Shropshire Star

Salop Social: Who needs the ESL when we have got Shrewsbury Town?

Our Shrewsbury Town fans reflect on a turbulent few days for football – and what it means to them as a Salop supporter.

Published

Nathan Rowden

For many who read the social, you will probably not know my background to becoming a Shrewsbury supporter.

It was a journey that started just three short seasons ago.

To set the scene, growing up I had no real connection to any football club really. I was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, and lived in the nearby town (and sworn enemy) Burnley.

My dad was a lapse Swindon Town supporter when I was younger, and my mum, from West Brom, had little interest in football. So I had no real exposure to the local clubs at a young age.

Apart from England in Euro 96, I wasn’t all bothered for football until I got to about the age of eight or nine when I sat in front of an old telly we had upstairs and watched Liverpool v Celtic in the Uefa Cup first leg in 1997.

I was mesmerised just minutes in. McManaman to Riedle, Riedle threading a perfectly weighted through ball to Michael Owen who then slid it perfectly under the on rushing keeper. It was the best thing I had ever seen. That was until the 89th minute of the same game where the Reds were 2-1 down. Steve McManaman ran the length of Park Head on a mazy dribble and popped it beautifully in the back of the net to snatch a draw. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing on edge just thinking about it.

From that moment I was a Liverpool supporter. I moved to Mid Wales aged 11 where I finally met other Liverpool fans and when old enough I was a regular visitor to Anfield, which carried on through my teens and into my 20s. After moving around the country to study and for work I eventually settled in Shrewsbury.

I’m now 33, and a few years ago something changed for me with football. I was finding it more difficult to get to games and was quickly becoming an armchair fan. I found myself lusting for live football. To be part of something. That’s the great thing about football. The next game you go to, at any level could be the best game you’ll ever see.

Watching the Premier League had become TV entertainment akin to a superhero movie, enjoyable for a couple of hours, but something I wasn’t invested really.

Then one Saturday afternoon, with absolutely no expectation, I took myself to the New Meadow on August 5, 2017 and watched my first Shrewsbury Town game. They beat Northampton Town 1-0 thanks to a last-minute goal from ‘The Shop’.

Little did I, or anyone else know that the side under Paul Hurst was going to launch an assault on the league, and were dreadfully unlucky to not get promoted that season. I was working for a magazine at the time and got to spend some time with Paul in his office at the Sundorne training, he was incredibly hospitable, charming and a delight to speak with, as were some of the players like Ben Godfrey, Jon Nolan, Omar Beckles and Shaun Whalley. It really felt like a family.

That 90+2 last second winner from John-Lewis started my relationship with Town, and since then it’s gone from strength to strength. At the same time, my love for the Premier League was diminishing, despite my boyhood club Liverpool actually getting back to their best by this time. I sat on a Shropshire Star podcast and was told by the presenter ‘it’s a strange decision to stop following Liverpool right now’, and I suppose he was right.

But there was something about being in the pub beforehand, being in the stands, recognising faces, chatting, debating, swearing and shouting and celebrating until my lungs burst without any VAR to kill the mood that was pure, it was real. It was football.

Since that first season I’ve endured more disappointing seasons of course, but that doesn’t matter. It’s being at a game. It’s being part of a community. It’s getting a direct phone call from the chief executive Brian Caldwell when you need to ask for a refund due to some unexpected financial issues and vets bills. That is what makes a club.

I was completely unsurprised by the European Super League announcement this week, although it was still hard to read. It’s typical of the greed at the top level of the game and how distant it has become for your average fan. Liverpool as a club are unrecognisable from that team I fell in love with back in 1997. You could say the same about the Premier League and the European competitions they play in too.

But if the suggestion of the Super League is making you think of turning your back on the top tier, then there are plenty of lower division sides that need your support. Come to Shrewsbury and be a part of something real, we’re a friendly bunch on the whole.

Chris Hudson

It has been wonderful over the last few days to see the proposed European Super League crumbling before it had even started.

A competition for Europe’s elite clubs is of course a long way removed from Shrewsbury Town and our trials and tribulations in League One. But its inception still felt like a monumental slap in the face, even for our supporters.

A big part of being a football fan is being able to dream. However unlikely it may be, the possibility remains that Town could somehow make their way out of League One, successfully navigate the Championship and find themselves mixing with the best in the Premier League and Europe.

The ESL would tear that dream away for us, and other clubs who have a far greater chance of actually doing it. Sporting merit replaced by bank balance and TV pulling power.

This season, Leicester City and West Ham both have a big chance to reach the Champions League. The ESL would lock them out as clubs not worthy of sharing a pitch with their elite members.

The football world seems to have been united in condemning this attempted coup, but the problems run deeper than these 12 clubs.

Fifa have been strong on this but are happy to chase the cash by taking the World Cup to Qatar. Uefa are hardly whiter than white either, and their new, bloated Champions League model will also result in more wealth for the elite at the expense of the rest. Football at the top is rotten to the core. My only hope is that few more people start to see this and elect to support their local club instead. Shrewsbury would welcome you with open arms!

Steve Jones

Steve Cotterill warned results would be up and down until the end of the season in his first press conference as manager – and he was right.

After all, he’s been there and done it enough times to know how these situations usually work.

His message was largely forgotten as Town motored up the table and away from relegation danger, but, after an extended bounce – and some clear improvement – things have levelled out as the experienced boss pragmatically predicted.

A brilliant first few months had us all dreaming of replicating Barnsley’s feat in the 2015/16 season when they went from the relegation zone in December to promotion via the final play-off spot.

Expectations rose in all corners during that time – and it’s easy to forget Salop were five points from safety after Cotterill’s second league game in charge.

We’re all disappointed but anyone in their right mind would have accepted this position with five to go, having already squandered three attempts to secure survival.

And there’s still enough time to reverse the tide and get back up the table.