a replay for the club and I didn’t even start.

“He (Sam Ricketts) started Shaun (Whalley) and Langy (Callum Lang), I think he brought on (Daniel) Udoh before me, I was fourth-choice striker in the replay!

“I don’t know if he’s said it was my fitness or whatever, but I was fit enough to score two goals. Things like that were out of my hands. I wish I played more, but I never.

“You would think (big games were the one for me). Confidence was through the roof, surely I just had to play more than 15 minutes? But it wasn’t to be.

“It was a great occasion anyway, made a few quid for the club as well, (around 8,000) fans got a good trip, to play at Anfield was good, but even talking about it still frustrates me!

“It was the kids in the replay! It was almost like we went into the replay playing the first team, we showed them too much respect.

“It’s not often you get the chance to go to Anfield, we should’ve had a right good go.”

The striker, who before the Liverpool tie was prancing around Sundorne Castle in his pants live on Sky Sports, laughs: “I got Mo Salah’s shirt, I’m going to get it framed, he’s the main man isn’t he? I don’t think he’s got mine! Imagine that, ‘Cummings 35’ in his living room, I hope so, that would be quality. He probably doesn’t remember me!”

Cummings, a Hibernian cup-winning icon, has found the long Covid-19 months away from home tough. But now, at Dundee, he is back with mum Tracey while he sorts out a flat, and re-united with British bulldog Carlos. He described being stuck inside in Shrewsbury, without visitors, as like being on ‘house arrest’.

But that’s nothing against the town, which he loved. And Cummings has nothing but happy memories of Salop despite not playing the football he would’ve liked under either boss.

“I’ll be a Shrewsbury fan for life, looking out for scores and I hope they do well,” he adds. “I’m glad the Shrewsbury fans can remember me for that night and I gave them a good night and trip.

“I hope they remember the good times, I know I will for sure.”

Cummings, who lived in the Meole Brace neighbourhood of Shrewsbury, certainly became attached with the town despite signing barely half-a-year before the pandemic took over. He appreciated it for what it was, not heaving, like his Edinburgh home, Nottingham, or London, but unique.

He grew a strong affinity with the supporters and mentioned the ‘Joker’ banner, one of many designed by fans for the safe standing end behind the goal at Montgomery Waters Meadow, numerous times during this interview.

But, among onlookers, there would typically be one subject matter raised whenever Cummings’ lack of match action was debated.

Cummings says: “It was often the same answer, about my fitness, but my fitness was good, the problem I had was my match fitness, but the only way to get that up was to play games.

“I was stuck in a bit of a cycle, but whenever I was called upon I gave my all for the club, and the fans were brilliant.”

He adds: “I trained hard every day, in the gym too, of course I’m fit. I wasn’t injured once the whole time there.

“My game fitness and sharpness wasn’t there. but that’s because I wasn’t playing any games.

“I was ready to go. There are different type of players, I will never be like Mo Farah, with a mental engine, and run about all day, it’s never been me. I’m a goalscorer.

“I wasn’t lacking fitness, I just wasn’t playing regularly. To be fair to Cotterill, he said to me ‘your fitness is good, it’s just not amazing like Dan Udoh’s – that’s why I’m opting for Udoh’.

“He said my fitness was good but I’m not a player that will run all game.

“Every time I play I work hard, it’s not like I don’t, but I’m a different player, I’d rather score goals than run all day.”

Cummings would have loved to have stayed at Shrewsbury, but not at the expense of sitting on the bench every week, for his career’s sake.

The former Nottingham Forest and Peterborough striker adds: “Do you know what, before I got the (Dundee) move, I went to the gaffer’s office and I said that exact thing, I was down to play football and I’m not playing, so going home might be the best solution.

“But I said to him – if I’m here and you’re going to play me every week, I’ll be delighted to stay here, the boys are brilliant, fans are brilliant, I enjoy staying in Shrewsbury.

“If I’m playing every week, I’ll happily stay. But football is not all rainbows and playing and scoring every week.”

The striker isn’t bitter. He does not have a bad word to say about Ricketts or Dean Whitehead, who brought him to Shrewsbury and oversaw the majority of his short spell.

The frontman is now focused on scoring the goals to help Scottish Championship side Dundee, currently fourth, mix it in the promotion reckoning, something he knows a thing or two about from his Hibs days.

FA Cup king Cummings will go down as one of the club’s most remembered short-term stars. His ‘Jemson moment’ has its deserving place in Shrewsbury’s history.

“The fans and people around Shrewsbury were quality, I really enjoyed staying there,” he says. “Hopefully, maybe after Covid, I can watch a game or something. I’m glad I gave something. It wouldn’t have been such a good time if I didn’t have that (Liverpool) game.

“As long as I’m remembered for something good then I’m happy.”