‘Shrewsbury Town or nothing’: Scott Davidson on why he wanted Salop takeover

New owner Scott Davidson says it was Shrewsbury Town or “nothing” and that he “couldn’t have imagined” taking on a venture anywhere else.

Davidson has revealed why he pursued a takeover of Town in his first in-house interview since his company, Biscayne ST LLC, completed its acquisition of the club on Monday.

The Miami businessman, who also owns Scottish side The Spartans, expressed his delight at taking charge at Salop and explained what made the club the perfect fit.

Asked how it felt to become Town’s new owner, Davidson said: “Shocking, we have been working on this for a very long time.

“It’s hard to imagine that the day has arrived. But is has, I couldn’t be happier, couldn’t more thrilled, couldn’t be more excited, because Shrewsbury is such a special club and special place. And I love this sport so much. I can’t wait to get started.

“For better or worse, over a long career, I have had the opportunity to look and be acquainted with a huge number of clubs.

“The only ones who were personally interesting to me were firstly ones who were meaningful in their community. Clubs that the locals really cared about and that had the opportunity to impact their daily lives.

“Also, if you look at the club, there are some things about the history and way it’s run and supported, that I think are really unique.

“The first is that it is a club that has been well run financially, and that is something that we expect. But you want to make sure that your supporters and ownership group are aligned about the right way to run a club.

“The second thing is the way that the club was supported. It was obvious to me that it was so well supported from a positive perspective.

“People don’t know, but I went to a couple of matches in the summer. I talked to people about the club and folks in the community. Everybody loves the town and loves the team.

“Even if they weren’t particularly happy, the way they expressed their particular unhappiness was so welcoming, honest and clear that it felt, ‘Wow this is a culture that aligns with mine’ - a group of positive people who really want to get behind something and do their best collectively to help it do well. People who are understanding of effort and the value of hard work.

“I couldn’t have imagined anywhere else that we would have wanted to do this.”

Davidson is joined by close friend and former United States goalkeeper Brad Friedel, who has taken up the role of sporting director at the club.

Town’s new owner also revealed that several other clubs had approached him after his identity emerged as the spearhead of Salop’s takeover, attempting to convince him they would be a better fit.

“When you are Brad Friedel, or you are me and you have already been involved in The Spartans in Edinburgh. What comes out of it is lots and lots of different football opportunities,” he added.

“The moment that Shrewsbury was announced, there were 50 other clubs that said they would be better matches for us than Shrewsbury.

“We actually sat down at a point and came up with a fixed set of criteria so we could stop spinning our wheels, or wasting time, and be quite clear with people about what we were interested in.

“They were really good criteria, the problem is it left a very small set of things that you could actually do. Shrewsbury fit virtually all of the criteria, and as a result, that’s how we moved forward.

“I guess the flip side of the question is, if you asked me, ‘What would I have done if you couldn’t have got Shrewsbury done?’ I think the answer at this point is: nothing.”